The Top 9 Ways Investing in Local SEO Can Help Your Business
Local search engine optimization (local SEO) has revolutionized the way businesses market themselves today. With more consumers relying on search engines like Google to find local businesses and services, having a strong local SEO strategy can be the difference between success and failure.
Investing in local SEO can help businesses in numerous ways, from increasing web traffic to improving brand awareness and credibility. In this article, we’ll examine the top nine ways in which investing in local SEO can help your business.
1. Increased Web Traffic
Investing in local SEO means improving your business's online visibility and ranking higher in both organic and local search results. When a potential customer searches for a specific product or service in their local area, Google provides local search results at the top of the page based on a combination of relevance and location, providing businesses with a unique opportunity to be visible to their local audience.
Appearing on the first page of search engine results is crucial, especially because, according to a study by Moz, the first page of Google captures 71% of search engine clicks. With a strong local SEO strategy, your business can secure a higher spot in the search engine rankings and potentially capture a greater share of the search traffic as a result.
Increased web traffic is one of the most significant benefits of local SEO. High-quality web traffic can improve a website's bounce rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate. By attracting more qualified leads from local search results, businesses can enjoy a more targeted market and increase the likelihood of conversion.
Investing in local SEO can also lead to local customers spending more time on your website. By providing relevant and valuable content optimized for local search results, local customers are more likely to keep coming back to your page. In turn, this behavior signals to search engines that your website is an important resource for the local community and can further improve your search engine ranking.
2. Targeted Traffic
Local SEO aims to optimize a business's online presence for local customers looking for specific products or services within their geographic area. For instance, if a local customer searches for "coffee shops near me," search engines like Google prioritize showing them locally-relevant results.
That's because search engines use location-based data to filter and provide the most relevant results first. As a result, the more optimized your business site is for local SEO, the higher your chances of ranking well for local searches in your area.
With good local SEO practices, businesses attract targeted traffic from the local community who are specifically looking for what they offer. This qualified traffic is more valuable since they're more likely to convert into customers than random visitors from other locations. In other words, if someone's searching for "burger places," they're more likely to visit one if it's within a reasonable distance than if it's a few towns away.
The reason is that local customers are more likely to make a purchasing decision immediately, given the urgency and intent of their local search. When a business appears on the first page of search engine results for a local search, it can attract highly-engaged potential customers who are already searching for similar products or services. Consequently, businesses can improve their web traffic, conversion rates, and overall sales revenue by investing in local SEO.
3. Cost-Effective Marketing
Local SEO is often an affordable alternative to traditional advertising channels such as TV, print ads, or billboards. With traditional advertising methods, businesses pay for advertising space without knowing for sure whether it will generate a return on investment (ROI). Many small businesses, in particular, cannot justify the costs of these traditional advertising methods.
Investing in local SEO is an effective way for these businesses to market themselves locally without spending a fortune on more traditional advertising methods. A well-strategized and executed local SEO campaign can have a higher ROI than other forms of advertising.
In contrast to traditional methods of advertising, local SEO is also a more measurable form of marketing. By monitoring website traffic and search engine rankings, businesses can quickly determine the performance of their local SEO campaign, making it a cost-effective marketing solution.
Measuring traditional advertising efforts can be challenging because it is difficult to determine whether customers have viewed the ad. Even when a customer sees an advertisement by way of TV or print, businesses have no feasible means of knowing if that exposure leads to a sale.
With local SEO, businesses can track metrics like search engine rankings, online reviews, website visits and click-through rates, and more to gauge their performance accurately. From there, businesses can adapt their marketing strategy to optimize targeted lead generation and improve their ROI.
4. Competitive Edge
For businesses in competitive local markets, featuring in organic and local search engine results is critical for earning customer attention and competing against businesses with more fixed marketing budgets. With strong local SEO, you can differentiate your business from other competitors in the same marketplace.
When a business appears high in the search engine rankings for local searches, it can create an impression of authority that a company that ranks lower in the results cannot. People tend to trust the results on the first page of search engines because they believe that these companies are more applicable to their local area.
Strong local SEO efforts show that a business is relevant and in demand in the local market. Local customers are more likely to trust the authority of the business appearing first in the search engine results pages. A business can leverage this trust and authority to gain more customers, regardless of whether they have an established history or are relatively new to the market.
All of these factors ultimately lead to increased sales and revenue, as strong local SEO helps drive more traffic, conversions, and revenue. By showcasing trust and authority over competitors, businesses can attract more customers, build greater brand awareness, and increase their market share.
