Did You Know? 

Local businesses have different SEO needs than larger online-only companies.

Local businesses have a distinct advantage over online only and established big-box conglomerate store Brands.

As a local business, you have the ability to establish deep community loyalty - something most big-box companies have difficulty with.

What is Local Search Marketing?

• Local search marketing is a specific marketing strategy for attracting local customers to your business.

• Local search marketing involves optimization that puts your business on the map when customers are searching for businesses just like yours.

• Over 70% of people performing a local search visit a store within five miles of their location, so you can understand why Local marketing strategies are more important than ever. 

What is Digital Marketing?

• Digital marketing is used for promoting and selling products or services on the Internet, and to bring people to your website.
• Digital marketing is a combination of various online strategies that include search engines, automated email, social media platforms, search engines, and paid advertising. 

As you can see – Local search marketing and Digital marketing overlap and work in unison to ensure Local businesses increase their customer base in both Local and online markets.

How to Win at Local Search Marketing

#1  Google
Google currently processes over 92% of all Local searches, so optimizing for the Google search engine is a must, and includes making sure your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) listing is optimized to the max.

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free listing that all businesses can utilize. Each business listing includes pertinent information such as services/products, location, hours of operation, and contact information. Each business needs to claim their free listing, complete the profile, and always make sure their listing is kept updated and enhanced with current promotions and photos.

#2  Citations
In the search world, Google isn’t the only game in town. Even though Google fulfills a large number of Local searches, there are other platforms millions of local consumers use – such as: Apple Maps, Bing and voice search using Amazon Echo.

All bases have to be covered, all major search platforms (not just Google) need to be optimized to get your Local business on all the maps – and that’s where Citations come into play.

A Citation is information about your business that exists on a third-party website - normally your business name, address, phone number, and may include your website URL, email address and other key details about the business.

Generating Citations benefits your business in several ways:

• As multiple Citations are built, the more trust your business is gaining with the search engines, which results in higher search rankings, more traffic, and more customers.

• Each Citation offers the potential of getting more visitors to your website. You can guide these visitors to your physical business location, and give them a means of reaching out to you.

Not Sure Where to Go from Here?

If you’re a local business that’s confused about how to effectively start your SEO path, or how to strengthen your current SEO performance, ask us about our local business SEO plans, and Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) services.

 

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