10 tips to improve your local SEO

If your business is all about dealing with customers near you, then you're going to have to seriously look into local SEO. And for good reason: 25% of queries made on Google are local and 85% of Internet users have already looked for local businesses on search engines.

But what is remarkable in local searches are the conversion rates, especially on smartphones: 88% of localized queries on the phone turn into a visit or a call within 24 hours!

Now that we have your attention, here are 10 essential tips for optimizing your local SEO and attracting visitors from your catchment area.

local SEO

Perform an audit of your local SEO for free

Do you want to improve your local visibility? Perform a free and instant SEO audit with Digitale, the local communication specialist.

When you know that almost half (46%) of Google searches are intended to find a local business, you should take care of your local SEO to generate traffic in your points of sale.

To guide you in this process, the Saas Digitaleo platform has created an audit tool that analyzes the essential levers to stand out in 1st position on Google (presence management, customer reviews, Google Business Profile sheet, etc.) through key indicators: average rating, recency of reviews, completeness rate, engagement rate, etc.

The platform goes even further by offering to compare you to a competitor of your choice.

Audit your local SEO

1. Geo-locate your on-page SEO

The use of relevant keywords on your web pages, whether in the titles (h1, h2…) or in the body of the text, is essential to be well referenced.

However, it can be very difficult to stand out from your competitors on certain keywords: take for example the word “hairdresser”, very searched and very competitive.

A hair salon will have a hard time ranking well in Google results with this single keyword (especially since it would not necessarily be relevant).

But by completing the keyword with a city (for example "hairdresser Lyon"), the company greatly optimizes its local referencing. So always take the geographic component into account in your on-page SEO.

2. Optimize your title and meta description

The <title> tags and the meta description do not necessarily have a direct impact on local SEO, but in any case, they have an undeniable indirect role.

Understand by this that it is (most often) these two elements that will appear in Google search results. It is therefore on this that Internet users will rely to choose which link to click on.

By indicating your location in your <title> tags and meta description (ex: “Dentist in Nantes”), you considerably increase your chances of seeing Internet users click on your link. What's more, these Internet users will not be disappointed since they will find exactly what they are looking for in the place they want.

A positive sign for Google which could, in the long term, improve the ranking of your site by noting that it appeals to people who search for your keyword.

3. Optimize your Google My Business page

Google launched Google My Business to allow local businesses to have a quality page containing their contact details, but also information on their activity. This page, which strongly resembles the professional pages of Google +, is also located on Google Maps.

Therefore, having a Google My Business account allows local businesses to appear qualitatively in geolocated searches and to offer their potential customers all the information they need: address, email, telephone number, map, type of products sold, etc.

To optimize your My Business page, here are some tips:

The basics: check that you have entered the correct company name, address and telephone number;
Stand out with original and quality photos;
Be as specific as possible in choosing your categories (for example, prefer “Fresh vegetable shop” rather than “Boutique”) to be easier to find;
Highlight the best reviews left by Internet users and respond to negative reviews reassuringly;
Offer a 360° virtual tour of your establishment to attract even more customers.

4. List in local directories

If paper directories are dead, online directories are on the rise!

The PagesJaunes, Yelp and even TripAdvisor are regularly consulted by Internet users looking for a specific place in their sector. In addition, these sites allow them to leave opinions, indicating to others if the products offered are of good quality... or not!

However, for this strategy to be effective, ensure that all information is consistent. This is the best way to strengthen your local SEO and avoid losing customers who will be confused by contradictory information.

5. Take care of your site's microformats

To increase your SEO in local searches, you need to give Google some details through microformats. These are enriched tags allowing search engines to better understand the structure of your site, to better position you.

Let's say you have a hotel, located at 3 rue des Jardins in Bordeaux . Here is the code to add to your website:

<span itemprop= »name »>Hotel</span>

<span itemprop= »streetAddress »>3 rue des Jardins</span>

<span itemprop= »addressLocality »>Bordeaux</span>,

<span itemprop= »addressRegion »> Bordeaux</span>

</div>

Google will then understand the type of business you have and will be able to precisely geolocate it on a map.