5. Increased Online Reviews
Online reviews and ratings are an essential component of local SEO. Reviews help potential customers get a better idea of what to expect from a business, increasing the likelihood of them visiting your business. Strong local SEO can enhance a business's online reputation by generating more positive reviews, as this improved reputation increases the chances of local customers buying what a business is selling.
When a business ranks well in the search engine results for local search queries, it has a higher chance of attracting more online reviews and ratings from satisfied customers. Ranking well not only makes it easier for potential customers to find your business but also helps in building an online reputation for the business and making it easier for existing customers to take the time to leave a review.
Online reviews and ratings are essential because they help in building an online reputation that can strongly influence future sales. Potential customers tend to visit a business that has a significant number of positive reviews and high ratings. One study showed that up to 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
When a business has strong local SEO, customers are more likely to leave positive reviews, adding weight to its credibility and helping to create a stronger online presence. Google's algorithm is more likely to rank businesses with better reviews and ratings higher in the search results, making it easier for other potential customers to find the business, leading to higher web traffic and revenue.
6. Improved User Experience
User experience is a critical factor in search engine optimization. A good user experience can significantly increase website traffic and ultimately result in improved sales and revenue. Local SEO helps businesses create better website experiences for local consumers by optimizing their sites for mobile searches, improving navigation, and increasing loading speeds.
Optimizing a website for mobile is essential because people increasingly use mobile devices to search online. Mobile users expect a website to respond quickly without the need to pinch or zoom into sections of the page, which could lead them to abandon the web page altogether. Websites optimized for mobile are also more likely to appear higher in search engine results pages since they tend to offer better user experiences than websites that are not mobile-friendly.
Businesses should also focus on creating an intuitive navigation structure to make it easier for visitors to find relevant content related to their visit. Good navigation helps reduce visitor bouncing due to frustration caused by poor organization of web pages.
Webpages should also load quickly as visitors are less likely to wait long periods for pages to load before leaving the site entirely. Fast loading speeds help potential customers remain on the website longer, leading to more conversions and higher revenue from customers who take advantage of services or products offered by the business.
7. Local Marketing Partnerships
Strong local SEO can be beneficial in helping businesses attract more attention from potential customers by increasing their presence on local search engine results pages. Local online directories offer an opportunity for small businesses to take advantage of free advertising space, provide friendly and accurate contact information for users looking to connect with them and establish credibility for their services or products.
Good reviews also play an important role in improving local SEO since good reviews, and ratings show potential customers that a business is trusted in the community. Reviews not only help increase visibility but also inspire confidence among prospective customers when reading about positive experiences from other members of the community.
When it comes to referrals from local partners, forming partnerships with other businesses, organizations, or professionals with similar interests helps widen your reach. Partnering with someone who regularly interacts with potential customers within the same geographical area can help you access new audiences who may not have heard of your business otherwise.
8. Brand Awareness and Credibility
Building a strong local SEO strategy can help businesses increase their visibility and become more relevant to potential customers. A business with a well-established presence on search engine results pages is more likely to be seen as an authority figure in its industry, as it signals trustworthiness and reliability. Additionally, having a strong presence also gives the business more credibility, which will inspire confidence among potential clients who may be unfamiliar with the company but are nonetheless compelled by its high rankings.
Businesses should work towards becoming experts in their industry through helpful content or reliable information so that they stand out against competitors. Being an expert not only helps differentiate your business from others but also provides customers with up-to-date knowledge about the services and products you offer. When customers visit your website looking for specific answers to their questions, being seen as a leader or expert boosts your chances of converting them into paying customers.
9. Cost-Effective Marketing
Unlike expensive traditional forms of advertising, such as television or print ads, local SEO is a much more budget-friendly form of marketing. This cost-effective approach can help businesses reach their desired customers while also increasing their presence in localized search engine results pages.
Investing in local SEO not only has the potential to produce greater returns than those associated with conventional forms of marketing, but it’s also easier to measure. Unlike advertisements that are difficult to track, businesses are able to accurately assess their ROI through metrics such as organic rankings, clickthrough rates, and website traffic. This allows them to better strategize for future campaigns and maximize their capacity for successful campaigns.
Final Thoughts
Investing in local SEO is essential for businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. Businesses that don’t invest in local SEO risk being left behind by the competition.
Local SEO provides businesses with an affordable alternative to traditional advertising. When done correctly, it offers a higher return on investment compared to conventional forms of marketing and is an easily trackable metric that helps businesses assess their ROI accurately. Through this approach, businesses are able to increase visibility among target audiences and boost sales revenue over time.