Local SEO: How to Optimize for “Near Me” Searches on Google

Do you want your local business to be found by the local audience? If yes, then you need to optimize your website for local search so that local audience can found you. One of the important features of local search that is most demand in the digital era is “near me” searches like “restaurant near me” or “cafes near me”. No one actually knows the exact algorithm that influences the ‘near me’ search result, but by following the tips mentioned in this article will improve the local search result of your business.

1- Update My Business Profile in Google

You must include as well as update all the key information in your Google My Business. These include your contact information, address, and hours of operation and keywords of the business you are in. You can also add photo along with your name that matches the strategic keyword, which eventually can increase your business website ranking.

2- Ensure That Name, Phone Number and Address is Consistent in Your Website

Make sure that the basic information of your business such as name, address and phone number is the same throughout the website. Remember having the ‘Contact’ Page in your website is must but you must include all the pages in the Footer too as then it makes the job of Google easy. However, you need to be sure that the information on your website matches with what it is mentioned in GMB listing.

3- Add Driving Direction on the Page

Adding the written driving direction on your website can be helpful for your business. If you want your website to appear on Google’s SERP, then you can add direction around the local neighborhood and landmarks so that your website can stand out in the crowd.

4- Use the Landmarks, Cities and Neighborhood in the Website Content

Some businesses are renowned in the offline world, and by using local search results, you can reflect these businesses in the local ranking. You can use nearby well-known places like museums, hotels, restaurants etc. which are familiar to users can be seen in the local search results.

5- Website Page Should Load Faster and Correctly on the Mobile

The mobile website visitor will leave the website if the page does not load correctly within three seconds. Site speed of your website is also responsible for the ranking, so you need to be sure that your website pages are fully functional. If the page is not functional on mobile phones, then your customers will look for alternatives.

6- Ensure Listing is Correct

You need to make sure that the listing of your website is accurate on all the review sites. Even though Google My Business is one of the largest review sites, but there are other sites too, and that is why your business information should be correct and same in all website. If you generate more authority across various review sites, then higher will be your ranking.

7- Add Schema

If the data of your website is structured properly, then your website can communicate perfectly well with the search result. Add relevant and accurate schema for optimizing local SEO of the website as well as increases likelihood to show up in the territory of zero clicks.

When schema matches with the information of your website and GMB listing then the search can easily scan your website so as to understand its structure. It even helps in optimizing the way your schema displays the content of the most relevant searches.

8- Positive Reviews

Don’t you know what differentiates you from your competitors? It’s the customer experience. If you have opened the business against the fellow businesses of your area, then having a large number of customer reviews will help in amplifying your chances of getting high ranking.

Having a positive review on your website will not only help in building the brand affinity but will also let your website to be present in the Google SERP.

9- Don’t Include ‘Near Me’ Term in the Content

Including the ‘near me’ term in your content can be difficult, and sometimes it may not fit in the content. However, you should know that there is nearly no success by including this term, but till the time you follow the points mentioned above, you can be sure that your website will rank better local SEO.

10- Create Different Pages for Each Business Location of the site.

You know that any business that has the physical site can benefit from the ranking for near me searches; however, the multi-location business may witness an increase in the traffic and overall ranking. If your business has multiple locations, then you need to create a separate website page for each location.

You can even list each address on the same place on your website; following the factors that separate location pages is the city in title, the city on H1 tag, geographic keyword relevance in the content and fast loading time.

All these tips will not only improve the user experience of your website but also improves the ranking. However, remember SEO is not stable as it is changing continuously. That is why you need to work hard for maintaining the ranking of your website and for that you have to add new content, acquire backlinks, do posting the social media etc. 

So, what are you waiting for? Go and update the Google My Business listing of your business and become visible in the search result. If you are juggling with a million other things while doing local SEO of your business, then UnibizTec is happy to help you.