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While globalization has significantly changed the market, many companies are starting to build their success by selling to local customers. Yellow pages might once have been a business necessity, but search engines have taken over. This is 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 company.
What is local SEO?
Search Engine Optimization has become an integral part of marketing for businesses that rely on website traffic. Optimizing your content from search engines like Google helps your website rank high in search results, increasing the likelihood of consumers visiting your site and interacting with your brand.
Local SEO is simply an SEO strategy designed to improve search engine results in a specific geographic area. If your business relies on online and offline customers in a specific geographic area, local SEO can be the difference between surviving and growing your business.
Related: Having Problems With Local Search? Here’s what your local SEO strategy needs to compete in 2022.
The value of local SEO
Google itself processes an impressive 8 billion searches daily, but more importantly, nearly 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’ll lose valuable online traffic. Local business owners simply cannot ignore this opportunity.
Local SEO is important for online businesses and businesses looking to attract foot traffic. Decades ago, consumers could look for local businesses in the yellow pages or on the map. They currently use search engines to find contact information, location, hours of operation, and other business details.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, roughly one in two searches for “nearby” companies led to a visit to the store. If the search was done on a mobile device, the numbers were even more compelling. Almost 90% of these inquiries came after a phone call or a one-day visit to the company.
Any business that relies on local customers cannot afford to miss the opportunities that local SEO provides.
Related: 7 Disadvantages Of Local Businesses Online (And How To Overcome Them)
Utilize local SEO and work with Google to improve rankings
Marketers and business owners have a number of options to increase their visibility with local SEO. Does your brand want 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 listed on the first page of results, conversions will be naturally low. For most companies, rankings and conversions are closely related.
Improving local SEO results starts with improving relevancy, distance, and visibility. These are the three criteria that Google’s algorithm uses to determine local search results. Your company’s Google company profile should also be updated to attract more local customers.
Relevance is a measure of how accurately your business matches your online search query. The search engine tries to determine if your company offers what the user is looking for. Providing clear and complete information on your website and company profile is critical to meeting these criteria and improving relevance.
Proximity is the distance your business is from the exact location of the searcher. If a user does not specify a specific location in their search, Google will use their location based on their IP address to prioritize nearby entries. Adding “near me” to your search will lead to similar results. To be included in these listings, your business needs to optimize the location information for your website and Google listings.
Prominence is a Google term that describes how well-known a company is both online and offline. The search engine determines your position based on offline business information as well as using online measures such as site reviews and popularity. Increasing the number of quality ratings for your business will improve the ratings. Interacting and responding to online ratings also increases your visibility.
Algorithms change regularly and without notice. Like any SEO business, successful local SEO depends on consistent effort. Many companies use the help of experts in local SEO management.
Related: Why Local SEO Will Become Even More Important
Covid-19’s impact on local SEO practices
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed almost every aspect of consumer lives. It certainly changed shopping habits as traffic locks and restrictions became the norm. At this point, it is too early to say whether the pandemic has affected long-term consumer habits.
Online searches for products and services increased in 2020 and 2021, partly out of necessity. Consumers needed online alternatives to meet their needs. Evidence now supports both the continued popularity of online consumerism and the growing demand for a personal purchasing experience.
An undisputed fact is the incredible hardship the pandemic has created for many small businesses. Many people have faced closures, layoffs and customer losses. Carefully thought out and well-managed marketing is essential for a successful reboot. The right local SEO could be the difference in this reboot.
Local SEO is one of the most cost effective ways to increase your visibility to your key audience in no time. It may seem like a small part of SEO, but given the sheer volume of local intention searches, business owners and marketers must make this a priority.
Search engines are the new yellow pages – with much more potential to transform the future of small businesses.
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What is the benefit of local SEO?
Local SEO helps you increase your visibility on the Internet so that you will be noticed by new customers. Optimizing Google Maps and Google My Business can generate more direct calls, leads, and sales. Optimizing your site for localized terms means you are attracting targeted traffic and better leads.
What is Local SEO and 5 Reasons Why It Matters? 5 key reasons why local SEO is important
- Makes you more competitive. Even if you are not investing in local SEO, you can be sure that other local businesses in your niche are there. …
- You attract guests and newcomers. …
- People want to buy locally. …
- Telephone searches increase sales. …
- It’s inexpensive.
What is local SEO & Why local search is important?
Local Search is an integral part of any SEO strategy targeting clients in a specific region, city, or neighborhood. Simply put, Local SEO is where you focus on improving your ranking and visibility in local search results like Google Map Pack / Local Pack.
Why local search optimization is important?
Targeted Web Traffic: Optimizing your site for local search results in more targeted traffic to your site which can lead to more leads, subscriptions, registrations, and sales. More Connections: Optimizing your Google Company Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) can give you better visibility on Google Maps.
Why is local SEO services important for local business?
