3 Benefits of Local SEO: The Beauty of Being Found
“Near me” Google searches are very common in the digital era. If you own a small business, the benefits of local SEO can help boost your online presence and therefore increase the online visibility of your business.
The digital marketing world is extremely competitive because it levels the playing field. Everyone can have an online business and compete with the classic brands on a specific niche.
Yet, you should invest in local SEO if your product or service has certain characteristics. Not all businesses have a global goal to be found and recognized across different countries and time zones. This does not mean that you have a poor mentality or that you lack perspective on how to expand a business. It simply means that your potential customers are in a more close-by location.
Let us clear this with an example.
You are the owner of a locksmith business. You have a shop and a mobile service to help your customers with locksmith-related emergencies. This service is intended for the Queens and Brooklyn area in New York City.
Even though it will be cool to have traffic from a broad spectrum of geolocations, the truth is that there is no use for a click that comes from a person who is in Chicago; especially if that hypothetic person is looking for solutions to a locksmith problem.
Search engine optimization is all those practices we put to work on our website and the content we post to be more attractive to search engines such as Google.
Every time you search for a specif term, the IA developed by Google will filter all the pages that are relevant to your query from most to less relevant. That is how the results page works.
How can you benefit from local SEO efforts? Let us dive further into this area of the SEO world.
Fishing in a more realistic pond.
Following our previous example, one of the great benefits of local SEO is that helps you focus your efforts on a more realistic goal.
Let us land this concept a little bit more.
In terms of keywords, it is not the same “emergency locksmith” that “emergency locksmith Brooklyn”. The latter is targeting a specific audience whilst the first one is for a wider public.
If your potential customers are in the Brooklyn or Queens areas, it makes no sense for your business to try to rank higher for “emergency locksmith”. Your product or service has a specific zone of influence.
If you create and implement a Local SEO campaign, your conversion rate will likely go up since the people clicking on your website are actually nearby you.
Local SEO will help you build a community.
Even though there are no privileged locations in the digital marketing world, you can benefit from Google My Business (GMB), and Google maps to build a supportive and loving community.
If your business has a physical location, a Google My Business profile is a must. In there, you can share photos, articles, daily posts, but also, people can reach out to you directly and leave reviews of your products or services. Using specific keywords for your area of influence will help people find your digital location and get to know you better.
We live in a time where people trust the reviews from other customers’ experiences with a product or service. It is very common for people to look thoroughly at the thoughts and insights of other members of the community when buying something or thinking about hiring a service. It is important to show a good face also in the digital ecosystem.
GMB is a great way to keep in touch with your community to build long-lasting relationships with the people close to you.
Remember that the ideal customer is the one that goes back to you every time they need something related to what you have to offer.
Do not neglect to have your business on Google Maps. When searching for local businesses, people tend to use Google Maps to find the ones with the best online reviews. If the local searches resulted in the appearance of your business, you will increase your chances of converting those clicks into actual leads for your company.
Be mindful that many of your potential clients will find you while using their mobiles devices so be sure to have a website optimized with a sweet and easy-running mobile version.
Local SEO will reduce your cost of advertising.
One of the reasons why SEO remains one of the best positioning strategies is because it has a great ROI and this is something business owners always want to hear.
If you conduct your efforts into building a community and keep a tight relationship with them, this can help you to reduce the costs of your online presence. A solid local SEO strategy will help you build that community of local customers who are loyal to your brand.
Why? Because you will be generating lots of organic traffic from the people that can become your customers in the near future. Organic traffic is the gemstone of the digital world. Once you have managed to make a name for yourself, people will go directly to you every time they need something.
Remember, SEO takes time.
But pays BIG time.
Have you been thinking about hiring some SEO services for your business? Inspiral is the place where we help you achieve the results you want for your business.
We are passionate about brands and the digital world. We understand the efforts behind building something and we won’t take you for granted.
Are you ready to take the journey of growing your company and grasp all the potential your brand has? Let us have a digital coffee.
Hector Torres
SEO Copywriter