According to a study we found, “near me” searches doubled in only one year.
Ideally, these are the kind of terms people are using when searching for local businesses. For example, the phrase “restaurants near me open now” has over 90 thousand monthly searches.
As a local business, what does this mean for you?
This means thousands of people are searching for local businesses online. All you need to do is to tap into this pool of online searchers and drive them to your website, social media pages, and landing pages.
But how? By leveraging tried and proven local SEO services.
Read on to learn more.
1. Grow Your Traffic
Whether you’re a new business or you’re struggling to gain more web traffic, local SEO can help you attract targeted high-quality traffic. If your website pages are optimized for local SEO, then your potential customers will find you easily on Google.
A key tactic for achieving this is proper keyword research. The right keywords give you the ability to influence how well your pages rank on SERPs. When researching your keywords, pay attention to the search volume, the number of words, and competition of the keywords.
For example, if you’re a dentist, you can’t simply rank for keywords, such as “professional dentist” and “dental services.” Local customers won’t be able to find you using these terms. In fact, your pages will hardly rank for these keywords.
Instead, you should be more specific by narrowing down to long-tail keywords for your on-page SEO.
For example, a phrase such as “emergency dental services in St. Petersburg” or “emergency walk-in dentist in St. Petersburg” would be ideal for you. With adequate SEO campaigns, it’s possible to rank for these terms and grow your traffic.
2. Find Targeted Customers
The truth is, not all people out there are searching for your service are your ideal customers. You can grow your traffic, but if your visitors are not converting into actual customers, then there’s something wrong.
With local SEO services, the goal is not just growing your traffic. They also help you understand the critical touch points of your potential customers through their entire journey. As such, you’ll understand the reasons why your visitors are not calling you or filling your forms.
In customer targeting, a user that searches the term “emergency dental services in St. Petersburg” is your potential customer. In this case, the user’s intent is already defined and known. Several factors, such as online reviews, website user-friendliness, and services, will play a role in converting this user into a customer.
Also, establishing your site as an authoritative source of information improves your chances for conversion.
3. Save on Marketing Costs
Gaining organic traffic is one of the cost-effective ways to grow your business online. Of course, there are recurring costs, but once you gain steady traffic, you won’t need to spend heavily to maintain the earned traffic.
Plus, it’s free traffic when you compare it to pay per click (PPC) advertising. Basically, this is a paid service for driving traffic to your site. It works, but the problem is that you have to pay for traffic. Once you stop your campaigns, you lose the traffic.
Local SEO services are also cheaper when compared to hiring an in-house team. Say you hire an in-house team; you’ll need subscription tools and software for keyword research, traffic monitoring, website management, and SEO review.
You’ll also need to hire SEO experts and train your team on the current SEO tactics. Bringing in additional team members means more costs for you in terms of salaries, health insurance, employee benefits, and other miscellaneous expenses in the office.
4. Build Your Local Profile
A robust local profile for your business means more organic traffic for you.
Google is likely to pick your business listing and display it on Google My Business results when people search for your service. This is common for restaurants, dental services, plumbing services, and other service-related industries.
Local SEO services will help you to ensure correct local citations. This involves claiming your profile on review sites and local directories, such as Yelp, GMB, and TripAdvisor. They will ensure your most important information, including name, address, and phone number, are consistent and accurate across the web.
A reputable SEO service will also help with link building. For your information, quality links and original blog content are two great ingredients for top search engine rankings. Building quality links helps to improve your site’s authority and online footprint.
You can also boost your local profile through positive reviews. In this case, the quality of your services or products will determine what reviews you get. This is why businesses nowadays are investing in improving and personalizing their customer experience.
5. Stay Ahead of the Competition
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the go-to marketing technique for thousands of small businesses and startups. With new sites and businesses popping up every year, competition and pressure mount on existing businesses. Your competitors are also striving to get those top SERPs rankings.
Local SEO allows you to focus on a particular niche and improve your search visibility without worrying about national targeting. If you choose to work with a local SEO company, it’s their responsibility to research and understand your competitors and niche to optimize and streamline your campaigns.
SEO companies also strive to stay up to date on the latest SEO developments and search engine algorithm updates. This way, they employ the best practices, coupled with competitor research, to keep your business ahead of the competition.
Local SEO Services – The Takeaway
Today, SEO is not just for the online heavyweights. New and small businesses can now leverage local SEO services to break ground and attract more target customers. The most important thing is that you choose a company that understands your niche and can deliver results.
With local SEO, you can focus on attracting local customers, and this can be more effective than targeting national customers. If you have any question about growing your local businesses, feel free to reach out to us whenever its convenient for you.
