How to Optimise the “Near Me” Feature of Local SEO?

If you are a shop owner or have any local physical business and want to widespread the business locally, in this case, Local SEO will be proven as a boon for you as it is what a Local SEO is made for.

Local SEO is a part of Digital Marketing and focuses mainly on the local business. If you are not using it, you are definitely going to lose a potential audience for your business. 

And, If you have a question similar to How to show up in “Near Me” searches, the answer to this has been given in forthcoming passages. So, stay tuned with the reading.

Top Trending “Near Me” Search Categories 

Post Covid-19 pandemic, the “Near Me” search has observed an alluring growth. Specifically, phrases such as “Near Me Now” and “Near Me tonight/Today” have witnessed tremendous extension. 

• “Near Me” searches tend to be searched significantly from mobiles, comparatively desktops, or laptops.

• As per the survey conducted by Ubertall on 1,000 smartphone users, it has been found that around 80% of smartphone users have conducted the “Near Me” search.

And the below-cited pie chart represents the hierarchy of categories searched by the people.

Synopsis:

• From the respective chart, it is evident that food businesses have most of the “Near Me” searches, followed by banking and entertainment, whereas apparel and personal care are also in the queue.

• The outcome clearly depicts the intent of the searcher. So, if you are a business owner who is expecting an extension, optimizing “Near Me” searches would be a vital practice.

Strategies Required to Rank for “Near Me”

If you are a local vendor and willing to enhance the business audience, “Near Me” optimization is the thing you should care about the most. So, here are the notable strategies to carry out to rank for “Near Me.”

Create a Google Business Profile (Google My Business)

Creating a Google Business Profile or Google My Business is a very effective way to boost your visibility across Google services (Search, Maps, Shopping) and appear on the “Near Me” section. 

• It enhances the certainty that people discover your business when wandering for products and services similar to yours in their region.

• GMB also assists you in managing your online business information; you can push important updates surrounding your expanded services, temporarily closed or fully reopened, etc. It functions splendidly in times of emergencies like Covid-19.

• Another captivating feature for opting for a Google My Business is that it encourages building trust and credibility, which plays a vital role in social proof.

• Google Business Profiles are possessed with concrete local SEO, which simply illustrates that the information you will share will rank on third-party sites.

The synopsis is that Google Business Profile is a powerful tool for business growth and empowerment of local SEO.

Steps to Create a Google Business Profile

• In order to create Google My Business F.K.A Google My Business, initiate by logging into Google Business Profile Manager.

• Next, you are required to enter your business name; simply click “Add your Business to Google”, choose the adequate category for your business and hit “Next”. 

• Now, the time has come to add your business address; click “Yes” and provide your business location. To provide the physical location, you may also ask to position a marker for the location on the map.

And, if you cater in-person services and don’t have a business address, in that case, you have to state to Google, the region you are based in. 

After that, list your service areas from the drop-down menu and hit “Next”. 

• In this step, Google will ask for your contact information, such as your business phone number and website address, so customers can get in touch with you. Provide the required information and click “Next”.

• Now, you have to enter your address and hit “Next” to validate your business. Google will offer you applicable options for verifying your account.

Note: The respective address should be your legitimate address, not a post office box as well as the given address neither be displayed on your google Business profile nor shared with the public.

• Later, you will receive a five-digit code that you are required to insert in the given field or head to the Google Business page, next, click on “Verify” or “Verify Business”.

• Once you are verified, you will get a confirmation on your screen, and after that, you have to click on “Next”. You are just one step away from setting up the GMB.

• Finally, you have to customize your profile by providing your business hours, messaging preferences, business descriptions, and photos.

After delivering all the mandatory information, click on “Continue” to enter the Business Profile Manager Dashboard. 

From there, you are enabled to monitor and manage your business profile, view insights, manage messages, and reviews as well as create Google Ads.

Ruling the “Near Me” search list is not a cakewalk as there are other local businesses too that offer similar services to yours so how can you stand out from the competition?

• The best practice you can amend to provide an extra edge for your business from competitors in local search results is by employing adequate Schema Markup.

• Schema markup functions by driving search engines to gather more information surrounding your business and displaying them in the rich snippets form that is found abundantly useful for the users.

• Adding the homepage schema markup enables your business to display in the knowledge graph and aids in securing the preciseness of business information.

• The schema markup consists of business hours, operation hours, and other contact details.

We advise you to add schema markup to every location page that your business offers and keep in mind to insert only the information that you have showcased on the webpage.

Social media might not hand out directly in the SEO ranking albeit it correlates with the factors or say elements that influence SEO rankings. 

Let’s Understand this With An Example:

• Suppose you published an article and shared it with your social media community and it went viral on social media due to its engaging elements,  accumulating thousands of likes and shares.

• Now, as an outcome, the respective article secured the #1 ranking on Google’s page for several keywords. 

• The virality of the post has captured more backlinks and illustrates that thousands of likes, shares, and comments are vital social signals that influence SEO search rankings.

• Google acknowledges those social signals in balancing out on your side and helps in pushing up rankings.

It might not be a crime to say that social media dramatically impacts SEO. 

There are various social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) that are ideal for SEO and social media marketing as they display in searches and rank high on SERPs.

Also, It has been captured that most customers first redirect to social media profiles rather than websites to connect or buy from a brand.

Tip: 

• Social media and SEO have a meaningful connection though you have to fabricate and publish quality content perpetually. 
• The more you share-worthy content across social media, the more the audience will share the post, and it will enhance your blog content visibility and SEO ranking.

