What Is Local SEO?

Understanding Local SEO and How To Use It.

Local SEO is the process of optimising your online presence to attract more business from local customers. This includes optimising your website, social media profiles, and online directories for search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. By optimising your online presence for local search, you can increase your visibility in search results, attract more traffic to your website, and ultimately drive more business to your store or office.

One of the most important elements of local SEO is making sure that your website is optimised for local keywords. This means that your website should contain information about your business, including your address, phone number, and hours of operation, as well as keywords related to your products or services. For example, if you run a bakery in Chester, you would want to include keywords like "bakery in Chester" and "Chester bakery" on your website.

Another important aspect of local SEO is making sure that your business is listed in online directories like Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yelp. These directories provide important information about your business, including your address, phone number, and hours of operation, to search engines and potential customers. By creating and verifying your business listings in these directories, you can increase your visibility in local search results and attract more traffic to your website.

There are many local business directories for the UK that businesses can list their information on to improve their visibility in local search results. Some of the most popular directories include:

1. Yell.com - one of the largest online directories for UK businesses, providing business listings, reviews and offers for businesses across the country.
2. Thomson Local - A long-standing UK business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and includes an option for premium listings.
3. Scoot - A business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising.
4. FreeIndex - A business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising and featured listings.
5. 192.com - A UK business directory that provides business listings, reviews, and contact information for businesses across the country.
6. Touch Local - A business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising.
7. UK Small Business Directory - A directory that specialises in listing small businesses in the UK and allows businesses to create a free listing.
8. Yelp - A business directory and review site that is popular in the UK and allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising.
9. CityLocal - A business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising.
10. The Best of - A local business directory that allows businesses to create a free listing and also provides the option for paid advertising.

It's important to note that the list above is not exhaustive, and there are many more local business directories for the UK. Businesses should consider listing their information on as many directories as possible to improve their visibility in local search results.

Tip

Make sure your Name, Address and Phone number (also referred to known as NAP) are correct and consistent on all directories.

Once you've decided which type of structured data to use, you'll need to create the markup for your pages. There are a few different tools and resources that can help you with this, including: