Local SEO by Google and why it is so very important to you!

 

Local SEO Search Engine Optimization for better search resultsLocal SEO

This service has been around for for awhile, but it’s now more important than ever. This is not to take away from your overall SEO, which is also good for your business, but if you’re a small or medium business without a local SEO presence and strategy, you’re losing potential business.

Google local searches now account for more than 45+ percent of all searches. Mobile is now leading Computer and Tablet usage in what has been a swift and dramatic change in searches globally.

Many of our clients have seen an increase to as high as 80% based on their offerings and types of services on a local basis.

More than 50% of these mobile users who do a local search, end up visiting a local business within the same day.

When you take all these changes into account, it is clear marketing needs to go above and beyond to get the rank for the keywords & terms driving the user to your business. 

Local SEO is a lot more than just content. Similar to basic SEO, there are certain techniques to using local SEO you need to be aware of if you want to succeed in ranking your businesses locally. This blog address those strategies.

 

SEO is a TLA (Three letter Acronym) for Search Engine Optimization.

As I have explained in previous posts, SEO refers to the “Art” or techniques and strategies you need to use to increase the quality and number of visitors from organic search engine results pages (SERPs) to your website, landing pages or actual business location. The ultimate goal of SEO strategy is to rank your company first on page one of Google search results.

Why increase quality of traffic? You can generate traffic to your site with little or no value to your business. You want to attract web visitors who are actually interested in your services or products.

Why up the volume of visitor traffic to your site? Once you have relevant traffic coming to your website, the more traffic you get , the more sales/money you make.

SEO is mostly about organic results.  It is also about how you, the user, phases your searches and If you are allowing Google to “Use your location” for searching. (I have a lot of clients who do not want Google to use their location!)

Google Ads do account for a significant percentage of search engine results for our clients, but you have to pay to play there. Organic traffic, on the other hand, is the ultimate goal of search because you do not have to pay a dime for the search visitors clicks to your website. 

One of our clients operates a scrap metal yard. They invest in both Google Ad-words and our SEO services. They will show up at the top of Google search results when users search for topics like, ‘How much can I sell scrap copper for?’ They are also using Local SEO strategy so their Ad-word ads to show up, along with their organic listings not far away.  The search term motive however was not area specific to anything like a “close” location.

However, if they are also optimized from a local SEO standpoint, a user searching for a term like ‘scrap metal yards near me’  may also see the company in question on the first page of Google search results, depending on where they are in Houston.

Ask yourself, “How can I get traffic from the “search user” who wants information which may or may not result in them going to any specific location to buy a product. Perhaps they are looking to “sell copper or scrap metal”. Their motives are not as evident as to anything like a close location.

This is a part of the reason to have a very strong local SEO. It leads to actual conversions, which is, in this case, is patronage to a local scrap metal yard. (Most people selling a few pounds of scrap metal do not want to spend time and gas going across town to make 10 cents for a pound.

So with that said, a recent survey online revealed 95 percent of smartphone users have used their devices to conduct a local search. Of these searches, about half led to foot traffic to local a business, while a little more than half resulted in a call to a local business.

What kind of local searches are smartphone users performing? Many of them search for a local store address, with many then getting directions to local stores and finding out their business hours.

Some of the businesses found using local search do not even have a website, but, depending on the type of business, online visitors look at this as a negative.  It is best to invest in a well designed, updated and informative web presence that practices good SEO for both local and large area web traffic.