Wherever you are, there you are. As trite (yet true) as this might be, if you are a local business, you want the world—or more importantly your local consumers and customers—to know exactly where “THERE” is. Enter Local SEO.

What is Local SEO?

SEO is SEO is SEO. Right? Not exactly. Local SEO does what the name suggests. Based on what customers are searching for, Local SEO matches them with businesses nearby based on their current geographic location.

So, if you are in Baltimore, MD and you want a crab cake, your search will show you where to get said crab cake in the Baltimore. And if you are the owner of the crab cake shack and have well thought-out local SEO strategy, the more likely you are to be one of the crab cake restaurants in Baltimore, MD that shows up in the hungry crab lover’s search.

Where to Start?

Google My Business, is a good place to kick it off. In fact: it’s a prerequisite. Chances are you have already done some homework and have created this page and optimized it to the hilt. If you haven’t, here’s a couple of quick pointers on how to boost it a little:

  • Keep it consistent. Ensure your contact details—Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP) —appears the same way 100% of the time.
  • A comprehensive, not “borrowed”, well-formatted business description (with links)
  • Choose your business/service category wisely.
  • Be photo heavy. Of the quality, hi-res variety.
  • Use local, not 800, phone number(s).
  • Schema-enable your contact details. Help those search engines to show your business info accurately.
  • Business hours and hours of operation. Get them in (if applicable).
  • Get them from your customers. A lot of them. Make sure they are (mostly) good if you can manage it.

If you need more, there’s always the 17-point Local SEO Audit Phase 1: Google My Business page Moz article.

For more information,  read the rest of Local SEO – Get Found In Your Own Backyard..