What Are The Benefits of Local SEO?
Local SEO can bring more customers and visibility to your business. But many small businesses still do not use it and prefer to focus on other parts of their marketing like advertising. Below, you will read 12 benefits of local SEO that will prove why it is critical for your business.
1- Increase The Traffic Of Your Website
If you get ranked on search engines under specific keywords relevant to your niche, you will get more traffic to your website. Then, you can turn this traffic into leads and customers with the right process. However, most websites have a hard time getting traffic. It’s a problem that you can solve by applying a few local SEO rules to optimize your website pages.
2- Stay Competitive
Many people these days use Google to get information about businesses and products. If they can’t find your business online, they will check the websites of your competitors.
You probably don’t want to lose all these potential customers and let them go to a competitor without a fight. In most cases, you can easily get ranked for terms relevant to your brand and your location.
3- Get Links From Local Websites
Local websites make suggestions to their readers about different products and services. They also want to link other local websites and have good relationships with their neighbors.
Website owners tend to trust other sites and businesses they can find on the first page of Google. It is a sign of professionalism and successful marketing. So, local SEO can actually help you to get backlinks and exposure from other local websites and businesses.
4- Gain Repeat Customers
You can get two types of customers from local SEO. First, there are people who come near to your location once, search for a specific product or service, and find your business. These people are one-time customers most of the time.
However, many people who live in your area can search on Google for products and services as well. If they find your business, they will come back over and over again if we assume that they are happy with their experience.
5- Local SEO Prioritizes Small Businesses
Google really focuses on small businesses. We mentioned above that you could get traffic and customers from other small businesses, but what can you do when your competitor is a large corporation?
Google prioritizes small businesses over large corporations. If you check the most local SEO terms, you will find multiple small businesses on the first page. We assume that this is what the people want, and Google helps them to find it.
6- Earn Trust
Many consumers search for products or services on Google because they trust it. So, they will trust your business if they find it on the first page of Google. You don’t have to do all the marketing and selling process by yourself because people already assume that you can help them.
7- Show Up In The First Listing Of Google
The first listing on Google gets the most traffic, links, and customers than any other place on the first page. The second and third listings also get a big percentage of the total searches. It means that the businesses that are on these listings for keywords relevant to their products and locations get multiplied benefits.
8- Get More Local Reviews
The first listings of Google get more engagement for existing customers as well. When a customer reads the reviews on your listing, there are many chances to participate in the conversation.
The same applies to new customers that decide to visit your business because of other reviews. It is likely to go back on these reviews and share if they agree with them. You can also encourage your customers to leave reviews and increase your engagement metrics on Google.
9- Reduce Your Advertising Costs
Local SEO is free. It can take some money to build or optimize a website or your online listings, but you don’t pay for the traffic that comes next. It is the opposite method of online advertising that requires you to keep bidding for keywords. Once you start getting free traffic for local keywords, you can adjust your advertising and digital marketing strategy.
10- Get Customers Who Are Ready To Buy
When people search your brand, a product near them, or a product on your location, they don’t search for information, but they are ready to buy your product or service.
Usually, the customer journey starts much earlier when they search for a specific problem they need to solve. Then, they realize that a product can solve this problem, and the last step is to find your business. Local SEO avoids all the previous steps and brings people who need to buy your products.
11- Get Exposure In Local Directories and Review Websites
When your business is on the first page of Google, you have more chances to get visibility on other websites as well. These sites can be local directories or reviews sites.
Some customers will not return back to Google, but they leave reviews and feedback on these other sites. The engagement in multiple places will increase your visibility on their platforms and bring even more customers. Lastly, Google likes the mentions from other platforms and will use them to increase your rankings.
12- Keep Your Website Updated
The technical parts and the content of a website affect your rankings. If you already get traffic from search engines, you are motivated to keep working on your site. You can update the content when there are new trends and make sure you update the technical parts. It’s important to have a fast website with a great user experience.
Conclusion
These benefits of local SEO depend on the traffic you get and the keywords you target. But you can be sure that there are multiple rewards when you are on the first page of Google for the products and services of your business. It is worth focusing on local SEO and getting tons of free traffic.
Iris Marketing team can support your business in creating professionally designed local SEO strategies to help your business. Contact us today.