Local SEO Strategy 2024

What is Local SEO (and why should I care)?

Local SEO is all about optimizing your online presence to make Google understand you're the best choice for people nearby.

It's tailoring your website and online listings to show up when people are specifically looking for help in your area.

Who This is For

• Local Focus: You have a physical office or are happy to meet clients in person within a specific area.

• Smaller Markets First: You're ready to dominate less competitive locations before tackling the big cities.

• Nationwide Ambition: You have big plans, but want to start by building a strong local foundation.

Local SEO is so great because it’s much easier to rank for keywords within a geographic area instead of just nationwide or worldwide.

Plus, it allows you to target keywords with a “buyer intent”, meaning that people typing them in are usually looking for help, and ready to make or book a call.

Local SEO Guide 2024

Okay, so here’s the exact local SEO strategy you need to use in 2024:

1. Set up your Google Business Profile

First of all, you need to set up your Google Business Profile, so people can find you on Google Maps. Because if they’re looking for a local insurance agent or financial advisor, this is often one of the first places they look.

Google Maps is also usually the first search result for local search queries.

Make sure to fill out every section – address, hours, photos, even services you offer. Plus, reviews are like gold, so start encouraging clients to leave them.

2. Keyword Research: Laser-Focused

To rank for local terms, you need to find laser-focused keywords with little competition.

You can use Google Keyword Planner (tutorial), which is free. I also like Keywords Everywhere which costs less than $2/month. Here’s a tutorial to find low-competition keywords.

Now, simply search for the service you offer + your city or neighborhood. For instance:

• "[financial advisor] + [city]"

• "[tax help] + [neighborhood]", etc.

To find locations to target, use a tool like CalcMaps and target every location within a 10-mile radius. Once you’ve created a page for all of these, you can also go a little further.

3. On-Page Optimization

Now, to actually rank for local keywords, you need to optimize your website for them. Optimize your homepage for your city. So, include the keyword and city in your website's title tags, meta descriptions, and headers.

For instance: “retirement planning San Diego”.

But then also create separate pages for each location you serve. For instance, also target all districts and neighborhoods of your city or even neighboring cities in your state.

So, you should also create pages that are optimized for “retirement planning Mission Valley” or “retirement planning Coronado” etc.

4. Organic Backlinks

As with any SEO strategy, backlinks are essential. But the days when you could just buy a bunch of backlinks to your site are over. Only real, organic links to your website improve your local SEO rankings.

So, you want to get links from local websites to the corresponding page. Consider getting involved with your Chamber of Commerce, sponsor a local event or guest blog on a local community site and have them add a link to a matching page on your website (not your homepage).

This will increase this page’s authority, which will allow it to rank higher for that keyword.

Also use this strategy for citations in local directories or the digital Yellow Pages. Again, use hyper-specific locations and link back to the corresponding page (e.g. “retirement planning Coronado” )

Real-World Examples (NYC Edition)

Now let’s look at some real examples so you understand how the theory works in practice.

Let's say you specialize in financial planning for Broadway performers. A well-optimized advisor could dominate searches like “financial advisor theater district NYC.”

If you’re not hyper-niched down on job titles or categories, try hyper-specific locations like:

• "[financial advisor] + [neighborhood]" (e.g., Financial Advisor Upper East Side)

• "[financial planning] near [landmark]" (e.g., Financial Planning near Lincoln Center)

Also try the location before your service or keyword like:

• "Staten Island financial advisor"

Here are some more keyword ideas with little competition that you could rank for relatively easily:

• "Retirement planning Astoria"

• "Tax help Bay Ridge"

• "Financial advisor for freelancers Forest Hills"

• "Financial advisor Broadway performers"

• "College planning for NYU students"

• "Tax help for restaurant owners NYC"

• "Financial planning for artists Brooklyn"