Local SEO Success: Harnessing the Strength of Local Area Codes
Search engine optimization (SEO) is critically important for small local businesses and will become even more important as “near me” searches increase. Over two years, mobile searches, including the phrase “near me,” increased 500%, according to Think with Google’s consumer insights. For businesses aiming to capture the attention (and sales) of nearby consumers, improving local SEO through vanity phone numbers with local area codes is one way to increase online visibility.
Understanding Local SEO
Local SEO aims to improve a business’s visibility in local search results, focusing on location-specific queries like “restaurants in Tampa, Florida” or “coffee shops in San Diego, California.” While general SEO targets visibility within more generic keywords, local SEO focuses on driving foot traffic into a physical store and increasing visibility within a local community.
Businesses that operate nationwide or globally aren’t concerned with building a reputation within geographical communities. However, for local businesses, the nearby community is your target customer base, and optimizing for those local keywords is mission-critical.
Businesses leverage local SEO through localized content and keywords, including building website pages around area–specific keywords or even local area codes. For example, if you were searching for a chiropractor in your area, you’d most likely land on a website page that focuses solely on “chiropractic care in Peachtree, Georgia.” This is an example of a business leveraging local SEO.
The Power of Local Area Codes
New data shows that 56% of customers prioritize purchasing from small businesses to support their local community. In fact, 30% of those consumers said they love to support small businesses over bigger brands. Local area codes not only enhance a local business’s tactical visibility but also create familiarity, trust, and connection with communities that want to support their local businesses.
Area codes influence consumer perception in their own unique way. A local area code gives the impression your business is located within 50 miles of the consumer’s location. Including local phone numbers with area codes on your website, Google My Business page, and social media profile helps improve your search engine rankings and adds another layer of trust and recognizability for your brand.
Practical Steps to Leverage Local Area Codes for SEO
Leveraging local SEO is effective and practical for small businesses. Take a look at some ideas for improving local searchability.
Update contact information
Update all of your contact information across social media campaigns, your website, business listings, and more — especially if you purchase a new local area code phone number. Include area codes into the metadata of your website content to improve ability as well.
Build location-specific landing pages
If you’ve ever searched for a product or service in your area, you’ve undoubtedly come across location-specific landing pages. Especially for doctors, real estate agents, healthcare, financial services, or home improvement, the location-specific landing page features local area codes and highlights specific challenges of that area. For example, if you’re a financial service advisor building a location-specific landing page, you could mention the terrible traffic on a key road or interstate. Building connections like this within your website content helps build relatability and connection.
Engage in local events
Participating in local events physically and digitally is another way to leverage your local area codes for SEO. For example, you might want to advertise at a local farmers market or host a booth at the annual festival. Not only can you create physical, face-to-face relationships with community members, but your business will be linked to those local events online, improving searchability.
Success Stories
Restoremasters, a local Utah disaster and emergency cleanup company, used improved local search engine rankings to increase leads by 450% and generate a 72% increase in their average Google search result ranking. Burton’s Grill & Bar, a local Boston-based restaurant chain, increased its search engine rankings and grew organic traffic by over 24% in 10 months. This most likely led to an increase in restaurant visits throughout its 12 locations and increased sales.
Challenges and Solutions
While local SEO is highly effective, businesses looking to increase visibility within their community face some potential challenges.
For example, businesses with multiple locations in a specific area might struggle to handle the logistics of local area codes or content creation. Businesses don’t want to compete with themselves, so owners should be mindful of not segmenting a local community into an area that is too small.
Also, changing your local area codes too often can be time-consuming and confusing for consumers. Continuously updating every single digital platform could be difficult, and businesses don’t want to risk having the wrong phone numbers listed.
To overcome these challenges, carefully select your local area code phone numbers and plan to implement them for a significant amount of time. This will help with potentially mismatched information online.
Future of Local Area Codes in SEO
As consumers prioritize putting their money toward small businesses instead of global conglomerates, local SEO will continue to be a dynamic landscape. Local area codes will continue gaining relevance in search results, lending trust and credibility to local businesses.
With a record-breaking 5.5 million new business applications filed in 2023, having local area codes helps your business stand out and maintain a strong competitive advantage. As smartphones become more intelligent as well, artificial intelligence will likely begin to recommend products and services near consumers’ physical locations.
Consider Local Area Codes for Improving SEO
As local SEO only becomes more important, small businesses can audit their current website and social media performance to see where they can improve. Using local area codes helps boost local search presence and creates familiarity and trust within a niche community. To get started, purchase a local area code phone number specifically for your region.
