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Although globalization has significantly changed the market, many companies begin to build their success by selling to local customers. The Yellow Pages may have once been a business necessity, but online search engines have taken over. That’s why local search engine optimization (SEO) has become one of the most important keys to business success, regardless of the location or scale of the business.
What is local SEO?
Search engine optimization has become an integral part of marketing for businesses that depend on website traffic. Optimizing your content for search engines like Google helps your website rank higher in search results, making it more likely that consumers will visit your site and interact with your brand.
Local SEO is simply an SEO strategy aimed at improving search results in a specific geographic area. If your business relies on online and offline customers within a specific geographic area, local SEO can be the difference between your business’s survival and prosperity.
Related: Having trouble with local search? Here’s what your local SEO strategy needs to compete in 2022.
The value of local SEO
Google only processes an impressive 8,000 million searches every day, but most importantly, almost 50% of all Google searches are made by people looking for local products and services. If you don’t have a local SEO strategy for your business, you’re missing out on valuable online traffic. Local business owners simply cannot ignore an opportunity of this size.
Local SEO is important for online businesses and businesses looking to attract foot traffic. A few decades ago, consumers may have looked for local businesses in the yellow pages or on a map. Today, they use search engines to find contact information, location, hours and other details about a business.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about one in two searches for businesses “near me” led to a store visit. If the search was done on a mobile device, the numbers were even more compelling. almost 90% of these inquiries were followed by a call or a visit to the business within a day.
Any business that relies on local customers cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities that local SEO can provide.
Related: The 7 Disadvantages Local Businesses Face Online (And How To Overcome Them)
Use local SEO and work with Google to improve your ranking
Marketers and business owners have a range of options to increase their visibility through local SEO. Is your brand looking to improve rankings or improve conversions and sales?
It’s fair to argue that conversions matter more than rankings, but if your business isn’t on the first page of results, conversions will naturally be low. For most businesses, rankings and conversions are closely related.
Improving local SEO results starts with improvements in relevance, distance and prominence. These are the three criteria that Google’s algorithm applies to determine local search results. Your company’s Google Business Profile It should also be updated to attract more local customers.
1. Relevance
Relevance is the measure of how closely your business matches your online search query. The search engine is trying to determine if your business offers what the user is looking for. Providing clear and complete information on your website and business profile is critical to meeting these criteria and improving your relevance.
2. Proximity
Proximity is how close your business is to the searcher’s exact location. If a user does not specify a specific location in their search, Google uses their location based on their IP address to prioritize nearby listings. Adding the “near me” specification to a search leads to similar results. To appear in these listings, your business must optimize the location information on its website and in Google listings.
3. Protagonism
Prominence is Google’s term for how well-known a business is both online and offline. The search engine determines your prominence based on the offline information it has about a business, as well as through online media such as reviews and website popularity. Increasing the number of quality reviews for your business will improve your ratings. Interacting and responding to ratings online also increases your prominence.
Algorithms tend to change regularly and without warning. Like any SEO activity, local SEO success depends on constant effort. Many businesses benefit from expert support to manage their local SEO.
Related: Why local SEO is about to become even more important
The impact of Covid-19 on local SEO practices
The Covid-19 pandemic changed almost every aspect of consumers’ lives. It certainly disrupted shopping habits as lockdowns and movement restrictions became the norm. At this point, it is too early to determine whether long-term consumption habits were affected by the pandemic.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, online searches for products and services increased, partly out of necessity. Consumers needed online alternatives to meet their needs. Right now, the evidence supports both the continued popularity of online consumption and a growing demand for in-person shopping experiences.
One fact that is not disputed is the incredible hardship the pandemic has caused many small businesses. Many faced closures, layoffs and loss of customers. Carefully considered and well-managed marketing is essential to a successful reboot. Proper local SEO can be the difference in this reboot.
Local SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase visibility in a key audience in a short space of time. It may seem like a small part of SEO, but given the large number of searches with local intent, business owners and marketers should make it a priority.
Search engines are the new yellow pages, with much more potential to transform the future of small business.
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