Local SEO for School – An Effective Marketing Tool to Increase Admission

Local SEO for school can play a very important role in improving school’s web presence and ultimately getting more admissions.

In this post “Local SEO for School – An Effective Marketing Tool to Increase Admission” I am going to explain about what is local SEO, What is Google My Business, Benefits of Local SEO, Steps to improve School’s local search performance etc. in detail.

What is Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

 

You must be knowing what SEO is? It is the process of improving the organic traffic to your website. Local SEO is a part of SEO. The aim of local SEO is to attract traffic through organic searches that have local intent. For e.g. if someone includes a specific location or make the search with something like “near me,” the search has local intent.

When viewers search online on search engine to find ” schools near me ” or any particular location, Google display a variety of search results based on the user’s location.

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves executing online strategies that will help promote your school for local searches. It involves many strategies such as claiming your Google My Business, gaining reviews and citations in relevant business directories.

Local Search Results

Search engine Google always provides its searchers with the best experiences and best results possible. That’s why when a user searches with local intent, Google displays the local results.

For e.g. when somebody searches the best CBSE School near me (Kasturi Nagar Bengaluru), he will get best results possible.

What is Google 3 Pack?

The Google 3-Pack is an approach where Google displays search results when users make queries with local intent.

Here in the image you can see the top 3 results, this is called local 3 pack. Google shows the three local business listings that are best match and relevant to the search. So here in this case, it lists three best CBSE Schools in Kasturi Nagar Bengaluru.

The local 3 pack is a somewhat large block that appears underneath the paid ads but before the organic search results. It’s the foremost thing people see after they make local search.

Not only that but you will find some extra piece of information in the local pack which you don’t find with the usual organic results. These extra information includes the review rating, address, business type, website link and directions. All these information comes from Google My Business and not from your website.

What is Google My Business Listing?

Google My Business (or GMB) is your free business (School) profile on Google. It requires all the important information about a business that potential user want to know like name, address, phone number, business type, services, reviews, photos, directions, and so on. These listings are displayed in Google Maps and right on Google search engine results pages.

For general local searches, the GMB listings are shown in the local pack. But for more precise searches (like branded searches), you will see a knowledge panel. The walker school knowledge panel is a perfect example of a school that has optimized their GMB listing. The information that appears in their knowledge panel is a result of how they managed their GMB listing and the information they added to GMB.

This knowledge panel is shown on the right side of the search engine results page, and it contains a lot of information about the business. These information, most of them is being fetched from GMB, gives searchers details to click and connect with the business right on Google.

As most of the users are online to search page features like knowledge panels are getting popularity.

Google My Business is the best way for schools to reach and interact with the parents searching for school for their little ones.

You can submit your school information on GMB, so in this way you can present the information which parents are looking for.

GMB gives school owners a leg up over their competition when it comes to SEO, particularly when they consistently stay up to date and take advantage of all the new features.

Benefits of Local SEO for Schools

Local SEO has several benefits which help schools to increase admissions. In this post “Local SEO for School – An Effective Marketing strategy to Increase Admission” let me tell you the benefits of local SEO for Schools:

1. Local SEO is an ongoing regular process. The activity like citation building, helps improving online visibility of schools. When you are more visible online you have an edge over your competitors who are still not visible online.
2. Greater local visibility means more foot traffic, more enquiries and more admissions. When the parents search for schools near me and find you in the top local searches you will get have better chances to get more enquiries and later on more admissions.
3. Optimizing your website for local search attract more targeted traffic and more online visitors for relevant search terms. For e.g. if someone is relocating from other city to the city where your school is located and searches for best CBSE School in “city” and get your school in searches you can get call or visit from that particular person.
4. Google My Business optimization can lead to enhanced Google Maps visibility. When you are doing local SEO for school you must optimize your GMB and this will improve your Google Maps visibility and you are going to get more visits in your school for admissions.
5. In Local SEO, content marketing and link building will improve relevance. You need to create relevant content and proper citations and link building which will improve your visibility and hence more leads and visits.
6. Reputation management is an important activity in Local SEO for schools. This builds trust in your business (prominence) which can gain more traffic and get more admissions.

Steps to Improve Local Search Performance for Schools

If you want to improve your local search performance you must follow the following steps for your school:

1.   Google My Business

Being a school you should claim, verify and actively manage your Google My Business (GMB).

The better you optimize your Google My Business listing the better your school is categorized in carousels and appear on top map results.

Schools can use an additional feature in their GMB listings which is called posts. Schools can use posts to promote events etc. This feature is absolutely free and can help you promote information about your school.

2.   Create Proper Citations

Every time your school is mentioned online, make sure the details are uniform everywhere. It mainly includes proper name, address and phone number. This is also known as NAP and it should be identical everywhere.

There are several school directories, education portals and press releases which allow you to submit your NAP. These citations help you improve your Locals SEO.

3.   Be Mobile-Friendly

Your website must be mobile friendly as it impact your school because Google consider it as an important part of the local ranking.

4.   Clean up Your Directory Presence

It is possible that your schools might be referenced on several directories and list. This is observed that there is are inconsistencies in these directories online. The NAP should be consistent through out the internet.

You must take steps to clean up these irrelevant and inconsistent citations. This clean up will help your business rank better for local searches.

5.   Pay Attention to Reviews and Replies

Schools must pay attention to reviews because ratings appear in the local pack, on ads, traditional search results and within the knowledge graph. Ratings and reviews play a vital role in improving local SEO. Also schools must answer each and every review irrespective of positive or negative feedback.

6.   Write About Your Local Area in Your Content

As a School you must write content mentioning your local area, surrounding area and cities near your school. Optimize your content on your website to give the search engines signals.

You can talk about some events, sports, activities in your town, surrounding cities or towns within your news items on your site. As you mention surrounding areas within your content you are giving signal to Google that you are relevant to surrounding areas.

You may also like to note more points to increase admission in school through this presentation.

Final Words

I guess after reading this post “Local SEO for School – An Effective Marketing Tool to Increase Admission” you must have understood that Local SEO is not limited to local businesses only. But it is equally important for schools.

Local SEO is an important marketing tool to improve your local search results  and as a result you will get more leads and admissions.

With proper local SEO tools and techniques, you can build your school’s online presence for local searches.

InfoTalks is one of the best digital marketing agency in India specialized in Local SEO services for Schools. We have exclusive & economical Ranking Booster packages to improve Local SEO for Schools. We provide consultancy for digital growth of your School.

You can watch the video below to Know more about improving Local SEO of your School.

 Are you ready to start doing local SEO to improve your local presence? Contact us to get started!