Beyond “Near Me”: How Local SEO Helps Clients Find You

In this episode of From Keywords to Connections, Winnie and Mary sit down with Sterling, Simplified’s Technical SEO Guru, to demystify Local SEO and why it’s a game-changer for private practices and small businesses.

We break down what Local SEO really is, why it matters for helping professionals, and how it influences the way clients discover services in their community. From optimizing your Google Business Profile to handling reviews and creating location-focused content, this episode is packed with practical tips to help you strengthen your presence in local search results.

You’ll also learn about common mistakes to avoid, the latest changes in Local SEO (like AI and hyperlocal ranking signals), and strategies that balance visibility with authenticity. If you’ve ever wondered why your competitor shows up in Google’s map pack when you don’t, this conversation is for you.

Listen in and discover how Local SEO can make it easier for people in your area to find the support they need—at the exact moment they’re ready to take action.

#LocalSEO #SEOStrategy #PrivatePracticeMarketing #HelpingProfessionals #DigitalMarketingForTherapists #GoogleBusinessProfile #SEOtips #FromKeywordsToConnections

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Local SEO Strategies
• 1:50 Understanding Local SEO and it's Importance
• 3:22 Core Components of Local SEO
• 6:01 The Role of Google Business Profile

Transcript

Winnie Youger-Rash (00:51)
Welcome back to From Keywords to Connections. I'm Winnie here with Mary. Our goal is to bring you practical, approachable strategies for SEO and digital marketing. Today we're driving into local SEO. The strategies that help your practice or small business show up in near-me searches and Google's local results. For helping professionals, this is one of the most powerful ways to reach people who are ready to take action right now.

We've invited Sterling, simplified technical SEO guru to join us for this conversation. And he's going to help break down what local SEO is, why it matters and how you can optimize your presence in your community. If you've ever wondered why a competitor down the street keeps showing up in search when you don't, this episode is for you.

Sterling (01:45)
Thanks for having me today. I'm happy to join and I appreciate the invite.

Mary (01:50)
to learning more about local SEO. So maybe just to start at the beginning and tell us a little bit about what local SEO is.

Sterling (01:58)
Yeah, so local SEO is essentially the process of optimizing a business's online presence to better increase that visibility in local search results. And whenever I mention local search results, a lot of the times in relation to Google, I'm referring to that local map pack or Google Maps itself. And a lot of the times, it focuses on different geo-specific searches.

like you mentioned, near me related keywords are often the culprit whenever it comes to specific keywords or queries you want to search for or be found for. And unlike traditional SEO, it often emphasizes that local map pack result and different location based intent. And whenever I mentioned that local map pack, I'm referring to, you know, whenever you're on the Google search.

And whenever you're looking for a specific thing, sometimes there's something that pops up where it shows, you know, maybe three different services in your area.

This is that Google Map Pack, and it's really one of those places that's prime real estate for SEOs.

Winnie Youger-Rash (03:10)
Agreed. So what would you say are the core components that go into local SEO? What are the kind of the most important things when someone's considering taking on ranking when it comes to that local and that map pack rankings?

Sterling (03:23)
Yeah, well, I would say one of the biggest things that comes to mind is in relation to Google, actually. And that is the Google Business profile itself. A lot of times, you can kind of think of this as your digital storefront. And as it being a digital storefront, you want to make sure that it's accurate, complete, and being actively updated. You know, that might mean...

That might mean updating hours, adding different categories that better describe your business, posting different updates,

And this can mean using attributes like LGBTQ plus friendly or maybe even wheelchair accessible whenever it's relevant for your practice. And this also even goes a little bit further as well. I know on your Google business profile, there are a lot of different things you can add to it. And one of the things that Google really likes to see are photos and videos on. They don't have to be too long in terms of videos, but photos it loves to see when you have at least perfect

for helping professionals, things that are representing the practice,

whether it be the waiting room or the therapy room itself or maybe the members of the staff that people will be meeting there. It gives you a lot of different ways to both provide extra information about your practice in the sense of photos and such. And it also gives you an opportunity to answer common questions that might pop up, such as, you know, there's parking available or if you offer other services or offer services

in specific service areas.

