Local SEO 101: How to Climb the Local Rankings and Get Found

Word of mouth and local ads are a great way to bring in customers from your neighborhood. But online search can do just as much for you, sometimes more. Social Media Today found that the vast majority of search engine users have looked online to find a local business. And a sizable share of all Google searches are looking for something local.

So if your business doesn't show up in local search results, you're handing traffic and valuable customers straight to your competition. Local SEO is how you stay on the map and keep your business growing.

If you're new to local SEO, you probably have a pile of questions and no clue where to start optimizing. This guide walks you through the essentials and gives you a clearer picture of how the whole thing works. Here's everything you need to know.

What is local SEO, and why do I need it?

Before we define local SEO, let's get clear on what local search actually means. Local search is when someone looks up businesses, products, services, or any other information tied to a specific place. Think someone typing "concerts near me" to find a show in their city, or "best painting service in [city]" to track down a painter nearby.

Put simply, local search is tied to a particular location, unlike your everyday Google search. Local SEO is the work you do to show up in those location-based results. It matters because it helps you:

• Get more visible online
• Bring more foot traffic through your door
• Pull in more targeted visitors, which means better odds of turning them into customers
• Build credibility and earn trust

Organic results vs. the local snack pack

One of the ways local SEO boosts your visibility is through the local snack pack. Google splits local results into three sections: sponsored, the snack pack, and organic. Sponsored results sit right at the top of the page with an "Ad" or "Sponsored" label, but those cost you money.

Right below that you'll find the snack pack, a boxed listing that highlights the top three businesses for that specific search. It shows up more prominently than the organic local results, so landing in the snack pack gives you a much better shot at being seen.

And here's the good part: not every local search page even has sponsored results. That means your business can claim the very top of the page, like you can see below.

Organic results sit further down, underneath the local snack pack. So even if you rank on the first page of local results, you won't stand out as much as the businesses that make it into the snack pack.

The goal of your local SEO strategy should be to land on the first page of organic local results and in the snack pack. That combo gets you maximum visibility and a better chance at pulling in the right traffic.

6 ways to strengthen your local SEO strategy

Now for the part that really moves the needle: how to strengthen your local SEO and climb the local rankings. There's a lot that goes into this, so let's zero in on what matters most.

1. Claim and optimize your GMB listing

GMB, or Google My Business, is the single most important piece of your local SEO strategy. Google's free tool lets you create a business listing at no cost. And according to Moz, it's one of the biggest factors Google weighs when ranking businesses in organic local results and the snack pack.

To get started, head to the Google My Business site to claim or create your listing. You'll need to add the following details:

• Your full, correct business name
• The address of your storefront or office
• Your exact spot on the map
• Your business category
• Your phone number and website (if you have one)

Once your listing goes live, you'll usually verify it by phone or postcard. Here's how to optimize Google My Business after verification:

• Upload photos of your business. Inside your store or office, around the building, whatever shows it off.
• Add your business hours.
• Add any extra categories that fit your business.
• Add extra phone numbers if you have them.

You can take your GMB profile even further by posting business updates and fresh content on a regular basis.

2. Keep mobile front and center

Smartphones run our daily lives now, so it makes sense that a ton of people search for local businesses right from their phones. Uberall commissioned a study that found the vast majority of respondents had used their mobile device to run a "near me" search. That tells you just how much people lean on their phones for local search.

So you have to take care of these searchers by optimizing your site for mobile screens. Build a mobile-friendly website so visitors on their phones have no trouble getting around or finding what they came for.

Don't forget to add click-to-call buttons on your site and your GMB listing. That can make a huge difference, because plenty of mobile users have contacted a business directly from search results.

3. Stack up plenty of customer reviews

According to that same Moz study, review signals also play a major role in your local search and snack pack rankings. A solid pile of authentic reviews, especially the positive ones, can work wonders for your local search visibility while building your reputation. So make it a habit to gather more genuine customer reviews for your business.

Focus on the sites where Google expects businesses to have reviews. Beyond your own website and GMB listing, that means collecting reviews from consumer directories and social platforms too. Think Facebook, Yelp, Thumbtack, Foursquare, Angie's List, and so on, depending on which ones make sense for your business.

4. Build local backlinks

Moz points out that link signals, like domain authority and the number of links pointing to you, are among the top factors shaping your local and snack pack rankings. So just like with regular SEO, local SEO needs link building to strengthen your profile. The difference is that the linking domains should be tied to the location you're targeting.

That means going after authority websites in your target area. We're talking licensing offices, trade associations, the local Chamber of Commerce, even .edu sites.

Partnerships, scholarships, guest posts, and the like can be great ways to earn valuable backlinks from local sites. For example, you can see Connecticut College linking out to several local spots from its "Attractions" page.

5. Keep your NAP and citations consistent

Moz also found that Google reads citation signals like citation volume and NAP consistency (name, address, phone number) in local search results. So your info needs to live on the major citation sites. Beyond GMB, think Bing Maps, Yelp, and Facebook. Go after directories with higher domain authority rather than the smaller listing sites.

Even more important, make sure your business NAP is identical across every platform and site. Hunt down spelling mistakes, mismatched addresses and phone numbers, and duplicate listings, then clean them up to boost your local SEO.

6. Get the most out of social listening

Social listening started out mainly as a source of marketing insight, but it does a lot more than that. It can even help fuel your local SEO if you know what to look for and how to put it to work.

Use social listening to find out what people in your target area are saying, whether it's about your business or just in general. You can also use it to learn what your audience cares about, what their priorities are, and more. Then take those insights and figure out how to adjust your strategy, or even your products and services.

Say you've noticed people complaining about the lack of outdoor seating at your café. Maybe it's time to add some and pull in an even bigger crowd. Then you can sharpen your GMB SEO by posting updates about your new seating setup.

Or maybe you've spotted people wishing your salon offered manicures too. You can expand your services and share that update on your GMB profile.

On top of that, social listening can help you understand the kind of local content your target audience is searching for. From there, you can put together a strong local content strategy that fits those needs. You might even surface long-tail keywords to fold into your content optimization plan.

Ready to go local?

Those are the essentials for taking your local SEO to the next level. Keep in mind that your local SEO efforts can stretch across several locations. You can apply these same ideas to multi-location SEO if you're targeting more than one area. So put them to work, get more visible in local search, and grow your business.