Get local SEO services that actually deliver

To be specific, local SEO is a strand of Search Engine Optimisation that is designed with the intention of ensuring local customers can find your business.

Therein, local businesses must optimise their content and site so that it ranks highly when a local search made within their niche is conducted.

This applies to businesses with both a physical presence and those that are based online but serve a localised region.

Successfully implemented local SEO services will expose a local business to a larger pool of highly motivated users, with a higher potential for providing custom, inside said target area.

Why is local SEO important?

Local SEO is important because it helps to place your local business in front of highly motivated, niche-specific potential customers based within your specific geographical area.

46% of all searches on search engines contain local intent. As such, a solid, local SEO strategy stands to double your audience.

Is a local SEO campaign worth paying for?

Absolutely, a strong, white-hat local SEO strategy or campaign is definitely worth paying for.

Why? Because with the correct expertise, planning and implementation, the ROI (Return of Investment) will far outweigh the initial cost of a local SEO strategy and has the potential to futureproof a business for many years to come.

Which elements of local SEO can I do myself?

In theory, with the right knowledge, time and motivation, you can implement the majority of local SEO elements yourself.

However, due to the complex nature of local search engine optimisation and its constituent parts, the guidance and tutorship of an agency are recommended for those new to the practice.

How will SEO improve my number of local customers?

SEO improves the number of local customers by optimising your business and its online content in the eyes of Google.

In turn, with increased value, authority and relevance, Google will rank your business higher in its SERPs for locally relevant searches, thus directing more customers towards your and your company.

Which other SEO types should local SEO be combined with for the best results?

For the best possible results, local SEO should be combined with the following other types of SEO:

‍On-Page Optimisation: optimising every visible aspect of your website for the best possible results.
‍Off-Page Optimisation: optimising and utilising all tools and aspects available externally to your website, e.g. social media, backlinks etc.
‍Technical Optimisation: involves the improvement of website speed, mobile-friendliness and site architecture to appease Google's crawlers most sufficiently.

Local keyword research

If keyword research is the process of discovering the words and phrases that your target audience uses to find an answer to a query, local keyword research is the process of doing so with the added focus of a particular geographic location.For example, while a traditional keyword might register as "boiler repair", a local keyword would perhaps be "boiler repair Brisbane" or, depending on the degree of specificity and type of keyword (long tail/short tail) that you wish to rank for, "boiler repair Alderley Brisbane".With that in mind, there are 2 major reasons why localised keyword research is a vital part of SEO Partners local SEO services.

‍The first is that a large proportion of users who conduct local searches do so with the intent of visiting or utilising that local service/business within the next 12-24 hours.

Users receive personalised local search results when they use search engines. As such, the proximity/location of a business often determines both the ranking of search results and indeed which business the user chooses to visit.

‍Rank highly for local keywords and your business stands to benefit greatly from increased local traffic. That is exactly what an SEO Partners local SEO campaign will secure.

Competitor analysis

Tied inextricably to Keyword Research, Competitor Analysis sees a digital marketer or local SEO company conduct extensive background research into their competition, competitor local SEO techniques and the successes and failures therein.

These types of techniques are important because they enable the marketer to:

‍Understand market conditions better
Find and take advantage of untapped opportunities
Monitor potential future competition
Refine and devise better strategies
Develop competitive barriers
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The ultimate goal, therefore, is to pool this data and use it to beat your competition, adapting and combining established techniques with your own ideas in order to fire your way up the local search results and outcompete your rivals.

That being said, here at SEO Partners, we also recognise that a business's competition also can be its greatest strength. With that in mind, where appropriate, our experts will use Competitor Analysis data to forge symbiotic business relationships that are beneficial to your cause.

After all, your competition already has access to an established niche userbase. Sharing in that can give your business a leg up in your market.

Locally optimised content

High-quality content is pivotal to any SEO campaign and, as such, a local SEO strategy is no different.

Happily, both localised keyword research and competitor analysis are conducive to creating locally optimised content that will act as the glue for all other aspects of your campaign.

With that in mind, Google (and indeed other search engines) prizes relevance above all else. Thus, when its robots crawl your website, relevant, informative content that answers its users' queries will see your business rank higher in its results.

Consequently, a high-quality local search engine optimisation strategy should see your site flooded with relevant, valuable, engaging and actionable content.

Here at SEO Partners, our highly optimised local content manifests in several formats, including:

‍Unique Service/Product Pages - ensuring each service and/or product that you provide has its own unique page and content optimised using local keyword and competition research.
‍Location Specific Landing Page(s) - if you're a multi-location local business, we'll create location-specific landing pages for each and every premise.
‍Active Blogging - blogs are a fantastic tool through which you can link, internally, to other more specific pages on your site. Regularly produce this type of relevant, supplemental content and Google will recognise it, yielding authority, ranking and traffic.
‍FAQ Pages - with voice search revolutionising the way people navigate search engine queries, more and more people use this method to conduct local searches. Optimised FAQ pages help your business rank for a multitude of niche and location-specific queries.

