For small businesses and traditional ‘neighbourhood’ stores, local SEO is one of the most effective roadmaps to digital (and business) success. Thanks to it, local brands stand out from their competitors on the Internet and quickly capture the closest public, generating very immediate business opportunities.
In cities like Marbella, local SEO is indeed one of the most demanded marketing strategies. As actors and experts of our market, at Supermedia Studio we master local SEO in Marbella, turning your business into the reference of your sector in the city. But before we work together, in this blog we want to share in-depth insights on what local SEO is, how to implement it effectively and how we drive your local SEO strategies to a new level.
What Is Local SEO? Introducing the Concept
Local SEO is a branch of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) that focuses on improving the visibility and positioning of a brand locally, both on Google and other search engines, in order to attract more users and potential customers from the area of interest. Local SEO can be executed both for local businesses that want to improve their overall performance and digital awareness, as well as for up to multinational franchises that want to focus on specific areas.
When we talk about SEO, we are talking about visibility and rankings achieved organically, progressively and without prior payment, by adjusting or rewriting the content and architecture of webspaces to achieve a initial position in search results. The alternative are paid methods and apps that serve the same purpose, such as Google Ads or paid journal articles, which fall under the umbrella of SEM or paid media.
Unlike general SEO, which seeks to improve positioning at a global, language or national level, local SEO improves online positioning within specific geographic areas. In this case, we are talking about local SEO in Marbella.
Importance and Value of Local SEO in Marbella
Marbella is one of the most sought-after tourist destinations throughout Europe, the United States and the most developed Arab countries in the Middle East. In addition, Marbella is an acclaimed destination for second homes and even as a home, attracting both locals and foreigners alike for its renowned lifestyle and quality of life. This side of Marbella as a major transnational market for tourism, housing and enjoyment generates great business opportunities for sectors such as hospitality, leisure, wellness, construction, real estate services and private education, attracting all kinds of companies, entrepreneurs and investors in these fields. Indeed, these representative sectors of Marbella are widely spread across all types of businesses, from international big companies to local SMEs, which generates a high and complex competitiveness between them.
On the other hand, these businesses meet a very transient and diverse public due to the large influx of visitors and temporary workers that the city has, who turn to the Internet to search for products and services in a city they do not know. Strong local SEO is the best way to stand out from competitors in Marbella and capture that interesting volume of transient customers, without forgetting the resident and native audience. Implementing a local SEO strategy tailored to Marbella’s diverse audience is crucial to ensure your business is visible online.
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The 6 Key Actions to Do a Good Local SEO in Marbella
Doing local SEO in Marbella or anywhere else in the world does not require complex processes or tools, but it does require a strong and robust coordination of multiple elements in your digital presence. These are the key factors and steps to achieve effective local SEO for any business:
1. Google My Business (Now Known as Google Business Profile)
Taking into account that Google is the most used search engine worldwide, it is essential to have a business profile on Google My Business. Thanks to it, Google will improve the visibility and positioning of your business through a business ‘listing’ with strategic information and high conversion power. This listing will be clearly visible when users perform local searches related to your business sector, both in the Google search engine and in its map service (Google Maps), as well as in Google Shopping.
Your Google My Business profile should incorporate as much up-to-date information about your business as possible, with a focus on information that truly places your brand in the local area of interest. It is also essential to include information that ‘calls to action’ and boosts conversion. In short, we are talking about the following basic data:
- Exact address.
- Opening hours.
- Contact details.
- Links to your ecommerce, that is, to the website of your business from which you sell your products or services, or from which you manage your bookings or appointments.
Additionally, it is very important that your Google My Business profile links to your homepage and to your social media, if you have them. It is also highly recommended that you add links to your business profiles on intermediary platforms and local directories, such as Booking, Tripadvisor, Yelp, Too Good to Go or, in the precise case of Marbella, the Marbella Tourism directory. Finally, don’t forget to incorporate keywords and tags that users might use to search for a business like yours, so that Google makes the right match with your profile.
Along with these data and links, an effective Google My Business profile should include quality audiovisual content that shows your brand in a visual, clear way. Through photographs and videos, you will be able to show exactly what your brand does, what kind of product or service it offers, and what its identity is (logos, values, style, etc.). That is, you will be able to show whether, for example, your restaurant is more gourmet and formal, or if it offers a more simple and spontaneous gastronomic experience. It is best to launch this content through regular posts, such as through the ‘What’s New’ section on Google My Business. This will keep your profile active and Google will boost your ranking.
Photos and videos don’t just complete your Google My Business profile. In the end, these elements of your profile are the only information that really distinguishes your brand and profile from those of your local competitors. By visually revealing your brand identity and the style of your product or service, you will quickly get your target audience to identify with your Google My Business profile, capturing the most appropriate clientele.
