Optimising a website to target local search is often overlooked – to the detriment of online success. Think about it: More than a billion people are estimated to use the Internet, across seven continents and throughout hundreds of countries. Wouldn’t it be useful to target the customers that are right on your doorstep, rather than those who are thousands of miles away?
Certainly, credit cards and rapid global shipping has made it easier than ever to procure a rare book, beloved CD or yak-wool jersey from a distant land. But if you’re a Capetonian searching for a doctor, a plumber or a pizza restaurant, wouldn’t you like to find a service a little closer to home – say, in Newlands, rather than Newfoundland? Introducing local search – and the necessity to cater to this growing online trend…
Why should I target local searchers?
The latest online statistics reveal that 30 to 40 percent of searches are of a local nature. If your business offers a product or service that is specific to your local market, it’s essential to optimise your website accordingly. Examples of these types of businesses are estate agencies, food and beverage outlets (including restaurants), health clubs, car dealerships, home loan providers and bricks-and-mortar service providers.
The search engines, too, have wizened up to the local search trend, and are increasingly showing results that imply a regional focus. Clearly, optimising for local search should be a priority for any company reliant on regional patronage.
How can I optimise for local search?
There are a number of ways to target a local market successfully through an SEO campaign. Most importantly, you need to include locally-focused terms in your keywords. Create content that focuses on these keywords – for example, “doctor in Durban” or, better yet, “doctor in Northdene, Durban”. Also bear in mind that if your consultancy is in Newlands, Durban, you should ensure that your keywords accurately target this. After all, there’s also a Newlands in Cape Town, and a Newlands in Glasgow.
One of the most effective ways to boost local searches is by including your city or town’s name in your website’s title tags. Remember to include specific markers to help search engines distinguish between similar-sounding areas.
Another important step is to list your company for local searches on Google, MSN and Yahoo. This is free of charge, simple to do, and will ensure that your company results are displayed for relevant searches. Remember that most searchers still rely on search engines to find what they’re looking for online.
However, it’s also vital to bear in mind that some searchers don’t use the world’s most popular search engines, but turn to directories and local engines instead. Thus, it’s just as important to register your company on local directories as well.
White Pages and City Search, for example, are ideal places to list your business online, and it’s essential to get listed in the online Yellow Pages – a directory that, by next year, is expected to dominate the local search market with more than a third of all local searches conducted.
On-page tactics for local optimisation include listing your business address in the footer of all your web pages, as well as your business telephone number and postal code. This is not only helpful to users, but also indicates to search engines that your site targets local searchers.
Various other methods can be implemented on your site in order to optimise it for local search. SEO specialists managing your optimisation initiative will help you to implement and monitor these tactics.
Boosting your brand’s local online presence
It’s not easy to build an online presence, and optimising for local search comes with its own challenges. That’s why it’s recommended that you turn to an SEO specialist – at least at the outset – to achieve your optimisation goals. Good rankings are essential to your online success, and if you need help to achieve these, Purple Cow is ideally positioned to assist you with SEO and local search optimisation.