You’ve benefited from local SEO as a searcher if you’ve searched for restaurants in a new city or for “pizza delivery near me” at home. The same principles apply to people looking for carpenters, petrol stations, cinema, personal trainers, or restaurants.
When you pick up your smartphone to find a carpenter, you don’t want results from Galway if you live in Wexford. Google knows that and makes it their business (literally) to give you the most relevant results.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a matter of setting up your website and content strategically so that it’s easy for search engines like Google to understand and navigate. Local SEO is setting it up so that your website appears when local people search for your products and services. It’s the way you get people to show up at your place of business when they’re most likely to buy.
This introduction should be enough to convince you of the value of local SEO services, but for those of you who tend toward stubbornness and are harder to sway, here are 10 reasons your business needs local SEO services.
#1 YOU NEED LOCAL SEO BECAUSE BRICK AND MORTAR RETAILERS RELY ON FOOT TRAFFIC
You can offer free shipping all you want, but if nobody ever steps foot in the store, your business will go under. That being said, the internet is not a retailer’s nemesis. It’s a tool to get traffic in the door.
The Google Ads blog indicates that around 90% of global sales will happen in a physical store this year. According to Accenture, retailers who function in multiple channels will continue to glean the most revenue contribution from brick and mortar stores until at least 2026.
Want to know why? Simply a large percentage of shoppers in Ireland prefer buying from brick-and-mortar stores because they want to try a product in-person. Getting a size to fit perfectly when it seems major brands have their own version of sizes can be an issue when purchasing online.
#2 LOCAL SEO GETS YOU ON THE SEARCH RESULTS MAP, ABOVE OTHER WEBSITES
N.A.P. gets you on the map. N.A.P. stands for name, address, and phone number. Basic stuff, right? Well, are you certain that these pieces of information are presented consistently everywhere on the internet? Consistency means it always says “Suite” instead of sometimes being shortened to “Ste.” Or the area code is always typed with parentheses instead of just a dash.
Everywhere on the internet means everywhere: your website, directories, social media pages, Google business listing… everywhere. Even the places you don’t know exist. Only SEO professionals know where to look to ensure your N.A.P. is consistent.
Why is it so important for it to be consistent everywhere? Because then it’s more likely to show up on the map when Google reveals the search results
Just beneath the ads on the Google search results page, there’s a map. The three businesses that manage to get on that map show up higher on the page (and therefore get more clicks) than websites that are not on the map.
Local SEO services help to get you on the map, and now you know how valuable that can be.
#3 YOUR COMPETITORS ARE USING LOCAL SEO SERVICES
If ever there was a time to keep up with the Joneses, this is it. Imagine this: a potential customer asks Siri where to find the products/services you sell. Your competitor used local SEO services, but you didn’t. So Google found your competitor’s site to be the more relevant result and provided directions, a phone number, and a link to your competitor. You basically handed business (and the money that goes along with it) to the competition.
You can turn the tables on that scenario, though. According to Brand Muscle via Local Search Association, 56% of local retailers haven’t claimed their Google My Business listing, that’s more than half of retail businesses. Here’s what that means: if you claim yours, you’re already ahead of the game.
#4 THE INTERNET HAS WIDER VISIBILITY THAN A STOREFRONT SIGN
A limited number of people just “happen to drive by” your location and see your storefront sign. Even if you increase the chances of passersby seeing the sign by employing a sign spinner, your numbers are still limited. Crunching traffic numbers, subtracting the average number of drivers who are looking at their phones when they drive by, and accounting for the number of people who happen to need your product or service at the time they see the sign, you’re left with approximately… less than you would hope.
Local SEO has a broader reach because the internet is everywhere at once: in the car with the distracted driver, in the pocket of the pedestrian, and on the desk of the executive. Everywhere. Even if the sign is in their blind spot, folks can still find you online with proper local SEO services.
#5 PHONE BOOKS ARE BECOMING OBSOLETE; THE INTERNET FITS IN YOUR POCKET
Signs still serve a purpose, but phone books? More people use phone books as booster seats, doorstop, or kindling than as a resource for finding the products or services they need. All the information you find in a phone book, you can get online, and then some. You’re better off claiming your Google My Business page than you are naming your company AAA Whatnots.
#6 IF YOUR BUSINESS ISN’T ONLINE, DOES IT EVEN EXIST? WEBSITES GET MORE CLICKS
Some businesses have chosen to use the internet as their phone book listing by including business information in directories like Yelp or goldenpages.ie. The problem for those companies is that it’s the only presence they have online. They don’t have a website.
Here’s the deal: people stopped using phone books for a reason. Not only are they too heavy to carry in your purse, but they also don’t provide the same amount of information you can find on a website. According to Google, business listing that includes a website get 25-35% more clicks than those that don’t. It’s not enough to just be in the directories. Would you be happy to see 25-35% more customers? What business wouldn’t.
#7 PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN YOUR AREA NEED YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
Google trends acknowledged that local terminology searches like “nearby” or “closest” when looking for businesses dropped during the last six months of 2017. However, they theorized that it wasn’t because local searches decreased. On the contrary, people have come to expect local results instead of asking for them specifically.
The expectation of local results coupled with Forrester’s prediction that mobile devices will influence $1.4 trillion in local sales by 2021 should be all the motivation you need to consider local SEO services.
#8 PEOPLE WHO PERFORM THE MOST LOCAL SEARCHES ARE READY TO BUY
Mediapost reports that more than half of “near me” searches result in a store visit. More than half! If they find you in their local search, chances are good they’ll come to the store with an intent to buy. Local search simply lines up the dominoes to fall all the way to your cash register.
A Hubspot marketing statistics report indicates that over 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product while conducting a search on their smartphone. Again, that’s more than half. Local SEO services simply put the odds in your favour. It’s a legal way to rig the game.
#9 LOCAL SEO SERVICES HELP YOU MAKE FRIENDS WITH SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines continue to get smarter and smarter, but they’re dependent on the information they find online. The more you set them up for success by showing them how relevant you are to certain areas and search terms, the better they treat you. It’s quid pro quo, artificial intelligence edition.
Think with Google (an organization only slightly biased in the search engine discussion) says that 82% of smartphone users use a search engine to find a local business. It makes sense, though. Why would someone who knew where to find what they wanted to do a local search at all?
#10 PEOPLE TRUST THE REVIEWS THEY READ ONLINE
Once the search engines find you relevant enough to put on the first page of results, you need searchers to see what a quality business you are. That’s where customer reviews factor in.
Imagine you’re a young mom who is new to the Wexford area and needs to find someone to cut her 4-year old son’s hair. She searches “barber for kids” and gets the following results:
The first map listing (remember: N.A.P. gets you on the map) has an average of 4.8 stars, but there’s no website to find out about prices or how the barbers work with kids. The second listing mentions kids specifically but only has 3.6 stars. The third listing has a website and 4.6 stars as well as a review quote. I don’t know about you, but that’s the one I would choose. That’s the one most likely to have put an effort into local SEO by obtaining 130 reviews and still maintaining a 4.6-star rating.
I’m not alone in this decision-making process. Inc.com reports that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust a friend’s recommendation. Neuromarketing, knowing the cerebral effects of reviews, provides a guideline for how to ask for reviews. (You’re welcome.)
The long and short of it is this: you need customer reviews.
Here are some links to blogs related to the above content
- SEO for YouTube organic search, not Google organic search
- SERP explained (search engine result page)
- Digital marketing Lingo
- What is a SITEMAP