Winnie Youger-Rash (04:52)
I have a question. Sorry. I have a question about that. I have in the past said kind of like, if there is a question on there that you can answer, because like when you go in to edit the profile, it has like a bunch of different things. It talks about the parking, like you talked about, wheelchair accessible, all that sort of thing. I've always kind of been under the belief of like, if you have an answer for it, fill it in. Is that kind of what you would say is kind of a good rule of thumb of

Sterling (04:52)
I'd say another.

Winnie Youger-Rash (05:21)
If you can answer about, you know, hours, that sort of thing, that's a good rule to practice.

Sterling (05:27)
For sure. Yeah, I think as much information as you can give Google, the better.

Winnie Youger-Rash (05:30)
Google likes its information.

Sterling (05:33)
Yeah. And speaking of ad information, Google, know within Simplified I we'd sometimes like to say, you know, Google is kind of like a toddler, but is a very, the thing is though, it's a very, very finicky toddler, would say. Because one of the other big components of local SEO, would say is going back to what we call NAP consistency or nap consistency.

Winnie Youger-Rash (05:43)
absolutely. I've said that three times today already.

Mm-hmm.

Sterling (06:00)
That's short for name, address, and phone number. And this information is important because one of the other factors that come into play with local SEO is having consistent NAP information across not just your Google business profile, but across the internet. And this comes into play whenever you are listed on things like directories, social media, and even your website.

Google actually uses this consistency as more of a trust signal. And so it's really important to make sure that this information is the same on each of these sources. And so there might be other things like, for example, citations. Citations, it's one of those things where it is kind of like, I like to think of it as a cousin to backlinks, because citations are essentially

Winnie Youger-Rash (06:46)
Okay.

Sterling (06:47)
online mentions of your business's name, address, and phone number on third party websites. So, you know, other websites that are not your website. And this might be online directories such as heck, ⁓ Yelp, things like that. Psychology Today maybe, or other social media platforms. And these citations act as essentially kind of digital signals for search engines to help better verify a business's legitimacy, things like their location.

and of course, their information, like map information. And as long as it's consistent, that'll help with visibility and those local search rankings in your area on Google Maps.

I'd say another big thing that also comes into play whenever it comes to local SEO would be those types of keywords that we want to search for or be found for, I should say. Like I mentioned earlier, you know, a lot of times it might go back to including that near me at the end of keywords you're trying to rank for. But these kind of different geographically based keywords need to reflect how people are searching as well. So for example, you might want to make sure you're still

Winnie Youger-Rash (07:42)
Mm-hmm.

Sterling (07:53)
ranked for something like, let's say hypothetically, a trauma therapist in St. Louis. And you can also maybe include nearby landmarks if it's relevant. But there are other keywords where you might also want to be focusing on, such as, ⁓ let's say somebody is experiencing issues with anxiety. It's much more likely that they're going to be, you know, searching for something maybe like panic attack help near me or something along those lines instead of maybe

anxiety clinician or something along those lines. So while it is still important to, you know, continue with that organic part of SEO, which is more, you know, focused on just improving your rankings on a larger scale. It's also important to make sure that, you know, you're keeping an eye on how these more locally focused keywords are performing as well, because that's really going to be how you're going to be able to help.

get a better chance of being found by people in the search results.

And so another thing is going to be localized keywords. This is something else that is really important in terms of local SEO because, you know, focusing on these different geographically focused keywords, that's really going to be what is going to help you show up in things like Google Maps.

Because when people are searching for things on a more, you know, location focused sense, a lot of times it might be more related to things like, let's say, trauma therapist in St. Louis, for example, or trauma therapist near me. And so you might want to focus on different neighborhoods or maybe different citywide terms. And it also goes back to using that language that people are going to be searching for if they need that more immediate help.

So for example, if somebody were experiencing issues with anxiety, it might be more beneficial for you to try and rank for things like panic attack help near me or something along those lines instead of just going for more general keyword like anxiety clinician.

Winnie Youger-Rash (09:46)
for keywords, do you think if someone is focusing on their on-page SEO and their local SEO, should they be going for like the same kind of keywords? Like with one thing, a lot of times with on-page SEO, where you say don't focus on the near me keywords because it's a little too like location specific. then we do normally suggest local SEO, but for those ones that it's, let's say it's, functional medicine, Dr. Kansas city.

and that's what they're focusing on their on-page SEO. Would that be a good keyword to also focus on their local SEO?

