With the growing dependence on online shopping for services and products, most business owners are aware of the significant role SEO plays in growing their businesses. However, if you are someone who has recently stepped into the world of small business, getting familiar with local SEO will not only enhance your business’ online presence but also contribute towards its growth. The advantages of opting for local SEO Perth can be mostly enjoyed by a small business, which you will learn about as you keep reading.
Local SEO for Business
To begin, it is known that small businesses have a tough time competing with the bigger brands in the online world. It is tougher for smaller brands to build their online presence, or even get conversions through online traffic. The reason behind this is that larger brands have the required resources for dominating paid advertising and search rankings (online).
In order for small businesses to level the playing field, they require an efficient tool that can help them, if not compete with international brands, but at least improve their online presence and grow their business in and around their area. That is where local SEO steps in to cater to these exact needs of small businesses. Let’s find out more, starting with knowing what local SEO is.
Explaining Local SEO
Local SEO or local search engine optimization functions to optimize the online presence of a company so that it becomes visible when local search results are generated in the form of listings. Local SEO Perth or any other area helps your local or small business reach out to customers in your local area. Through optimization of online profiles and websites for specifically local search, this tool helps in increasing your company’s visibility and engaging more potential customers looking for services or products that your business offers.
So, How Does This Work, You Ask.
Local SEO functions to push your business website along with other pertinent content to visitors who are in search of products/services within a specified geographic location. Let us take an example of someone searching for a café locally by typing, “cafes near me” or someone looking for SEO services will search “Local SEO Perth”. The results provided by the search engine will include a list of different cafes that match that visitor’s specific location. Now, the businesses that make it to this list’s top part are generally the ones using local SEO practices.
So, if you are able to optimize your business’ online presence and website for such local search, you will be able to improve rankings and visibility in such results, thereby driving more leads and traffic towards your small business. In fact, the type of traffic that local SEO practices lead is more qualified from online visitors who are specifically searching for a business similar to yours within their area.
Why Opt For Local SEO?
There are a number of reasons why small businesses need to incorporate local search engine optimization practices as part of their digital marketing’ strategies, among which the important ones are listed below:
To Build Credibility And Trust
Your target audience will have faith in your business if it appears in search results that are local market-based. This way you will gain the credibility of more potential customers. Local SEO incorporates local backlinks addition, i.e. links from different local websites and businesses pointing towards your business website, which will cultivate credibility and trust for your business.
To Increase Brand Awareness Locally
Engaging with target audience via social media and optimizing online presence for specific local search will help you expand the business’ visibility and usher in more customers. Again, creating content that is locally relevant via social media or blog posts show how your business is tied to the local community, which further contributes towards building your brand awareness as well as gaining customer loyalty.
To Increase Local Traffic
SEO practice is mainly implemented so that more traffic can be driven towards your business website or online presence. Local SEO and other areas target specific traffic relevant to your area, which increases the chances of visitors responding to the content you post. Such localized traffic contains potential customers that tend to connect with the ads and content you post online.
Apart from these, local SEO practices also contribute towards increase in conversion rates and achieving rankings that are long-lasting. All of these points can effectively help in growing your business in the online world.
How Local SEO Can Benefit Your Business
These are some solid advantages that will help your business if you opt for local SEO practices:
Attracting Mobile Users
Today, almost all of us depend on mobile phones for online shopping. It has been found that almost 60 percent of total online traffic comes from mobile platforms (Credit: Statista). Again, Google has laid out statistics that show that half of those that conduct local searches using their mobile phones tend to visit at least one store that very day. Irrespective of it being night or day, users search for local restaurants, nearby events, or grocery and medical stores whenever in need. Using local SEO can help you target as well as convert traffic from mobile users to your business.
Lowering The Competition
If you search for generic terms like “dry cleaners” you will be provided with several thousands of irrelevant results that are of no use to you. However, if you specifically type “dry cleaners in Perth”, you will receive more pertinent results. This same logic applies to other services like stores, restaurants, etc. Using broad terms will yield results on an international level, but narrowing the terms to local search will cut down the competition by providing a few names available in the specified area.
Developing Local Visibility
The use of local SEO results in increased local presence, which gives your business more opportunities locally. Being part of locally organized trade shows or hosting events on networking improves your brand’s presence locally, and gives rise to opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. Moreover, customers get the benefits of obtaining personalized services and contribution to the local economy.
Finally
Opting for local SEO Perth or other areas will effectively make your business gain online presence, and will contribute to generating more loyal customers. It is one of the most efficient tools that more and more business owners are opting for today. Having read the benefits mentioned above, you should by now have a clear idea about why you need local SEO for your business as soon as possible.