SEO
Local SEO is a vital part of search engine optimisation. It optimises a local business on location-based searches and keywords, such as ‘car mechanic in Dubai’ or ‘seafood restaurant in Dubai’. It helps improve the presence of a business on the local listing sites and directories while also optimising the local web page of said business. This article shows you how vital local SEO is in Dubai for both the businesses and SEO provider.
Factors that affect local SEO
When someone enters a keyword in the search bar, Google scans its index and displays the best matching results. These are the factors that help rank local searches;
- A user’s current location
- Google My Business profile
- NAP citations
- Online reviews
- Google Maps star ratings
- Keywords used on sites
- Social media shares
- The number of check-ins at a location
- Several more…!
Importance of local SEO in Dubai
According to Google Analytics, more than 70% of shoppers in Dubai use search engines to find and reach local businesses. It means many potential clients get their first impressions of a brand online. Imagine running a boutique in Al Ras, Dubai. You know there are many more boutiques in your immediate vicinity and even more in the city. In such circumstances, it becomes quite hard to stand out, especially against the more prominent brands, without local SEO.
Google Map Pack
Google Map Pack provides basic information about a business, like location, opening hours, type of business, prices, ratings, comments, photos, website address, and contact information. That’s why Google Map Pack is vital to make a business get local recognition.
Tracking Map Pack rankings in Dubai
You should know that Dubai has relatively fewer search data compared to other high-volume countries, like the United States, making it harder for most conventional SEO tools to track properly. However, this data is becoming increasingly better and more organised every passing day.
If you wish to avail yourself the best of the data, you must really dive into it. A combination of both the English and Arabic results for the same search term will also help. You can search for the desired keyword while still remaining in the target location and improve accordingly. Such techniques will allow you to fill any gaps in conventional local SEO tools.
Local organic rankings
These factors can help you improve local organic rankings of your business or brand;
1. Search and use local keywords
Ensure that your web pages include local keywords for better organic searches. For example, if you run a boutique in Al Ras, Dubai, make sure that your pages contain keywords like ‘boutique in Al Ras, Dubai’ or ‘fashionable clothing in Al Ras, Dubai’, etc.
Most organic searches are dependent on keywords. Therefore, their inclusion on web pages is a must for better rankings. In addition, local keywords are relatively easier to rank for than global ones, making things somewhat more manageable.
2. Keep all the tags up to date and organised
Always make sure that your tags, like meta titles, meta descriptions, image alt tags, etc., are up to date and contain essential keywords. This exercise requires a lot of attention to minute details but is worth every second of it. Every time you publish a blog or an article, add images, videos, and proper keywords that will help bring in targeted traffic.
3. Manage your markups
Data markups are an essential search ranking factor because they help tell a search engine what your content is all about. So keep them up to date to gain more organic traffic.
