SEO is the most efficient way to introduce your business to millions of potential customers in the virtual world. With SEO, you can get your brand's website and products to the top of Google searches, which are used by millions of people every year, and get new customers. It is possible to increase your sales by finding the most accurate keywords related to your brand and products in all search engines, such as Google, and placing them in the first place with the content you will produce for them. If you are a local business and want to increase your awareness in your own region, the way to do this is "Local SEO," also known as Local SEO.

Local SEO, as the name suggests, is the optimization work carried out to rise to the top in regional searches made in search engines. Although local SEO is done similarly to general SEO studies, it includes some differences. The most important of these differences is that the priority of your work is the location you target. While performing this study, it is imperative that you analyze the neighborhoods, districts, or cities where your potential customers are located. The rapid change of results in regional searches made by users also reveals how meticulous one should be in the study of local SEO. For example, let us imagine a user who wants to have his house sprayed. When this person makes a search on the subject in the search engine, the first results that will appear will be the pesticide companies that serve in the location where he lives. At this point, the brand, which conveys the most satisfying and up-to-date information about the service it provides to the search engine with successful local SEO work, ensures that the customer prefers it.

How to do Local SEO?

Local SEO studies can be started with regional targeting. The following audience analysis can be continued with keyword analysis and a business plan. Let us examine this work step by step.

  • Position-Based Title Tags: As is common knowledge, title tags are HTML components that tell people and search engines alike about pages. If location information is included in these tags, Google bots can notice you. In this way, you will be more likely to appear in location-based searches. You can become even more visible with location-focused keyword groups.
  • User-Friendly URL Arrangements: It is important for SEO studies that URLs have short, effective, and main keywords. Local SEO should also include local expressions in URLs. This will generate positive returns.
  • Locally Focused Keywords: Keywords are an essential element in SEO studies. The analyses made while finding these words from local SEO studies differ. Geographically oriented keywords should be chosen in local SEO studies. With the right environment and word analysis, you can see the top in search results. Focusing on long-tail keywords will also be more effective when identifying locally focused words.
  • User-Oriented Content: All user-oriented content will be positively rated by Google. While creating content in local SEO studies to be done, user-oriented articles should be created, and you should find solutions to the problems of your target audience.
  • Image Optimization: The presence in image search results for websites supports Local SEO optimization. By adding the correct alt text and descriptions to the images, higher ranks can be targeted in image searches. Attention should also be paid to the size of the images added to the site. You can take advantage of lazy load and browser caching for image optimization.
  • Voice Search Optimization: Voice search technologies such as Siri and Alexa are working to improve the user experience. Google places great emphasis on user experience. Search engines are also increasing the importance they give to voice search results day by day. Question-based searches and long-tailed phrases will take you to the top of the rankings. If you want to increase the use of your website, you can contact and help customers with chatbots by adding live chat.
  • Internal Link Optimization: Websites should have a layout. Users should always see this targeted hierarchy system. This layout can be used both to increase the user experience and to enable users to act with directions. This hierarchy can be created by methods such as a contact form, phone number, or maps. By making internal links within the site, the attention of Google bots can be drawn, and users can spend more time on the website.
  • Mobile Optimization: Mobile optimization has been one of the most critical issues for Google recently. It attaches importance to the smooth functioning of the images and texts on the sites in mobile versions as well. That is why mobile optimizations are vital.
  • Leveraging Local Resources: You can make your brand more visible by using local guides that provide regional service. This is an example of off-page SEO work. By obtaining strong backlinks locally, you can be more accessible and increase search engine results.

Advertising and promotion methods are also amazingly effective in Local SEO studies. Paid advertisements can increase search engine performance. You can do advertising work on social media or other areas.

