If you’re like most small businesses, you probably depend on a combination of great web traffic and plenty of through-the-door customers to make it day after day. Making those two things happen, though, is a different animal entirely. It’s tough to actually get your business in front of the people who need to see it day after day and make sure they come to you to buy more. There is one great way to do both of those things, though – pair with a local SEO agency. UK companies like yours do it on a daily basis to make sure their business listings are optimised for local search, and for good reason. It offers a great amount of online and offline power for small businesses like yours. What kinds of benefits can you expect from local SEO? Take a look.
- Less Competition: Local SEO gives you a chance to display what you have to offer to those around you. Many companies like yours spend their days competing against similar businesses across the UK. The last thing you want to do is compete with a much bigger company that has a larger marketing budget that’s several hundred miles away. If you optimise for local, though, you’re no longer going to be competing on a national or international level. Instead, you’ll be competing for those customers your care about most – the ones who are nearby.
- More Foot Traffic: Statistics have shown that 72% of customers who search for a local company like yours are likely to visit a location within five miles of their search area. More than that, though, studies show that local searches overwhelmingly convert at a higher rate than other kinds of searches. For you, those two statistics translate into one essential fact. Customers are ready and willing to find you and buy from you when you optimise for local search, and that could mean the boost in profits you need most.
- Stronger Community: Now more than ever, people believe in shopping locally, and local SEO can actually help build a community among local businesses and customers. Local SEO allows you to form alliances with other local companies. Maybe, for example, your company pairs with one across the street to help promote each other’s site online. That could mean a powerful backlink for you as well as an ally in all future online marketing efforts. If you’re listed on a nearby company’s site, that may help more people discover you, and that could help to further build the community of businesses.
- 3-Pack Spot: Google’s 3-Pack consists of the first three listings that appear during a “near me” search. For example, if you type in “Chinese Takeaways Near Me,” Google will display three Chinese Takeaways near your location immediately. You cannot get one of those 3-Pack spots if you are not optimised for local, and you really want one of those spots. Studies have shown that customers love the 3-Pack results, and they can mean quite a bit more foot traffic for your business.
- More Local Reviews: There’s nothing people like to do more than recommend a good business to others, and optimising for local can help make that process a little easier. Step one in local optimisation is to claim your Google My Business listing, and that gives customers a chance to review you easily through your Google business account. When they review and you respond, you’ll see stronger rankings, too, and that can mean great things for your company.
Local SEO offers lots of benefits to companies like yours. It’s more than just a way to gain online visibility. Instead, it’s also a way to connect with other customers who are nearby and are ready to work with you right now. Local SEO tends to be faster than traditional SEO, and the results for brick and mortar companies like yours are undeniably powerful.
If you haven’t yet reached out, there’s never been a better time to pair with a local SEO agency. UK companies like yours are seeing stronger results every single day, and the time to begin working with the right team to meet your needs is now.