Local Link building

While Google constantly updates and tweaks its algorithm in order to penalise irrelevance and black-hat techniques, Link-Building remains a pillar of calm in an everchanging SEO sea.

With that in mind, the benefits of a premium, white-hat link-building strategy are almost unrivalled in terms of impact.

As a result, if local businesses are able to implement a localised link-building plan successfully, they stand to:

‍Attract relevant, local audiences in greater numbers
Increase brand visibility and creditability
Improve search engine ranking
Establish lucrative and valuable relationships with others in their niche
Boost sales
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Consequently, the value of a strong link-building plan to a local SEO marketer cannot be overstated. At SEO Partners, our goal-orientated local SEO services will see our team of experts conduct a thorough audit of your current link-building strategy to build a picture of its health.

Once gathered, the data collected will be combined with market and competitor research and other white-hat link-building techniques to devise a premium link-building strategy tailored to your niche and need.

Comprehensive strategies

Ultimately, a successful Search Engine Optimisation strategy requires a multitude of finely tuned parts.

Like a well-oiled machine, if you can devise and implement local SEO practices that involve thoroughly researched local keywords, competitor analysis, optimised content and a solid link-building plan to boot, you'll see an increase in authority, ranking, traffic and sales.

That's why the SEO Partners team only deals in producing the most comprehensive local SEO services possible.

Moreover, by means of conducting thorough site audits and extensive research on your behalf, our experts will refine your SEO successes and repair your site's SEO failings to produce a local online presence that is perfectly optimised for your target market.

SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.

Sustainability and longevity are therefore two of the most important qualities of a successful and valuable local search engine optimisation strategy.

A short-term plan may indeed lead your traffic, ranking and even sales to rise initially. However, if you and your local SEO services haven't planned to maintain this success and even build upon it, soon your strategy will become outdated, your traffic and ranking dwindle, and your success dissipates.

This is due in part to several reasons.

One such cause is that Google updates its ranking algorithm every day with minor tweaks and fixes while also implementing large-scale changes on an almost biannual basis.

Another is that search engine optimisation is all about relevance and meeting your userbase's demands. If your content, service and/or product meets the demands that your users had last week, month or year, you fast become irrelevant and both Google and your users will recognise this.

Developing high-quality, relevant and actionable strategy regularly should therefore be a priority of any local SEO plan and you mustn't settle for less.

Moreover, short-term, high-yield SEO plans and proposals should throw up a red flag as they often involve black-hat techniques. These are practices that violate Google's algorithmic guidelines and thus will very quickly see your business penalised, setting you back further than before.

Happily, SEO Partners specialises in producing bespoke, sustainable local Search engine optimisation strategies for all Aussie areas.

So if you'd like a futureproof plan, tailor-made for success, get in touch!

Not using Google My Business

Google My Business is a free application dedicated to listing local businesses in Google's local search results.

More specifically, Google My Business is designed to help owners establish the presence of their company online in local search results.

Thus, the highest-ranked business that has successfully listed through Google My Business will see its digital business card displayed on the right side of the local search results.

This provides authority and relevant information, including opening times, mapped location, contact details and reviews directly to users. This additional convenience and authority increase the likelihood of a user pursuing their intent with the listed business immediately.

Admittedly many of the most established companies in the world have a listing on Google My Business. However, each and every business has the opportunity to achieve a prominent listing position, within its niche, if it gets its market and location-specific SEO basics right.

As a result, Google My Business can enhance your business listing in SERPs, help optimise your business for mobile and local searches and can provide an advantage over market competition that don't use it.

Consequently, not registering for Google My Business can be hugely detrimental to your local search business listing.

No address

Local SEO is all about attracting an increasingly large, niche audience to your local business in a specified location.

Failure to provide your address, both through Google My Business and indeed any local SEO content, can be a singularly devastating mistake to make when trying to secure increased traffic.

It cannot be stressed enough that Google and its users desire relevance and convenience.

A lack of address fundamentally undermines that convenience and any other SEO services you have employed; after all, if users can't find you, they will opt to visit a business that they can.

This translates to your local citations and indeed Google My Business details. Together, these search engine features display the physical premises or area of operation of top-ranking businesses so that users can immediately access the service they desire.

Fail to provide an address and your ranking will suffer and, by proxy, your business.

Poor content

As we've discussed, Google prioritises relevance.

As such, there is scarcely a more crucial factor of local SEO than the quality of your content. In this context, quality content means it's:

‍Readable
Engaging
Informative
Concise
Valuable
Actionable
Relevant
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It goes without saying, then, that one mustn't sacrifice readability to stuff as many keywords in as possible. Not only is this a turn off for your users, but Google will penalise you for a lack of quality.

Likewise, if your content doesn't answer your target audience's queries/needs in a concise way that is relevant and actionable, then your ranking will also suffer.

Make it memorable, make it valuable and don't waffle.