6. Encourage user reviews

As we said above, when you register on directories or when you create a Google My Business page, you expose yourself to the opinions of Internet users. And this is a good thing! The better an establishment is rated on the various sites, the more likely it is to rise in the results.

By encouraging your satisfied customers to rate you and give their opinion, you have a positive effect on your local SEO.

7. Develop a mobile site

All of the following points will be useless if you don't have a mobile-friendly site. In fact, 60% of local searches are made from a smartphone.

What's more, voice search on mobile is particularly used to find nearby businesses.

Suffice to say that if your site is unreadable on a small screen, you risk losing a lot of traffic and chances of conversion.

8. Set up a store locator

We told you a little earlier about the importance of optimizing your Google My Business page to improve your local SEO and help people find you easily.

But implementing a store locator strategy is also a relevant way to maximize in-store traffic. We explain why.

The store locator is an interactive map that geolocates stores or physical points of sale and helps the Internet user to find the one closest to him. Easy to use, this feature can be found on websites and/or mobile applications.

This tool generally uses the geolocation of the user to offer him the point of sale closest to his home. In some cases, the user must enter his postal code so that a list of establishments is displayed. Thanks to the store locator, you can easily find the opening hours and the methods of access to an establishment. It is also a practical tool to check the availability of a product before moving.

Knowing that on average 90% of Internet users search the web before going to a store, there are many benefits to implementing a store locator strategy:

maximize your traffic and in-store sales;
reassure Internet users (in the event of after-sales service, they know where to find you);
optimize your local SEO ;
analyze your web traffic by measuring the impact of your in-store conversions;

There are many plug-ins or easy-to-use SaaS software that you can already add to your website to boost your local SEO. Users will be delighted if they realize that one of your establishments is near their homes and will not hesitate to visit you.

In general, a store locator is accompanied by other web-to-store or app-to-store strategies to attract maximum traffic to physical points of sale.

9. Use presence management tools

Before discussing how presence management helps you develop your local SEO, let's start by defining what presence management is.

Presence management is a precious tool that allows you to manage and update all the practical information of your establishment in a single place so that it is updated on all the digital channels where you are present (eg: Google My Business, Apple Maps, PagesJaunes, etc.)

Why is it interesting for you? Because these platforms already benefit from an optimal web referencing which you can benefit from easily and for free to put yourself forward.

These channels automatically distribute your establishment's information (address, hours, telephone number, etc.), and boost your presence on the web and your local SEO. It is therefore essential for you to ensure the consistency and homogeneity of this information. . In which case, you could face the disappointment of Internet users who would visit your store because they saw that it was “open” on the web when you are closed that day.

As you will have understood, using a presence management strategy allows you to save a lot of time in optimizing your local SEO. But above all, it allows you to ensure the consistency of your information on the different digital channels you use.

Our advice for a successful presence management

Provide as much information as possible about your establishment;
Regularly update your information (opening hours, address, telephone number, etc.);
Create consistency between the information you publish on these different digital platforms;

10. Implement a web-to-store strategy

We have told you about the higher locator stores and the significant traffic they generate in physical points of sale. They are generally part of a more global web-to-store strategy.

The web-to-store, also known as ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline) is a strategy that aims to arouse the interest of Internet users on the web to attract them to physical points of sale.

Digital marketing and physical point of sale combine through web-to-store to offer an even more qualitative customer experience to consumers. It's a good way for brands to meet the different needs of their customers and get to know them better.

Let us show you 3 examples of web-to-store strategies that work and you can implement to grow your local SEO. Let's go!

Le Click and Collect

It has become widely democratized in recent years with the closure of many businesses during the recent health crisis. Click and Collect consists of making purchases online and picking them up in-store.

This saves valuable time for consumers since they have already paid online, they do not need to wait at the checkout. By picking up their purchases directly in-store, they avoid both costs and delivery times.

Mobile-to-store

This strategy is effective because it uses geolocation systems to direct potential consumers to a particular point of sale.

Using a promotional action or an advertisement, you can target consumers who are in your catchment area to attract them to your store.

The Product locator

On a website or a mobile application, this feature allows Internet users to check the availability of a product in the store.

Many stores offer customers to reserve their items online so they can be sure to find them in-store. In this case, it becomes a good complement to Click and Collects.