For a local SEO, the blog is an essential asset as it allows an individual to influence the local audience. 

• While writing a blog for your product or service, you may mention why it is important to use your stuff, the benefits of the same, and things that make you stand apart from the competitors, etc. 

• Also, blogging helps in making brand value which ultimately influences the business in a positive aspect.

Backlines hold importance when it comes to local SEO. If you are willing to acquire the target audience, it is necessary to have relevant or high authority backlinks with the right geographical region.

• With this, you will easily get populated in the targeted region and later will lead to acquiring the related audience.

With the passage of time, the essence of having a good mobile-friendly website has increased a lot as the searches made through mobile have raised the bar. 

• There are several reasons for enhanced mobile users like its portability, they are compact, can shop for anything via the internet, etc.

Since voice search has shifted from being a vogue to a norm, it has become a captivating opportunity for the business owner to accumulate organic search traffic irrespective of the industry.

• By stepping into the world of voice search, you will acquaint yourself with a cohort of users who consider smartphones and smart speakers for searching businesses and purchasing products.

• Optimising the website for voice search benefits your site’s overall SEO and ranking. 

• Doing this is well applauded by the search engine and it will reward you with more authority and top-spot on-result pages as well as enhance the chances of getting your business in voice search results.

• Local business owners who have stepped early in the game of optimizing their website respecting voice search will be able to surpass their competitors in the near future.

What to Do?

• Since Google Home and Amazon Echo have showcased the convenience of using voice commands, you must prepare a list of queries people might ask using voice search.

• And optimize your Google My Business profile by that so that it starts to rank on the top search results and can appear in voice search results.

Another exponential way to empower your visibility in “Near Me” searches is creating landing pages in accordance with the location.

How? Allow us to summarise it for you!

• Location landing pages basically help customers find their nearest location when they are redirecting to your website as well as brief search engines about the alluring virtues of that location.

• It helps attract more local customers to your brand’s retail location, irrespective of the size of the business, location landing pages are a profound element to enhance visibility in your local SEO.

• Keywords, Maps, Analytics, Mobile Optimization, Social Proof are paramount for location landing pages.

Location landing pages are the splendid and legitimate destination to accumulate knowledge surrounding each store, restaurant and showroom. 

Pro-Tip: In order to leverage location landing pages exceedingly to boost visibility, it is advised to ensure that your main website should be mobile optimised (possessed with a mobile- responsive design).
Including a landing page for each location with an appropriate Google-friendly syntax, microformats and links also upholds a vital role.

Investing in local classified ads is also an exponential strategy to appear in the “Near Me” top search results. Local classified ads are also an amazing tool to skyrocket your local business.

It assists small businesses or startups to meet their target audience and potential customers at a pocket-friendly cost. 

Here are some notable virtues of Classified Ads:

• Facile to make, nearly takes 5-10 minutes to be made.

• Potentially bring customers that are willing to invest.

• Classified ads are location-based, and these ads target audiences, locally, nationally, and internationally.

• It lets you specify the area you wish to advertise and helps in narrowing down your reach and budget.

•  It offers an accurate form of advertising.

You can say that Local Classified Ads are a significantly cost-effective way to boost your online presence.

Happy Customers Review = More Business

To be the customer’s apple of the eye in your local area, you have to make your customer feedback visible and that’s what truly distinguishes you from the competition. 

• Reviews of happy and satisfied customers across multiple websites will magnify your probability of ranking and encourage more customers to visit your local business or opt for your service 

• In extensive research surrounding customer feedback, it is found that 84% of users trust online reviews. So, we believe that you have acknowledged the benefit of customer reviews. 

• A good approach to soliciting reviews will help you build a strong brand affinity and reward you in the SERP. 

• Your business should come with a perpetual way to incline customers to leave online feedback so that it will help you in building your business profile.

Pro Tip: Display the positive reviews on your website and employ a schema code representing your reviews, in a result your star rating will showcase below your listing in the search engine results.  

So these were the strategies required to target “Near Me” keywords for a local business. If you are a local vendor and willing to reach the target audience you should follow the above-mentioned strategies diligently.

Conclusion

Optimising “Near Me” is a best and must practise for any business to sail on the huge waves of growth, especially for local businesses and startups. It is a great path to reach the people in your surrounding area and acquaint people with the service you offer.

We believe that the information we have illustrated in this article corresponds to the “Near Me” feature and strategies to optimize it will assist you in improving your local SEO and making your business list top in the “Near ME” search results.

Always remember businesses who strategize to keep a level up from their competitors and endeavour to keep their customers happy & satisfied, generate a brand affinity with a significant fortune.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q.1 What is the Cost of Putting a Business on Google Maps?

For your information, it is completely free to create a Business Profile on Google. You can start creating your profile at no cost and managing your business from Google Search & Maps to boost your visibility and attract more customers.

Q.2 How to Optimize For “Near Me” Searches on Google?

Here are some optimization tips that you can amend to enhance “Near Me”

Searches on Google.

• Update Google My Business Profile 
• Ensure that the basic information is clearly listed throughout your site.
• Employ landmarks, neighborhoods, and cities in the content.
• Insert driving directions (written) on the page.
• Add a Schema that corresponds with your Site and GMB.
• Impart positive reviews across various sites
• Ensure listings are correct on all top-ranking review sites.
• Make sure pages load seamlessly on mobile 

Q.3  Do I Require Downloading An App to Setup and Monitor “Google My Business Profile”?

To create and manage your Google My Business Profile, you can use the Google Maps app on your mobile device. On the other end, you can manage straight from the Google search in the browser using the desktop.