On the right, Google results show the Supermedia Studio’s Google My Business profile
The Relevance of User Generated Content (UGC) in Google My Business
Google My Business profiles are open and collaborative with users. That is, they can also provide information about your business on their profile, as we will see later with reviews. For example, Google users can suggest changes to the opening hours of a business on Google My Business if they are certain that it is not correct. Or make public queries to the owner of the profile, whose answer will also be public so that it is useful to other users (FAQs).
Apart from queries and suggestions, users can also publish pictures and videos of your business and products, sharing a content that is very significant for its high transparency and credibility for the online community. As with reviews, photos and videos produced by other users, known technically as ‘user generated content’ (UGC), provide an external, independent, spontaneous and non-corporate testimony about the business, offering a reliable and trustworthy vision of the experience that the potential customer will live there. Therefore, it is a very decisive content that must be supervised and cared for, promoting the creation of positive or purely expository UGC, and delicately managing or rectifying negative UGC.
With all this corporate and ‘citizen’ information you will not only optimise and improve the performance of your Google My Business. You will also provide a lot of transparency about your business. This transparency is key to making your digital presence on Google truly compelling and effective. No matter how much you appear in the first results. A business profile with little or unclear information only generates uncertainty and rejection.
User generated content (UGC) conveys the vision that any potential customer could have of your business or service
2. Consistent NAP
With NAP, we are referring to Name, Address, Phone Number. This term indicates how important it is that your business details are correct, consistent and uniform across all the web channels you appear on, including your Google My Business profile, your website, social media, intermediary platforms and directories. This way, Google will effectively understand your true location and business area, positioning you correctly when local users search for your product or service. In addition, intermediary platforms and directories will also position you effectively when their users filter their searches in relation to your area.
To achieve a good NAP, it is first necessary to accurately define those contact details about your business, make sure they are correct, and include or correct them equally in all digital profiles and NAP mentions. This is an audit process that can be arduous, which is why the service of a digital marketing agency like Supermedia Studio can complete this action in an agile, professional and consistent manner.
Remember, too, that a lot of your business opportunities depend on your contact details.
3. Reviews Management
Along with the Google My Business profile, the reviews of your business are another of the fundamental pillars of your local SEO. We are talking about the opinions and testimonials that users publish about their experience as consumers of your business, whether on Google My Business or on intermediary platforms (Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.) that include a review system. The more positive the reviews about your business, the better positioned it will be in these spaces, as they will understand that your business is more relevant and reliable.
Beyond improving the positioning of your business, reviews also work as the social proof or verification of its true quality. In fact, reviews are the most defining element of your business’ credibility and reputation in the digital community. Regardless of whether your local SEO ranking is better or worse, positive reviews always generate valuable trust over your business, greatly boosting your conversion power. In fact, a bad reputation with a good SEO ranking has a very counterproductive effect, as all the criticism about your business will become more visible. Therefore, good local SEO should always be accompanied by good review management.
As good reviews ultimately depend on the actual performance of your business, and not so much on its digital marketing, review management in terms of digital strategy is aimed at encouraging the posting of positive reviews, and minimising the impact of negative ones. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and coordinate online and offline methods that encourage users to post positive reviews, providing transparency about your business. For example, restaurants can fix a QR code on their tables that redirects guests to the Google My Business review system. Email marketing or WhatsApp Business campaigns that encourage users to rate may be also useful.
Within the strategy it is also highly recommended to respond to reviews in a personalised way, especially to negative ones. This will not only keep your profiles active and improve their positioning, such as Google My Business, but will also give a very convenient image of care and attention to your customers. When responding to negative reviews, it is essential that you always maintain a gentle, conciliatory and problem-solving tone. Responding to reviews will also improve the relationship and loyalty of your customers, as they see that their opinion or comment is taken into account.
Finally, don’t forget that the highest ratings in terms of reviews and opinions are always rewarded. Google My Business and other directories and platforms prioritise the most reputable businesses, and create filters, pages or articles selecting those with the highest scores. Getting a good score in reviews multiplies your visibility and takes your business to the top.
4. On-Page Optimisation
The traditional SEO strategy of adding keywords to your web copy is also essential for your local SEO in Marbella. Identify keywords that focus on the local area of your business and include them in the areas of your website that perform best for them, such as in title tags, meta descriptions, URLs and headers. For example, if you have a restaurant in Marbella, you could use terms such as ‘gourmet restaurant in Marbella’ or ‘best local food in Marbella’.
There are many ways to identify and analyse local-related keywords. The simplest (but least accurate) methods range from analysing your competitors’ websites to predicting keywords with Google’s search engine autocomplete predictions. More sophisticated methods are, for example, the use of the Google Ads Keyword Planner, an example of the different keyword research and Big Data platforms. Searching for effective keywords can become a very complex and systematic task, so the help of marketing experts like Supermedia Studio ensures that your website uses the most effective terms in the most appropriate text spaces.
