Can You Be Found on the Local Search Map?
If not, you better establish a strong local search presence — and do it fast. Local search is the next online gold rush. Over 70% of Internet searches have local keywords and Google algorithms are designed to boost local area businesses at the top of search result listings. This is roughly 3 billion Google Search Queries every month that contained local terms (according to Comscore reports).
When triggered by a search query, local search dominates the page, casting a shadow over organic website listings in the process.
Our video featured below explains the importance and power of local search marketing.
WHY IS LOCAL SEARCH MARKETING SO IMPORTANT?
70% of online shoppers are looking for a product, service, or vendor near their local proximity. And, a whopping 58% of that Internet traffic occurs on a mobile phone or a tablet.
- This means that 70% of your target audience are searching online to decide who they will buy from. Are you visible?
- They’re prepared to visit that nearby store or call within minutes of finding you online.
Retail stores, doctors, restaurants, hotels that fail to address local search marketing imperatives simply will not survive as eCommerce becomes the way the world shops and conducts business.
- Claimed
Creating An Intelligent Local Search Marketing Strategy
Considering that Google is by far the largest search engine, KJ Proweb™ starts local search optimization projects by creating a Google My Business Listing for our clients. From that benchmark we expands your footprint by including Citation pages and local search directories.
Here is a list of the different types of local search and the top local search sites:
- Search Engine Maps (Google, Bing and Yahoo)
- Review Sites (Yelp, Urban Spoon, Zagat)
- Yellow Page Directories (Insider Pages, Superpages)
- Local Directories (CitySearch, Localeze)
- Business Directories (InfoGroup/InfoUSA, Acxiom)
- Niche, Industry Specific Directories (Health Grades)
What does Local Search Marketing include?
Featured below are important local search marketing activities typically included in a local search marketing engagement:
Claim and Verify Local Listings
Managing Listings for Multiple Locations
Optimize Local Listings for Increased Local SEO Traffic
Eliminate Duplicate Listings
Increase and Manage Customer Reviews
Submit Your Business to Additional Local Directories
Setup Analytics Tracking to Properly Track Local Activity
Promote Your Local Listings Creating External Links to Social Media Pages
If you’re ready to get serious about helping your customers find you locally and maximize your sales, Request More Information.
Start with a Local Search Audit, if you are unsure about where you stand in local search and would like to get a better idea before you commit to local search marketing.
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If you’re ready to get serious about helping your customers find you locally and maximize your sales — Request More Information.
Start with a Local Search Audit, if you are unsure about where you stand in local search and would like to get a better idea before you commit to local search marketing.
A Google My Business profile is an essential for your business to be found in the maps and organic search results within your city and local geographic area. Setting up a complete and verified Google My Business profile is the key to dominating local search engine traffic for the products or services that you sell.
Local SEO Services
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has taken online marketing to new places, and local SEO is becoming even more vital for SMBs with a local service area and focus. At KJ Proweb, we pride ourselves on being competitive marketing specialists. Through persistent hard work and innovation, we secure lasting results for our clientele. We do not “fluff” up our content in attempts to trick people to purchase your products or search engines into ranking your website.
Our services include producing unique, authoritative content that is geared towards developing your business and your brand and utilizing local SEO strategies that work.
Our marketing professionals are committed to helping your business rank high in the search engines, especially on vital mobile searches, and to obtaining lasting results. Our marketing team will optimize your website’s architecture for offsite link building as well as onsite content creation.
This strategy will kick-start your business’s online visibility, but it will also help improve your website’s rankings in the search engines. This organic, local SEO strategy used by our KJ ProWeb marketing professionals will help you see better results on Bing, Yahoo!, and Google, driving local customers and traffic.
Success Stories
See how Otis James in Nashville is finding his people using Google My Business.
See How Jackalope Brewing Co in Nashville is finding its people using Google My Business.
See how Faidley Seafood in Baltimore is finding its people and sea food lovers are finding Faidley Seafood thanks to Google My Business
The Importance of Service Area and Relevance
Search engines are very good at showing your business in local searches based on the city where you’re physically located. The tricky part is appearing in SERPs for areas that you service beyond your own address, because the search engines require physical addresses, not post office boxes or other virtual addresses. If you have satellite offices in other cities, those physical addresses will help your business rank well in searches for your products and services in those areas in search results for other cities with organic SEO techniques beyond typical local SEO strategies.
What Is The “NAP” And Why Is It Important?
NAP is your company name, address, and phone number. This is one of the most important pieces of data that search engines use when ranking your business for search results, because it is the way the engines determine that your business really exists. The key is consistency. Everywhere your business information is listed (cited) online, from a Google business page or Facebook listing to directories such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Citysearch, your NAP must be the same. Search engines consider how many citations of your business exist, the quality of those listings, and the consistency of the NAP across all citations. If you move locations, tweak your business name, or change your phone number, there is a lot of work to be done to clean up your online citations.
What is the Maps pack and why should you care?
Local searches on Bing, Google, and Yahoo produce first-page results in the following order: Paid ads, organic appearance of optimized websites, and then Maps pack listings. Maps are generated separately from organic listings, using a different algorithm. Optimizing for the Maps pack requires NAP consistency and properly managed Google+, Bing Places for Business, and Yahoo Business pages. Without proper optimization, your business will not appear in the Maps listings. Since the Map pack takes up so much of the first page of search results, failure to show in the Maps will damage your company’s visibility.
Getting Reviews
Reviews are one of the most vital aspects of online marketing. Unfortunately, getting and managing reviews are completely out of your control. Plenty of data exists to suggest that reviews have positive or negative impacts on your business, including whether a searcher will even bother to click on your website link. Reviews also appear to have some influence on search engine rankings. It is critical that you are aware of your online reviews, and that you make it known to customers that you would appreciate their reviews. A sign reminding them to please review your business is about as far as you can go, however. Never solicit reviews or incentivize with a special deal or coupon in exchange for a review. This is equivalent to buying reviews and it will come back to bite you. The customer’s experience should be enough to generate a review.
Onsite Optimization Is Critical
For effective local SEO, your website must be optimized. This is critical if your business serves an area beyond the city or town where your company is physically located. To locally rank your business for additional areas that you serve, each area should have its own landing page. These pages must contain unique content that is tailored and optimized to be relevant to each area. This optimization is the key to moving your company onto the first page of the SERPs for searches in any community you serve.
