Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What Is Local SEO & How Is It Different from Regular Website SEO?

A: You may not know how it works, but you’re probably familiar with search engine optimisation (SEO): The process of getting your website to rank high in Google for relevant search phrases.

With local SEO, there is a slight twist: Instead of focusing exclusively on your website, you’re also going to focus on your Google My Business profile page. That’s because Google displays business pages (along with a map highlighting where the businesses are located) for many locally-focused search phrases.

For example, search for “dentist near me” and you’ll see what what we mean. There will be a map and the top 3 optimised dentists’ names, addresses, phone numbers and reviews will be right at the top of the 1st page of Google. That information is coming from their respective Google My Business page.

So, the key difference between local SEO and regular website SEO is that you need to optimise both your website and your Google My Business profile page to compete in local SEO.

Q: How Do You Force Google to Display Business Results?

A: Unfortunately, the answer is you can’t…

If you search a relevant keyword and Google is not listing the map with business profile pages, then there is no way to force Google to show your business page. Instead, you’ll need to optimise a page on your website using regular website SEO tactics.

For this reason, it’s important to always double-check the Google results page for your relevant search phrases before launching a local SEO campaign. If Google is not ranking Google My Business profile pages, then local SEO is not the best approach.

Q: What Types of Businesses Can Use Local SEO?

A: The basic rule of thumb is that local SEO is a good opportunity for any business that interacts in-person with customers, clients, or patients. If you never meet in-person, then it’s possibly not a good fit.

Local SEO is not appropriate for 100% e-commerce businesses. That’s because there is no physical location for customers to visit the store.

Think about how annoying it would be to see e-commerce businesses listed when you’re searching for a nearby coffee shop. You want a place to grab a cup of coffee, not an online store to get coffee beans delivered.

Q: How Do You Compete In Cities and Towns Outside Of Your Physical Location?

A: With local SEO, the location of your office or store is a big factor in the ranking algorithm. Again, think about this from the perspective of the person searching.

If I’m searching for coffee in London’s east end, then it doesn’t help me to see businesses that are really far away. Google knows this and that’s why the location of the person searching versus the actual location of the business is a big factor in local SEO.

That means you’ll have an advantage ranking in Google when your prospective customers are searching near your business location. The further away the prospect is searching, the less likely you’ll rank on the first page.

It’s not impossible to rank in cities outside of your physical location (for example, you can create pages on your website for your target location), but you need to realise you’re fighting an uphill battle with local SEO. If everything else is equal, then the business closer to the person searching is likely going to have the advantage.

This is where the traditional organic local keyword phrases come in eg: ‘plumbers in Canterbury’.

Q: What are the Benefits of Local SEO?

A: There are a lot of benefits to undertaking Local SEO on your business and website:

• Local SEO positions you as big fish in a small pond, cornering your local market.
  
• Grants a higher success rate since the pool of clients is typically small and niche.
  
• Repeat business will happen more often.
  
• Word of mouth still works and will help tremendously (reviews).
  
• Grants the option to get more calls from clients that want work done ASAP.
  
• Build long term relationships with your customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat customers.
  
• Local SEO will help build a clientele faster.

Q: How does your 90 day money-back refund work?

A: We will provide you with a full refund of all money you have invested with us for your Local SEO in the first 90 days of your contract if we cannot provide visible proof that we have improved your website’s domain authority and/or your rankings on Google for the keywords we are targeting for you during this time.