There are currently more than 1.8 billion websites active on the internet. Of course, if you’re trying to compete with all those sites, you’ll be in for a big challenge. You’ll have even more of a challenge if you’re trying to get more traffic not only to your site but also to your physical store.
Getting more foot traffic to your store can be quite difficult for a variety of reasons, especially if you don’t know where to start. However, local SEO can help. Many people think that SEO is only good for bringing more traffic to online shops, but this isn’t necessarily true.
SEO can help both with websites and physical stores as long as you know how to use it correctly. But where should you start? Keep reading and learn more about local SEO and how it can benefit physical stores.
What You Need to Know About Local SEO
Local SEO really isn’t that much different than ordinary SEO. The main difference is that local SEO, as the name suggests, focuses more on a specific geographical location. This is quite different than regular SEO which usually doesn’t focus on any location at all but rather on the general world wide web.
Local SEO, of course, will mainly apply to those who have physical locations that they want to promote. While regular SEO can certainly help these locations, they often won’t be enough to bring in more physical foot traffic. Instead, regular SEO is better suited for promoting websites without physical addresses.
But you can change that simply by using local SEO instead. Local SEO involves using keywords that are relevant to the location of your store. For example, suppose you have a store in Chicago that you want to bring more traffic to.
The Details
In order to do that, you will need to use keywords that are relevant not only to the city of Chicago but also to the neighborhood in which your store’s address resides. That way, it will be very easy for people to find your store if they happen to stumble across your website and want to visit your store in person. Besides that, this kind of SEO can make your store more known in your local area.
Suppose that you have a store that sells paint. When people in your area search for paint stores online, your local SEO should show the internet user your store as a valid option as well as where the store is.
This, of course, is exactly what you want as it will promote your store in your local area so that it will be far more likely for people to come and visit your store to see what it has to offer.
By using this kind of SEO, you can not only bring more traffic to your website but also to your physical store. From there, you can continue to build off of the benefits of SEO and learn more about how to improve and continue getting a steady flow of traffic.
But how does all of this work?
Understanding How Local SEO Works
Local SEO has many of the same mechanisms and tricks that regular SEO has. Keywords are some of the most popular things to consider when you’re working with SEO. A keyword is nothing more than a simple string of words or even a single word that is used to target a certain concept.
For example, “acrylic paint” is a keyword that you can use in your content online. “New York City” is also a keyword but it is one that doesn’t refer to a product but rather a geographical location. The goal of local SEO is to not only use good keywords to represent your products and services but also keywords to represent your geographic location.
Your location is, of course, very important because it will allow people to know where your store is so they can go and visit it. This is the goal that most people with physical stores want. In general, it is a good idea to use keywords that are specific rather than vague.
What You Need to Know
For example, if you have a store in New York City, you shouldn’t use vague keywords like New York. This won’t help people find where your store is. Instead, you will want to use keywords that incorporate the name of the neighborhood or use other specific information to make it easier for potential customers to find your store.
That way, people shouldn’t have any trouble visiting your store if they happen to be in the area and are interested in what you have to sell or provide. Keywords are essential because they target what people might search for when using Google or other search engines.
This will allow your store to pop up as a good option. Besides keywords, you should also consider optimizing your GMB listing. A GMB listing stands for Google My Business.
As the name suggests, it has to do with making it easier for people to Google your business. So, for the best results, make sure that your listing is as optimized as possible so that people can find your store more easily.
All about Local SEO
Local SEO is essential for physical businesses. Without it, your business might never have enough foot traffic to survive. But as long as you take advantage of local SEO with keywords, Google listings, and more, your business should be on the road to success in no time.
To learn more about SEO services, contact us here for a quote.
