Local SEO Strategy: How to Win Search Engines

In the past, all of SEO was mostly about keywords. You could stuff and overstuff your content with keywords and call that an SEO strategy. However, search engines are becoming smarter and require a more comprehensive approach nowadays. Local SEO needs new tips these days, and we are ready to deliver!

Artificial Intelligence and Its Role in SEO Strategy

Artificial Intelligence or AI is very popular nowadays, and for a good reason. In the right hands, AI can be a marvelous tool. More and more often, users do not focus on search engines, instead expecting tools like ChatGPT to condense search results for them.

Importantly, AI is relevant for search engines, and it determines the way they rank content. In addition, you can leverage AI to study search engine results and glean information about how they work while also analyzing sentiment in ways that a human team cannot deliver. In addition, AI can help with competitor analysis, keyword discovery, and even your company’s Google Business Profile, as well as any other profiles you are using. Indeed, AI can help with suggestions on how to optimize your company’s profiles, as well as update them with relevant information in real time.

Answer Engine Optimization

Answer Engine Optimization, otherwise known as AEO, is the modern strategy of making content that would be optimized to appear in AI-powered search engine results. An example is Google’s AI Overviews and featured snippets. AI search results tend to be strategically placed toward the top of a search engine page, which makes them absolutely crucial for your SEO strategy. After all, potential customers may not scroll past the AI overview, which makes AEO indispensable. 

Key solutions to AEO include frequently asked questions, clear headings, as well as good structure for your content and concise answers to whatever questions a user might have. Remember to take into account voice searches, which are becoming more popular. They favor natural speech. In addition, schema markup, which is code that provides search engines with extra information about your page, is an important tool. 

AEO needs to be worked into your SEO strategy for best results in the modern AI-powered Internet.

Does Location Matter for Your SEO Strategy?

Location absolutely matters for SEO. If you provide your services to a location-specific demographic, your SEO should reflect that. It should also reflect you serving multiple locations. Here are a few recommendations.

• Landing pages that are specific to a particular location can be very useful! They should not just copy each other; invest in unique copy and media to make the content authentic. 
• Using Google Maps is a great idea! It will help customers find your location, and it will improve your SEO. This way, you also confirm that your business exists and is located precisely where you say it does.
• Google Business Profile is indispensable, but you do not need to limit yourself to it. Consider using business directories that exist for your local businesses. Examples can be Yelp and TripAdvisor (the one you use depends on your niche.) 
• Update your information! Make sure that all the data on your website is accurate and up to date. If you change your location, you need to reflect that on your website. 
• Google uses Map Packs, which are the 3 results from Google Maps that appear in the search results when a user seeks out local businesses. Map Packs come with a lot of useful information about the business, from address to pricing. To get into the Map Pack for your business direction, create location-specific content and update your local profiles.

Online Reviews

Search engines can be affected by reputation management, especially customer reviews. Customers also love to use reviews from fellow consumers to make purchasing decisions. Your search result rank often depends on reviews. Naturally, they are not entirely within your control, but you can still work on your reputation.

• Satisfied customers can leave good reviews, so encourage that! You do not need to tell them what they should write. But you can and should remind them that a review from them would help you greatly. You can do that through emails that follow a purchase, for example. Choose a good point in your relationship with a customer for a positive review and encourage them to leave one on various platforms.
• Respond to the reviews. Most review platforms allow you to respond to reviews. That is especially important for negative reviews. It shows that you care and are ready to hold yourself accountable.
• User reviews, especially negative ones, often contain valuable feedback, including some for your SEO. Do not throw away this opportunity! Monitor reviews, especially with SEO tools, if you can. They will help with analyzing sentiment and creating insightful reports. 

Local Events: The Highlight of Smart Local SEO

Your work with SEO does not ever end. One of the ways to boost your SEO is taking part in local events (possibly as a host or sponsor). That will help you create content while improving your visibility and getting more customers! Google and other search engines tend to focus on relevant information, and being up to date with local events helps that. Word-of-mouth is also a useful advertising channel, and it is fostered by local events. Finally, news coverage is very good for your company and SEO, with backlinks that are both high quality and relevant for your local presence. 

Remember that business is not always about competition. You can partner with other companies, and your collaboration will produce more attention while also generating all those backlinks. Cross-promotion is a very valid strategy for SEO.

Keywords: Researching and Targeting

Keywords are at the heart of any SEO strategy. Local keyword research is crucial for your business. 

• Study your competitors. They are doing some of the work for you. You can use the information you gain from their websites to learn suitable keywords. You can also see which ones they missed and target those.
• Google Search Console is very helpful for learning the ranking, views and searches that lead to your pages. Use this tool or other, similar ones to figure out how to make content that is tailored to your local SEO.
• It is very important not to only research keywords but also know how to use them. You should not overstuff your content with keywords. Use them deliberately and naturally, especially if you have location-specific pages. 

Monitor Your SEO strategy!

It is only natural to check how your SEO strategy is doing. You need to track your successes and losses, using that information to make your SEO better. Here are a few recommendations on that.

• Use tools like Google Looker Studio. Some of the metrics you might want to look at include impressions and clicks, as well as rankings for your pages. You do not have to invest in anything advanced. Just make sure that you are getting some reliable data about your SEO strategy’s performance.
• It may seem daunting, but you need to use engagement metrics that are more advanced than simple traffic. Do the visitors to your website leave quickly (have a high bounce rate)? What if they do not stay on the website (what is their time on page)? Do they not perform the action you are calling them to (what is the conversion rate)? Take care to gather all this data for a more complete picture.
• Treat your SEO strategy as an ongoing project. Keep creating content and checking its effectiveness. Measure your success and issues and make sure to update your profiles!

In Conclusion

Modern local SEO strategy calls for paying attention to AI and AEO. Reputation management (especially with reviews) and local events matter as well. Keyword search and natural use is at the heart of any SEO, local SEO included. And please remember that SEO strategies require analysis and monitoring along with continued improvement.