If you’re a small business that hasn’t optimized your online presence to improve your chances of ranking well, now is the time to start. Local SEO is undeniably the best way to find success online. Here are four reasons why you need to take advantage of Local SEO as soon as possible.

  • More than Half of Businesses Haven’t Claimed Their Google Business Profile
  • Local Searches Drive Offline Purchases
  • Local Searches Are More Common than You Think
  • Local SEO Takes Time

More than Half of Businesses Haven’t Claimed Their Google Business Profile

56% of businesses are missing out on huge local SEO opportunities because they haven’t claimed their profile. If you aren’t sure if you’ve claimed your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), you probably haven’t. This is the first step to gaining online visibility and fostering customer interactions.

 

Google doesn’t want to provide customers with false information, so the search engine often reserves its top local search spots for those who have verified their business by claiming their profile. And obviously, if you appear in the top local search results, customers have more opportunities to interact with your business.

Local Searches Drive Offline Purchases

You don’t optimize local SEO just for the sake of it—there are real, game-changing benefits to a comprehensive local SEO strategy. Customers are becoming more reliant on information they find online to drive purchasing decisions. 70% of people visit stores because of information, especially reviews, they find online.

 

Plus, 78% of local searches on mobile devices result in offline purchases. With more people using mobile as their primary device for searching the web, it’s important that your business is readily available to someone looking for a quick, local solution. But to be found by local searchers, your business must appear high in local search results, and you need a strong local SEO strategy to rank higher.

Local Searches Are More Common than You Think

Local searches became more common last year, and this upward trend could continue into the following years. Searches with the phrase “near me” increased by 136% in 2021, and over 50% of those “near me” searches resulted in an offline visit. Use local SEO tactics to rank for “near me” queries on Google Maps and Google Map Pack to drive offline traffic into your small business.

Local SEO Takes Time

You can’t just use local SEO when you need a quick fix or want to spike your traffic right away. The average timeframe to sustainably grow your business with local SEO is almost five months. It takes time to optimize and maintain local SEO—and potentially longer for your business to earn Google’s trust. Because it takes months to see a return on investment with this long-term marketing strategy, local SEO isn’t something you should put off until right before you need it.

Want to get a comprehensive local SEO campaign started? Local Search Fuel by Hurrdat is an affordable, reliable solution for businesses that want to use SEO to reach the next level. Contact Local Search Fuel to get started today!