What is Local Search?

What is Local Search?

As a branch of SEO, Local Search is a process, or series of processes, designed to optimise a website within a specific geographical locality.

The primary benefit of Local Search is that it increases your website’s visibility when people look for businesses and services within their area. This helps to narrow your site’s focus, whilst helping to ensure that it is seen by consumers who are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

Optimising a site for Local Search involves many of the same techniques as conventional SEO. Primarily you need to anchor your website to a certain location, how specific this is can be determined by you. It can be achieved through alterations to the content, signing up to local business directories and implementing geotagging (a process that includes adding global coordinates within your website’s Meta).

Just as with SEO, the results can vary and won’t necessarily happen immediately. However, with a stronger local presence you will be better able to tap into a market that is stripped of global competitors and reach out to your surrounding community directly.

Local Search is very much about increasing your site’s focus without damaging your wider optimisation programmes. It is the perfect complement to SEO and other online marketing procedures. Because it won’t interfere with the readability of your content, it is largely invisible too. Therefore if you’re looking to get noticed wherever you are, Local Search can provide the ideal solution.