It’s just as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. Regardless of what type of business you own, if you don’t have a local online presence and any potential customers are not able to find you easily, you’re going to be fighting a losing battle.
Nowadays, Google™ is the new Yellow Pages. It’s therefore vitally important that you have an attractive online presence on Google™ and create an avenue to target consumers within your desired geographical area.
Here at FocusedGrowth®, we can make this a reality for your business. We’re experts at Local SEO and can design an optimisation strategy that will bring your business to the next level.
We’ve composed this handy guide so that you can learn a bit more about Local SEO, and how it can play a vital role in maximising your business potential.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is a search engine optimisation strategy that helps your business be more visible in local search results on Google™. It aims to optimise your online presence via content, on-page optimisations, and link building, in order to attract more business from relevant local searches.
For example, ‘Debt Collectors Sydney’
Local SEO is vitally important for serving specific towns, cities, regions, and even states. When done right, it allows people to find information about your business quickly and easily, putting them one step closer to a purchasing transaction.
Much Higher Buyer Intent Traffic
Consumers who are undertaking local searches represent a valuable commodity. They have a particular intent in mind, and are looking for a specific service / product in a specific location. They are therefore much more likely to be in the late stages of their decision making process.
This type of informed consumers are not likely to be tyre kickers or time wasters. Local SEO enables you to target them, thereby maximising your marketing spend and increasing the chances of converting traffic into measurable sales.
Geographical Focus
When it comes to marketing spend you want to focus your valuable resources to where they are most likely to deliver results. For example, if you own a brick and mortar business in Western Sydney, you might not be interested in targeting businesses in South Coast or Central Coast, as it’s not feasible for you to service those inquiries.
Your time will be better spent by tailoring your efforts to cater for consumers within your geographical focus. With Local SEO, you can optimise and specifically target geographic areas that are relevant to you, and eliminate any areas you don’t want.
In this way your marketing resources can be utilised in areas where they can deliver the maximum possible benefit, and not consumed by enquiries or other avenues from non-supported areas that are not likely to lead to transactions.
Builds Local Brand Authority
Regardless of what other advertising activities you may do, Google™ is by far the main principle avenue customers will use to find your business. Google™ has an estimated 87% market share and 46% of all Google™ searches are local. As such, it pays to make sure that you have local brand authority.
If you don’t have a proper identifiable presence in Google™, any potential customers will not be able to find your business, and they will assume that you don’t have brand authority in your chosen geographical area.
Additionally, Google™ is where people ask for recommendations, and if your business doesn’t appear in search results, they may ask themselves following questions:
- Are they trustworthy businesses? Who else in the area has used your business?
- How come they are not on Google™? Maybe there’s something dodgy about their business?
- Maybe they have too many unhappy customers so that’s why they are not on Google™!
At the end of the day, by not being visible in Google™, your business will be out of sight and out of mind, and you will be left behind.
Google™ Aims To Be Geographically Relevant
Why does Google™ want this?
With the growth of mobile internet access, consumers have easy access at the touch of their fingers, resulting in the explosion of mobile searching. Google™, through the use of location services on devices, knows your location, and aims to push out suggestions which they know consumers would want.
Over time, as searches for specific geographical keywords grow, this drives higher auction values for Google™ Ads. As such, Google™ will continue to be geographically focused with it’s algorithms.
Local SEO Is More Effective
When it comes down to cost effectiveness Local SEO provides a much more viable option than Google™ Advertising.
With Google™ Advertising, over time factoring in user behaviour, geographically based keywords will continue to grow as search volumes increase. This results in more advertisers chasing fewer keywords, leading to increased pricing.
However, Local SEO is a different proposition. It is a flat monthly fee, so it’s unlikely to increase as much as Google Advertising spends and it’s not budget sensitive. Over the long run, Local SEO is always a more cost effective strategy compared to Google Advertising in low Cost Per Click (CPC) markets.
Google™ My Business
Google™ My Business is an integral part of any Local SEO strategy. It’s a tool that enables you to manage and optimise your Business Profile on Google™ Maps, helping customers find your business, and telling them all about your unique story.
There’s no higher online brand authority today than Google™ My Business. It gives your customers a dedicated channel to engage directly with your business. They can review your business, communicate directly with you, and even assess how credible your business is to engage with.
Google™ My Business also provides consumers with an easy convenient way to contact you through organic search listings, and voice enabled devices. Since a Google™ My Business listing is typically on top of any organic search listings people typically engage with its call listing directly, and avoid going through the hassle of further enquiries to locate a contact us page.
Similarly a number of leading applications such as Apple CarPlay™, Android Auto™, Amazon Alexa™ and Google Home™ all have voice activated commands. Unless your business has Google™ My Business profile on Google™ Maps, any potential consumers will not be able to find you if they search from these voice enabled devices.
When running a business it’s vitally important that you have a strong local online presence and any available marketing spend is used to get the most effective results. Local SEO provides a great strategy that enables your business to be more visible in local search results and specifically target intended consumers. When done right, it allows people to find information about your business quickly and easily, putting them one step closer to a transaction.
Local SEO allows a business to target specific consumers who are based in a particular geographical location and are in the later stages of their decision making process. Through functions such as Google™ My Business, businesses are able to build local brand authority and provide a dedicated channel to directly engage with their customers.
Overall Local SEO also provides a much more convenient and cost effective option when compared to other forms of online advertising.
Here at FocusedGrowth®, we are the leading Digital Marketing Agency in Sydney, and have been successfully implementing Local SEO strategy over a number of years. We can customise a strategy tailored to your own unique needs and deliver proven measurable results.
If you’re ready to bring your Local SEO strategy to the next level, why not contact us today.