Optimizing for local search is important, but if you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you’re going to miss out on your most important source of local traffic.
For years, Google has been improving the relevance of local search, from its “Pigeon Update” to Promoted Pins. And since there are more searches on mobile than desktop, it’s no wonder that Google has put a big emphasis on mobile-friendliness in its ranking algorithms.
Taken together, that means that Google is putting a high priority on mobile local search — and so should you.
The fact of the matter is, more and more local searches are taking place on mobile. More importantly, many of those local searches come with a high purchase intent, making local mobile searches an incredibly important opportunity for your business.
People search on mobile because they have an immediate need, and in this day and age, people with an immediate need want things fast.
it’s better to go after shorter phrases and keywords. After all, that’s what your audience will be typing into their phones. In addition, you’ll need mobile-optimized landing pages if you want those keywords to do anything for you.
Remember, desktop and mobile are different — that still applies when it comes to the specific keywords you target. You’re going to need to research your keywords a little differently from the way you do on desktop, and most of the tools out there for keyword planning are not optimized for mobile.
Identifying your target phrases and keywords is only half the battle. Now you need to work on the site pages you’d like to rank well for mobile searches.
When it comes to mobile search, it’s better to prioritize your user’s experience over your Google bot experience. In optimizing for mobile, that’s what usually produces the best results. Plus, Google is trying to emphasize page experience as a ranking factor, so improving your user experience should end up making Google happy as well.
Organic traffic is great, but it will only get you so far. Since local search rankings on mobile are usually based on short keywords, ranking can be difficult — especially if you’ve got a lot of competition.
To get in front of a bigger audience, consider using paid search.
People who are conducting local searches will be looking for local results. As a result, they’ll be more likely to respond to ads from the companies that seem to be close to them.
The easiest way to show them that you’re local is to simply include your location in your ad copy. Break out your paid search campaigns according to location or use dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) to ensure that the location a potential customer is searching for shows up in your copy.
Ad extensions can do a lot of good for your local search results.
Location extensions: Location extensions are one of the best things you can do for your local search presence. Nothing shows how local you are like showing your address.
Click-to-call ads: If people often call your business before they come in, you can eliminate a step for them by making the click on your ad lead to a call (maybe to set a reservation).
Sitelinks: Sitelink extensions let you focus on some of your site specifics, like driving directions, or your “contact us” page.
Courtesy of SearchEngineLand
