Charlotte Local SEO company

Over 1 Trillion searches were made in 2017 on Google alone. With its popularity and influence through its strict algorithm, Google has a massive influence on what people see in their search results, so you have to play the game. In 2018, the average company is expected to dedicate 41% of their marketing budget online and this average is expected to increase to 45% by 2020. It’s time to put your money where it counts.

So, stop wasting your time and money and read these 4 reasons why local SEO is important for you, your customers, and bank account.

Local SEO

Ranks you higher in local search engine results

77% of local customers use Google and other search engines as the main way to find local businesses (like you), and 50% of local customers who make a local search end up visiting the store on the exact same day. Therefore, if you own a business that deals with face to face transactions, you are losing a large number of views by not using Local SEO properly or at all.percent of customers who local search

93% of search results show the ‘Google 3 pack’ which is the top three results that Google has deemed the most valuable for your personal search. 19% of the local pack ranking factors are My Business Signals, so, for example, your proximity is one of the biggest factors in making it to the 3 pack.

Although you cannot control who gets in the 3 pack, you can influence your ranking in search results other than the pack because on-page signals like presence and consistency of NAP, keywords, and domain authority factors in 24% for localized organic ranking factors (this is where local SEO comes into play).

Google shows searchers results that are only relevant to their search term and geographic vicinity so, if your name, address, and number (NAP) are inconsistent, SERP’s will overlook your business and move on to ones that are consistent.

Local SEO works for the benefit of your customers

You care about your customers, and you want their experience with you to be memorable. Well, these days the experience doesn’t start when they step foot in your store, it starts with their first search for your store. And most of the time, their search starts with Google.

Make your customers’ experience memorable by making it easy and convenient. Don’t make them look any harder for your business information than they have to because most people don’t like to work harder than necessary and enjoy being taken care of.

Think of it this way, if you own a small business, you are not going to let your clients lurk around until they find something to buy. Will you? Most likely you will guide them through the process of finding the perfect product or service that suits their need.

You may be comfortable with your clientele, they live in the neighborhood why would they need your address? Well, you could not be more wrong.

In fact, 71% of people say they look up and confirm the location of a business before going to it the first time. To add to this, 33% of smartphone searches were made right before a store visit. What you need to understand about local SEO is that it’s a double win for a small business.

-People often search a store location even if they already know the business which makes it easier for them to get to your store.

-It will also increase the number of people discovering your business when the query is related to a keyword. E.g. Restaurant Montreal or Lawyer near me.

You want to make sure that your information is consistent and available. A good reason for this is that the ‘near me’ search has doubled on Google since 2017.percent of people who search a business

Google focuses on the customer and what they need, 50% of mobile searches are for business information. As said previously, 71% of local customers search the location for a business before visiting it for the first time and 68% of local searches are to seek directions or to call a business from the Google My Business page directly. So, if you don’t provide your proper NAP you are limiting your potential to get local customers.

Local SEO and local search engines are free sources of advertisement

Using local SEO allows you to promote your products and services locally to people who are seeking out your niche through a search engine. As said before, a large factor in ranking higher in search engines is on-page signals such as the presence of your NAP.

You cannot only rely on the hope that your proximity is ranking you higher because unless you are in the three pack you will have to make the proper effort to rank in local searches. The effort, however, is very rewarding because once it’s done you can advertise your products and services for FREE!

Once you have been convinced to start your local SEO strategy, start by searching for the keywords that can relate to your business. Even though it’s free, you’ll need to optimize your strategy in order to conquer the most relevant keywords to your offering. Going for words, such as Restaurant Rosemont, Bistro Near Me, pizzeria Montreal, etc. would be great for your organic visibility.

Try to reverse engineer your audience and understand how your customer works, what would they search if they was searching for you. Maybe the Keyword ”Haitian Food corner Bourbonnière/Masson” is too specific for your potential customer. The same way that ”food Montreal” might be a bit too generic and hard to rank for 1 store.

63% of your marketing challenge is to generate traffic and leads, why not make it easier on yourself by implementing tactics that will improve your local SEO thus improving your visibility?

Local SEO prevents you from losing money

78% of local mobile searches end with a purchase, either in-store or online. Therefore, if you are not proactive you are hindering your conversion rates.

You see, 92.7% of businesses that use inbound marketing (including local SEO) have increased their lead generation and 42.2% of businesses have increased their lead to scale conversion rate with inbound marketing. A step in the right direction would be to take hold of what local SEO can offer.

In addition to this, if there is a new customer in the neighborhood or a tourist passing by, chances are that they will search online to find their next restaurant, dentist or clothing store. By neglecting your Local Strategy you increase your competitor’s chances to close that sale over you.

Every local SEO strategy is documented on our website, you may read it in our blog section and DIY your local visibility. However, we also exist in order to save you some time.