If your company has invested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you are already one step ahead of the competition and have experienced its advantages. Your website is receiving more traffic, visitors are spending more time on it, and other indicators indicate that it is well optimized.
It's time to use one of the most effective and quickly expanding forms of digital marketing, local SEO, to boost your web presence to a whole new level.
Why is local SEO important?
Because local SEO helps increase calls, contacts, shop visits, and sales while the fundamentals of broad SEO can assist increase website traffic.
Local SEO Is a Business’ Best Friend
Increased brand and business exposure online is a nice result of general SEO. When someone searches for a subject or term associated with your company, it ensures that you show up at the top of the results.
The issue is that generic SEO will draw all website visitors, regardless of whether it is relevant to your company's operations locally. A large portion of the traffic will come from all around the world if you create a blog post that becomes popular and goes viral. Although it's fantastic to have, it won't increase sales for a local firm.
Local SEO can help with that. By including the name of a city, you may localize an organic term associated with your company.
So Why Is Local SEO Important?
By preparing your company for local SEO, you can advertise your goods and services to a target market of potential customers who are nearby and actively looking for what you have to offer.
Reason #1: People Are Using Local Keywords More Than Ever
Local companies frequently worry that internet merchants are stealing all or most of the potential business, but this is untrue. Local searches now account for 46% of all Google searches, and they have increased by 900% only in the last two years.
Consider this. The quickest and easiest approach to get what you merely need or desire right now is to go to a store nearby and get it there. You must wait for the item to be dispatched after placing an online order. Additionally, there are many various things that you would wish to view or test out before purchasing, including certain items of clothing, footwear, furniture, vehicles, and so on. Some items are even impossible to purchase online.
The same is true of services. If you're looking for a restaurant, plumber, roofer, or any other type of company to aid you, you probably want one that is nearby so you can be sure they can assist you.
Because of this, 97% of internet searches are made with the intention of locating a local company
Reason #2: Local Searches Lead to Sales.
Therefore, a lot of people use local searches to identify nearby establishments like yours, but the true benefit of local SEO goes beyond that. The fact is that local searches are made by customers who are quite likely to increase your company's sales.
According to one survey, 78% of local searches made on mobile devices result in an offline purchase. Another survey found that 88% of customers who conduct a smartphone search for a local company will contact or visit the establishment in person within 24 hours.
Consider your thinking if you've ever used Google to find a nearby local company. You were an active shopper and were searching for nearby local shops since you needed anything.
As soon as you discovered a company that offered what you were looking for, you were visiting their location or phoning to make an appointment for their service. The strength of local searches is that. They stand for consumers who are actively looking for what your company is selling.
Reason #3: Local SEO Puts Your Business Front and Center
If your company is not optimised for local searches, it doesn't matter how many people are looking online for local businesses or how likely those searches are to result in a sale. Local SEO can help with that.
If you can outperform your rivals and come up first in any pertinent local search, you are ensuring that customers notice your business first and foremost. That has a significant effect on the volume of business you receive from local searches.
Consider yourself once again a local shopper. What influences your decision while looking for a nice restaurant or store nearby? Why do you call or go to that particular establishment? According to the statistics, you will primarily compare the top local results' evaluations and review ratings.
Only 8% of consumers who conduct a local search will click to load additional local results; instead, 44% will select one of the top three items in the local 3-pack. That illustrates how crucial it is to rank at or near the top as the majority of customers won't look at any businesses below the top results.
How do individuals pick amongst the top three results once they have looked at them? Unless they don't have what they're searching for, some folks might just click on the first result and stick with it. However, a lot of individuals will select the top outcome with the most reviews or the highest review rating.
In fact, 88% of customers trust online company evaluations as much as they do personal recommendations from friends and family, and 95% of consumers check reviews before making a purchasing choice.
Reason #4: Local SEO Will Give You A Competitive Edge
Due to the increasing number of organisations that are realising the potential of digital marketing and SEO and attempting to get an advantage over their rivals, these fields have become extremely competitive. However, a lot of businesses have yet to take advantage of local SEO.
It will thus not be too challenging to outrank your local rivals in local searches in order to secure all of that business. In reality, only 44% of companies have taken the crucial first step in any checklist for local SEO optimization—claiming their Google My Business page.
Local SEO is crucial for businesses because of this. Local searches are expanding rapidly and generating more purchases. You may get a significant competitive advantage in your market by concentrating on optimising your local SEO rankings.
To keep that advantage, make sure you properly investigate the recommended procedures and keep up with the most recent developments. For reading informative blogs and even joining up for instructional materials particularly on local SEO, check out websites like Moz, Bright Local, and HubSpot.
