Local SEO

Not every business has national or international domination in mind, especially new start-ups or small businesses that operate in a specific geographical location, whether that be a city, county or region. Rather than choosing to target highly competitive generic keywords, local SEO concentrates on search terms which tie in with your target area. This has some great benefits: Localised search terms help to ensure that the most relevant traffic finds your website. Someone looking for a plumber in Newcastle is not going to input the term ‘plumbers in Devon’ in a search engine, but instead will look for things like ‘boiler repairs in Newcastle’ or ‘north east plumbers’. Geo-centric keywords are less competitive than more generic, whole-industry, or national keywords e.g. boiler repairs. A small business SEO strategy which focuses on the local variations of relevant keywords is thus more likely to rank higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for those search terms – which is ideal for those companies who operate in specific places. This kind of local optimisation is an ideal choice small businesses and as the company grows, the number of areas targeted can also grow to include nearby towns, cities or regions, or another part of the country completely if, for example, a new franchise of the business was opened elsewhere. Most of the same techniques used in a national or international optimisation strategy can be utilised in this kind of small business SEO campaign too, maximising the chances of improved search engine rankings and increased ROI.