As a small business owner, you may be thinking that you don’t need to worry about SEO or online marketing. After all, you have a great product or service, and your customers know about you. Why do you need to go to the trouble and expense of optimizing your website and online presence for search engine
The answer is that even if your customers know about you, there’s a good chance that they’re not the only ones in your market who are looking for what you have to offer. They may not even be the majority. And if they’re not, then you’re missing out on potential customers and revenue.
Local SEO is a set of strategies and techniques that are used to improve the visibility of a website or business in search engine results pages (SERPs) when people search for products or services in a particular geographic area.
If you want your small business to be visible to people who are searching for what you offer in your local area, then you need to make sure you’re doing local SEO.
Here’s why:
The vast majority of searchers are looking for local businesses
According to a study by BrightLocal, 86% of consumers use search engines to find local businesses. And of those, 61% said they are more likely to contact a local business that appears in the search results.
What this means for you as a small business owner is that if you’re not doing local SEO, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach potential customers who are actively looking for businesses like yours.
Local SEO is more important than ever
With the rise of mobile devices and the popularity of location-based searches, local SEO has become more important than ever.
Consider this:
- In 2015, Google announced that mobile searches had officially surpassed desktop searches.
- In 2016, comScore reported that 50% of all searches are now done on mobile devices.
- In 2017, BrightLocal found that 78% of consumers have used their mobile devices to search for local businesses in the last 12 months.
What all of this means is that if your website and online presence are not optimized for mobile devices and for local searches, you’re going to miss out on a lot of potential customers.
Local SEO is more complex than it used to be
Local SEO used to be a fairly simple process. You would optimize your website for a few key phrases that included your city or region, and make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) was consistent across the web.
Now, local SEO is much more complex. In addition to optimizing your website, you also need to make sure your business is listed in all the relevant online directories, and that your NAP is consistent across all of those listings. You also need to make sure your website is fast and responsive, and that it has all the relevant Schema markup.
And that’s just the beginning. The reality is, local SEO has become so complex that it’s difficult for most small business owners to keep up with all the changes and ensure that their website and online presence are optimized for local search.
You need to be visible in the 3-pack
If you’ve ever done a search on Google for a local business, you’ve probably noticed the “3-pack” of map listings that appears at the top of the SERP.
According to Moz, the 3-pack is the portion of the SERP that features the three businesses that Google has determined to be the most relevant and authoritative for the search query.
What this means for you is that if you want your small business to be visible to potential customers who are searching for businesses like yours, you need to make sure you’re in the 3-pack.
And the only way to do that is to make sure your website and online presence are optimized for local search.
Local SEO is an affordable way to reach potential customers
One of the biggest benefits of local SEO is that it’s an affordable way to reach potential customers. Unlike traditional marketing methods like print or television advertising, which can be very expensive, local SEO can be done on a shoestring budget.
In fact, you can do a lot of it yourself, without having to hire an expensive SEO consultant or agency. And even if you do decide to hire someone to help you with your local SEO, it’s still a very affordable way to reach potential customers.
Local SEO can help you stand out from the competition
If you’re like most small business owners, you’re probably competing against larger businesses with much bigger marketing budgets. And that can make it difficult to stand out from the competition.
Local SEO can help you level the playing field and give you the opportunity to compete against businesses of all sizes.
By optimizing your website and online presence for local search, you can make sure potential customers in your area see your business when they’re searching for what you offer. And that can give you a big advantage over your larger competitors who are not doing local SEO.
Local SEO can help you build trust and credibility
In order for customers to buy from you, they need to trust you. And one of the best ways to build trust and credibility with potential customers is to make sure your business is visible in the local search results.
When potential customers see your business listed in the local search results, it helps to build trust and credibility, because it shows them that you’re a relevant and authoritative business in their area.
And the more trust and credibility you can build with potential customers, the more likely they are to buy from you.
Local SEO can help you generate more leads and sales
At the end of the day, the goal of any business is to generate more leads and sales. And local SEO can help you do just that.
By making sure your website and online presence are optimized for local search, you can reach potential customers who are actively looking for businesses like yours. And that can lead to more website visitors, more leads, and more sales.
Local SEO can help you attract new customers
One of the great things about local SEO is that it can help you attract new customers.
When potential customers in your area see your business listed in the local search results, it can help to increase brand awareness and name recognition. And that can lead to new customers, even if they’ve never heard of your business before.
Local SEO can help you grow your business
If you’re like most small business owners, you’re always looking for ways to grow your business. And local SEO can help you do just that.
By making sure your website and online presence are optimized for local search, you can reach more potential customers, generate more leads and sales, and attract new customers. And that can help you take your business to the next level.
Conclusion
As a small business owner, you can’t afford to ignore local SEO. It’s a vital part of any online marketing strategy, and it’s an affordable way to reach potential customers who are looking for businesses like yours.
If you want to grow your small business, you need to make sure you’re doing local SEO service for you small business.