Sterling (10:21)
For sure, yeah. think whenever it does come to local SEO keywords and organic keywords, there is still a little bit of overlap in some cases. Of course, I think it's going to be a little bit harder to include something like functional medicine doctor near me in a heading or in the content of the page itself that's going to be client facing, just because it doesn't really gel well in a sentence naturally.

Winnie Youger-Rash (10:33)
Mm-hmm.

Sterling (10:42)
But yeah, there can still be a lot of instances where you might be able to put them in things like the alt text from all titles of photos or you might be able to include them a little bit more on location specific pages, for example, other things of that nature

And, on that point, creating these like more unique landing pages for different locations, if you have multiple locations or even have just one, ⁓ these can also be really beneficial in terms of helping to be found on a more local level. and this also includes potentially adding different, site schema to that page.

that supports local SEO. I feel like that is a topic where it could be its own podcast in and of itself because there's a lot that goes into site schema. but there are a couple specific types of site schema, including a local business schema in particular that can really help with including more information, to better describe your business to Google. And it also kind of

provides a little bit more, I'd say, background information for things like AI overviews as well.

Winnie Youger-Rash (11:50)
That sense. We are definitely gonna have to do another podcast all about like technical and site schema, because I know we've mentioned it in podcasts before, but we haven't gone in depth. And that is terminology that is showing up more and more that people are kind of like wanting to know about.

Sterling (12:09)
you know, especially with all the stuff that's been happening with, you know, AI over the past couple of years, I feel like technical SEO is just getting more, more, I wouldn't say ingrained. don't know if that's the right word, but you know, more not even relevant. I don't want to say relevant because it's always been relevant, you know, but it's just been one of those things where I think with AI, especially, it's just becoming one of those things where it's harder to, it's harder to ignore, you know,

Winnie Youger-Rash (12:13)
yeah.

Sterling (12:33)
If you want to stay competitive, do think it's, it's becoming one of those things where, you know, you're probably going to need to do some level of a technical SEO for the site.

Winnie Youger-Rash (12:43)
which is a whole other ballgame and trying to explain that is...

a challenge trying to make that, you know, we work really hard to make sure like SEO is kind of simplified and simplified SEO. Side scheme is one of those things that even my brain is this is difficult. This is technical.

Mary (13:03)
So we've kind of gone over some of the core components of local SEO, but kind of die. know that from what I've read with local SEO, it's become even more important since AI kind of came onto the scene because AI really and Google really has honed its approach to be more specific to where the person is looking, what they're specifically looking for their area. So, I mean, is that one of the reasons why local SEO kind of matters even more?

or what are some of the reasons why it matters so much now?

Sterling (13:35)
yeah, whenever it comes to, you know, why local SEO matters, in addition to what you had mentioned, Mary, I do think that a lot more people are on their phones more than ever these days. And a lot of times whenever people are on their phones searching for things, you know, it's going to be whenever they're more ready to act and more ready to potentially, you know, reach out and seek services. And in addition to that,

There's also, you know, high intent traffic that comes into play with things like near me keywords. That's going to get more of those kind of purchase intent cases. And as a kind of a quick aside, I do want to mention there are essentially four different types of search intent. Whenever it comes to people searching for things on the internet, there's navigational, there's informational.

and that's respectively, know, navigational is going to be when people are searching for a certain page. And then informational is going to be when people are searching for specific information. Then you have transactional and commercial. And commercial is going to be whenever people are searching for specific services. And then transactional is whenever they're actually ready to purchase said services or products, of course. And so

With these near me related keywords and these more local keywords, a lot of times these do trend to be a little bit more transactional and commercial compared to some of the other more navigational, you know, these other types of keywords that might lead more folks to your website, but might not have as much of a chance of converting folks.

Mary (15:15)
So

an example I can think of to kind of represent that is say like someone's working downtown, they're really stressed out, their job's not going great, and they start thinking, Lord, my life is spinning out of control, I need help. So they start looking for maybe a therapist that's near their business that they can go to during lunch. So they would start searching for.

that location specific area. So, know, a therapist near my building, near where I work or near some landmark that's there. Is that kind of how it works in that sense of those high intent traffic, you know, that high intent traffic where that person is like actively looking and wanting to find something to help them. So they're searching specifically for something near them so they can go right out and get started with services.