Local SEO provides better conversion rates by targeting targeted traffic and increasing conversion rates. Conversion probability is higher for users looking for more localized content.
Who benefits from local SEO and why?
Local SEO gives your business more visibility because it is found by the right people who are interested in your product at the right time. When your business is more visible, it means more profits, more sales, and even relevance.
Who should use local SEO?
Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you do a Google search for any important keywords related to your business and a 3-entry map (also known as a map pack) appears below it, Local SEO can help you grow your business.
Why local SEO is important for SEO?
Local SEO allows important information about your site, such as your company’s address and phone number, to be placed on the Internet. In addition, you can highlight and promote the type of products or services you offer on your website with SEO techniques.
Is local SEO profitable?
With small businesses struggling to get out of the first year of life, local SEO can be a key component to making them not only viable but profitable.
Is local SEO paid?
Depending on the agency you choose and its specific offerings, expect to pay anywhere between $ 399- $ 899 per month for smaller-scale local SEO services. A smaller-scale campaign may be the best option if you’re just starting out with local SEO, or if your business is only operating in one location.
Is local SEO still relevant?
In fact, only 44% of companies submitted their list on Google My Business, which is one of the absolutely first steps on any local SEO optimization checklist. This is why local SEO is so important to businesses. Local searches are growing at a tremendous pace and lead to more sales.
How much should I charge for local SEO services?
How Much Does Local SEO Cost On Average? For a one-time project focused on analysis, research, cleaning, and optimization, the average price for a local SEO project would range from $ 300 to $ 1500 with an average price of around $ 750.
Why local SEO is important for SEO?
Local SEO allows important information about your site, such as your company’s address and phone number, to be placed on the Internet. In addition, you can highlight and promote the type of products or services you offer on your website with SEO techniques.
Who uses local SEO & amp; Why? Local SEO gives your business more visibility because it is found by the right people who are interested in your product at the right time. When your business is more visible, it means more profits, more sales, and even relevance.
What percentage of Google searches are local?
Nearly half (46%) of all Google searches are users looking for local information. These local searches include people looking for businesses in their area or in a specific service area.
Where is the majority of Google searches coming from? 63 percent of the traffic from Google’s organic search results in the United States came from mobile devices. Facebook was the most searched keyword on Google. 84 percent of respondents use Google three times a day or more. 46 percent of product searches start with Google.
What percent of people use a search engine when they’re looking for information about local businesses?
97% of search engine users search the Internet for a local business. If users want to find a local business online, they turn to search engine users first.
What percentage of searches have local intent?
Did you know 88% of consumers who search locally when visiting their smartphone or call the store within a day? In fact, nearly 46% of all Google searches are for local information.
How many people search online for local businesses?
97% of users searched the internet for a local business Local search statistics also show that 54% of us conduct such searches at least once a month, and 12% search local businesses every day.
What percentage of people search for businesses online?
About 46% of all searches include a location. About 97% of people who use online search are looking for local businesses.
How many local searches does Google get a day?
46% of all Google searches are for local intentions With more than 3.5 billion searches Google receives every day, as many as 1.6 billion of them contain local intentions.
What search engine does France use?
Google is by far the most popular of the French search engines, accounting for 92% of all searches in the country. Bing ranks second with 4% of the search market share, followed by Yahoo with 1.4%.
What is the most popular search engine in Germany?
Google is the leading search engine in Germany, with a market share well above its competitors as of 2018. Bing comes in second with 4 percent.
What percentage of Internet searches go through Google?
Serving over 90% of all search queries worldwide, Google undoubtedly dominates the global search engine market. As of April 2022, as much as 92.49% of all queries carried out by all search engine providers are made via the Internet giant.
How many searches on Google are local?
In fact, nearly 46% of all Google searches are for local information. A strong local SEO strategy is key to attracting more people to your store, whether you have one storefront or five hundred.
How many local searches are there?
60% of Americans use smartphones and tablets to search for local products. Based on local SEO statistics, there are approximately 81.1 billion local mobile search queries annually. Most people use mobile devices to browse products and collect more information before making a purchase.
How many searches are searched on Google?
While Google doesn’t provide exact numbers, according to SEOTribunal.com, Google handles an average of 3.8 million searches per minute worldwide. That’s 228 million searches per hour, 5.6 billion searches per day, or 2 trillion searches per year! That’s a lot of searches!
Why local SEO is important for small business?
A successful local SEO campaign will help your business because: Local SEO increases your website’s ranking in search results and in the local package. Receives the highest conversion levels of any local advertising channel. Increases visibility on the Internet, especially to neighboring customers.
What is Local SEO & amp; Why is local search important? Local Search is an integral part of any SEO strategy targeting clients in a specific region, city, or neighborhood. Simply put, Local SEO is where you focus on improving your ranking and visibility in local search results like Google Map Pack / Local Pack.