Duplicate content

For many digital marketers, the temptation can be to duplicate content that has either proved successful for them or their competitors in the past. Don't.

Your returning userbase will quickly recognise that you're just serving up the same information to them and Google will also pick up on what, for all intents and purposes, is a practice that violates its guideline.

Duplicated content immediately loses value, relevance and purpose. Stay abreast of your marketplace's needs and produce valuable content accordingly.

That isn't to say that republishing old content has no virtue whatsoever - if you give a genuine update to old content that legitimately adds value, then, of course, add it in and republish. However, there must be reasonable grounds to do so!

Likewise, if you see an article by a rival, in an area you want to cover and think you could do better, then do so but do so in your own words. Duplicating the competition is not only plagiarism but also pointless - how is a copy of another's article going to improve upon the original?

Black-hat tactics

Black-hat tactics are those which violate Google's guidelines. They include actions such as keyword stuffing, building irrelevant links and, as we've discussed, duplicating old content.

To new digital marketers, and in particular, those who have limited knowledge of local SEO practices, black-hat tactics and the agencies that provide them can be an appealing prospect.

Promises of a rapid rise to prominence increased ranking and heightened conversion rates would draw in any businessperson.

However, any success gained by the implementation of such techniques is short-term. Practices that violate Google's guidelines will be caught out and when they are, those who employ them will be penalised.

Improve visibility in your area

It's estimated that 46% of Google searches indicate that the user has local intent, and that includes those searching within your niche and local area.

As such, if you haven't implemented a strong local SEO strategy, your business stands to miss out on a huge chunk of potential custom.

‍Why? Because one of the greatest benefits of a high-quality local SEO strategy is that it exposes your business to this potentially huge, untapped, niche-specific audience.

What's more, optimise for local search results well and it'll also demonstrate that your local business is the best available, in its niche, in the region.

Thus, with increased visibility and footfall, your conversion rates stand to rise.

Build a community around your business

Another of the greatest benefits and, indeed, weapons that local SEO can add to a marketer's arsenal, is its ability to build a community around local businesses.

If your business provides quality to the increasing traffic and customer base attracted through local SEO, your business has the opportunity to gain autonomous, community-based marketing.

Happy customers will inform others within the local region of your business's value, thus creating a self-sufficient, growing community of clients at the centre of which lies your business.

Essentially, Local SEO can set up the parameters for your local and niche community to build up that most valuable of commodities: trust. Within any local market, a trusting community is a returning community.

Thus, it isn't unreasonable to say that a successful and strong local SEO campaign has the ability to weave your business into the fabric of your community and yield consistent traffic and turnover.

Improve the relevancy of your traffic

From the outside, a high level of traffic can appear to be indicative of a successful SEO campaign. However, unless that traffic is pre-disposed to interest in your niche, the likelihood of converting it into sales is low.

Thus, the relevancy of your traffic is vital and local SEO can help channel the relevant local clientele towards your niche local business.

It does this by optimising your content to rank more highly for keywords and user queries specifically relevant to your local area and niche. For example, if you sell coffee, local SEO will ensure that your coffee shop and its location will appear atop the relevant user's local search.

This demonstrates the value of your business in your target area, to your target audience and why it is relevant and convenient to their needs.

Stated more plainly: Increased relevant traffic = increased conversion rates.

Increase return customers

We touched on this slightly earlier, however, it is worth mentioning again.

Local SEO techniques contribute greatly to an invaluable marketing phenomenon: increased returning customers.

Once your business's visibility, relevant traffic and community presence increases, trust amongst your target market will rise as members of your local community come to recognise your service/product as more than just "another" business.

The value of building a community around your business within your community can not be overstated, then. Hence, a successful local SEO campaign will establish a consistent, returning pool of customers who guarantee income for your business and guarantee autonomous, word of mouth marketing.

Once a business becomes a pillar of its community, either physically or online, the opportunity for growth is immeasurable.

Authority and goodwill will ensure a constant flow of returning customers while expanding your customer base and establishing your brand as the go-to in your area.

It all starts with premium-quality, local SEO services.

Avoid expensive advertising campaigns

Advertising campaigns can be incredibly expensive, even at a local level.

Whether you're paying for a radio placement, television advertisement or even something as simple as a leafleting campaign, the costs of production and labour can be astronomical and the Return of Investment minimal.

What's more, while these sorts of more traditional marketing methods aren't without virtue, they're not as definitively effective as local SEO.

The vast majority of your target market will have access to the internet, either via means of a smart device or computer. Moreover, today, when users require a product, service, or answer to a query, the vast majority draw on the resource of online search engines.

As such, if you can successfully get your business to rank highly in local SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), then you secure a direct link between users and your market.

Not only is this a cheaper, more efficient means of getting your brand noticed by your audience, but it also simplifies the process of sustaining growth, as long-term local SEO services require less financial and laborious maintenance than other marketing techniques.

Consequently, with a successful local SEO campaign in place, you'll pay less to gain more.