Let’s Give Local Search the Time of Day it Deserves

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become one of the most important parts of digital marketing when businesses of all sizes are looking to grow and be seen by potential customers.

Such is its importance to companies’ strategies that many have either employed specialists or sourced outside help from agencies who work in this industry. The long and short of it? If your business isn’t paying attention to SEO, your quest to increase your traffic or sales is going to be much tougher.

However, while most businesses are giving SEO the time of day it deserves, it would seem that many are still ignoring the importance of going local whether underestimating its value or lacking some knowledge. Like it or not, however, local SEO is just as powerful and imperative as its big brother, and here are a few reasons why as a business owner you should not be ignoring it.

Trust local

Many people, especially the younger generation, have become quite cynical but they do seem to trust those local to them. With this in mind, it’s crucial to take full advantage by ensuring you are appearing on the first few pages when a local searches for services or products you can provide in their area. Convenience with this group of people is also key and businesses local to them could not be more convenient!

To appear on these pages, you just need to make sure you have provided your business name, address and phone number, whilst also working on optimising your keyword searches. Soon you’ll be attracting all those new customers who searched “garden shop close to me”.

Google knows where you are

Most people do not realise that they have their location set on things such as Google, which means that their search results are often tailored to where they live, even if they did not specify that they wanted local businesses.

In fact, not only will the organic searches be local, but the ads that appear before your organic search results will be local to the user, which results in a 50% click-through rate on these ads. This ultimately means that you have to be confident you are trying everything you can, not only by ranking for your key search terms to ensure you are in that number one or two spot, but also making sure you are appearing in these local searches in the first place.

Business listings are still relevant

Putting your business or company on sites such as Yelp and Yellow Pages should still be utilised as much as possible, as these pages can and will appear in Google results. It’s important to make sure your information on these platforms and the details you give Google are consistent to ensure you are creating brand retention.

You should also encourage customers to leave reviews on review platforms as, when a prospective customer searches your business name and ‘reviews’, these pages will show up. When doing this, however, ensure you are also monitoring the reviews and replying and rectifying any negatives!

Mobile marketing and local SEO go hand in hand

In a study conducted by ClickWise in 2016, it was found that a massive 60% of search traffic right now is mobile; this is a fact that should not and can’t be ignored by companies who are wanting to compete with the best. What’s even more fascinating is that one out of every three of these searchers have local intent.

This means that one in three people are looking for businesses local to them at any one time. These people are potential customers, so you need to be making sure that your company is taking note, otherwise these potential leads will be walking straight into the hands of a competitor.

Location is everything and businesses need to be aware of what’s going on, or they run the risk of being left in the dust.

People trust local

Many people, especially the younger generation, have become cynical about big businesses and everything they stand for, so they instead choose to trust those local to them. With this in mind, it’s crucial to take full advantage by ensuring you are appearing on the first few pages when a local searches for services or products you can provide in their area.

To appear on these pages, you just need to make sure you have provided your business name, address and phone number, whilst also working on optimising your keyword searches. Soon you’ll be attracting all those new customers who searched “garden shop close to me”.