5 Common Misconceptions about Local SEO

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Written By Robert Dunford
I am a Marketing Consulting in the Great Toronto Area with over 25 years experience in building and implementing marketing plans for small business.

5 Common Misconceptions about Local SEO

There are a lot of misconceptions and myths about SEO. People tend to misinterpret it due to the very nature of the strategy because search engines like Google don’t publish their algorithm functionality or search criteria. When trying to determine what causes particular content to rank better, good results are pretty open to discussion, which leads to questionable evidence and ambiguity. Let’s put an end to some of the most common misconceptions about local SEO..

  1. Local SEO is National SEO with Local Terms

This  is correct, to a certain extent because local SEO works with a separate algorithm from the national SEO foundation. For example, when a location is shared automatically, or a user includes a city or region (geographic indicator), there is a local 3-pack that appears at the top of the SERP.  You can’t achieve these three top positions with a few extra keywords and traditional national SEO campaign. Local SEO uses separate ranking criteria and provides a different set of results.

      2.   Local SEO Finds Link Building Unnecessary

Myth.   Link building is vital for both national and local optimization. Domain authority plays into local SEO ranks, meaning that the quantity, quality, and context of links that are pointing back to your website influence Google when it calculates your local relevance and position.

      3.   Social Media Doesn’t Benefit Local SEO

Myth.   It’s true that social media can affect your local SEO rank directly, but it can help local SEO. When you’re active on social media, you give third-party directory websites more data to pull when they’re coming up with your social media profile. It also helps you generate more consumer reviews and gives you a syndication outlet for your online content. The benefits are indirect, but still, they are not negligible.

      4.   Local SEO is Important Only for Local Shops

Myth.   Local SEO is not only for local businesses. Even if a company operates nationally or doesn’t have a physical location, local SEO can be used for any business with a location in a specific state or city. Local SEO has a lower pool of competition than national SEO, and it doesn’t take much effort, so you can quickly increase your search visibility with just a few hours of extra work per week.

      5.   It’s Too Late to Break into the Local SEO Game

Also a Myth.   It’s never too late. Even in national SEO, which is very competitive. Maybe you’ve waited a long time to break into it, or your business is new, but that doesn’t mean that it’s too late to start building your online presence. With local SEO, you’ll start seeing tangible results after a few months, depending on how much resources and time you can commit. If you already have some competitive advantage, it can make this period even shorter.

What is SEO? If you’re new to digital marketing and know nothing about the concept, you can be misguided by these common myths and misconceptions. It requires time to learn the basics and to understand how to do it correctly. If time is what you lack, then with a good SEO company by your side, you can leverage their SEO services to improve your brand visibility on a local level.

All you need is time (4-6 months) and patience and you can get that new business through digital marketing efforts.   If you need results quicker, a website refresh and pay per click (PPC) program may be better suited to your needs.   Contact me.   We can discuss strategy on the phone or get a coffee.

Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consulting in the Great Toronto Area with over 20 years experience in building and implementing marketing plans for small business.

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