The Benefits of Local SEO

When most people think about SEO for their website they have a perception that they are talking to the world. In many cases, especially with online shopping, a global audience is what you want to boost sales, and because you can ship just about anywhere it makes sense. But what happens when you can’t ship what you do around the world? What if you own a restaurant in upstate New York or a Motorcycle repair shop in Chicago? These bricks and mortar businesses primarily rely on local or at best regional customers and thus any online presence needs to be targeted as such. Local businesses rely on local people and the best way to reach these is through Local SEO.

What is Local SEO:

In a nutshell, Local SEO is not that different from normal national or global SEO, the real difference is that the platform and online presence is optimized for a local region or area. It doesn’t have to be done to draw people to your local office; Local SEO may be required to get people living in a certain place or area to know about your product. A new housing development may be going up and you need people in that area to buy your home décor items for example or maybe that you are targeting a specific area due to a particular social dynamic such a high income or low income. Local SEO becomes focused SEO that ranks your website, business or product higher in a geographical location to meet a business strategy.

The many benefits of Local SEO:

Anyone who has run a local business or needs to reach people in a specific region for any period of time knows the value of local marketing, local newspapers and even billboards which have been a mainstay for decades. Local SEO simply adds a digital “Google My Business” option to the choices of advertising media and thus the benefits should be clear. However, the benefits are often not fully understood. So, what are the benefits of Local SEO?

Easy to Implement:

Google My Business is one of the easiest online marketing tools on the internet. Before the Internet, the likes of Yellow Pages were the place to have your business seen and because Yellow pages were local it worked. There are countless business directories on the internet today and whilst there is no real harm in taking a listing in any of them Google My Business. Is the one you should be listed in and the simple application is quite literally taking over the world.

Less Spend or even No Spend:

Local SEO using tools such as Google My Business is very cost-effective. You can spend some money to boost your local presence or you can spend none at all and be found with relative ease. Effort needs to be put into a Local SEO strategy, yes Local SEO gets best results if planned, and whether you choose to throw money at your plan or not is up to you. With Local SEO many businesses get some immediate success and as they maintain their online presence they naturally gain local rankings.

Reviews and Ratings:

Trust is something everyone likes to have and with Local SEO, especially when using Google My Business, reviews and ratings of your business from real customers are easily shown. Good reviews help customers decide who to shop with or buy from.

New Customers and Improved Customer Retention:

For any business, two things matter more than anything else: New Customers and Customer Retention. Local SEO gives you superb local reach and your online platforms should make it easy for new customers to find you. You can then engage them and convert them into a paying customer. Once this is done, digital communication is vital to retain a client by keeping them interested in your business and perhaps incentivise them. Local SEO is a superb marketing strategy that gives you free rein once you have hooked the customer in order to retain them.

Compete and Stand Out:

Local SEO allows you to capitalize on you a local audience. Many large national or global companies don’t focus on Local SEO and with Local SEO you stand out. A small hardware store, for example, can compete well against a Home Depot with Local SEO. If your business provides quality products and quality service you will stand out. There is a growing awareness worldwide for supporting local business and Local SEO promotes local services to local people. Local SEO is relatively straightforward to implement and has many more benefits than are explained here. You can implement a DIY approach and spend little or no money or you can have an SEO company to help you implement a campaign; the choice is yours. In a nutshell, if you don’t have a Local SEO strategy your business is losing out.