Everything About The “Near Me” Optimization For Local SEO

In early January of 2017, Dan Leibson of Local SEO Guide put together a paradigm-shifting piece called “Near Me” Local SEO Ranking Factors.

In his article, Leibson highlighted the upward trend in “near me” search queries. He pointed out particular examples of the deep tendency like “restaurants near me,” “banks near me,” along with other locally-specific queries.

Based on our brief analysis on Google Trends, the prevalence of “near me” inquiries has increased over 300% in the last 2 years.

But beyond movie times, restaurants, gas stations, and banks, in the present world of search where mobile is dominant, “near me” is currently relevant for pretty much any local query. From Botox to Yoga studios, the application of “near me SEO” can be worth experimenting with.

Here at XtremeUX Digital, we analyzed some standard implementation of “near me” on a few different local businesses that we utilize. The quantity of work spent in this evaluation took less than an hour and the results were profound.

➦ Testing “Near Me” Optimization For Local SEO

Applying “near me” optimization on a site is somewhat odd. However, as unusual as it may seem, it’s well worth it.

Here we take you through the process of how we used “near me SEO” as well as a quick case study discussing the results. We apologize in advance for not having concrete before and after screenshots and the like.

Also, we offer the best Local SEO Services Pricing for your business growth. Having conducted this work about a thousand miles from where the local business is really found, any “near me” searches could be irrelevant.

➦ The Business Being Tested

Our team first tried the experiment on a laser skin care center based in Atlanta that specializes in services like laser liposuction, miraDry, Botox, HyrdaFacial, and other related skin procedures.

Since the clinic rated on page two for “Botox Atlanta” and “Botox near me” (according to my Atlanta-based colleague,) we started there.

After about 20 minutes of keyword research and SERP analysis, we implemented quite subtle changes to the Botox page’s title, meta description, and a couple of search-engine components (that I describe in greater detail below.) The actual implementation took maybe 30 minutes, but that’s beside the point.

Just 4 days after implementing these changes, the clinic was revealed in the local pack for “Botox near me,” along with rank in the top 3 organically. Simply speaking, the results were profound, so we implemented the same alterations across several different pages on the site.

➦ The Simple Approach to “Near Me” SEO

Again, this strategy is a little odd.

If you are doing SEO for a very high-profile client, then you might want to consult with them before making such changes to their website. But if they are already struggling to attain high rankings, the oddities of writing in first-person ought to be justifiable.

• Page Title

The first element we shifted on the Botox Webpage was the title. There’s really no art and science to this. We used a pretty simple structure such as:

“Botox Atlanta | Get Botox Injections Near Me at…”

That’s an abbreviated version of the title, however, you get the picture. It is possible to try phrasing like “Find (product/service) Near Me (city)” or other creative wording.

• Meta Description

In the meta description, how we used a similar format just as we suggested previously. It went a little something like this:

“Seeking Botox near me in Atlanta? Get Botox shots from….”

As you can see, this is pretty simple stuff. A little odd, but very straightforward.

• Page Copy

We tried to add “near me” at least once from the page copy. In doing so, we chose to add a few new sentences close to the bottom of the webpage, so it was not as likely to be seen by actual users.

The sentences read something similar to:

“There is a reason why people seeking ‘Botox near me’ in Atlanta choose us. We use only Allergan Botox injections which are professionally handled by our trained staff.”

Lastly, we added “near me” in one of the page’s image ALT tags.

Nothing overly keyword stuffy. Just posing the question “Looking for Botox near me” and keeping the usability side of things mainly legit.

➦ Last Word on Near Me

The application of “near me SEO” is no doubt a strange undertaking.

Some can assert that implementing such modifications interrupts usability. And while we do agree that these modifications may not be the most user friendly, the cost is relatively minor given that the potential rewards.

The fact of the matter is, implementing some degree of “near me” to the local SEO efforts works. And it works well, even in competitive marketplaces.

Perhaps you have dabbled in “near me SEO” on any company sites that you work with? We’d be interested to know your results.