Around half (46%) of Google searches involve users browsing for local information and businesses close to their homes.
What does this mean for business owners?
It means that digital-first businesses that have invested heavily in local search marketing to promote their products and services have a significant competitive advantage. The ones that appear on the top of search results are more likely to be contacted by prospective customers.
The good news is that you can succeed at this too. In this blog, we will lay out the specifics of local search marketing.
What Is Local Search Marketing?
Explained simply, local search marketing (LSM) falls under the ambit of digital marketing services. It is the promotion of your products and services before prospects within a specific geographic region.
For instance, a brick-and-mortar business invested in LSM may focus its marketing efforts on ensuring that its name appears first when prospective customers look for their services in a given region.
But local search marketing is not just restricted to businesses with physical stores. If you own a customer-facing business, you need local search marketing, regardless of your business’ size and industry type. It can help you quickly grow your business and customer base in a specific area within a short time.
Factors That Impact Local Search Rankings
Search engines such as Google return results on a wide range of factors, including customer reviews, clicks on your website, and proximity of your business to the customer’s current location, to name a few.
Your Google My Business listing, along with mentions of your product categories, plays a massive role in determining your visibility. Moreover, your business must also show up on Google Maps for added exposure, and of course, to make it easier for customers to find you.
Recommendations For Effective Local Search Marketing
- Clean up your web presence: Google walks the extra mile to ensure that businesses comply with its guidelines and don’t have malware on their websites. In fact, Google flags websites suspected to be infected. So, ensure that you follow anti-fraud and anti-scam practices while building your web presence.
- Pay extra attention to your online reputation: Did you know that poor reviews will inevitably drive your local search engine ranking down? That’s right. That is why many businesses also engage in smear campaigns targeting their competitors. If you have too many bad reviews for no reason, a local competitor may be posting spammy reviews against you. Flag such fraudulent reviews as soon as possible.
- Offer a memorable experience: Google likes websites that load fast, offer informative, relevant content through blog posts and articles, and are responsive across devices. If your website doesn’t tick these boxes, your business may not appear on local search results. Therefore, it is crucial to get your basics right and to strengthen your site’s authority. Build a memorable web presence that offers value to your customers. This way, your business will get noticed fast.
By investing in local search marketing, small businesses can ensure rapid growth and a consistent stream of return customers. So, get started today!
Faisal Abidi
