by Local Search
In computer science, local search is a heuristic method for solving computationally hard optimization problems. Local search can be used on problems that can be formulated as finding a solution maximizing a criterion among a number of candidate solutions. Local search algorithms move from solution to solution in the space of candidate solutions (the search space) by applying local changes, until a solution deemed optimal is found or a time bound is elapsed.
Local search algorithms are widely applied to numerous hard computational problems, including problems from computer science (particularly artificial intelligence), mathematics, operations research, engineering, and bioinformatics. Examples of local search algorithms are WalkSAT, the 2-opt algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem and the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm.
Local search marketing is anything you do on the web to promote a physical business that makes face-to-face contact with its customers. It applies to both single-location small and medium businesses (SMBs), national enterprise brands, and chains. If a company meets with its customers directly either through a storefront or service area it’s termed a “local business” and a unique set of techniques and skills can be used to increase its visibility on the Internet. This may also be referred to as “local SEO,” or local search engine optimization.
Far from being a one-and-done form of marketing, good local SEO builds upon a base of clear business information, using an array of marketing practices to transform an unknown brand into a local household word.
Guideline compliance
The way you conceptualize and market your type of local business will be based on the Guidelines for Representing Your Business On Google. Your Google My Business listing is the most important listing you build for your company; failure to comply with Google’s guidelines can result in ranking failures and even listing takedowns. To play it smart, you must be able to see your business the way Google does and follow the appropriate guidelines.
Site authority
Your website can accrue some authority simply by virtue of its age, but you can actively pursue authority by earning links and mentions of your business from quality, relevant sources. Beware of links from low-quality sources or schemes that attempt to inflate link count with no concern for relevance. Industry surveys indicate that the quality and authority of the links you earn have a major impact on your local search rankings.
Site quality
If your website loads quickly, has a sensible structure, renders properly on all devices, features high-quality content, is free of malware or other malicious elements, and is easy for people to use, you’re meeting basic quality goals. No amount of marketing can make up for poor UX (user experience) on your website.
Site optimization
The search engine optimization (SEO) of your website aims to increase your organic (non-paid) search engine visibility via both technical and creative means. This Beginner’s Guide to SEO breaks down the elements for you.
You must also understand that local SEO consists of everything traditional SEO does, plus geography. In other words, local business websites don’t just focus on keywords about products, services, and topics; they also highly feature terms relevant to the cities in which the business serves.
NAP consistency
“NAP” is the common acronym for “name, address, phone number.” These three pieces of data make up the core of your business information in the world of local search. You’ll also sometimes see this written as NAP+W, with the “W” standing for your website URL. In order for consumers and search engines to trust the data they find across the web about your business, you must make every effort to ensure that its NAP+W is consistent on your website and on all third-party platforms where your business is listed or mentioned.
NAP breadth
A core task of local SEO involves helping your NAP spread across the Internet. Much of this work hinges on building structured citations (local business listings) on important platforms like Google My Business, Facebook, Bing, Yelp, Superpages, etc. You can also build important citations on popular niche directories that relate specifically to your geography or industry. The breadth of your NAP can grow as your business earns unstructured citations/mentions on social platforms, blogs, news sites, and other resources. The number of both structured and unstructured citations you earn is believed to have a positive impact on local search rankings, as search engines find your business widely referenced around the web. You can do all of this work manually, or use convenient tools that automate structured citation building and active location data management for you.
Review acquisition
Reviews may be the most influential Internet factor for any local business. It’s estimated that 92% of consumers read online reviews and 68% state that positive reviews influence their feelings of trust in a business. Every local business needs a strategy for encouraging customers to leave reviews on a variety of platforms. Your job is to know the guidelines of each platform so that you don’t break rules, and to devote significant resources to this vital area of marketing. The number of reviews you earn can directly impact local search rankings, while the positive and negative sentiments in those reviews can directly impact conversions and earnings. Throughout the life of your business, you’ll be seeking to earn a wide array of positive reviews.
Publishing strategy
The moment any local business steps onto the web, it becomes a publisher. Your communications with consumers may include the basic text content of your website, a blog, video or image content, owner responses to reviews, and social media participation. Everything you publish should engage customers and expose them to your brand. Search engines not only measure content quality, but also the way in which users interact with content, meaning the content you produce should result in high levels of user engagement. Plus, your high-quality content may be shared by your industry and consumer base, further promoting your business. You must devote time and creativity into developing and executing a publishing strategy, for as long as your company is in business.
Competitive edge
The three bottom tiers of our pyramid are fundamental tasks in a typical local SEO campaign. In a competitive industry/geography, your competitors are experts when it comes to these core areas. You must look beyond the basics if you want to stand out from the pack.
Gaining a competitive edge in a crowded market requires a unique effort for each business, based on discovering opportunities your rivals haven’t yet explored.
Benefits of local SEO
As we’ve just established, when you’re a local business, whether that’s an auto shop in Boise, Idaho, a restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, or a furniture store in Houston, Texas, local SEO plays a crucial role in generating customers and conversions.
In this current climate of online shopping and retail giants, I imagine that local business owners can feel unmotivated to compete against the likes of Walmart and Amazon for positions in search results.
Fortunately for you, local SEO is here to help. Local SEO favors smaller businesses over the likes of Amazon any day!
Investing in local SEO is your chance to get found by local consumers who are ready and willing to invest in your business instead.
Both Google itself and the shopping public recognize the value of local businesses. In fact, Google has a specific set of local ranking factors that it uses as a measure to determine whether or not your business is geographically relevant to a user performing a ‘near me’ search (we’ll cover this in more detail a little later on).
That means you don’t have to worry about competing against large international corporations to get your local business in front of relevant nearby consumers.
Research conducted by Access concluded that proximity matters to local consumers a great deal, with more than 92% traveling just 20 minutes or less to purchase their day-to-day essentials. For any size business, that should be reason enough to invest in local SEO.
Mobile SEO
Mobile SEO refers to the search engine optimization of websites combined with flawless viewing on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Thanks to the increasing boom of portable devices, webmasters should be highly concerned with their mobile SEO plan. After all, more than 50% of Internet users now report surfing websites through their mobile devices daily. Google is already favouring mobile friendly sites.
First and foremost, according to Google mobile websites typically run on one out of three different configurations:
- Responsive Web Design
- Dynamic Serving
- Separate URLs
Responsive Web Design
When you use responsive web design, your mobile site will have the same HTML code and content for the same URL regardless of the user’s chosen device. You’ll simply use the meta name=”viewport” tag within your site’s source course to help the Internet browser identify how they should adjust the content. Then, the display settings will change to fit each visitor’s unique screen size.
Benefits of RWD
Responsive web design is very popular among SEO experts everywhere, and it’s even recommended by Google itself. You should definitely consider responsive design because:
- It’s easy to share content from a single URL.
- Google can easily index your single URL for higher search engine rankings.
- You’ll find it convenient to maintain multiple pages for the same content.
- This design avoids common SEO and formatting mistakes.
- There won’t be much additional setup time.
- Googlebot will use less resources and make crawling more efficient.
- Users won’t have to deal with redirects, which offers shorter page download times.
Dynamic Serving
Dynamic serving configurations are designed to have the server respond with different HTML and CSS code on the same URL depending on the user’s device. For this, you’ll need to properly use the Vary HTTP header to signal changes based on the user-agent’s page requests. Valid headers tell the browser how to display the content and help Googlebot discover that your website has mobile-optimized content much faster.
Separate URLs
As the name suggests, this setup configuration involves having different URLs for your website to successfully display your content on different mobile devices. Each URL is equipped with different HTML code for every respective screen size.