Sterling (16:01)
Exactly, actually. Yeah, that's right on the money. And I do think that, of course, I would say one of the other biggest reasons of why, you know, local SEO is important even more these days is because much like technical SEO, there are more people doing, well, I'll say more SEO in general. But that does mean there are also more folks doing local SEO. So it does come back to that kind of

Mary (16:16)
Mm-hmm.

Winnie Youger-Rash (16:17)
Great.

Mary (16:20)
Right.

Sterling (16:23)
competitive edge aspect of things as well. You know, if others are doing local SEO and trying to rank for those things on a local level and another business is not, well, I think we know which one's most likely to be seen in that area.

Winnie Youger-Rash (16:37)
That makes a lot of sense. So what can private practice and group practice owners do to get seen for local SEO, to make it into that map pack, kind of appear above the individuals who are not putting effort into local SEO?

Sterling (16:53)
So I do think that optimizing that Google Business Profile fully is going to be an important part of things. Like I mentioned earlier, making sure you have things like photos that represent your practice, whether that be clinicians, whether there be location itself, even like ⁓ a quick video kind of opening up the door that leads to your practice and kind of showing folks what to expect when they walk in, things like that.

Winnie Youger-Rash (16:58)
Mm-hmm.

you

I think the photos on Google business profile get overlooked a lot. Like we push the emphasis of photos on like on page optimization a lot and you're about page and all of that. But I don't think it gets talked about enough how important it can be to just put those photos up. Even if it's just your, know, pictures of your therapist that you're using on your website or photos, your office, photos of the building outside. I know people have gone and just been like, I'm going to go take a picture of the front side of the building. Great.

Mary (17:19)
Mm-hmm.

Winnie Youger-Rash (17:45)
put it up there, all of that can help.

Mary (17:46)
No, and that's great

because I mean, I don't know about you guys, but when I go somewhere new, I like to know what the building looks like. I like to know what I'm expecting. You know, I like to know all of those things because it makes me feel more comfortable as a consumer to have those expectations already met that you kind of know what you're getting into. You kind of know what to expect when you walk in. So you just feel more comfortable. And I think you're hitting the nail right on the head, Winnie, when you're saying that those pictures are really important to kind of build that trust.

Winnie Youger-Rash (17:52)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mary (18:15)
initially with potential clients.

Sterling (18:17)
And I do think that another thing that we could probably don't need to get super deep into, but it's still important. I would say is also creating locally focused content that is, you know, of course related to your services, but is also integrating your surroundings, whether that be say local events, local venues, areas that folks might be able to visit that relate back to your services.

I know one example I like to give folks is like, let's go back to that anxiety aspect of things or anxiety example. You know, if somebody is experiencing issues with anxiety, well, as an anxiety therapist, maybe you could create a blog or something that is more centered around different parks in the area where folks might be able to go practice mindfulness techniques or kind of, you know, reconnect with, with the earth or something along those lines.

Mary (19:00)
Mm-hmm.

Like five places I go whenever I feel anxious in the city or whatever, just something like that.

Winnie Youger-Rash (19:06)
I

Sterling (19:11)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Winnie Youger-Rash (19:13)
I

had an idea, an example pop up for our functional medicine doctors is especially if they're treating like someone with a big part of their process is like working with individuals with diabetes, listing restaurants and the area around them of that places that have diabetic friendly meals and that sort of thing.

Mary (19:26)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. That's a

great idea.

Sterling (19:31)
And yeah, I'd say it does come back to that brainstorming part of things can be sometimes the hardest just because you're, know, trying to figure out how to integrate your. Yeah. And so, yeah, I do think blogging of course is another big thing that is important whenever it comes to local SEO. And this is kind of going back to the Google business profile part of things. Okay. So, you know, as helping professionals and particularly therapists,

Winnie Youger-Rash (19:35)
Absolutely.

Mary (19:38)
Yeah.

Winnie Youger-Rash (19:47)
Mm-hmm.

Sterling (19:57)
we have to worry about HIPAA. And whenever it comes to reviews, a lot of times folks will say, hey, thanks for your help with X service or whatever. And so it's important to still actually respond to those reviews. Yes, even if it's a five star, even if it's a one star, but to do that in a HIPAA compliant way. So that might be just.

Winnie Youger-Rash (19:59)
Yeah.

Mary (20:00)
Yeah.

Winnie Youger-Rash (20:15)
you

Mary (20:17)
Right.

