The Benefits Of Local SEO And How It Affects Your Business

Over 90% of all activity online starts with a search engine like Google or Bing. Unfortunately, over 75% of people never look beyond the first page. If you’re not hitting the top of a search page, you’re missing a chance to generate sales.

Your competitors at the top of the page are likely reaching those customers instead. Meanwhile, nearly 50% of all Google searches are local. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can reach those nearby customers. Then, you can draw them to your site or store.

What are the benefits of local SEO, and how can it help your business? Keep reading to find out!

In this guide, we’ll review the 10 wow-worthy benefits of developing a local SEO strategy. Then, you can reach more customers and set your business up for success. Get ready to grow! Read on to discover the top benefits of using local SEO today.

1. Boost Your Brand

If people have never heard of your business before, they might never shop from your store. They’ll turn toward more familiar brands instead. In fact, nearly 60% of consumers prefer shopping from familiar brands. Before you can develop that familiarity, you’ll need to build awareness. It can take five to seven tries before people become aware of your brand, though. Consistency and repetition are key. Local SEO can help you appear in front of consumers repeatedly.

Your website will appear each time someone searches for your product or service. Then, consumers can click on your website to read your content. You can create relevant blog posts, videos, and other posts with that search term in mind. You can also create location-based content to show local consumers you’re nearby. They can learn more about your local business before visiting you in person.

Creating content for your local SEO strategy can help you appear in front of customers online. You’ll have an easier time generating brand awareness as a result. In time, awareness can become recognition. Consumers will immediately think of you the next time they need your product or service. They’ll head straight to your website or store, helping you generate more leads and sales.

2. Connect With Local Customers

One of the best benefits of local SEO is its ability to help you reach and attract local customers. In fact, you’ll have an easier time finding people who have an interest in your business. You can start generating high-quality leads as a result. With a local SEO strategy, you can appear in a search when someone looks for your product or service. They’re already interested in what you have to offer. You can leverage that interest to make a sale. Otherwise, you could waste time and energy trying to convince uninterested consumers they need your product or service.

With a local SEO strategy, you don’t have to push them. Instead, you can offer the information they’re looking for online. You continue guiding them along the buyer’s journey toward a sale. Consumers can see the unique value you can offer. Once they’re equipped with the information they need, they might make a purchase.

A salesperson doesn’t have to speak with the customer directly. With SEO, you can offer that information through blog posts and content. Consumers are already looking for local businesses like yours. Digital marketing strategies can help you appear for those searches.

Almost 30% of all mobile searches are related to location. Meanwhile, 76% of people who complete a mobile search for something visit a business within a day. About 28% of those consumers buy something as a result of their search. With a strong digital marketing strategy that involves search engine optimization, you can reach those customers. You won’t have to waste time on low-quality needs anymore. Instead, you can create content with your ideal customer in mind. You’ll have an easier time appealing to their distinct needs as a result.

3. Attract More Traffic

Are you struggling to generate traffic to your website? Consider the benefits of local SEO. Remember, local SEO helps you appear for relevant searches on Google and other search engines. Once people read the content description, they’ll see you can offer the help they need. Consumers will click the link to your website to read your content.

You’ve generated fresh, relevant website traffic as a result. Google boosts websites that offer consumers the information they need. As you start generating traffic, Google will take notice. It will continue increasing your ranking. A higher ranking can put you in front of more potential customers. You’ll generate even more traffic as a result. Discovering the importance of SEO can help your business on and offline.

As part of your local search engine optimization strategy, you’ll need to update your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Your GMB listing will list the information that’s relevant to your business, including your:

• Business name
• Address/directions
• Website
• Business hours
• Customer reviews
• Phone number

It’s important to keep your GMB listing up-to-date. Consumers can find your GMB listing during a Google search. Then, they can click on your listing to find directions to your store. With a local SEO campaign, you can boost foot traffic to your store with ease!

4. Generate Trust and Loyalty

Remember, consumers might struggle to trust your business if they’ve never heard of you before. A local SEO strategy can help you attract more people to your brand. Then, you can demonstrate your unique experience and expertise online. Consumers will recognize you have the know-how they need. Your content could even help you become a thought leader in the industry. They’ll choose your brand over any other as a result.

In time, brand trust will turn into brand loyalty. You can retain customers for years and start generating repeat sales. Your ROI will rise. In fact, a 2% increase in customer retention can lower costs by as much as 10%. About 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, too. Without brand trust, you might struggle to generate loyal customers. Consumers might fall in love with your competitors instead. You’ll miss a chance to set yourself up for long-term growth as a result.

5. Keep Competing

Every small business needs to find its competitive advantage, especially in a saturated market. Discovering the benefits of local SEO can help you remain competitive. Boosting your local SEO ranking can position you ahead of the competition. That includes huge corporations.

