The Rising Importance of Local SEO for SMBs

Many businesses were forced to make unforeseen changes as a result of the pandemic, abruptly altering their day-to-day operations. Consumer spending habits also shifted significantly, with social distancing measures leading to increased curbside pickup and online shopping. To remain competitive, many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) had to quickly rebuild their websites or pursue new online marketing strategies.

Restaurants and grocery stores weren't the only businesses affected. With the significant surge of Canadians opting for online shopping, many businesses scrambled to accommodate. Even now, consumers continue to shift toward buying everything online.

For a business to thrive—and in certain cases, even survive—there was a sudden need to refocus digital marketing efforts. For SMBs in local markets like Calgary, this often means embracing a strategy focused on search engine optimization (SEO).

Local search should be a key focus for SMBs to drive organic traffic, attract new customers, and outperform competitors online—particularly Google given their dominance of over 90% of the global search market.

This post covers the benefits of adopting a solid local SEO strategy to remain competitive during this ongoing digital transition.

Reasons to Consider Stepping Up Your SEO Strategy

Some SMBs view SEO as an extravagant expense, while others question its return on investment. If you're not yet convinced of the importance of local SEO, here are five compelling reasons to adjust your strategy.

Improve Search Visibility

How visible is your business on Google? Many businesses leave potential customers on the table by neglecting organic search.

Businesses generate organic traffic by ranking for keywords and search queries relevant to their products or services. However, to rank highly enough in search results to make a meaningful impact, you'll need a targeted SEO strategy—or at least cover the basics.

Long Term Benefits

Have you tried pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns with Google Ads? Many businesses experience a quick spike in traffic, followed by a plateau.

In contrast, building organic search traffic by targeting relevant keywords is more sustainable, productive, and cost-effective in the long run. Organic visibility takes time to build but delivers consistent, lasting results.

Generate and Convert More Leads

Consider the products or services your business provides. By approaching your offerings from unique perspectives and creating targeted content, you can reach diverse customer segments.

Conducting keyword research and creating content tailored to different demographics allows you to address specific needs and increase your visibility. People turn to search engines to find useful information, solve problems, and answer questions. By effectively addressing these needs, you increase your chances of appearing prominently in search results, driving more clicks, and converting more leads.

Edge Out Your Competition

Even if you're not currently leading your industry's organic search presence, it's never too late. Analyze the websites ranking on the first page of search results for your niche. Who's at the top, and what are they doing right?

Your competitors may have informative content, an authoritative web presence, or high-quality backlinks. Identify opportunities where you can create better content or landing pages to surpass competitors and improve your rankings.

Paid Searches Cost More & Convert Less

Compared to organic search, paid searches often fall short. Many users ignore paid ads in favor of organic results. While paid search has its place, organic visibility offers greater long-term value and higher conversion rates.

How to Improve Your Local SEO

Hopefully, you now see the importance of building a solid SEO strategy. Once you embrace this opportunity, it's time to get down to business, and that means some old-fashioned hard work.

Analyze Your Competition

To beat your competition, you need to understand what they're doing right. Identify your local competitors by searching for "best (type of business)" and narrowing results to your area. Analyze their keywords, backlinks, site structure, and Google Business Profiles to find opportunities for improvement.

Take Control of Your Google Maps Presence

When someone searches locally for your type of business, where do you appear in the search engine results page (SERP)? Ideally, you want to be at or near the top to drive new business to your door.

Google automatically defaults to local search results based on location. This is especially beneficial for service businesses, stores, and restaurants that primarily serve local customers.

Local search rankings are primarily determined by three factors:

Google Ranking Factors: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence
  • Relevance: How well your business matches a user's search query.
  • Distance: Your proximity to the user's location or specified search area.
  • Prominence: How well-known your business is, based on information Google gathers from across the web.

Review your Google Business Profile carefully, ensuring your information is accurate, consistent, and optimized:

  • Include relevant keywords naturally in your business name.
  • Set accurate primary business categories.
  • Keep your phone number, hours, and business description current.
  • Encourage genuine customer reviews and respond promptly.
  • Ensure consistency across local directories like Facebook, Yelp, Bing, and Apple Maps.

What Impacts Ranking in Search Results?

Here's a quick summary of factors that impact your local search rankings:

Ranking Factor Misconception Chart

The Importance of Reviews

Consumers increasingly rely on social proof when selecting businesses. Online reviews significantly influence customer decisions and local search rankings. Positive reviews help establish trust, credibility, and visibility in search results. Develop a strategy to actively encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews.

Build a Performance-Focused Website

If you don't already have a website, start there. Once your site is up and running, focus on traditional on-page SEO strategies:

  • Create a logical site and URL structure.
  • Write quality content for customers, not just search engines.
  • Optimize images by compressing them and including descriptive alt text.
  • Leverage internal linking to improve user experience and SEO.

Structured Data

Implement Local Business Schema structured data markup to help search engines understand your business information. This can enhance your visibility in search results, potentially showing rich snippets with your business hours, address, ratings, and more.

Here's a basic example:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "CafeOrCoffeeShop",
  "name": "Calgary Coffee Shop",
  "image": "https://example.com/images/storefront.jpg",
  "telephone": "403-123-4567",
  "email": "info@example.com",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Stephen Avenue SW",
    "addressLocality": "Calgary",
    "addressRegion": "AB",
    "postalCode": "T2P 1M3",
    "addressCountry": "CA"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 51.0447,
    "longitude": -114.0719
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
      "opens": "07:00",
      "closes": "19:00"
    },
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Saturday", "Sunday"],
      "opens": "08:00",
      "closes": "17:00"
    }
  ],
  "priceRange": "$$"
}
</script>

Tips for implementation:

  • Be sure to use the correct business type: Schema.org has many specific business types (Restaurant, Dentist, AutoRepair, etc.) that are more specific than just "LocalBusiness"
  • Include essential information: At minimum, include your business name, address, phone number, and hours
  • Test your schema: Use Google's Rich Results Test to validate your schema before implementing
  • Place the code in the head: Add the JSON-LD script in the head section of your website's HTML
  • Keep information updated: Make sure to update your schema when your business hours, services, or other important details change

Create a Sitemap

Sitemaps help search engines index your website. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to aid indexing.

Mobile Friendliness

Mobile-friendly sites are essential. According to Statista, mobile devices accounted for 63% of organic search visits from 2013 to 2021.

Additional Tips

  • Use an SSL certificate to encrypt your website.
  • Improve site speed and monitor Google's Core Web Vitals.
  • Geotag images and rename image files to include relevant keywords naturally.
  • Gain competitor insights using tools like the GMBspy Chrome Extension.
  • Preview your listing from different localities using the GS Location Changer Extension.

Wrapping Up

It takes time to build an organic search presence, but if done properly that work will eventually pay off. With a solid local SEO strategy, you can build a consistent customer base and cut back on ad spend with a strong organic search presence. Pivoting some of your marketing to focus on digital may take some time, but can also open the door to grow your local business in a post-pandemic world.