Localized Google search will help you in local search engine optimization. It’s important to track your website rankings by keywords in local search results. A local rank tracker tool is relevant for you to quicken the process.

You will learn:

• Information about local SEO and its impact on your business
• What you can benefit from a local rank tracker
• How to use Grid My Business – one incredible rank monitoring tool

If you have a local business, it’s important for you to be searchable on Google and develop your brand strategically in your area. As local SEO will directly affect your keyword rankings and ultimately your profits, it should not be neglected.

The thing is that website rankings are constantly changing. Moreover, they differ heavily across different geographic locations. So, it can seem like it’s challenging for you to track how you are your local SEO plans are working works. 

But, you don’t need to panic. In this guide, we are going to discuss everything about local SEO. In addition, keep reading this guide on local rank tracker tools to monitor your online presence for reaching your local customers.

Local SEO and its benefits

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is a type of search engine marketing that involves optimizing your business website and online profiles for local search. It’s a method for ranking your website for geo-specific searches so your site gets discovered by users searching for local businesses like yours. 

The difference between SEO and Local SEO:

So basically, there are 3 major differences between SEO and Local SEO.

#1. Audience

The first significant difference in local vs. organic SEO is the target audience and their search intent.

For organic SEO, it tends to focus on answering people who are looking for information to a question. 

On the other hand, local SEO captures people actively searching for a product or service from a business in their vicinity. Local searches will specifically include the type of product, service, or business and either the name of their city or the term “near me”, or “best XX in YY (your location)”.

#2. SERPs

As you can see, organic search results happen when search engines determine that there’s no local intent in the search and users are looking for information rather than a location. 

Naturally, if you are a business with a physical store, you will want to rank your business high in local searches. Whereas, if you want your business to show up for certain search terms but not for a specific location, you want to rank higher in organic search. 

#3. Content

Content is a crucial part of both local and organic SEO. Search engines love content, and it’s what they use to tell them what your site is all about and if you regularly update.

However, content works in different ways for both optimization strategies. 

So, the biggest difference between local and national SEO is the keywords you’ll use in the content. National businesses can use general keywords because they’re big enough to benefit from doing so. When customers buy online or can find your business at their local mall, you don’t need to worry too much about locational keywords.

Local businesses need to worry about locational keywords. They help potential and regular customers to find you online. 

As the picture above shows, “best-scented candles” is the general keyword for organic SEO that I used. On the other hand, for local SEO which needs a specific location, I used “scented candles store in the Philippines”

The benefits of local SEO:

Local SEO is essential, and of course, it must bring you a number of advantages.

#1. Enhanced your business traffic (both online and offline).

When the search for the phrase ‘near me’ doubled in 2020, local SEO has become one thing that cannot be overlooked. Whether you are the owner of a big company or running a salon down the corner, you will stay long upon traffic if you have registered your business digitally. 

Local SEO allows the enhancement of your traffic. When you focus on local potential customers, you’re encouraging individuals to visit your website who could come to see you. When you use a thorough SEO strategy for a local firm, you risk getting a bunch of slow traffic. Targeting local people will redirect local traffic to your site, which eventually results in sales.

In addition, when a large number of people found your business information online, they will also have the tendency to come and visit your offline store for a physical experience. Do remember that, local SEO affects both your online and offline traffic.

#2. Better conversion rates

Local SEO drives potential customers to your site and improves conversion rate. Do you know that the top Google local search result accounts for nearly a quarter of all clicks? So there is no denying that local SEO results in a better conversion rate—increased traffic flow results in increased sales. 

Presenting yourself as an expert in your region when local clients are ready to buy can enhance your odds of becoming the anchoring spot for their sales. Most local searchers like to understand local business rather than searching for companies miles away or making a random purchase online.

#3. Continuous business growth

Local SEO initiatives always focus on increasing traffic while also boosting search engine results. As an outcome, marketing and sales prospects increase. More sales mean more interested consumers, resulting in a conscious business growing period. As a result, if you need to develop your local company, spending resources and time on local SEO metrics is a critical success indicator.

#4. Overtake local competitors who are not doing local SEO

Having local SEO benefits you over your competitor who relies on traditional ways. For instance, for different companies who are selling the same thing, one focuses on local SEO while others use traditional methods. No doubt, people will redirect towards a business that is ranking higher on SERP results because as a buyer we would love to explore the product.

