What is local SEO?

When we talk about local Search Engine Optimization, we’re referring to the process of making sure all the online elements of your business are optimized, so that your search result appears in front of an extremely relevant audience at a time when they’re displaying interest in your product or service.

In the case of local SEO, that relevant audience is someone that is currently, or will be, in the same vicinity as your business. When you visit Google and enter a term, the goal of Google is to provide you with the best possible result.  If they keep delivering what you are hoping for in the first few results, you’ll continue to conduct your searches on their system. All the search engines are motivated to deliver the best possible result. It’s how they make their money. So when you enter a search term, in an instant, the search engines have to make a determination.

Is this something the user would want near them? Or is this something global? Looking for a computer is very different than looking for an SEO company. If I’m in Los Angeles, a computer store in Atlanta is likely not what I’m looking for. However, an SEO company can be everywhere regardless of location. But how do search engines differentiate? In an extremely simplistic explanation, a computer store is clearly a category of a business that would be local, an SEO company is not. How they know the difference between those words is a course in itself.

But that’s how it matters for you. What matters is that the search engines know you’re a computer store and not an SEO company, that’s local SEO. Together, we’re going to explain more how to provide the search engines with the right information so that you not only show up when someone is looking for you but that you’re provided with the tools to show up on top.