A lot of the clients that BuzzStarter works with always like to think big. They always aim for top ranking on keywords that best defines their market (and business), that drives the highest search volume possible. The challenge with that is, that will never be true all the time especially for keywords that are extremely long tail. With the advent of local search engine results, it may be difficult to plan these keyword campaigns in advance especially if some of these locations are extremely valuable for your business. Now I do/did some work for a number of companies where local SEO matters and I would like to share some interesting tips that I’ve learned that maybe able to help you in your optimization campaign.

Why Local SEO Matters

First, a few reasons why optimizing for local SEO is important:

Google (and other search engines) factor in location data when displaying search results. With the advent of increased mobile use as well as the ever increasing penetration of the Android OS across different markets (see the smartphone Android versus iOS versus Windows Phone top platform data below) plus integration of all Google accounts that can be used universally across all their services, results are becoming more and more accurate and leaning towards serving relevant results where it originated from, if location can be determined. From a recent report by comScore.

People tend to include cities/states/regions when searching for businesses on the web. The pattern of search queries are changing and evolving, especially with mobile having a greater penetration of internet consumption compared to desktops. Knowing this, especially in 2014, most companies with an Internet presence of aware of how important effectively integrating search engine optimization techniques into their business plan is. However, not only do businesses need to concern themselves with SEO, but they also must be aware of searches happening at a local level. At this basic level, this type of SEO helps to drive in more local businesses and get that local audience that will be engaged longer, since this type of audience may have a better interest on what you offer as a business. It is always great get any type of audience but depending on what you sell, it is much easier to convert local customers over non-local ones.

Consumers are starting to trust smaller, local businesses over larger, well-known brands. Have you heard of community currencies? Those unique local currencies accepted within a particular community, the more popular one that’s effectively used is the BerkShares of BerkShire County, Massachusetts. Everywhere in the United States as well as countries all over the world, the “buy local” movement has been successful in the past 8 years, driving customers back to buying and investing in their local businesses. Now more than ever, it is important as a business owner to start getting their businesses in front of customers, especially online. The challenge always is, how do you compete and stand out from other business both local and national so that you become a important local player in your own right? What do you need to do to stand out, especially for customers that are searching you out online?

To be continued next week at Buzz Starter! Need immediate help? Contact us and let us know how we can make you successful in your next SEO campaign.