Local Business SEO: 3 Reasons Why It Still Works

Local business SEO is the one strategy I always recommend to clients. Why? Because it works. Earlier this year the guy's over at marketing Sherpa conducted a survey with nearly 2000 business owners. Their most cost effective marketing strategy was search engine optimisation. The facts speak for themselves. So why would this particular strategy be the most effective. Here are three of the most compelling reasons.

1. On page SEO Is Simple

The one thing that always surprises me is that local business owners don't optimize their websites and importantly web pages to get found. One of the most important places that Google looks at on your site is your title description. Forget what all the naysayers are spouting post the recent Google updates. Having a local keyword that is searched on in your title description will work. Follow this up by adding relevant and useful content and build links to that page and you will rank. I just did a quick search for the search term sales training Manchester a large city in the UK with over 500,000 people.

It is searched over 200 times a month and looking at the competitor websites and their links is wide open to get a high page one ranking.

2. Rankings Can Happen Fast

I have just given a great example here that you can apply to almost any market across the western world. In the scenario I mentioned some of the actual main pages of the websites that were ranking on Google on page one had no links. With a focused ethical local business SEO strategy a page one ranking would virtually be assured in a couple of months. How might you do this? You have a number of options. Either employ someone or do it yourself. First off make sure the appropriate keywords are listed where you want them and at least once on your page. There is no need to go crazy on this anymore. Focus the page on just one primary keyword. Build your content around this and at all costs you must add valuable content. Check for spelling, structure and grammar. Then build some ethical links. Writing an Article such as this is one way. It also brands you as an expert as well.

3. Creates Targeted leads

The final great thing about local SEO is that it is targeted. If someone is searching with a town name they are generally ready to buy or at least much higher up the buyer or adoption cycle. Using our example. They are not trying to find out what is involved in sales training. Or how it works or what will be covered on the day. My experience is that when someone gets to this stage they are actively looking for someone to engage as a provider. Provided you have some good copy on your website and an appropriate call to action it is highly likely that the web searcher is likely to fill in your contact form or even better pick up the phone. The downfall of many companies it that they go far too broad when they optimize their website and pages. It is so easy to overlook the low hanging fruit that is just around the corner.