As a business owner, you should not underestimate the benefits of local SEO. For almost a two-year period, local searches such as “near me” and “close me” surged by over 900 percent. This is because 86 percent of consumers rely on the internet to find and search for local businesses and local SEO will help you beat your competitors to make users choose you.
In this blog, I will explain the benefits of Local SEO for a business and how it can attract new customers.
Let’s get started with the basic understanding of the term Local SEO.
What is Local SEO?
SEO is a technique used by businesses to improve their search engine rankings. It is the lifeblood of any business that wants to build a digital presence. Your business will not prosper without appropriate SEO.
Local SEO, also known as Map SEO, is a type of SEO that aids the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. It is mainly used to target local potential customers. It’s a distinct form of SEO that’s been increasingly popular in recent years and is mainly focused to attract local customers.
How Does Local SEO Work?
Local SEO, like regular SEO, is a set of actions and methods aimed at increasing your exposure on Google and other search engines when people search near your real location.
SEO is simply another word for tactics that increase web presence in order to increase sales. This is accomplished by appealing to customers in the appropriate way while also playing the search engines’ games by providing content with relevant keywords. In the case of local SEO, this could entail using your town or city’s name and zip code, as well as creating links and collecting reviews.
Local SEO focuses on acquiring customers in smaller locations, such as those in a specific town or city, as the name implies. Local businesses commonly use it to reach out to this audience in order to increase foot traffic to their physical presence or generate business within a service area.
It mainly focuses on increasing visibility on Google Maps and the local 3-pack of SERPs—these sections of the search engine results pages provide local consumers with results that are tailored to their local area or within a set distance from their physical location.
Benefits of Local SEO
Local SEO has several benefits for a business in many ways. Let me try to cover the major benefits of Local SEO which can attract more customers:
1. Improved Traffic
Do you know that 46 percent of all Google searches are for local information? Traffic is the lifeblood of any business. If you have registered your business digitally, whether you are the owner of a large corporation or a small salon around the corner, you will be able to rely on traffic for a long time. Local SEO can help you increase your traffic. When you concentrate on local potential consumers, you encourage them to browse your website and potentially visit you. When you adopt a comprehensive SEO plan for a local business, you run the danger of obtaining a lot of slow traffic. And you certainly don’t want it to happen. Targeting local people will drive local traffic to your website, which will lead to sales.
2. High Conversion Rates
One of the advantages of local SEO is that it attracts new customers and enhances conversion rates. Local searches result in sales in 28 percent of cases. As a result, there’s no doubting that local SEO improves conversion rates—increased traffic equals more purchases. When local clients are ready to buy, presenting oneself as an authority in your area might increase your chances of becoming the anchoring location for their sales. Rather of searching for companies thousands of miles away or making a random purchase online, most local searchers prefer to learn about local businesses.
3. Lower Advertising Expenses
Local businesses thrive when they cater to a local audience. As a result, they spend more money on advertising channels such as banners, pamphlets, local television adverts, hoarding, and so on. This all comes at a hefty price tag. But what if we told you that simply optimizing your local SEO might save you a lot of money? When looking for a specific sort of business, it has been demonstrated that over 80% of smartphone users choose the “near me” option. As a result, by boosting your local SEO, you can lower or eliminate all advertising costs.
4. Continual Business Development
Local SEO campaigns are always aimed at increasing traffic while also improving search engine rankings. As a result, marketing and sales opportunities improve. More sales imply more interested customers, resulting in a conscious phase of business expansion. As a result, investing resources and time in local SEO analytics is a vital success indicator if you need to grow your local business.
5. Rankings That Last A Long Time
What would you say if someone asked you why SEO is better than traditional marketing? You might respond that doing something once has a longer-term impact than using a standard marketing plan, in which we spend a lot of money every week to generate sales as in paid advertisements. One of the most significant advantages of local SEO is that you will achieve long-term rankings.
6. Improve Authority and Trust
Nowadays, there are just too many options to pick from. Each company promises to be the greatest in the industry. Even if you write whatever you want about the excellence of your services and products, customers will only have a hazy understanding of what you’re saying.
It’s tough to trust a company you’ve never heard of until seeing it for the first time. One of the advantages of local SEO comes into play here to alleviate our inconvenience. The power of a local optimization strategy lies in its capacity to raise brand recognition and attract more visitors (both online and offline). This is a fantastic approach to demonstrate your unique expertise and share the knowledge you’ve gained over the years. Visitors will trust you more if they realize that you know what you’re doing.
7. Gain a Good Number of Local Reviews
87 percent of people examine online reviews before making a purchase from a local business. People will love to submit honest evaluations if you provide good service, which will help you attract more customers. However, if your firm isn’t optimized for local SEO, you won’t be able to do so. You may get more client reviews by using local SEO. Also, replying to consumer comments will help you rank higher in the search engines. As Google sees it, this is a sign of improved customer service. Obtaining local reviews and ratings might also benefit your company in a variety of different ways.
8. Show up in Google’s 3 Pack Listing
Another advantage of local SEO is that it can help you get into Google’s three-pack. Appearing in Google’s 3-Pack is a huge thing; it simply means appearing in the first three results of a keyword’s local search. You may examine how your firm is doing online if you are already employing local SEO. Three-pack listing surely going to help you attract more customers. It is the tendency of most people to consider the business for their searches which are in the top 3 positions.
9. Build Local Community
Local businesses have an advantage in that they can help to build a strong local community. Many people like supporting their town by purchasing locally. This type of behavior stimulates local business owners, resulting in community development. It would be beneficial if you informed potential clients that you are destined near them.
10. Local Listings Exposure
One of the advantages of local SEO is that it allows you to be listed in local business directories. These are the locations where specialized information can be found. It could be useful information, specific services, or frequently visited destinations with evaluations. If you can get your business listed in as many local directories as possible, you can boost your trustworthiness and possibly your rankings.
Conclusion on Benefits of Local SEO
That concludes our article on the benefits of Local SEO. We’ve now covered all of the benefits of local SEO for businesses. We are living in the digital age. And, regardless of where you’re from or how big or little your company is, having an internet presence is a must. Check out our local SEO Checklist to help you establish a strong presence for your company in your community.
Everyone else has a smartphone and knows how to use Google. They enjoy doing online research before going to the store. As a result, having an internet presence is essential. We understand that being a newcomer in the digital world can be a daunting undertaking. In that instance, you can consider employing local SEO firms to maintain your online presence while you manage your actual store.
Also Read:
What is Geotagging of Images? Importance of Geotagging photos for Local SEO