Sterling (20:19)
thanking clients without providing any identifying information or PHI or personal health information or also addressing concerns that folks might have from those one-star reviews. ⁓ I know a great way to actually go about kind of addressing those is to often suggest that folks reach out to the business or the practice using an email in order to you know give you an opportunity to

Mary (20:23)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Sterling (20:47)
respond to that review in a professional way while also giving the individual an opportunity to address their concern professionally.

Winnie Youger-Rash (20:57)
That makes sense. Would you say there's like a ideal time limit on how quickly you answer these? Like I've heard before, like realistically you want to respond within 24 to 48 hours. I know responding is better than not responding, but is there like an ideal like timeframe?

Sterling (21:09)
Yeah.

Right. ⁓

Yeah, the perfectionist in me is just saying kind of ASAP. Yeah, I mean...

Mary (21:19)
Immediately. Do it now!

Winnie Youger-Rash (21:21)
Yeah, within a

minute, within a minute responded.

Mary (21:24)
Within a minute.

Sterling (21:25)
No, but yeah, it is one of those things where I would, I, I think you're on the money there with like the kind of a 24 48 hour range. Overall, I think that, you know, as long as you're responding to it, that is the biggest thing that Google wants to see. But in terms of timeframe, you know, it's more as soon as you can in a timely manner.

Mary (21:45)
And I'm going to butt in here because I know this is one of my favorite things just because I'm a small business owner and I've done this. But getting earning the backlinks and the mentions and citations. A lot of people are here the word backlinks and are like, Lord have mercy. I can't do that. That's so time consuming. But if you think about it from a local perspective within your community, there's lots of things that you can do that are not really labor intensive like you.

like you have here, it's like your chamber of commerce, your local directories, go to your local health department and ask if they have a directory for mental health providers or helping professionals that you can get on. Things like that. mean, it's really not that hard to reach out within your community and find different organizations that support what you do and interact with them, get on their...

Winnie Youger-Rash (22:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (22:35)
you know, directory interacts and build a relationship and earn those citations like you talked about earlier and earn those mentions and build that trust within your local community to really get established as, you know, the go to person within that local area within that neighborhood. And I think that that's, know, I don't know how important that is, but I don't think it's as hard as a lot of people think it is if you just really kind of sit back and think about, well,

you know, what organizations are in my community that kind of, you know, do what I do or part of what I do. And, you know, I think that that really demonstrates that you have an expertise and that authority of your community, which reflects on the expertise authority and trust with Google as well.

Sterling (23:22)
Very true, very true. And kind of in that same vein of local resources, I think even using things like Haro can be a really valuable source for that. I know Haro has had an interesting story over the last couple of years, but I'm glad they're back. They're great resource. I'm happy they're here. But yeah, I'd say, yeah, of course, the local part of things is very important. know, those local directories, local resources. But

Winnie Youger-Rash (23:33)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (23:36)
Yes. But it's back. It's back.

Sterling (23:49)
whenever it comes to local SEO, it is kind of a multi-pronged approach. And so while there are these more local citations or backlinks that you can accrue,

I do still think that getting more backlinks or citations from larger entities as well, whether that be things like, what's the word, ThriveWorks, believe, Psychology Today, things of that nature. I think those can also be really important ⁓ spots to be listed on just to make sure you're still improving your relevance and overall domain authority.

Mary (24:04)
Mm-hmm.

Good point.

Sterling (24:21)
⁓ and one of the other biggest things I just remembered as well in terms of optimizing for local SEO has to be, well, this is once again, kind of, we're kind of leading over into technical SEO again. It's prioritizing things like your mobile speed and your page speed because, you know, people love to be on their phones like we mentioned. And so even if you have an awesome, awesome desktop site.

Mary (24:37)
Yep.

Sterling (24:45)
not going to translate over well to your mobile so you've got to make sure your mobile is also up to snuff.

Mary (24:50)
We've talked about that a lot.

that whole making sure that things don't bleed together, they don't jump around, like having buttons, things like that. Is that what you're talking about?

Sterling (25:01)
Yeah, yeah, just anything you can do to help the site load easier. Like you said, including buttons, things of that nature. And, you know, depending on the type of website builder you're using, whether it be things like WordPress, Squarespace, there might be different, differing levels of access you can have to the website. And so, you know, there might be some cases where

You know, there might be a proprietary thing on Squarespace that you just can't get rid of because it's hard coded into the website itself. You know, there might be instances like this where you're looking for ways to improve the website and improve overall page speeds, but you know, not every site is exactly the same. And so there will be some cases where, you know, there might be things that are just a part of the website that you can't change. And, you know,

Mary (25:48)
Mm-hmm.