Or another example, there are 58% of companies still don’t optimize for local search. So it is definitely a big opportunity for you to do local SEO and reach customers ahead of your rivals.

Overall, you can see that local SEO gives you a lot of benefits, and there are also numerous things to remember about it. To do the local SEO work easier, there is a pro tip for you: Use a local rank tracker tool.

Local Rank Tracker Tool

What is it?

Because the ranking is different from one city to another, tracking your business position is not a simple task. A local rank checker appears to solve this difficulty. 

The local rank tracker tool is a tool that can check the website ranking and show you exactly the position in real-time for the targeted locations, either cities or countries. 

How can you benefit from it?

#1. Allows you to monitor the success of an SEO campaign

Search engine optimization is not an easy process. It takes a lot of knowledge, time, and patience. 

A local rank tracker can help with both these important steps. With that, you can easily track where your page ranks in Google results. The rank tracker will also show you how your positions have changed over time.

#2. You are able to compare your websites to competitors’ sites

If you simply browse the SERP, you can get a lot of data regarding your competition. When it comes to specific “money keywords”, you need to check all the sites that are competing for the same phrase. 

But, as it would take a lot of time to browse all this content, it is much better to use one of the SEO rank checker tools. It allows you to automatically see all the position for a particular keyword and how well your competition performed in the ranking. By generating reports, you are not only able to see the positions of your main competitor but also to have an insight into your business. 

Use Grid My Business to track your ranking

After all, we have a recommendation for you: Grid My Business. 

Grid My Business is a local rank monitoring tool that will show you the local search rankings of your local business and your competitors’ on Google Maps in a grid view. It supports all locations that can be found on Google Maps. Once you have finalized your targeted keywords, you can obtain more profound insights into your local rankings with Grid My Business. 

Let’s see what are the outstanding features of Grid My Business.

Discover Your Business’ Local Rankings On A Grid

We highly recommend that you track broad non-location-based search terms in the Keywords field and track location-specific keywords in your Tracking Locations field.

Here is the most direct way of using Grid My Business.

To begin, add your location and search query. Then, you need to fill in the grid size (from 3×3 to 15×15) and radius. For radius, you can choose between kilometers or miles.

When you set everything up, you run the scan. The results may take some time between 30 seconds to a minute to display on the dashboard. When your scan has loaded, it will look like this.

What’s displayed here are all your local ranking positions for the search query you have inserted. Your local rankings will be displayed in each grid point, ranging from 1 to 20. If you are not ranking at the top for the search query, an X will appear instead.

If you are not ranking for the search query, or your ranking is very low, then you have got a lot of Google My Business optimization to do.

Track Your Keywords’ Ranking Performance

In your rank tracking campaigns, the Keywords field is where you enter the search terms that you want to track for all locations.

When you don’t know where you rank in the local SERPs, you wouldn’t know how you can optimize your website. As a result, you could already lose potential customers to your competitors.

Grid My Business can also give you an update on your ranking positions. This allows you to measure your keywords’ performance and make adjustments to your local SEO strategy.  Thus, you can constantly stay in Google’s 3-pack.

In your reports dashboard, select a report you would like to get ranking updates. Set the scan details and pick a start date you would like to start monitoring.

Grid My Business will begin to monitor your rankings for the search query you have inserted every three days. You can see the ranking performance by clicking on “View Report” to view your current report. So, you will be the first to know when you fly up the local rankings, or if your competitors are starting to outrank you.

Analyze The Results Of Your Local SEO Actions

Grid My Business can help visualize if the actions have led to your local SEO success.

You can compare two scan results that are generated on different dates, as long as they have the same location and search query. You can select the date of a particular report to measure against.

You can see the sample below. 

You can export either a single report or a comparison report. A single report will contain one scan result of your selected date. As for a comparison report, it will display scan results between two date intervals. Both reports will be generated in PDF format.

TL;DR

Everyone is using a smartphone and most are familiar with Google. Before paying a visit to the store, they commonly do online searches. So having an online appearance is a must. Thus, when the number of people searching for local stores/services increased, local SEO has also become a must to businesses. 

Using a local rank tracker tool can help you in a number of local SEO work. Know your ranking and your competitors’ ranking, then you will be able to come up with a great marketing strategy.