Seven Reasons You Need to Pay Attention to Local SEO in 2018

SEO is a constantly changing landscape for Digital Agencies and Businesses to stay on top of. One of the most important changes in recent years has been the rise of Local SEO. With Google now placing so much importance on delivering results that are location based on online consumers, new roadblocks and opportunities have been created for businesses and their websites to rank highly in the local SEO marketplace.

Optimizing for Local SEO depending on your business type is an effective marketing strategy that can help you market your brand online. It is especially important today as most people still prefer to do their shopping locally because they can easily relate with goods and services from their local area rather than trusting the large online space. Local SEO is gradually becoming a trend among small businesses today. Although local SEO marketing rose significantly in the past year, it will be of even more importance in 2018. How so? Here are a few practical reasons.

1. Exposure to and through Google My Business

Google creates listings for businesses – whether you want them or not. As a business owner, it would be ideal to claim yours as you do not want Google to make use of your information as they please. Owning or claiming your Google My Business Listing allows you take charge of your business data and increases your chances to rank highly in local search engine results. Since many businesses are yet to seize this opportunity, you would be having a big shot at dominating the internet marketplace in 2018.

2. Increased Localized Search

With increased mobile device users today, more and more people now make use of the internet to search for local businesses to get access to their desired goods and services. Although local SEO marketing cares for both mobile and PC users, people now prefer the search for local content on the go. It would be ideal for businesses to take channel their focus towards local advertising.

3. Targeted Marketing

A major reason for the rise in importance of local SEO is its ability to allow users find certain businesses and their services. While some online visitors may have a specific business name in mind while searching for a service, many others may not know about the presence of a particular business. With the help of local SEO marketing, it is now a lot easier to position your business online and promote the service you offer. This will allow your business to be displayed online when users search for the product and service you offer.

4. Massive Return on Investment

With minimal investment, you can expose your business to your waiting public. The investment involved in local SEO marketing is little when compared to those of direct mails, television, newspapers, and leaflets. Local SEO offers you and your business an opportunity to reach your prospective customers when you need to – and even when you do not. They are always there. Local SEO marketing is both cost-effective and very efficient.

5. Increased Competition

Millions of websites are created every year. In addition, thousands of new businesses achieve better stability and become formidable each year. In response to this trend, the search visibility has been dropping in many areas of the search engine results.

With increased competition, many business owners will be forced to target smaller niches and localize their keyword usage to achieve relevant search visibility. Optimizing your website locally is a great way to achieve this. This only means that local SEO will continue to be even more significant with increased competition.

6. Relationship Building and Credibility

Since your local business information can be easily found online, potential customers will be more confident in your service. Ensure the names of your city or region is included in your blog titles. This will make your web content relevant to your location.

7. Local Online Reviews

As much as buyers’ trust word of mouth for local businesses, online reviews of your business are important for you to get the trust of prospective buyers and achieve success. You can increase the reputation of your brand by encouraging trusted customers to leave reviews about your business on review sites such as Yelp. These reviews cannot be purchased or solicited for from your customers in any way. However, you can let them know about your presence on these review sites and encourage them to leave a feedback.

When your customers post a review about your service, ensure you respond regularly – this will create some form of exceptionally professional relationship between you and your customers.

There you go. If you do not already have an up to date online presence on major online search engines that competitors cannot rival, local SEO marketing is a necessity in order to achieve increased search engine visibility in 2018 and beyond. Take steps now to implement an effective strategy and remain dedicated to seeing it through. With commitment and hard work over time, you would start seeing positive results within a few weeks to months.

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