Why Local SEO For Business Is Essential?

This chapter is all about determining if local SEO is the right fit for your business.

As mentioned before, local SEO is helpful for both the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and large businesses that have physical store.

However, SMEs have more to gain from implementing a local SEO strategy as it gives them an even ground to compete with industry giants and build a loyal customer base. Plus, the local search algorithm of Google, named Google Pigeon, has specifically brought changes to the way local businesses rank on the SERPs. The algorithm has been observed to favour local businesses.

Why Local SEO for Business is Essential?

Currently, internet is filled with about 1.88 billion websites. In this situation, it is almost impossible for small local businesses to stand a chance against bigger competitors. Local SEO is the only way for them to gain leverage in this competitive environment.

88% of the users, who use their smartphone to locally search stores, end up visiting the stores they find in local SERP. Thus, local businesses can increase their customer base significantly just by using local SEO in their marketing strategy. If correctly utilized, it is a fool proof method to keep your business booming.

Who is The Ideal Target Audience For Local SEO?

For local SEO, your ideal target audience are the customers who live near the physical location of your business. 97% of the internet users search online to find a local business nearby. Therefore, anyone looking for a relevant service in a specific region or city can be considered the target audience for local SEO.

Most small store or service providers rely on local customers for sales and repeat purchases. These local customers are increasingly using the internet to research their options and find products and services they need.

No matter who your target audience is, your SEO efforts should be focused on driving relevant, targeted traffic regardless of your specific audience. Even among your target audience, you’d do well to prioritize those users who search on Google because it is the largest search engine in the world that witnesses maximum action, followed by Bing and Yahoo (see below).

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share

According to Google, 46% of all the Google searches have local intent behind them. That means, almost half of the users now enquire after local information.