Why local SEO is the key to business success
The opinions expressed by the entrepreneurs are their own.
Although globalization has significantly changed the market, many companies begin to find success by selling to local customers. The Yellow Pages may once have been a business necessity, but online search engines have taken over. That’s why local search engine optimization (SEO) has become one of the most important keys to business success, regardless of location or business size.
What is local SEO?
Search engine optimization has become an integral part of marketing for businesses that depend on website traffic. Optimizing your content for search engines like Google helps your website rank high in search results, making consumers more likely to visit your site and interact with your brand.
Local SEO is simply an SEO strategy that aims to improve search results in a specific geographic area. If your business relies on online and offline customers located in a specific geographic area, local SEO can be the difference between your business surviving and thriving.
Related: Having trouble with local search? Here’s what your local SEO strategy needs to compete in 2022.
The value of local SEO
Google alone processes an impressive 8 billion searches every day, 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’re missing out on valuable online traffic. Local business owners simply cannot ignore this opportunity.
Local SEO is important for online businesses and businesses that want to attract foot traffic. A few decades ago, consumers could look up local businesses in the yellow pages or on a map. Today, they use search engines to find business contact information, location, hours of operation, and other details.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about one in two searches for businesses near me led to a store visit. When searched on a mobile device, the numbers were even more impressive. Almost 90% of these inquiries were followed up with a call or a visit to the business within one day.
No business relying on local clients can afford to lose the opportunities offered by local SEO.
Related: 7 Disadvantages Local Businesses Face Online (And How To Overcome Them)
Utilize local SEO and work with Google to improve rankings
There are many ways for marketers and business owners to increase their visibility through local SEO. Is your brand looking to improve rankings or improve conversions and sales?
It’s fair to say that conversions are more important than rankings, but if a business isn’t listed on the first page of results, conversions will naturally be low. For most businesses, rankings and conversions are closely related.
Improving your local SEO results starts with improving relevance, distance, and prominence. These are the three criteria that Google’s algorithm applies to determine local search results. Your business’s Google Business profile should also be updated to attract more local customers.
Relevance is a measure of the accuracy of the match between your business and an online search query. The search engine tries to determine if your business offers what the user is looking for. Providing clear and complete information about your website and business profile is important to meet these criteria and improve relevance.
Proximity shows how close your business is to the searcher’s exact location. If a user does not specify a specific location in their search, Google uses their location based on their IP address to prioritize nearby listings. Adding the exact “near me” to your search results in similar results. To be featured in these listings, your business needs to optimize the location information on your website and Google listings.
Prominence is Google’s term for how well-known a business is both online and offline. A search engine determines your prominence based on offline business information, as well as online tools such as reviews and website popularity. Increasing the number of quality reviews for your business will improve your ratings. Answering and responding to online reviews will also increase your visibility.
Algorithms tend to change regularly and without notice. Like any SEO activity, successful local SEO depends on consistent effort. Many businesses benefit from expert support to manage their local SEO.
Related: Why Local SEO Is Becoming Even More Important
Covid-19’s impact on local SEO practices
The Covid-19 pandemic changed almost every aspect of consumers’ lives. It certainly changed shopping habits as closures and restrictions became the norm. It is too early to judge whether the pandemic affected long-term consumer habits.
In 2020 and 2021, online searches for products and services grew, partly out of necessity. Consumers needed online alternatives to meet their needs. Currently, evidence supports both the continued popularity of online consumption and the growing demand for an in-person shopping experience.
What is not disputed is the incredible hardship the pandemic has caused many small businesses. Many faced closures, layoffs, and loss of customers. Carefully thought out and well managed marketing is essential to a successful relaunch. The difference in this relaunch could be proper local SEO.
Local SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase visibility in a key audience in a short period of time. This may seem like a small part of SEO, but given the high number of local intent searches, business owners and marketers need to make it a top priority.
Search engines are the new yellow pages – they have a much bigger potential to change the future of small business.
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Is local SEO profitable?
As small businesses struggle to get out of their first year, local SEO can be a key component in making them not only feasible, but also profitable.