Sterling (25:50)
And that's all right. Sometimes it does come to it comes to a place where you have to kind of figure out, you know, what is going to be what is going to give us the most return for the time that we're putting into it and what might not be really worth the time. You know, there might be something where it could save you half a second on load times. But if you're if that thing is, you know, a font that you really like.

Winnie Youger-Rash (25:50)
That makes sense.

Sterling (26:15)
or a specific theme that you're using that's your favorite, well then, you know, maybe it's not worth, you know, getting rid of that font or that theme just to get that extra half second. You know, it does come back to making sure that, yeah, exactly. Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Mary (26:27)
Yeah.

The balance, I think everything comes back to that balance. Absolutely.

Winnie Youger-Rash (26:33)
Mm-hmm.

I was just gonna say, so we know that like prioritizing mobile and site speed is becoming more important because more and more people are on their phones, especially with local SEO. How else is local SEO changing? What else, especially in the age of AI where I feel like everything has been pretty consistently changing over the past year with updates and getting ranking in AI, is that affecting the local SEO game?

Sterling (27:05)
And whenever it comes to SEO and how local SEO is changing, I know the AI aspect of things, it has been, it's been interesting. AI overviews and that whole search generative experience can influence the local search visibility. And so this does require businesses to start to create more of that AI friendly content. For example,

including different types of schema that are going to support local SEO like that local business SEO or maybe even creating schema that is going to support FAQs. You know the questions and the answers that people are searching for.

Things like FAQ schema as well can be really important because that's going to give you an opportunity to potentially be shown in the AI overviews for those different questions and answers that people are searching for.

Winnie Youger-Rash (27:59)
with those FAQs, is it important for them to make it in their Google business profile post? Are you saying it's important to be like have an FAQ page?

Sterling (28:09)
I do think that having a dedicated FAQ page on the website is going to be a great source for this information. But in addition to that, I do think that creating different Google business profile posts or updates or whatever they're called, those can also be a great place to include some of these commonly asked questions.

and better give you an opportunity to answer those questions and come off as more of a trustworthy authority on the subject.

Mary (28:39)
And while we're on the topic, think another way that AI has really impacted local SEO is that AI driven search really focuses on those conversational tones. So people who are using talk to text, who are just talking into their phone saying, I'm ⁓ looking for such and such near me or personalized results is what AI really focuses on.

Winnie Youger-Rash (28:39)
That makes sense.

Sterling (28:50)
Mm-hmm.

Winnie Youger-Rash (28:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (29:03)
It's that makes it really important for businesses to be accurately represent themselves to give that, you know, that concrete name address phone number that you were talking about that, you know, be completely present in search results. And I think that that's one of the things that AI is really doing in even Google in the way that it's kind of changing how it, how it pulls search results.

Winnie Youger-Rash (29:12)
Mm-hmm.

Sterling (29:14)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (29:24)
is really emphasizing those conversational queries, those personalized results. And I think that's one of the reasons why we see AI having such a big impact on local SEO. And I could be way off, but that's just my understanding of how things are working.

Sterling (29:40)
Yeah, I would say you're not too far off.

Mary (29:43)
So we've talked about a lot of different things, AI and local search. I know that even AI, you can even get AI to help you manage your responding to reviews and use ChatGBT to help come up with suggestions to review responses. so AI can actually be used that way.

Sterling (29:58)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (30:04)
So I think that there's a lot of ways, like you said, the AI is really kind of impacting local SEO. ⁓ What are some common local SEO questions that you find that people often ask? Like whenever you have a consultation and we have people coming in, and because I'm not good at explaining local SEO, it's not in my wheelhouse, Winnie and I kind of look at each other and go, ⁓ maybe we should get Sterling on this call because I have no idea what the hell is going on.

Winnie Youger-Rash (30:10)
Mm-hmm.

Hahaha!

Mary (30:32)
So what are some questions that you see people asking frequently that they really don't understand about local SEO?

