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Local SEO is a necessity based on my past experiences as an SEO Copywriter. I help many companies and local businesses find more clients and have more impact, and today I will show you the best strategies I’ve found.

When it comes to growing your small business, there’s no better way to connect with nearby customers than through Local SEO. So, it’s your website, your blog posts, social media, and how fast they find your business.  

In this guide, I’ll share everything you need to know about Local SEO in 2024—from its importance to actionable tips, and even a sneak peek into 2025 trends. Let’s dive in!

Local SEO: What is it?

Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing your online presence to attract more customers from relevant local searches. Still confused? Let’s break it down.

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a set of strategies designed to attract more interested people to your company. For example, by working with this set of strategies, when people from your city or state search for your services and products, they will find you.

Based on my experience, this is a medium-to-long-term game, but at the same time, once you put in the effort, you will get more clients and leads over time.

Think about it—when someone searches for “coffee shop near me,” for example, or “best plumber in Everett, Massachusetts,” Local SEO is what helps businesses show up in those results.

It involves optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), using location-specific keywords, and ensuring your website meets local search requirements. Don’t worry, I will show you how to do it in this ultimate guide.

Essentially, Local SEO ensures you’re visible where it matters most: in front of local customers who are ready to buy.

Local SEO: Is it important?

In one word: Absolutely. Because your business will gain so many advantages that you can’t even imagine, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

However, it’s not just because it’s an opportunity, but in today’s world, you will need to have local SEO for your business because your competitors are doing the same. Especially if you’re in a big city where your competitors are so close.

Once, I worked for a pest control company in the south of my country (Brazil), and they had three big competitors. However, I was responsible for writing the blog posts, so for the people in this state, pest control was the best option—not because of me.

Think about it: if you have a friend who says a movie is good, you’re likely to watch it. If your friend says another movie is terrible, you’ll avoid it. But how many movies have you never heard about?

What I’m saying is local SEO, and this includes content like blog posts, helps shape the perception of people. And then you gain a real advantage over competitors who don’t use these strategies.

The pest control company I worked for had so many articles every week that everyone who searched on Google for them would only see them—not the competitors.

In summary, local SEO is essential for your business, and then you will have more advantages:

• Higher Visibility: After all, as I said, if you’re not showing up, your competitors are.
• Increased Traffic: Local searches are often made by people with high purchase intent. They’re not just browsing; they’re ready to act.
• Mobile Search Growth: With smartphones being ubiquitous, local “near me” searches continue to soar.
• Trust and Credibility: Appearing in local results boosts your business’s trustworthiness.

Local SEO isn’t just important; it’s essential. It levels the playing field, allowing small businesses to compete with larger ones on a local level.

Local SEO: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

In my opinion, before we know how to do something, we first need to understand how to NOT do something. By understanding the mistakes to avoid, you will be on the right path.

I learned this when I read Human Action, a treatise on economics by Ludwig von Mises, where Mises, in the first 100 pages, focuses solely on defining human action. Sounds like a lot, I can tell, but I will show you just the top 5 mistakes to avoid.

1. Ignoring Google Business Profile: Not claiming or optimizing your Google Business Profile can cost you significant local traffic.
2. Inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number): Ensure your contact information is consistent across all online platforms. So, every time you change one form of contact, update it immediately.
3. Keyword Overload: Stuffing location-based keywords everywhere doesn’t help—it can actually hurt your rankings.
4. Neglecting Reviews: Customer reviews are crucial for local rankings. Don’t leave them to chance.
5. Not Optimizing for Mobile: Most local searches happen on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing potential customers.

If you don’t know, Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) allows businesses to manage their online presence on Google Search and Google Maps. With it, you can show your business information, improve visibility, showcase your products, and so on.

Avoiding these pitfalls can make a significant difference in your local search performance. Now that you have this understanding, I can show you the local SEO strategies.

Local SEO Strategies: The Top 3

As I said at the beginning of our article, SEO is a set of strategies, which means you use some of them to achieve a specific goal in mind. Now, I will show you the top 3 strategies.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

As I said above, the Google Business Profile is essential for your business because it will show the most important information about it. The best part is that you don’t need a website, but I highly recommend that you have one. If you don’t have an account, follow these steps:

1. Click here to access the website, click on “Sign in” at the top right of the page.
2. Log in with your Google account, and make sure it’s the account for your business. My recommendation is to differentiate your personal account from your business account.
3. Enter your business name, add your business address, and provide a physical address. This is important because Google uses this to verify your business.
4. Select your business type, either service provider or storefront. Keep in mind that service providers can set a service area instead of displaying a full address.
5. Select your primary business category.
6. Add your phone number and website, which I highly recommend you have in the near future if you don’t already have one.
7. Verify your business listing. Google will usually send a postcard with a verification code to confirm your address.

Okay, now you have a Google Business Profile, but the strategy is to optimize and keep track of this profile. In my experience, most business owners just create an account and forget about it.

So, the core of the strategy is using this profile not just to attract more leads, but actually to build trustworthiness by:

• Add high-quality photos, a compelling business description, and accurate service categories.
• Post regular updates about events, promotions, or news.
• Encourage customers to leave reviews and respond to them promptly.

Leverage Local Keywords

A keyword is a phrase or a word that summarizes your content and, at the same time, aligns with the search terms people enter into Google. Local keywords are simply keywords that focus on a specific geographic location.

