Local SEO for Small Business: A 2024 Guide

As the internet and technology develop, it is important to adjust your marketing strategies to reach wider audiences. This is also crucial for small businesses in Malaysia that target audiences in specific regions. 

According to research by Nordin, et.al (2023), up from 39% in 2019, 54% of Malaysian SMEs now provide their products or services online. Yet, just 19.7% of Malaysian SMEs have successfully incorporated online marketing. 

In fact, online marketing like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help small businesses strive in the digital market. 

Standing out in the search engine boosts your brand visibility, making your customers easily find your business and impacting your website traffic. Therefore, utilising local SEO is a wise move to target audiences in a specific area or even near you. 

This article will guide you to optimise local SEO for small businesses in Malaysia and how it can help your business win the online market. 

What Is Local SEO?

Before we dig deeper into local SEO for small businesses, you should understand what it is first. Local search engine optimisation, often known as local SEO, makes a company's online presence more visible for location-based searches. 

With this strategy, a local business can show up in pertinent search results for customers looking for goods or services in a certain location, like Malaysian cities or regions.

Why Small Businesses Need SEO?

Then, why is local SEO for small businesses important? 96% of people use the internet to research local businesses. In addition, 80% of local searches convert to paid customers. 

Equally important, 49% of people prefer to purchase products from a local presence. However, customers will overlook a company without an online presence in 62% of cases. 

Therefore, optimising your business online, one of them by using a website, is essential to boost your authority and online presence. 

Local SEO for small businesses can help you become more visible in the SERPs. The more visible your website or listing on search engines, the more you can attract more local customers. 

Aside from that, local SEO for small businesses can aid you to stand out in the fierce market. You must appear distinct in the middle of businesses in the same sector so that Malaysians can find your brand easily. 

In addition to visibility, standing out from the competitive market also helps you improve your brand credibility and authority since the more people trust your business, the more people come to you. 

Local SEO Best Practices for Small Business

There are many tactics for local SEO for small businesses in Malaysia, from using websites to social media. Below are the detailed explanations:

1. Optimising Google Business Profile

The first local SEO for Google is creating and optimising Google Business Profile (GBP). GBP or previously Google My Business, is an account containing information about your business. 

You can implement SEO for Google My Business by completing valid information about your business, including NAP (name, address, phone number), social media, website, working horse, and many more. 

It's also crucial to keep your GBP profile up to date with any modifications to your company's details, including additional locations or altered operating hours.

In addition, you should make sure that prospective clients have access to the most current, pertinent information about your company by maintaining an updated profile. In this case, you should also update the latest information on your other platforms, like “About” pages. 

Giving accurate information also prevents potential customers and search engines confused about your business. 

2. Developing a Website

The next local SEO for small business strategy is developing a website. If you do not have one, it is robust to create one since a website helps you to get recognised easily in the search engine. 

Yet, if you already have one, this is the time to optimise it. Local SEO also includes technical tactics, such as on-page optimisation and technical SEO. 

On-page optimisation is advancing the structure and elements of your website to make it more user-friendly, responsive, and understandable by the search engine. 

Moreover, optimising your website for location-based searches and local keywords is one of the most important aspects of on-page optimisation.

This entails filling your website's URL structure, content, title tags, and meta descriptions with pertinent location-based keywords. 

At the same time, make sure that your website is mobile-friendly to ease the user accessing your website from their phone. 

Think With Google mentioned that 60% of smartphone users contact businesses straight from search engine results. 

Therefore, aside from completing the information and optimising the content for your website, it is also crucial to make your website accessible and responsive for smartphone users. 

You may raise the search engine rankings of your website and draw in more local clients by making sure it is mobile-friendly, optimised for local keywords, and responsive to location-based searches.

3. Establishing Local Backlinks and Citations

Local citations support the building of your company's authority and trust in the community, which makes them a crucial ranking feature for local SEO.

Furthermore, creating local citations is essential for local SEO because it can raise your website's search engine ranks and increase website traffic. 

In brief, local citations are references to your company's name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites, including social media platforms, review sites, and directories. Your company is more likely to show up in local search results the more high-quality citations it has.

You can do several things to establish your local citations, such as complying your business information to directories and review sites. 

In building local backlinks and citations, make sure that the information provided, especially the NAP, is consistent for all websites and directories. 

4. Producing Local Content

Not only optimise the website, but you must also produce local content to reach more audiences in your area. 

Additionally, local content might raise your website's position in search results for queries and keywords that are location-based.

You can make local guidelines and news containing events, landmarks, and so on to build a strong authority in the region. 

Local case studies also work for your business to prove your expertise and make your potential customers trust your business. 

5. Utilising Social Media

Working on on-page optimisation is important, but so are off-page tactics like social media. You may increase website traffic and search engine rankings for location-based keywords by optimising your social media profiles and interacting with local clients.

In addition, you can easily interact with your customer, increasing the engagement and trust to your business. 

6. Asking for Review

The last local SEO for small businesses is asking for reviews from your customers. Online reviews help establish your company's reliability and dependability in the community. 

While negative reviews can damage your reputation and turn off potential consumers, positive reviews can raise your website's search engine ranks and draw in more people to your business.

Aside from asking for reviews from your customers, you should also pay attention to how you encourage them. You must make it easy for them to leave a review by providing the link to your GBP or review site. 

If possible, you can offer an incentive, like a discount or promo, to anyone leaving reviews about your business after buying your products or using your services. 

Conclusion

Those are the ins and outs of local SEO for small businesses in Malaysia you should pay attention to. Doing local SEO for Google is beneficial for your business since it levitates your brand to a prominent place in the search engine. 

However, executing local SEO for small enterprises needs thorough approaches. Working with a company that provides local SEO services for small businesses is therefore recommended. 

Regarding this, you can entrust SEO Services by cmlabs. Collaborate with our expert team now!