Regardless of the size of your business, local SEO is one of the marketing techniques that give the best ROI. We say regardless of the size since this trend can benefit small local businesses, subsidiaries or local branches the same. Still, while major conglomerates have the privilege of a strong global brand, small businesses and startups often have to choose a direction. With that in mind, here are the top six reasons why your business needs local SEO.
Local mobile searches boost offline sales
The first thing you need to understand is the fact that local SEO is incredibly mobile-friendly. This is due to the fact that A) your phone has an easier way of tracking your physical location and B) it is pedestrian-friendly. Think about it, you might feel the need to buy a specific item while walking around town and it’s much more convenient to see if there are any stores that match your needs in the nearest surrounding. As the result of this, about 78 percent of local mobile searches end up being offline purchases. To make a long story short, local SEO drives your sales by a significant margin.
Higher Google rank
Google favors local results, seeing as how its algorithm focuses more and more on one’s geographical location. This makes perfect sense, seeing as how Google’s main principle is to be user-friendly and provide people with answers they need. Even in this era of hyper-connectivity, the search engine realizes that its users have more use from local results, seeing as how they’re physically available to them. In other words, local SEO can guarantee you a higher Google rank.
Marketing yourself as a local company
Another perk of local SEO lies in the fact that it allows you to market yourself as a local company. In this way, you can use the sense of belonging in a community to inspire people to choose you over their larger competitors. To a small business or one with a limited marketing budget, this is an opportunity to outrank bigger businesses. Small local businesses seem more relatable, more dedicated to their consumers and, above all, easier to work with.
Higher conversion rate traffic
Experts behind a New York SEO services agency claim that one of the main, indirect tasks of SEO is to turn leads into sales. Boosting traffic is fine, yet, it is not enough on its own. Think about it, some people simply don’t stand a chance of ever becoming customers. They either don’t have the need for your product or are too far away. When it comes to the first issue, skilled SEO experts can help you target people in a more effective way. As for the latter, this is where these local SEO attempts come to shine.
It’s cost-effective
Another thing you need to think about is the ROI. Some small businesses believe that they need a global campaign, seeing as how it covers local presence as well. This is a faulty attitude for several reasons. First, even when it comes to e-commerce, people are often reluctant to deal with companies that are half a globe away if for nothing else, then for the time it would take for the item to reach them. In other words, local SEO is more cost-effective than global SEO (just remember the local mobile searches to sales correlation we mentioned earlier), at least until you reach the status of an international business. By that time, your marketing budget should be able to finance them both.
You can’t afford to be left behind
Finally, you need to keep in mind that all of the perks listed above are probably something that your local competitors are currently enjoying or might start doing so in the future. In the first case, you can’t afford to miss out on this amazing opportunity and get left behind, while in the case of the latter, you might have a chance of your own to gain a competitive edge by becoming a local SEO pioneer in your industry. Either way, avoiding an investment in local SEO is something that you simply can’t afford to do.
Conclusion
Local businesses need local SEO, while major corporations also stand to benefit from this trend. In other words, despite the intuitive perception that global SEO is a more pragmatic solution or even a compromise, the truth is that it’s seldom an adequate substitute for its local counterpart. Each of the above-listed six items is more than enough for you to implement local SEO into your digital marketing strategy. Together, on the other hand, they make this move completely mandatory.
