Local SEO: What Is It & Why Should You Care?

Local search is essential for service-based industries with clients in the same area. We all want to be included in local search queries related to our industries—for instance, for a law office specializing in divorce, that would be [divorce lawyer near me]. By creating and optimizing your Google Business Profile and Bing Places Profile and updating your website content with local phrases that will resonate with your local audience, you can improve your site’s local visibility.  Let’s dive into it!

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, focuses on optimizing your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. These searches usually occur on Google and other search engines (like Bing!) when users are looking for nearby services or products. When you give search engines more information on your Bing Places for Business or Google Business Profile (GBP), formally known as Google My Business listing, you can rank higher on the Bing Local Pack or Google Local Pack, formally known as the Google Map Pack,  and appear more often for related search queries. 

What Is A Local Map Pack (for Google and Bing)

The Google Local Pack and Bing Local Pack are the sections displayed typically above the organic search results and contains all the local results and showcases the top-ranking listings for your location or the searched location. 

Here is the information you should include in your Google Business Profile:

• Business name: This is hyperlinked to your business listing
• Rating: This is generated by Google and is the number and quality of reviews (# of stars). By encouraging customers/clients to rate your business, you help your business’s ranking.
• Price: This is Google’s assumed price of your goods or services seen as dollar signs ($$) which comes from user reviews.
• Address: This is the physical location of your business. If you are an online business or a service business (like lawn services), you will not have one of these. You can include the areas you serve instead.
• Hours: The days and hours your business operates.
• Description: A short and sweet description of what your business does
• Service options: This specifies if your business offers in-store services, online bookings, dine-in, delivery, etc.
• Tag: This designates what type of business you are (ex: retail, window cleaning, law firm)

Searchers can click on a listing to learn more about the company, like their phone number, or pull up directions to their location. Optimized Google Business Profiles have all the works. They include photos (real ones, not stock images), reviews (with company responses!), link to make an appointment, link to the website, links to social media profiles, a snippet about what they do and who they are, the area they serve, and posts. 

Here is the information you should include in your Bing Places listing that is not on Google:

• Business Category: You can get really specific here and even indicate whether you’re a woman owned business or eco-friendly

• Promotions (when applicable)

• Ratings: Ratings or reviews, whatever floats your vernacular boat, are not pulled the same way as Google. Bing pulls Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Facebook reviews. 

• Adding Social Media Profiles: grab your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (or Twitter because saying X sounds weird) **

** This can also be done on Google but considering how important social signals are to Bing, it fit better here.

WOW that’s a lot of information right? Your online profile is one powerful tool. Not only can it increase your company’s online presence but it can also be the one-stop-shop for your potential customers to learn more about your business and complete a transaction - and for some businesses, they can do all of this before visiting your website! Aside from the stark differences between Bing and Google, it is advisable to create a profile on both search engines. 

Why Is Local Search Important?

Think about how often you rely on Google or Apple maps to find the location of a business or type of service. If you are a service-related business and aren’t on the map, people will most likely drive right past you on their way to one of your competitors with an optimized profile. Optimizing your local search increases your business awareness to your audience across the marketing funnel. 

How To Apply Local SEO To Website Content

There isn’t a magic formula to get instant local traffic to your website. The main difference between your website content and local content is searcher intent. When creating your website content, it is essential to consider the local user and how they will engage with it. 

When creating local content, try these tips:

1. Use local phrases. Optimizing your main navigation page titles and meta descriptions with local terms makes you more likely to attract local visitors. These local terms can be neighborhoods or areas of town. For example, in Boise, Idaho we are familiar with terms like the North End, South Boise, Harris Ranch, Warm Springs, or Downtown Boise. These phrases capture various parts of our beautiful city!
2. Use a conversational tone. You don’t have to write every blog as if it was a scholarly article—that’s what Google Scholar is for. Write for the average human in an easy-to-read format that answers their questions.
3. Use images. Don't just use stock images—add personal, unique photos that complement your content and assist with telling a compelling story.
4. City-specific landing pages. Do you have multiple locations? Try creating separate pages for each location to dial in the local keywords.

How Do the Search Engines Determine Local Ranking?

According to Google, local rankings are determined primarily by relevance, distance, and prominence. What does that mean? 

• Relevance: How closely relevant is your business listing to what the search query is.
• Distance: How far (or how far Google thinks they are if their location is not known) the search query and user are from the result. 
• Prominence: How well-known your business is. This can come from links across the internet to your website, reviews, articles, and your web results position.

Bing on the other hand utilizes social signals from Facebook, Yelp, and Trip Advisor. It also considers similar metrics to Google, relevance, distance, and overall popularity. 

How Search Engines Source Information

Google and Bing use what it can find on your website and the information you provide in your content to provide the most up-to-date information about your business. That is why keeping your website information current and as relevant as possible is essential. 

What Businesses Benefit The Most From Local SEO?

Service-based businesses whose primary audience is local customers benefit the most from local searches. These businesses can include but are not limited to brick-and-mortar stores, construction trades, personal and professional service providers like housekeeping, law firms, medical offices, small business owners like boutiques, restaurants, marketing agencies, pet care and boarding, and more. 

In short, the key factors for successful local search engine optimization include accurate and consistent business information across your website, Google or Bing Places Business Profile listing, high-quality content (on both your pages and blogs), positive customer reviews, and effective use of keywords and metadata.