5 Reasons You Should Pursue Local SEO

Hit them where they live: Why you should be pursuing Local SEO

Local SEO has always been the little brother of optimisation. Companies have always concentrated on generalised optimisation first, thinking about the local elements as a kind of afterthought, if at all. For some companies, though, failing to concentrate on local SEO can threaten a whole marketing campaign.

Surely just getting your brand out there is enough? Well, no. Although we live in a global world, our everyday lives are necessarily local. They're just getting more digital – more and more of our day-to-day tasks involve the internet. Hence, local search is becoming more important.

Still not convinced?

The Top Five Reasons You Should Pursue Local SEO

1. The internet rules the world

Gone are the days when people would roam the streets looking for a store. People are now far more likely to go to the internet first when they're thinking about making a purchasing decision, even when that purchase is going to be in the real world. If your business doesn't turn up in the local listings, you're pretty much invisible.

2. Mobile devices rule the internet

The use of mobile devices just continues to increase. It was pretty high at the end of 2014, and now mobile search exceeds desktop search by a significant percentage. A recent study conducted by Google found that half of the people who found a local business through the search engine visited that business the same day. That pretty much amounts to: if you can get yourself high enough in the listings, they will come.

3. It's all in the details

Local SEO differs from generalised SEO in the information you need to concentrate on. It's a pretty big difference. While with general SEO you need to concentrate on the keywords based on the concepts of your business, local SEO concentrates on details. Things like phone numbers, addresses and Google Maps locations are vital. Short answer: your SEO campaign might be perfectly tuned to get you results for 'award-winning shoemaker', but someone who has concentrated on 'Smith St Collingwood shoemaker' will get better local results.

4. People still love Google

Businesses have got all excited about the app revolution. There's an app for everything – especially when it comes to marketing. Everyone from your bank to your local butcher has an app these days. Guess what? When you're trying to get people in off the streets, they don't work.

The plain truth of it is that Google still has the stranglehold when it comes to customers finding businesses. When you've already made contact with a customer, when you've developed a relationship, an app can do its work.

5. The internet is everyone's best friend

Any marketer will tell you that word of mouth is the absolute best form of marketing you can get – and the hardest to get. The good news is that today an online review acts much as a personal recommendation used to. The best way by far to build a wealth of reviews is to concentrate on local directories as part of your SEO campaign.

If you've become a believer, you can check out this complex guide on how to have a successful local SEO campaign or get some help with your local SEO now!