Boosting Local SEO Through Creative, Optimised Blogs
Another good way to achieve good on-page optimisation is to regularly publish optimised blogs on your website, including local-related keywords. In this case, being local SEO, your articles should talk about topics that connect your business to the local area. If your business is a real estate agency in Marbella, for example, it is very convenient that your articles respond to the usual queries about moving to/living in Marbella (property prices in Marbella, residential areas in Marbella, legal and tax issues when buying a property in Marbella, etc.). Additionally, it is important that these ‘local’ blogs incorporate links to websites and content from other local businesses and entities. This way, Google will better understand that you are related to that local area.
Apart from improving your Google ranking, blogs are also an excellent way to build trust and transparency with potential customers. With them you can demonstrate in depth your knowledge and experience about the product or service you offer. They can also work as a reference of useful information for the user. Or use them to inspire your social media content. For example, if your business is a hostel or hotel in Marbella, your web blog can become a perfect space for you to talk about the attractions you suggest to visit, or to provide your guests with useful information about public transport, reservations or tickets.
We suggest that these blogs are written with interesting facts and a human tone to better capture the attention and interest of users. In addition, content generated by generative AIs such as ChatGPT will be increasingly penalised or rejected by Google.
High-performing keywords, local-related original content and a lot of creativity: this is how we create blogs to improve Fly Marbella‘s local SEO in Marbella
5. Local Backlinks
The local backlinks strategy mimics the dynamic of adding links to blogs, as discussed above.
In this case, the goal is to get other local websites to add links to your business website, either on their blog or other pages. Although it may seem trivial, this is an action that gives a lot of authority to your website in the eyes of search engines. Having other local websites link to your site improves Google’s credibility and trust, as you can be seen as a local reference.
There are many ways to get local backlinks. The key point is that quality websites link to you, and that they do so in a logical, organic and certainly moderate way. If Google detects that a website is linking to you repeatedly, in a forced, meaningless way, then it may penalise the action and your website. In this case, the search engine understands that link spamming is being carried out to force optimisation. Therefore, it is often recommended to perform a backlinks audit or analysis to indentify them all and check the real results they are bringing you.
The more reputation and authority the website linking to you has, the more Google will believe how important you are. These are the key strategies that Supermedia Studio can provide you to improve your local SEO in Marbella through backlinks:
- Local Collaborations: collaborate with other local businesses and bloggers in Marbella to get mentions and links. For example, you can offer cross-discounts with complementary businesses.
- Local Directories: list your business in directories specific to Marbella. Make sure your NAP is consistent in all of them.
- Local Press: send press releases to local media about your business successes, solidarity work, special events or exclusive promotions. Local media usually have a good relevance, generating a very positive backlink.
- Sponsorships and Participation: participate in or sponsor local events, fairs or community initiatives. This will not only give you direct local visibility, but can also generate links from the organisers’ websites and other sources.
6. Social Media Locations and Hashtags
Within social networks you can also specify the area of your business and activity, helping your local positioning. When you make posts, incorporate ‘local’ hashtags into your content, i.e. text tags that begin with symbol # and relate your content to key local search terms. This way you can get a lot of traffic from users exploring content through those hashtags.
By using Marbella-specific hashtags such as #MarbellaLifestyle, #MarbellaRealEstate or #MarbellaFood, you can increase the visibility of your business among local users and tourists looking for content related to the area. In addition, by tagging the exact location of your posts, you make it easier for people nearby to find them and connect with you. This not only increases the reach and interactivity of your posts, but also improves the local relevance and authority of your business, which contributes to a better ranking in social media platforms search results.
In the copy of your posts (i.e. the text part of your posts), we also recommend that you include keywords that are local-related to your business. Large social networks like the Meta ones (Facebook and Instagram) have very good rankings on engines like Google, so they can boost yours when they show your local content posts in organic search engine results.
Instagram’s maps feature allows you to browse and find local content based on your location and search terms
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Supemerdia Studio, Local SEO in Marbella Experts to Boost Your Business
Committed to the progress of small and local businesses in our city, as well as local freelancers and entrepreneurs in need of marketing services, at Supermedia Studio we are dedicated to making your business stand out in highly competitive local environments. We understand that every brand is unique, so we develop comprehensive, organic and customised strategies that cover all critical points of local SEO, from Google My Business optimisation to local content creation for social media. In addition, we work with a multilingual team that helps our clients engage the large visiting and foreign audience that visits Marbella.
In addition, at Supermedia Studio, we take advantage of the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data tools to monitor and optimise your online positioning in an agile, accurate and continuous way. And without losing the human and creative touch that defines us, and that greatly improves the marketing strategies appeal. Among other functions, we use these technologies to identify the best local keyword opportunities, perform backlink audits or automate review management, ensuring that your online reputation remains consistently impeccable.
Our experience in creating strategic networking and local backlinks with other businesses in Marbella also makes us your best local SEO partner in Marbella, integrating your business into the professional and social community of the city, both online and offline. At Supermedia Studio we not only improve your local SEO, but we also help you build a solid, distinctive and timeless digital presence in Marbella, boosting your growth and distinction in every way.
