Local SEO Services
Here are some statistics that will help you realize why you need to invest time and money in a local search engine optimization plan. You may not yet be convinced of how important SEO is but it is an integral part of your business’s success.
46 percent of the searches that are done on Google are local searches. This means that nearly half of the searches on Google the biggest search engine on the planet are for local businesses which means you get an overwhelming market share as a local business on Google. If your business fails to appear in search results online you are leaving a lot of your money on the table.
About a third of mobile searches are done right before a consumer goes to a store or restaurant. If a customer cannot find a local business online they pretty much will doubt its existence. Almost everyone who searches a local business online will visit that business the very same day.
A lot of people do buy online because it is convenient. But the facts are 78 percent of local searches performed result in purchases in person. Nearly 85 percent of people will look at the location of a business using Google maps. About 75 percent of them will actually call the business from that listing to ask questions or find out store hours.
One other important factor that businesses need to remember is that the market for wearable devices and mobile devices continues to grow at a very rapid pace. This means nearly everyone will be using these devices to search for local businesses as they need to. Most local searches will result in an actual purchase so businesses have to invest in local search engine optimization if they want to stay ahead of the game.
Factors That Affect Local Search Engine Optimization
When it comes to rankings on local searches there are factors that are categorized into localized ranking and local pack ranking. Google has reduced the local pack from seven to three. The number of businesses listed could go even lower. Here are a few more of the important factors that affect local search engine optimization:
Links
It is true that Google has made many changes to its algorithms in order to weed out spam or links that have little useful information. But the most important factor involved in ranking comes from organic links from other domain names. There was a time when links from certain domain names had impact but today authority and relevance are much more important than number of links coming from other domains.
Location of course plays an important part in local search engine optimization but links still play an important role, especially in competitive business niches. For local businesses it is so important that they get location-specific links. Also another way for local businesses to get links is to advertise or have themselves listed in specific industry listings or directories. Links also help when they come from authority websites.
On Page Factors
These play an important role to because it is important for a business to clearly indicate the services it offers as well as list its locations. However, businesses do not want to over complicate on page factors. This is why they should think from the point of view of their customers in order to make sure they are putting all relevant information on the website. Important factors include the title tags, meta-tags, headers, images and a phone number and address on every single page of the website in addition to having a schema markup.
Off Page Factors
Google will verify the information it gets on a Google My Business Page by performing a crosscheck. It isn’t worn for business to make sure that its name, address, and phone number are consistent all across the web. It is very important that your business is information is the same for Google as it is elsewhere on the Web.
You also want to make use of citations. Citations are listings of businesses around the web and they range from local business directories to social media websites. Make sure you have consistent citations so you rank higher in local search results.
If your business information is out of date online it can hamper your business’s success. Make sure to locate any and all information with Google and be sure it is up to date. There are many tools you can use that will help you find your business information and correct it if necessary online.