What are the benefits of local SEO? Local SEO helps increase online visibility so new customers notice you. Google Maps and Google My Business optimization can generate more direct calls, leads and sales. Optimizing your website for localized terms means you attract targeted traffic and better leads.
Is local SEO paid?
Depending on the agency you choose and their specific offerings, you should expect to pay between $399 and $899 per month for smaller local SEO services. A smaller campaign might be the best option if you’re just getting started with local SEO or if your business only operates in one location.
Is SEO a paid service?
Larger SEO and marketing agencies usually charge a monthly fee. You sign up to pay a fixed price to use the services of an agency that performs ongoing SEO work on your site.
Does SEO cost Money?
Technically, SEO is free. You don’t pay for SERP placement. Google ranks content based on several factors, including the E-A-T trio: expertise, authority, and trust. They rank highly those that are considered valuable resources for users.
How can I do SEO without paying?
No Money, No Problem: 17 Free Ways to Improve Website SEO
- Search for better keywords. …
- Delete duplicate content. …
- Fix 404 errors. …
- Write a unique title tag for each page. …
- Write a compelling meta description for each page. …
- Clean up your URL structure. …
- Update your blog frequently. …
- Including H1, H2, H3, etc.
What is local SEO package?
Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your business be more visible in Google’s local search results. Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.
How much should I charge for local SEO services?
How much does local SEO cost on average? For a one-time project that focuses on analysis, research, cleaning, and optimization, the average price for a local SEO project would be between $300 and $1,500, with an average price of about $750.
How much does SEO cost in 2020?
A typical SEO budget can fall between $400 and $10,000 per month. Of course, this depends on the size of your business, the competition, and the level of service you choose. But there should never be a fixed price for SEO services.
How much do freelancers charge for SEO?
Hiring an experienced SEO freelancer or agency by the hour typically costs $50-$150 per hour. Of course, you can find people who charge significantly less or more than this hourly rate. For example, this breakdown of hourly SEO fees found that 6% of SEO providers charge over $200 per hour.
How much do SEO experts charge?
→ For an SEO expert consultant, you will pay $100-$300 per hour. You’re paying for experience, so an SEO consultant that charges less than $100 an hour is probably not worth their salt or your time.
How much should a small business pay for SEO?
How Much Does SEO Cost for Small Businesses? The average cost of SEO for small businesses is $750-$2,000 per month, or $5,000-$30,000 for one-off projects. Smaller companies that invest in SEO consulting services charge $80 to $200 per hour.
Is local SEO still relevant?
In fact, only 44% of businesses have requested their Google My Business listing, which is one of the absolute first steps on the local SEO optimization checklist. This is why local SEO is so important for businesses. Local searches are growing at a tremendous rate and driving sales.
Does SEO even matter anymore?
Short answer: YES! SEO is more important than ever! It remains one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies that produce long-term results.
What is local SEO and why is it so important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an online strategy that results in your website appearing at the top of search engine results pages. If you want to attract and engage customers in your area, you definitely need local SEO. This is where you optimize your site for local search results.
Who should use local SEO?
Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you search Google for important keywords related to your business and a three-list map (also known as a map pack) appears below it, local SEO can help you grow your business.
How important is local SEO to your business?
Local SEO helps your business stand out—even if you don’t have a website—and it helps drive more traffic to your premises through online leads. Since these leads come from people who are specifically looking for the products or services your business offers, they are also likely to give you a high conversion rate.
How can local SEO increase sales?
The top tip to improve your local SEO results is to use Google My Business…What are 6 tips to improve your local SEO results?
- Keep your information up to date. …
- Invest in organic SEO. …
- Add location pages to your website. …
- Be mobile friendly. …
- Be consistent across channels. …
- Encourage customers to rate.
How much can SEO increase sales? SEO is not a substitute for paid advertising such as AdWords or Facebook ads. But it is a very important part of a good marketing strategy. In fact, it can make or break your ad campaign. Lack of SEO can actually increase the amount you pay for ads by 400%.
