SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimization and it has become one of the most important marketing strategies of the digital era. It is a useful tool to increase the organic traffic to a website, by increasing its ranking on a search engine. The higher a webpage ranks on the search engine results, the more likely a visitor will click the link.Search engines, such as Google, have an algorithm in which the results are ranked according to relevancy and the location a person is searching for. Geo-targeting or location-based SEO optimizes a webpage’s content to make it appear for its target location.

For topics that are specific to a locality, geo-targeted content is far more likely to have a better SEO ranking. If someone searches ‘restaurant’ the results on the first page are going to be ones in close proximity to their current location.

There are multiple ways to maximize the effect of geo-targeting. Geo-targeting helps gain the upper hand in the competitive marketing strategies such as Search Engine Optimization.

Keywords are an important practice in SEO but location-specific keywords have been shown to generate better results. In the webpage content, keywords that include the town, the city, the postcode and the postcode fare better in geo-targeting.

It is advisable to use location-specific keywords in the title of the content. On average, 95% of people only scroll through the first page results. These people may also use their location in their searches. Having the location in the title increases the SEO ranking, thereby increasing the website’s chance of being on the first page of the search engine results.

To manage the online presence on Google, it is best to make use of a tool known as Google My Business (GMB). GMB is a service provided by Google that is free of cost. Businesses can manage their online presence on Google Maps and Search among others. The local results appear above the organic, national results. Hence, it is imperative to ensure the GMB is filled out properly. The location must be owner-verified. The location should also be mentioned in the GMB landing page title.

Creating location-specific landing pages is also extremely important. If the visitor is redirected to a generic landing page in spite of performing a location-specific search, the conversion rate is likely to drop.

Another way to increase SEO ranking is to use targeted top-level domains. It essentially means that instead of using the .com domains, domains specific to a country are used.

For pages targeted to India, .co.in should be used and for pages targeted to the UK,.co.uk should be used. The pages using targeted top-level domains will do better in location-specific searches.

The bottom line, rather than using popular and competitive keywords, it is much more recommended to use keywords relevant to products and services. The location-specific keywords will drive sales from all corners of the target area to your webpage.

This will, in turn, increase the traffic to the page, increasing the SEO ranking, increasing the likelihood of the page being visited. More visitors will end in a higher conversion rate, so long as the quality in content is maintained. Putting consistent, credible content in the target area will increase sales. Using geo-targeted services will increase SEO ranking and sales.