Local Search Optimization
Local SEO puts your business where it belongs—right in front of the people who need you most.
Local SEO is all about getting your business found by local customers. Remember the days of the phonebook when you’d flip it open and go through the list of businesses in alphabetical order? Well, not anymore! When you search for a local provider, search engines determine the best businesses and displays them in relevance and other ranking factors. The old way to manipulate the system (who remembers AAA Cab) doesn’t work anymore! Now it’s all about building trust with Google and other search engines. Oh, and a few good reviews doesn’t hurt anything either.
Local SEO is what drives new customers to local businesses like yours. Visibility on what’s known as the “Map Pack” or “Snack Pack.”
The snack pack is the block of the top three listings that appear below the map in local search results displayed after a search with local intent. For example, adding “near me” or a city modifier like “Austin, TX” will show you relevant, local results.
What is Google Business Profile (GBP)?
Previously known as Google My Business, Google Local, and for a short time, Google+ Local, Google Business Profile is, as the name suggests, your local business profile on Google.
Your GBP feeds information to various places, including the Map Pack and Google Maps search results. When searching for local businesses, you’re most likely familiar with its appearance in the top right of a web search (or the top of a mobile search).
This is the Knowledge Panel. The Knowledge Panel provides the searcher with all the information Google knows about your business.
The biggest key to local SEO is making your GBP profile as up-to-date and accurate as possible with primary and secondary categories listed.
Be sure to update it and complete as many sections as possible. The more complete the listing, the more Google trusts it.