For example, “plumber in Boston” or “plumber near me.” Usually, local keywords target specific locations, like a city or state. Local keywords have intent, such as “emergency dentists in São Paulo,” for instance.

We use local keywords especially in articles or descriptions. So, every time someone searches for this term on Google, your website will appear. To implement this strategy, just follow this step-by-step:

1. Research terms that your target audience uses.
2. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to find localized keywords with strong search intent.
3. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website, blog, and meta descriptions.

This process is what we call keyword research. Click here to see my content about how to do keyword research, it’s a full guide in 3 steps!

Build Local Citations

Local citations are online mentions of your business, especially the business’s name, address, and phone number. After all, these are the main ways to find your business and, hopefully, drive sales.

The best way to build local citations is to create content about your services and products with local keywords. However, you can achieve good results by collaborating with local blogs and influencers.

Basically, pay them to create content and mention your business. At the same time, it’s beneficial for you to get listed in local directories (e.g., Yelp, TripAdvisor) for more mentions.

This process is called off-page SEO. Click here to view my content about what off-page SEO is for websites and the key elements involved.

Keep in mind that NAP (business’s name, address, and phone number) should be consistent across all platforms and blog posts.

Local SEO 2025: The Importance of Customer Reviews

I’m looking ahead to 2025, and customer reviews will play an even bigger role in Local SEO. Google’s algorithm increasingly prioritizes businesses with positive reviews. Why? Because reviews are a strong signal of trust and quality. Period.

Like I said above in my example, if a friend tells you that a movie is worth watching, you’ll probably watch it if you like what you heard.

So, if you have a good number of customers but don’t have reviewers, it’s a problem. However, at the same time, it’s a solution because you can ask those customers to leave a review for you.

However, even more important is giving feedback. Respond to all reviews, even if they are negative, to understand what can be done to improve your business. At the same time, showcase those positive testimonials on your website.

The sooner you start, the more reviews you’ll have to boost your rankings in the coming years. The good part is that once you have those reviews, you can showcase them wherever you want and build even more trust and reputation.

Local SEO for Multi-Location Businesses: Best Practices

Managing Local SEO for a business with multiple locations can be tricky. The pest control company I worked for had four locations, if I remember correctly, in different cities in the state. However, here’s how to do it effectively:

1. Create Separate Location Pages: Each location should have its own page with unique content, including location-specific keywords. You don’t need to build a website for all of them, just a page.
2. Maintain Individual Google Business Profiles: Each location needs a dedicated profile with accurate information. In addition to that, every manager needs to follow the tips I gave above for better results, and those results will compound.
3. Encourage Local Reviews: Make it easy for customers to leave reviews for specific locations. You can use Google Forms, a WordPress plugin, or simply give the link to the Google Business Profile.

Consistency across all platforms is the key to making multi-location Local SEO work seamlessly. In the beginning, it’s hard, but keep in mind that it’s a long-term game with compound results.

Local SEO: How to Get Quality Links?

Building quality backlinks is crucial for Local SEO. Backlinks are part of off-page SEO, as I mentioned above, and they occur when other websites link to your site. This can be wonderful for attracting even more customers and helps a lot with local SEO.

Over time, your website will naturally gain more backlinks because of the content. However, you can do a few things to encourage this effect earlier, and here’s how to do it effectively:

• Partner with Local Businesses: Collaborate on events or promotions and exchange links. This can be great for delivering more accurate information about an industry, which can be really beneficial.
• Sponsor Community Events: Many event websites list sponsors with backlinks and content about those businesses.
• Write Guest Posts: Contribute valuable content to local blogs or industry sites, like Quora, for example.

Remember that quality over quantity is the golden rule here, because there are some bad backlinks, and you need to focus on earning links from trusted, locally relevant sites.

Local SEO Checklist for 2024: What You Need to Know!

We are almost at the end of this ultimate guide, and I hope that this guide has helped you a lot. So, here’s a checklist to help you know what you need to do first and stay ahead of the competition:

1. Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
2. Ensure NAP consistency across all platforms.
3. Use localized keywords strategically.
4. Optimize for mobile and voice searches.
5. Build and maintain a strong backlink profile.
6. Regularly update content to stay relevant.
7. Create a website and make content about your products and services.
8. Engage with customers through reviews and social media.

This checklist will keep your Local SEO game strong in 2024 and beyond. Keep in mind that it’s a checklist you can use in the future to ensure that everything is on the right track.

Local SEO Content: How to Optimize?

One of the key elements for local SEO is content, like articles, for example. Content is king, especially nowadays. However, I’m not saying this just as an SEO Copywriter, but as someone who has a professional website that publishes content every week.

I know the benefits and the challenges you will go through, and I will give you just the highlights for this content.

• Create Location-Specific Blog Posts: Highlight local events, attractions, or industry trends. At the same time, create articles that show information about how your client can fix a problem right now. After all, this is the only way to build trust.
• Optimize Service Pages: Include location-based keywords in titles, meta descriptions, and headers. Use Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner to do that.
• Leverage User-Generated Content: Encourage customers to share their experiences on your site or social media. Especially videos, because you can turn them into text endorsements as well.
• Visual Content Matters: Use original, high-quality images and videos to showcase your products or services in local settings.

Did you like our content about local SEO? Share it! And don’t forget to check out the brand-new articles we have on the blog to learn more and achieve the best results with your website.