Sterling (30:40)
Yeah, I do think that one of the first things that comes to mind is, you know, do I really need local SEO if I'm already ranking in the organic Google search results? I'd say yeah, I'd say it's still one of those things that, you know, whenever you're trying to rank on a local level, it is still different from, you know, trying to broaden your reach across, say, a state level or an international or interstate level.

Mary (30:51)
Yeah.

Winnie Youger-Rash (30:52)
I agree.

Mary (30:53)
Totally.

Right.

Sterling (31:05)
without having these more local signals like your Google Business Profile, reviews, things like citations, you're gonna probably miss out on that map pack visibility. And that's gonna be where a lot of those mobile folks are gonna be clicking from.

Mary (31:16)
Mm-hmm.

That's a good point. I like that. So how long does it usually take to see results from local SEO? Like, are we talking? ⁓ Yeah, this is a question we get a lot. When will I see results? That's everybody's favorite question. I'm, I don't know, let's ask Sterling.

Winnie Youger-Rash (31:28)
Because this is a question we get a lot.

Yeah.

Sterling (31:38)
Yeah, I'd say typically we're probably looking at a range between three and six months for noticeable traction. But of course, this can vary. It's going to depend on things like how competitive a certain area is, how optimized things like your content that you're creating and your profiles are, and how consistent you are with things like updates and responding to your reviews. So there are different factors.

Winnie Youger-Rash (31:57)
sense.

Mary (31:59)
Mm-hmm.

Is that one

of the reasons why we suggest blogging, kind of going hand in hand with local SEO so we have that fresh content to kind of back up on and to show on your Google Business profile?

Sterling (32:18)
Mm-hmm for sure. Yeah, I do think that Yeah, alongside doing local SEO starting to create that blog content that is more locally focused is pretty invaluable and I think they're continuing to kind of you know get used to brainstorming those ideas of how you can either do outreach to your community or create more blog content that is locally focused and incorporate your community into that blog content

Mary (32:27)
Mm-hmm. Cool.

Sterling (32:46)
I think that's a really important part of continuing to build and see local SEO results.

Winnie Youger-Rash (32:53)
What's the best way to monitor and see the results? like with on-page SEO, my go-to is monitoring like Google search console. We have the dashboards for anyone who has like a package with us is I know you do heat maps with our local SEO package. Is that the best way to monitor local rankings specifically? Or is there another way for kind of individuals to be able to track that?

Sterling (33:17)
So I do think that heat maps are a really good place to track that rankings for those locally focused keywords that you're trying to search or be found for on a local level. I do also think that places like your Google Business profile can also provide some pretty valuable information of how things like your website clicks are going, how many folks are clicking on things like your call button, for example. And...

Winnie Youger-Rash (33:43)
I didn't even think about that.

Sterling (33:44)
Yeah, even things like, you know, the people trying to find directions to your practice as well. I think there are a couple of different places like that that are really good sources for tracking how things are going on a local SEO level.

Mary (34:00)
because helping professionals are part of that your money, your life demographic that Google kind of takes more seriously about what they put out. Do you feel like that makes local SEO even more important for our type of ⁓ helping our type of client or helping professionals or therapists? Because it's really demonstrating that

Winnie Youger-Rash (34:04)
Hmm.

You see?

Mary (34:22)
local trust within the community and building that. Do you feel like that's the case that it's even more important for like your money, your life businesses to really develop that local SEO if they have a brick and mortar office? Okay.

Sterling (34:35)
Certainly. I

know Google does take what's it called, EAT as a ranking factor, which is short for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. And so do think that trying to rank on a more local level is only going to help with accomplishing that.

Mary (34:39)
Mm-hmm.

Winnie Youger-Rash (34:41)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (34:46)
Mm-hmm.

Winnie Youger-Rash (34:53)
what are some common mistakes that people can make when it comes to their local SEO? Like for example, in OnPageFVO, we talk about,

Sterling (34:59)
Hmm. So.

Winnie Youger-Rash (35:02)
Keyword stuffing, we talk about not having photos and optimizing them. What are some that are specific to local SEO?

Sterling (35:09)
Yeah, so one of the unique things about local SEO and the aspect of being listed on different websites across the internet is that if you are not going back and making changes on those other websites whenever your information changes, then you're going to have inconsistent NAP information. So I

Winnie Youger-Rash (35:30)
That makes sense. So how quickly if someone is changing, let's say they're changing, they're updating their phone number or their address or their business name, who knows? How quickly do they need to start that process to get stuff switched over?

