Oh no! You have a product launch event coming up in San Francisco and want to advertise it, but you can’t figure out what audience to target. What if there was a way to target only the people in San Francisco who buy, or would be interested in, your product? Guess what? There is, and it’s called geo targeting!
Location Based SEO
Now that you’ve attracted customers by using geo targeting, what if you want to bring more people into your in person store? Luckily, there’s a free way to do that! Location based SEO can help you incorporate location into your organic SEO so that more people find your business on the internet.
Let’s break down exactly how to use location based SEO and geo targeting to boost your business.
What is Location Based SEO?
Location based SEO is a way to target ads towards an audience based on their location. However, location based SEO goes further than just ads. Imagine you are on vacation in New York City and want to go to a pizza place for dinner. You type into Google, “pizza restaurants”. The results will show pizza restaurants near you. That is a form of location based SEO.
Implementing Location Based SEO
There are two great ways to make sure your website is optimized for location based SEO. The first is to use location specific keywords. That means using “San Francisco digital marketing agency” instead of “digital marketing agency”. Choosing the correct location is key to making the most out of your efforts. If you are a perfume shop located a town away from San Francisco but use San Francisco as your location, less people will come to your store. Even though they might have found your store by searching for “San Francisco perfume shops”., the amount of people clicking on your site will decrease because they are looking for a shop in San Francisco– not one that’s a town away.
The next best practice for implementing location based SEO is to use Google My Business. Google My Business helps businesses control their information on Google Maps. Having a fully completed Google My Business account ensures that people can find your business on Google Maps, and that all the information they need is in one place.
To properly complete your Google My Business profile, make sure to fill out all the sections. Use your location on the landing page and make sure your information is accurate. Here’s what it looks like:
As you can see, Colibri Digital Marketing’s Google My Business page contains Colibri’s contact information, as well as reviews, information about the business , and our latest news. . Providing up-to-date information helps people learn more about your business.
What is Geo Targeting?
Geo targeting is targeting your ads to people based on location. This can be helpful for advertising an event. If you are trying to bring people to your brick and mortar shop, geo targeting people in the area will help ensure the right audience is reached.
Implementing Geo Targeting
When you create Google or Facebook ads, there is an option to easily add location. The tricky part is deciding what locations to choose and which ads are best suited for geo targeting.
Like I mentioned earlier, the most obvious situation is to use geo targeting when advertising for an event. Just today, I received an ad on my Instagram for a shop opening up in San Francisco where I live.
There are other ways to get creative with geo targeting. For example, if you are a daycare center, you may want to target ads to the people who visit playgrounds and parks. For larger brands that are trying to advertise on a bigger scale, their ads may be different based on the locations they are targeting. If you are targeting an ad towards Portland residents, you could incorporate the city’s nickname, The Rose City, into your ad. Showing that same slogan to people in New York City wouldn’t make sense. Instead, incorporating something about the Big Apple will be more relatable to New Yorkers.
Takeaways
Location based SEO can be great for reaching the right people, and geo targeting is helpful for location based updates or events. One thing to keep in mind is the ethics of geo targeting. Targeting people who visit the street your shop is on can be a little invasive. When you use geo targeting, make sure you would feel comfortable receiving that same ad based on your own location.
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