Huge corporations can’t pay money to improve your local SEO rankings. Instead, they need to keep up with the latest SEO trends. They need to keep producing content as part of their digital marketing strategy, too. Otherwise, using black hat SEO tactics could get those corporations black-listed. They’ll lose their ranking on Google. Consumers might struggle to find their corporation as a result.

Local SEO tactics are cost-effective and easy to start using. You can even rely on your local SEO expert to boost your ranking. With their help, you can rank ahead of major corporations in your industry. Consumers will notice your top-of-page ranking and think you’re a big wig in the industry. You’ll no longer look like a small business. Instead, you can establish your credibility, gain new customers, and grow! In time, you’ll become as big as those huge corporations in your niche.

6. Get on the (Google) Map

About 86% of people look for the location of a local business on Google Maps. About 72% of consumers who search for local businesses visit stores within five miles of their location. A local SEO strategy can help you get on the map, making it easier for you to reach these customers. Once they click on your listing, they can get directions to your store. Then, you can turn those visitors into paying customers!

7. Generate Fresh Reviews

In order to strengthen your local SEO ranking, you’ll need to gather fresh reviews, too. Reviews tell Google that people are talking about your business. It’s not enough to generate a few reviews every few years, though.

Instead, you need to continuously generate fresh reviews. Google considers the quantity, proximity, and diversity of the reviews you generate. You’ll need to keep generating reviews from local customers—and a lot of them. Otherwise, your local ranking might not improve. Reviews can impact your brand’s reputation as well. For example, generating fresh reviews can help you build brand trust and loyalty. It can help establish your company’s credibility, too. If you don’t have current reviews, consumers might struggle to trust you.

They won’t shop from your business as a result. They’ll take their business elsewhere instead. In fact, about 95% of consumers read reviews before they decide to make a purchase. When a product receives five reviews, the likelihood consumers will buy it increases by 270%. Businesses that have more than nine current reviews earn 52% more revenue than average. Once they receive 25 current revenues, it increases to 108%. Meanwhile, consumers feel 71% more comfortable purchasing products that have reviews.

8. Convert Clicks into Sales

One of the benefits of local SEO is its ability to improve your cost-per-acquisition. Remember, search engine optimization is a cost-effective digital marketing strategy. It’s a great way to boost your lead generation efforts. When you attract consumers to your website, they’ll read your content to find the answers they need. When they see you have those answers, they might decide to shop from your store. You can even generate email subscribers who want to receive more of your content.

Since SEO is a cost-effective marketing strategy, your cost-per-acquisition will improve. Meanwhile, you’ll generate more leads and sales, setting your business up for success. Other marketing efforts, however, can get costly fast. With SEO, you have a worthwhile investment that can boost your brand.

9. Remain Mobile

About 91% of consumers use mobile devices for inspiration while in the middle of a task. Another 90% use mobile to work toward goals while on the go. Consumers even check their phones while they shop. About 82% consult their phones while in a store. Another 51% shop from a brand other than the one they intended after finding helpful information from a search.

With a local SEO strategy, you can reach these mobile consumers. If you’re not using mobile digital marketing strategies, you’re neglecting a huge part of your target audience. You could struggle to draw in leads and sales as a result. In fact, Google uses mobile-first indexing to determine search rankings. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, your ranking could drop.

Google wants to provide its users with the best possible experience. Consumers will grow frustrated if your site is difficult to use on smaller screens. No one wants to pinch and zoom in to find the information they need. They might struggle to fill out a form on your site, too. If people leave without exploring your site, your bounce rate could rise.

A higher bounce rate, lower clickthrough rate, and low dwell times can hurt your SEO ranking. Remember, a low SEO ranking will make it difficult for people to find you online. Consumers will visit your competitors’ websites instead. Developing a local SEO strategy can help you prioritize mobile users.

You can design and develop your website with mobile users in mind. The content you post can help them make buying decisions while they shop, too. They might choose your business over a competitor’s as a result. Are your competitors mobile-optimized yet? If not, this is a great opportunity for you to take the lead!

10. Boost Your ROI

Discovering the importance of local SEO can set you up for success. Your high-quality, helpful content can help you generate more leads and sales. You’ll attract more people to your store, too. Either way, you can generate more sales and improve your ROI. In fact, local SEO can help you achieve long-lasting results. Once you improve your ranking, you’ll maintain that position for a while. That means you can keep generating results.

With SEO, you can set your business up for long-term business growth. As you keep gaining traffic, your ranking will continue to rise. SEO results are measurable, too. You can use the data you gather to make more informed decisions about your SEO strategy in the future. Then, you can optimize the results for even more leads!

Get on the Map: 10 Wow-Worthy Benefits of Local SEO

Don’t neglect your local, on-the-go audience. Instead, keep these benefits of local SEO in mind. With search engine optimization, you can set your business up for long-term growth and success.

You don’t have to develop your SEO digital marketing strategy alone. Instead, lean on help from the pros.

Contact us today to get started.