Local SEO for Small Businesses

When you google something like “best Chinese restaurant” you don’t get a list of the best Chinese restaurants in America, you’re given a list of Chinese restaurants in your city. That’s local search engine optimization (SEO).
Local SEO processes, unlike national and international eCommerce sites, drive potential customers toward your business site within a specific geographical location. It’s an incredibly inexpensive and profitable tool for small businesses.
Some typical local search queries might include things like hotels near me, doctors near me, and restaurants near me. Let’s take a look at how small businesses can improve their chances of showing up on a local search query:
Choosing Location Keywords
Here’s an example of how a local SEO might work:Let’s say a dry cleaners in Virginia Highlands, a suburb in Atlanta wants to appear in the search results when someone needs to get their clothes done. This means they’ll have to rank organically for the keywords “dry cleaners.” but if they try to rank for the whole city of Atlanta, like “dry cleaners in Atlanta,” they won’t be able to reach customers close enough to their location.
With a more specific keyword search like “Virginia Highlands dry cleaners,” the business has a much better chance of capturing its audience and increasing its profits.
Besides keywords, other pieces of data also drive local search results to users. These local “SEO ranking signals” include things like:

• Number of social media shares
  
• Number of online reviews
  
• User’s location
  
• Google maps star rating
  

You Want Your Business To Appear in the Local Snack Pack
The local snack pack is those businesses that appear between the organic search results and the listings on a Google Map. 
Marketing research shows that about a third of organic clicks are for businesses that appear in the snack pack.
“Near me” searches are from people who are ready to buy. Getting your business among the top 3 organic search results can do wonders for your small business.