Is that like a?

Mary (35:44)
I mean, should

they start it like preemptively if they know they're going to be moving their business to a new location? Should they wait till the day of the move to do it? Should they do it preemptively to kind of get a head start? What should they do to kind of update their profile and the timeframe kind of space?

Sterling (36:01)
Yeah, so I think if in that like using your example of, if an individual is going to be moving their physical location to another area, I do think that it is best to have that information ready to go in your back pocket or even, you know, on its own Google doc, just so you can very quickly and easily apply that information to the updated listing or even your Google business profile.

because having that inconsistent information can be, of course, a detriment. But I would say as long as you are minimizing the amount of time it takes between updating that information, I think it's probably still your best bet. Overall, I would say if you can do it preemptively, it might.

Mary (36:53)
I thought I was wondering, would it hurt you unless you're stopping seeing clients a couple of weeks ahead of time before the move or there's a transition period? But from what you're saying, maybe doing it the day of or as soon as possible after you make the actual move is probably the best course of action so that there's not that overlap or confusion during the transition.

Sterling (37:17)
Yes, correct. And I do think that whenever it also does come back to your Google business profile in particular, Google can be a little finicky sometimes whenever it comes to things like getting re-verified, especially after you change your location. And so if, for example, you were needing to get your Google business profile listing re-verified, well, you're likely going to need some specific information that you can only have if you are physically located.

Mary (37:18)
Okay.

Okay. Okay.

Winnie Youger-Rash (37:28)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (37:41)
Right. If you're actually at that location. Yeah.

Sterling (37:45)
Right. And so, yeah, say as long as you have access to that location, you can probably start to get that information change.

Winnie Youger-Rash (37:46)
That makes sense.

Mary (37:52)
Awesome.

Winnie Youger-Rash (37:53)
So when in doubt, people need to plan to do all these updates the day of when they're moving, maybe the next day. Add that onto like a moving checklist.

Mary (37:58)
As soon as possible, yeah.

Sterling (38:00)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

exactly.

Mary (38:08)
Well, I think we've covered

a lot of information. Sterling, this was really helpful. Thank you so much for coming because local SEO is not my jam. I'm totally this. don't know why I cannot wrap my head around it very well. It's just one of those things that I I look straight at it and it's just a black hole. I don't know what the problem is. I just don't get it. But. ⁓

Winnie Youger-Rash (38:12)
Yeah.

Hahaha!

Sterling (38:26)
You

Mary (38:30)
I think at the end of the day, SEO and local SEO are really, like you said, they're about connection. They're about whether you're a small business, a private practice, or a big group practice. Showing up online means showing up for the people who are already looking for you. And then from what you said, I think that that's hugely important in today's AI age. Strengthen your Google business profile, making sure you're not just visible, but you're credible.

and you're doing all the things to kind of build that trust within the community, within your area, and becoming that go-to person that people in that area are gonna find. Because that's what you wanna be ultimately if you have a brick and mortar place. You want to be that go-to resource, that go-to person.

Winnie Youger-Rash (39:11)
Thank you so much Sterling for joining.

Sterling (39:13)
I appreciate it.

Mary (39:13)
Yeah. And I, I

just want to mention, I know you, you said this because Google is finicky, but if you're having trouble with Google verifying your Google business profile, don't give up. Eventually you will get it. Eventually you will get it. All the hoops, all the hoops. It's like trying to reason with a two year old who hasn't had a snack and is got the wrong juice in their sippy cup.

Sterling (39:27)
Yep.

Winnie Youger-Rash (39:28)
Yep. Yep.

It's up. They make you jump through all the hoops.

Mary (39:43)
They're just mad and it's very picky eater. So yeah, just, you know, all of this information has been really good and we hope that you really got something out of it. And I am thankful that you guys joined us on this journey of this podcast. And I'm thankful for Sterling for being here. We absolutely love him as part of our team and we'll have him on here again, because maybe one day we'll dive into the depths of site schema and confuse the hell out of everybody. But until next time, guys.

Winnie Youger-Rash (39:43)
and is very picky, is a picky eater.

Absolutely.

Woohoo! ⁓

Sterling (40:12)
hope you can read higher

glyphics.

Mary (40:13)
Yeah, basically. Until

next time, guys. Thank you. We appreciate you. Bye.

Sterling (40:20)
Bye.