It’s easy to assume that working on local search seems overkill if you’re already working diligently on your business’s inbound marketing strategy and SEO best strategies. But you still need to place importance on local search and make sure that your community can easily find your business.

Local Search Is an Integral Part of Any SEO Strategy

It makes a lot more sense if you remember that around half of Google searches are from people looking for local products and services. 

Because more people do a search using their mobile phones and the algorithms of Google and other search engines come with location data, people no longer need to type their city or zip code to get the local results they need. You will want your business to show up in those searches when customers are looking for solutions that are nearest to them. This is reason enough to take extra steps to ensure that your business is fully optimized for local search.

What Is Local SEO

Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy meant to help your business become more visible in local search results on Google. Businesses that have a physical location or cater to a geographical area can benefit from these strategies. 

Do a Google search for any important keywords related to your business and you will see a map with three listings appearing underneath it. This is how local SEO can help you grow your business. 

Why Local Search Is Important

You only need to look at the statistics to know the importance of the local search for businesses. According to Google, 76% of people who do local searches on their smartphones end up visiting a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches lead to purchases. In those searches, 30% are related to location.

How Google Determines Local Ranking

Google has always kept its organic search ranking algorithms a closely guarded secret but not so when it comes to what it takes for a business to rank in local results. Google maintains three main categories of local ranking factors. Your business is measured by its relevance, distance, and prominence.

Improving Your Local Search Presence

Relevance is measured by how well a local business profile matches what users are searching for, while distance is defined by how far the potential search result is from the location used in the search. As for prominence, it's about how popular Google considers your business to be.

Businesses that depend on the local community for establishing a customer base will find it practically impossible to compete for online attention without the help of local search. And with more people using their mobile devices to look for services while they are on the go, local search will become even more important. Ensure that you’re staying on top of local search with iSearch Engine. Drive more customers to your business and contact us today.