  • Social Media Management: Control and use of social media accounts are especially important in local SEO studies. You can reach your target audience through these channels and interact from here. You can also increase the user experience with the communication you will establish.
  • Comment Interaction: Comment sections on websites are one of the communication channels that allow site owners and users to meet. The effective use of this channel will support SEO studies and reflect its return positively.
  • NAP Arrangement: NAP (Name, Address, Phone); Abbreviation for name, address, and telephone numbers. NAP is all contact details available on your website. Because Google values ​​accurate information for its users, the information you provide must be accurate and consistent when optimizing your website. You should make NAP arrangements so that users and search engine bots coming to your website can reach you. Search engines determine your location based on your contact information and enable you to reach people. If you are using WordPress infrastructure on your website, you can easily adjust your NAP settings with Yoast SEO, Rank Math SEO, and All-in-One SEO plugins. Local searchers will want to get in touch after reaching out to nearby businesses. For this, you must make your contact information visible on your website. Users should be able to easily access all details, such as company name, full address, location information, and phone number. In this way, people who reach you are more likely to benefit from your products and services. Optimize for search engines to easily access your contact information. Thus, visitors can access your contact information from search engines.
  • Creating Correct Backlink Channels: Links that are made outside of your website and directed to your website are called backlinks. For you to be able to rank better in search engines, you need to gather stronger references from a variety of sources. In local SEO studies, there is a different understanding of backlink studies. For your website, you can get links from directory websites that promote websites in the same industry as you.
  • Google, Yandex, and Apple Maps Registration: Among the most effective tools for local search are Google Maps, Yandex Navigation, and Apple Maps for iPhone users. When it comes to finding a business in their near vicinity, people choose navigation apps. By registering on Google, Yandex, and Apple Maps, you can become physically more accessible, apart from your Local SEO efforts. 75% of people who want to go somewhere prefer Google or Yandex services.

How to dominate Local SEO?

Linking to relevant sites is incredibly important in local SEO campaigns, but not enough attention is paid. Local SEO is far more reliant on connections from other nearby websites that are actually pertinent to your organization than basic SEO. Because of this, attention should be made to obtaining recommendations from reputable websites and websites relevant to your company. Linking regularly to the NAP data you will develop for your company is very crucial. To verify and amend each reference or link you get so that they are all consistent, you may utilise a service like Bright Local. The application may be used to keep tabs on the websites that your rivals have referenced and to add your own websites to those similar websites. 

Here are some tips for getting local citations:

  • You should browse the extensive citation list on the Moz website, and you can submit your citations manually.
  • To look for links for competition and discover links your rivals are gaining, utilize tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, or Open Site Explorer
  • To maintain track of mentioned locations on your rivals' NAP list, you may set up alerts using Mention or Google Alerts.
  • What can you do to have your company mentioned or referenced? You can use tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, or Open Site Explorer to search for links for competition and find links your competitors are winning.
  • Websites related to your business can be found, and they can be contacted about sponsorship.
  • Links to events can be created by creating local events.
  • If there are interviews about your business, you can consider it.
  • You can offer local organizations a discount for your products or services in exchange for a link provided on their website.
  • If there are local awards your business has received, you can show them on your site.
  • By giving scholarships to students, you can get links from universities and career sites by creating jobs from similar platforms.

Benefits of Click-through Rate (CTR)

It is not surprising that CTR is such a strong signal because it is used as one of the Quality Score metrics on Google's AdWords platform. He states that they will measure the user experience they get. Rand Fishkin did an interesting experiment with his Twitter followers to see the impact of the massive increase in click-through rate on search rankings. A site was listed at #7, and Rand tweeted, telling users to share that site's searches and results with him. 175 - 250 people participated in this experiment. At the end of the experiment, it was seen that the page was listed in the 1st place. Of course, it cannot be said with this experiment that Google's ranking factors are only click-through rates, but we can see that it has an effect.

What can be done to increase CTR? 

  • As we mentioned above, it should be ensured that Local Business markings are made with the schema.org site,
  • As we always say, the title should be targeting audience oriented and attractive,
  • Meta description structure should be descriptive,
  • URL structure should be optimized for keywords,
  • As we mentioned above, the reviews area should be created,
  • Our site must be mobile-compatible.