Local SEO is great return on investment
What do all these businesses have in common?
Blockbuster
Toys ‘R’ Us
Radio Shack
Gymboree
The Limited
Payless ShoeSource
BCBG Max Azria
True Religion
Answer: They all went bankrupt and out of business!
Why?
For several reasons, but primarily because they ignored all this “online stuff” and their competition, who knew how to leverage the Internet to grow their business, crushed them within a couple years.
So, if these massive brands went out of business, what makes you think yours won’t too?
The importance of Local SEO
Every small or multi-location company can grow their business and attract more customers using Local SEO strategies. Let me explain why using a local SEO company can help improve your online visibility.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO serves to promote your business’ visibility on location-based searches. It is merely a variation of your run-of-the-mill SEO, and is aimed at making sure your business gets found online by people searching for it at that locality.
These include searches with certain geo qualifiers, such as city, state, zip code, etc., and ‘near me’ searches, where Google picks up the geo-location of the person and provides search results from that area.
Why Is It Important?
Local SEO is extremely important, especially if you have a business with a brick-and-mortar store, or one that provides a service in a certain locality.
According to a study done by Forbes, 95% of smartphone users have used their device to perform local searches, out of which 61% called the business and 59% visited.
And SearchEngineWatch found that 70% of mobile users click to call a business directly from Google search results using their mobile phones.
Now these numbers will tell you that leads from location-based searches are a major avenue for potential customers, and those numbers will only keep growing. Since these leads are from people who are specifically searching for products or services that your business offers, it is safe to assume that these are qualified leads that will definitely have a higher conversion rate as well.
How Can CALL SEO Help You with Local SEO?
What local businesses need most to improve traffic to their websites or through their doors is visibility on what’s known as the ‘local pack’ or ‘3-pack’. This is the block of three business listings that appear below the map in the results displayed after a Google search with local intent.
Below is the local pack that results from the search “Dentist in Tustin”
You’ll notice plenty here that’s different from standard organic results, such as opening times, review ratings, and even photos. Although Google is getting clever enough to pull this information directly from your website, that’s not where these elements come from.
Everything that’s displayed in the local pack comes from the business’ Google My Business profile, a critical part of Local SEO that’s becoming more important as Google tries to satisfy more search queries directly in the search results. We will create your Google profile.
Google my business profile is very important as it feeds information to a variety of places, including the local pack and Google Maps search results, but the most familiar appearance will likely be when it’s in the top right (or top on mobile) of a branded search for your business.
We will create Citations
A citation is any place your business’ NAPW (Name, Address, Phone number, Website URL) information appears online, typically in an online directory or business listings website.
These are particularly important to get in place for local SEO, as if you don’t appear in the places people are looking for businesses like yours, you’re likely to get overtaken by the competitors that do.
There are two types of citation: unstructured and structured. Structured citations typically appear in business listings and come from form fields being filled in when the listing is claimed. Below we’ve highlighted in yellow the structured citation for a Yelp listing.
Unstructured citations are more likely to be the result of press and social media, wherein your NAPW information is visible and connected on a web page (perhaps throughout a local news piece about the business), but not in a structured format.
Getting citations for your local business isn’t just important, it’s widely known as ‘table stakes’ in local SEO, as in ‘if you don’t get citations, you can’t play the game’. While it’s key to get this foundational aspect right in the first place, by building citations in the most relevant websites, research shows that if they’re not regularly updated and cleaned up, there can be serious consequences.
What are the main SEO services?
Local SEO is a lot to work on. It’s always changing, and can take a lot of time and effort to get right. This is why so many SEO agencies and consultants specialize in local SEO rather than broader SEO. The rules are very different as you’re aiming to achieve different goals, and in many cases clients don’t mind if the high visibility of their businesses in local search and business listings directories leads to more direct contact and foot traffic than website visits.
Local SEO results in a great return on investment
Unlike traditional advertising (e.g. local newspapers, leaflets, direct mail, etc.), with local SEO there is little wasted exposure. You reach potential customers when they need you — not when they don’t. This makes Local SEO both efficient and cost-effective.
Only 44% of businesses have claimed their Google My Business listing
Getting listed on Google My Business can help increase your chances of showing up high in local search results on Google. Additionally, many local businesses still haven’t figured out the importance of online marketing yet. That leaves the door open for you to get a head-start before your competitors wise up and it gets more competitive. Strike while the iron’s hot!
Grow your business using Local SEO
These local search trends are strong now and they’re only going to get stronger and more significant in the future, especially considering how keen Google is to keep the local search experience off your website.
Now is the time for you to take advantage of local SEO services and boost your business before your competitors catch on. All local businesses, from plumbers and builders to florists and accountants can improve their business and make more money through local SEO, so get started today!
Call Us today.