As a channel of digital marketing, search engine optimization, better known as SEO, is fairly broad. There are many different “types” of SEO, like industry-specific SEO, technical SEO, and national and local SEO.
This post will break down the latter and show you how to find the best local SEO services provider for your business.
What Is Local SEO?
To keep things as simple as possible, national SEO refers to the process of improving a website’s visibility across the country (or even the globe) for a specific set of search terms, without respect to locality.
However, for businesses that operate only in brick and mortar locations, or those that serve only specific markets in the country, or at specific times of year, national SEO can be a money pit. A local garage in Michigan won’t see much return on a national SEO campaign if all the visibility gained is in the Southwest.
So, in a nutshell, local SEO is all about getting a business listing to show up for specific search terms in certain areas of the country.
There are two main prongs to the best local SEO services. One is content marketing which will increase the authority of the brand and also boost visibility for certain search terms, and the other is business listing optimization, like Google My Business listings.
Optimizing these listings is one of the main ways that businesses show up in the Google Map Pack when local customers type in a search in Google Maps for local businesses.
How Local SEO Services Can Benefit Your Business
Local SEO services are of most use for businesses that operate brick and mortar locations, though they can also be useful for businesses that only serve a certain portion of the country, or a specific market.
For local businesses, investing in the best local SEO services makes it more likely that your website or local business listings will show up, either in Google Maps, or in the search results, when a potential customer looks up keywords related to your business.
For instance, if you operate a coffee shop, if you work with a local SEO services provider to optimize your listings, there is a better chance that your listings show up when a potential customer in your area searches for “coffee near me.”
From a high level, local SEO services will boost local visibility and can even result in an increase in foot traffic.
How to Find the Best Local SEO Services Provider for Your Business
For anyone reading this in the market for the best local SEO services provider, there are a few good ways to go about the search.
One of the best is simply to type in “local SEO services” or “SEO services near me.” You could also search for SEO services in your city or region, or specific to your industry.
The reason this is effective is because, if you stick to the organic search results (not the ads) you will only find leads that are proven effective at delivering SEO results because they show up in the search. That’s how SEO works.
After you find a few leads, see if you can find those same businesses in the local listings, which will prove they know how to optimize business listings.
Then, read some reviews and see if they are active on social media. If you can find mostly positive reviews – including some that are live off of the agency website, where no party with a bias can edit them, then you have a good starting point.
Call through a few of these to find the local SEO services provider that works best for you. Then you’re well on your way to finding the right services provider.
