This is the age of digitization and every small business owner should have a knack of how to grow and promote their business locally using online platforms. Many small business owners have a perception that digital space is for big MNCs and not for them but this is not true at all. In this age, where the Internet is ruling the world, it is a must for every small business to have its presence in the online space.

 

You must have heard of the terms like Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization(SEO). Well, as the name suggests Digital Marketing refers to the marketing of all the products and services using online tools and technologies to reach a wider set of audience. Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is one of the most important parts of Digital Marketing. Local SEO is a type of SEO that helps to increase your online visibility for local searches. 

 

 

Let us understand in detail what these terms mean and how are they important for your business.

 

• What is SEO?

 

Whenever you want to know about anything under the sun, the first thing you do is to search it in a search engine like Google and when someone searches for any query, the aim of SEO is to make your webpage appear higher in the search results i.e. in their SERP(Search Engine Result Page) of the user. 

 

But how will it happen?

 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of enhancing the visibility of a website in the organic search results. This can be achieved by improving the rankings of your website by adding suitable keywords.

 

Keyword is a term that is searched multiple times on a search engine by the users. 

 

 

Also Read:-How To Get More Website Traffic For Your Small Business

SEO works on two main factors:

 

 

• Relevancy and Popularity of your webpage

Every content you are publishing on the Internet has to be optimized for a particular keyword. This increases the chances of Google picking up your content for SERP (Search Engine Result Page) but make sure the keywords in your content should be less than 3%.

 

•  Authority 

It is a measure to determine the quality of a website in terms of knowledge and popularity. Higher the authority, better the quality of the website.

 

Read:-8 Problems People Face While Ordering Online From Small Scale Businesses.

• So, then what is Local SEO and how to do SEO for small businesses?

 

Google shows search results as per the intent of the query fired by the user. When a search is made with the intent of finding local information like local schools, restaurants, hospitals, bakeries etc, the results are shown accordingly. 

 

However, keywords are necessary for local SEO, but there are also several other ranking factors. One of the factors that affect local SEO is NAP (Name Address Phone Number). Also, the business information given in Google My Business(GMB) plays an important in showing search results. 

 

Read:-4 Easy Tips On How To Sell Online In India

• How Local SEO is Important for Small Businesses? 

 

Generally, small and home-based businesses have their audiences in their local demographics. So, Local SEO is important for promoting these small businesses locally as it allows your business to appear in the search results of the local audience.

 

 

It helps you to reach your potential customers leading to an increase in brand awareness and generating more traffic. It is one of the effective strategies to optimize your website through local SEO. Majority of searches are made through mobile phones, so it is very important that the website is optimized for mobile phones. 

 

Read:-Why Customer Service Is Important For Your Small Business

• Conclusion

 

SEO is a small but one of the important part of Digital Marketing. In order to bring more traffic to the website, this is the first and foremost step. So it is advised to every business owner to have an idea of how to do local SEO for your business.