If you own a business in a certain city, it is highly beneficial to optimize your Google Business Profile and website for local keywords. Local keywords help local businesses get found in Google Maps and are often long-tail searches. To make your website more visible, consider adding a map feature. There are several steps you need to take to optimize your website for local keywords. If you follow these steps, you can expect your website to rank well in local search results.

A local search on Google makes up nearly 46 percent of all searches. This means that local businesses are missing out on a large portion of customers. And, as a result, local SEO is more important than ever. People will look for a local business daily, weekly, or monthly, and nearly three-quarters will visit a store within a five-mile radius of the search. Without a good local SEO strategy, they won’t know about you.

When optimizing for local search, you must be specific to local customers. “Near me” doesn’t do much for local SEO, so make sure to use more local terms. Voice searches account for 20% of mobile searches, so try to be as specific as possible. Local SEO also takes into account the fact that 20% of searches are voice-based, which tends to be longer and use natural language. By using relevant local terms, you’ll be seen in local search results.

Google has revealed that it collects reviews on local businesses from social media sites and consumer directories. Make sure your business gets good reviews on these sites so that you can boost your ranking in local search results. Similarly, Moz lists link signals as one of the top factors influencing local search results. Hence, building links with domains relevant to the location of your business is vital for local SEO. Also, you must optimize your Google My Business listing.

Creating a well-designed website is another essential step in local SEO. A well-designed website will draw attention to your business and help your website rank higher in organic search results. Furthermore, it will make people stay longer on your website. That means investing in a web design is highly recommended. Your website should be easy to navigate, so visitors will have an easy time finding it. So, take your time and get your site optimized! If you don’t do this, your audience will lose interest and you’ll soon find yourself out of business.

While focusing on local SEO, it’s important to maintain a presence on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You can also engage in local reviews, as they are very important for local search results. Google gives the best spot to businesses with more reviews and higher star ratings on their business pages. Although getting the highest review score doesn’t guarantee you top placement, it definitely helps. In addition, you’ll be able to get higher organic search rankings, which will help you appear in The Map Pack.