Local SEO: Why you NEED to invest in it?
Why do you need to invest in Local SEO?
At some point, we’ve all heard the word SEO and the many ways to use SEO Tools in our business to produce a return in revenue and business growth. As we all know, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about ways to boost a website’s visibility to users of a particular search engine. With the help of Local SEO, there are hundred-and-one ways to get your business to reach a wider range of your target market within a short period of time.
Before we can discuss the importance of a concept, you need to clearly understand the idea; right? So before we proceed, let’s quickly shed more light on what Local SEO entails before we learn of its significance in business.
Let’s begin!
What exactly is Local SEO?
SEO is an acronym with many sub categorical fields, and one subfield is Local SEO. Local SEO can be likened to one of the significant branches of a one-big ‘SEO Tree.’ So, the next time you hear the term Local SEO, picture it as a branch of SEO that majorly concentrates on optimizing a website that can be found in a local search result.
Still not clear?
Let’s look at it from a different point of view.
Local SEO must have an attached geographical component; such as a brick-and-mortar business.
Local SEO is associated with a local search term, for example;
- Sushi Restaurants in [Brisbane]
- Best Web Designer in [Maryland]
- Address of Radiologists in [Name of Location] etc.
Like in the picture below, when you use a local search term to look up information on any search engine, what you’ll get is called a local search result.
In a nutshell, when it comes to local SEO, the search engine algorithm tends to focus on crawling relevant and trusted locations; which is always attached to a physical location of a brick-and-mortar business. The only difference between the traditional SEO and Local SEO is the fact that ordinary SEO can be influenced by location, but not attached to a brick and mortar business.
Now that you’ve understood that local SEO is a strategic process that focuses on emphasizing the optimization efforts of local brick-and-mortar businesses let’s now look at the reason why you need to implement local SEO in your business.
Why Local SEO?
To a greater extent, most consumers’ online experience starts with the search result from their favorite search engine; it’s imperative that your business shows up amongst the search results (more importantly on the first page, because 75% of consumers will never scroll past first page results).
Do you recall the last time you whipped out your mobile phone to do a local search? You probably did a local search five minutes ago! Whether you looked up the address of a restaurant near you, the business hours of a coffee shop, the directions to the best shops to buy your favorite brand of shoes or even the location of a nearby hair stylist, you did a local search.
If you’ve recently carried out a local search on something that interests you, imagine how many people must have done the same thing in the last couple of minute. Human wants are insatiable, so people will always do local searches.
If your business isn’t on the first page of local search results, you are truly missing an opportunity for growth.
Pause for a minute and think about this!
Do you know the number of clientele you’ve missed today; simply because you’re yet to implement local SEO in your business? What about the number of deals you could have closed? The number of sales you could have made? What could have been the growth rate of your business if you had optimized your business for local SEO?
Do you know that four out of five customers make use of local search to find local information? If your business isn’t optimized or well-optimized for local SEO, you could be missing out on 86% of your potential customers every 24 hours.
It’s crystal clear now why it’s essential for you to have a local SEO strategy for your business; especially if your company has a physical location. If you ever want your business to survive and remain relevant online, you need to have a local SEO strategy.
Every small or multi-location business enterprise can grow their business and attract more customers using Local SEO strategies. Using a local SEO strategy can help improve the online visibility of your business in ways you couldn’t have possibly imagined. It can also help business owners to effectively market their business to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them online.
Still feeling skeptical about it? Let’s look at what the statistics show
What Does Research Reveal About Local SEO?
- According to Google, 46% of searches now have ‘local intent.’
- 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps
- 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles. (Wordstream, 2016)
- 60% of the people who search for local business use smartphones
- 88% of consumer local business searches on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours.
- More than 50% of ‘near me’ searches result in a store visit.
- 92% of searchers will pick businesses on the first page of local search results.
- 70% of customers visit a store based on information found online.
- 30% of mobile searches are related to a location. (Google, 2016)
- 28% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase. (Google, 2016)
- Local searches lead 50% of mobile users to visit stores within one day. (Google, 2018)
- Nearly one-third of all mobile searches are location-based queries. (The SEM Post, 2016)
Why Should I Invest In Local SEO?
There are lots of reasons why your business needs local SEO. Having a local SEO strategy is crucial for small & local businesses because they are considered more direct and relevant for local searches.
Local SEO will rank your business higher in local search engine results, and it also works for the greater good of your customers.
Think of it this way, if you own a small business, will you allow your customers to burn unnecessary calories while they lurk around the internet looking for your business information before they can purchase a product from your store? Would you like to have such an experience when you want to buy from others? If your answer is NO, then why don’t you optimize your business for local SEO to walk your customers through the process of finding the perfect product or service that suits their needs?
Listing a business on GMB (Google My Business) or even Bing Places (For Bing Search Engine) is free. About 56% of local stores are yet to claim their local listing on Google. It is free to list your business on either Bing Places for Business or Google My Business. Attract new customers to your business by creating a Google My Business profile today!
As Forbes research has revealed, about 95% of smartphone users carried out a local search with their device, out of which 61% of them called the business, and 59% visited the store.
Do you now see that your business has been lagging in converting leads and retaining new customers each day? Since these leads are coming from real people who genuinely seek to purchase the products or service that your business offers. Like I’ve mentioned before, as this vicious circle continues, the number of leads will continue to increase exponentially, therefore leading to a higher conversion rate.
Furthermore, Local SEO will help your business to show up in Google’s local 3-pack; which is the most envied spot of all business owners when it comes to search engine results.
Don’t know what Google’s local 3-pack is all about? Take a look at the example below.
As seen on Moz, about 44% of people that carried a local search and clicked on Google local 3-pack listing in the process, whereas about 8% out of them chose to load “more local results.” This goes to show that most people who search for local listings find what they are looking for, within the local 3-pack options provided.
To Summarize
Current statistics, trends, and research have revealed that local SEO has shifted towards a significantly improved context and understanding.
More so, local SEO has become one of the main tools for businesses these days; some may argue that it has even eclipsed the need to own a website, which is not in any way a small business asset. These days, people resort to sites like Yelp, Google Reviews, and local business directories to get information about a business. Why not leverage on this opportunity to easily project your business location, customer’s reviews, hours of operation, and the likes to Google, Yelp, or other websites that your customers regularly visit to find this kind of information. By doing so, your prospective clients will be able to locate your business based on the accuracy and how detailed the information you provide is.
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