Compared to Walmart and Amazon, you might think there’s no point in optimizing your Google presence as a local business owner. If it were the primary organic listings, that might be true, but not if it was the local listings.
With local SEO, you can reach out to people within your neighborhood, town, or city, regardless of whether you have a physical location or serve a particular area. 81% of consumers now evaluate local businesses through Google, which is essential.
Local SEO benefits
local SEO Benefit
Increased online visibility: Citation and link building are local SEO activities that improve your online visibility. New customers can find out more about your business that way.
Increased local visibility leads to more foot traffic in your brick-and-mortar store.
Shop and support local businesses, especially since post-COVID, more than half of consumers prefer to support local businesses. Local SEO allows you to be in contention for any new business opportunities.
Optimizing your website for local searches will get more targeted traffic, leading to more sign-ups, subscriptions, leads, and sales.
Using a Google Business Profile, initially called Google My Business, allows for more calls due to the enhanced visibility of Google Maps. That means more in-person visits and calls.
Content marketing can help you develop thought leadership positions and be seen as an expert in your niche.
Reputation management helps you to gain enhanced trust levels.
More sales are possible because consumers will use online reviews to help make a choice when picking a local business.
When your website is optimized, conversion rates can be improved, which means you will get increased sales, subscriptions, phone calls, and contact form submissions.
Local SEO allows you to be more competitive by encouraging you to study what your competitors are doing and what tactics are working for them so that you may integrate it into your approach.
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Why Local SEO is Important for Your Business
It gives you better online visibility.
Many activities with local SEO can help you improve your business visibility in local search results, but it can also provide better online visibility.
A great example of local SEO activity is citation building. That means you will build business mentions, the address that includes the zip code and phone number through online review platforms, social media platforms, and directory listings.
That needs to be done in many different places, making it easier for your business to be found by the right people looking for your product or service in that area. For instance, TripAdvisor could help people find you and make a reservation if you have rental cabins in Florida.
You can get more in-store traffic.
Getting more local visibility can help bring foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar location, whether you are a hardware store, dry cleaner, or a café. If you have designed an innovative space or specialist equipment, or if your products or services are best in person, getting plenty of people to stop by your location can help you make more sales.
Tapping Into the Local Shopping Boom
Consumer buying habits have undergone widespread changes in recent years. When it comes to buying decisions, consumers today increasingly prioritize local businesses.
Rather than opting for big, brand-name offerings or experiences, consumers think smaller and prefer local, independent businesses.
More than half of consumers seek locally sourced products and purposefully shop in local stores.
Small, independent businesses have an opportunity to increase their sales over the next 12 months since 76% of consumers plan to shop more locally. The main benefit of local SEO is the ability to reach local consumers at precisely the right time. The result is that you can fully leverage this shift in buyer behavior to grow your business.
Targeted Web Traffic
If you’re a small business, every minute you spend on unqualified leads or people who aren’t likely to buy or book is a loss.
In addition to weeding out irrelevant traffic and saving your business time, local SEO ensures that only local users can find your business.
You can focus your resources on the customers most likely to convert by taking advantage of 59% of search users using Google for in-store research.
Maps users are calling and visiting more often.
Google Maps visibility can be enhanced by optimizing your Google Business Profile. Due to Google Maps’ specific purpose of helping people find local services and plan their trips, this can lead to more calls and in-person visits.
The information on Google Maps is derived from Google Business Profiles, so optimizing your Google Business Profile will increase your visibility on Google Maps, increasing calls and in-person visits.
Sales increase
Consumers often choose local businesses based on online reviews. One in eight people browses the Internet weekly to find information about a local company.
Your reputation management activity can provide them with authentic recommendations from their peers for your business, highlighting the importance of local SEOs.