Who benefits from local SEO?
With local SEO, your business will gain more visibility by being found by the right people who are interested in your product at the right time. Having more visibility for your business means more profits, more sales, and even more relevance.
Why local SEO is important for SEO?
Local SEO allows you to put important information about your site online, such as your business address and phone number. Additionally, you can use SEO techniques to highlight and promote the products or services you offer on your website.
Who should use local SEO?
Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you search Google for important keywords related to your business and a three-list map (also known as a map pack) appears below it, local SEO can help you grow your business.
Why is local SEO services important for local business?
Local SEO offers better conversion rates by increasing targeted traffic and increasing conversion rates. Users looking for more localized content are more likely to convert.
What is Local SEO & Why is local search important? Local search is an integral part of any SEO strategy that targets customers 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, such as the Google Map Pack/Local Pack.
Why local search optimization is important?
Targeted Web Traffic: Optimizing your site for local search brings more targeted traffic to your website, which can lead to more leads, orders, signups, and sales. More calls: Optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) can increase visibility on Google Maps.
Why local ranking is important?
Local SEO supports your website’s ability to rank in the local search territory. There are often differences between these two audiences. Local SEO often affects searchers looking for a product or service in their immediate geographic area.
Why local SEO is so important?
Local SEO helps your business stand out—even if you don’t have a website—and it helps drive more traffic to your premises through online leads. Since these leads come from people who are specifically looking for the products or services your business offers, they are also likely to give you a high conversion rate.
Is local SEO free?
Local-Pack-O-Meter is a great free tool for the local SEO guide that uses Traject’s SERP data to show how SERP composition changes over time. It does this by tracking the release of features like people are also asking, news, ads and of course the local package.
How much does local SEO cost per month? Typical local SEO campaigns cost between $300 and $2,000 per month depending on your business needs, competition, and geographic location.
What is local SEO package?
Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your business be more visible in Google’s local search results. Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.
What is the difference between SEO and local SEO?
Here is the difference. While traditional SEO focuses on improving your site’s visibility on a national or global scale, local SEO allows you to capture local search territory to connect with searchers in your area.
Is local SEO still relevant?
In fact, only 44% of businesses have requested their Google My Business listing, which is one of the absolute first steps on the local SEO optimization checklist. This is why local SEO is so important for businesses. Local searches are growing at a tremendous rate and driving sales.
Who should use local SEO?
Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you search Google for important keywords related to your business and a three-list map (also known as a map pack) appears below it, local SEO can help you grow your business.
Does SEO even matter anymore?
Short answer: YES! SEO is more important than ever! It remains one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies that produce long-term results.
What is local SEO and why is it so important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an online strategy that results in your website appearing at the top of search engine results pages. If you want to attract and engage customers in your area, you definitely need local SEO. This is where you optimize your site for local search results.
How important is local SEO to your business?
Local SEO helps your business stand out—even if you don’t have a website—and it helps drive more traffic to your premises through online leads. Since these leads come from people who are specifically looking for the products or services your business offers, they are also likely to give you a high conversion rate.
How much does local SEO cost?
How much does local SEO cost on average? For a one-time project that focuses on analysis, research, cleaning, and optimization, the average price for a local SEO project would be between $300 and $1,500, with an average price of about $750.
How much does SEO cost in 2020?
A typical SEO budget can fall between $400 and $10,000 per month. Of course, this depends on the size of your business, the competition, and the level of service you choose. But there should never be a fixed price for SEO services.
How much does SEO cost for a small business?
According to a survey of 1,200 business owners and more than 350 agencies, freelancers, and consultants, the average cost of SEO for small businesses worldwide is between $501 and $1,000 per month. The average cost of SEO for small businesses in the US is between $2,501 and $5,000 per month.
How much does it cost to have someone do SEO?
How much can you expect to spend on SEO? If you hire a top SEO company to run your local campaign, you will pay $500.00 per month. A national or international campaign requires a minimum budget of $2,500-$5,000 per month. Some companies offer a “trial package” at a lower price with no contract.