Local SEO cannot be ignored in today’s augmented marketing reality. 72% of consumers who research a product online will visit a local retailer within a 5-mile radius after the initial discovery period.
86% of those consumers will look up a business’ location on Google Maps. 78% of local searches result in an online purchase, as well.
Local SEO is essential for business owners, whether they’re looking to build a regional reputation or extend their online reach. Local SEO experts can help you reach those goals, whatever they are.
Here are some signs you should be thinking about hiring local SEO experts.
Signs You Need A Local SEO Expert
Every business’s marketing needs are going to be different. After all, it’s a marketing team’s job to help each individual product or service to stand out from the competition. That being said, there are some universal signs that you might need a local SEO expert if you’re looking to rise up in the SERPs.
Sign #1: “What’s A Local SEO Expert?”
At the risk of sounding counter-intuitive, if you have to ask what a local SEO expert is, you should probably consult with one. Local SEO experts keep track of Google’s quickly-evolving algorithms to make sure that your web presence shows up in the search engine.
Local SEO experts perform an extensive SEO analysis of your website and digital assets to find out how your material is performing. They can give you insight into profitable keywords and phrases to develop content around. They’ll also update your existing web content to help you get rank in the SERPs.
Sign #2: You Haven’t Updated Your Google+ Business Page
If your business’s location is not established, Google will assume your business is international. This means you’re competing against the entire globe instead of a 3-mile radius.
This can cause a major digital decline in sales and exposure. Consider a niche with a lot of competition, like ‘beauty supplies.’ You’re going to have a hard time reaching even the third page of SERPs with so much competition.
If you offer a local service, like a hairdresser or mechanic, it’s going to make you miss out on even more business.
Google now requires businesses to verify their physical address, to qualify for local SEO. Local SEO experts will know all of the latest updates and will be able to make the necessary adjustments quickly and painlessly.
Sign #3: You Focus On Content
Content is still king, in 2018. We’ve all shifted our thinking to creating world-class content that establishes us and experts in our industries. That’s always a useful way to spend your time, money, and resources. There’s a little more to it than that, however.
Local SEO experts will know specific keywords that will help you rank for local searches. It’s both an art and a science. Local SEO experts are artists at the science of getting your content found.
Sign #4: You’re Still Building Links Manually
Many of us remember the early days of the SEO gold rush when digital marketers raced to take advantage of every scammy, spammy way to draw eyes and ears to their websites. That approach blew up in their faces.
Unethical link-building can do great harm to your SEO ranking. It also does nothing at all for your page ranking.
Most public link depositories are considered “NoFollow,” at this point. This means Google doesn’t factor them into your ranking.
Sign #5: You Need More Social Reviews
It’s hard enough to get customers to sign up for email lists and loyalty programs. Now, you’ve got to convince them to leave you reviews on Google+ and Yelp, as well.
Social reviews play an important part in local SEO ranking. When you aren’t proactive in asking your loyal, satisfied customers for reviews, you run the risk of only hearing the negative reviews.
Local SEO experts have all manner of tips, tools, and techniques to get your customers to leave you positive reviews. Remember, it’s unethical to ask for positive reviews, which can even result in getting some of your social accounts banned. It’s okay to entice happy customers to share their feelings, however.
Sign #6: You’re Ready To Optimize For Voice Search
Using keywords organically is an artform of its own. Now consider working phrases like “butcher shop near me” into an informative, entertaining article or blog post.
Local SEO experts know how to do that very thing. Voice search is becoming increasingly prevalent as more and more users are switching to browsing on mobile devices. Working with local SEO experts lets you get ahead of that curve, and your competition.
Sign #7: Your Traffic Isn’t Converting
Getting your audience through the door to see your content is only the beginning of the battle. Now you’ll need to figure out how to convert those visitors into actual sales and leads.
SEO experts have all manner of tricks to help you accomplish that goal. They could help you redesign your sales funnel, for instance. Then you could work with your social media marketing department to turn those leads into promotional campaigns.
Sign #8: You’ve Already Got Too Much To Do
Most business owners and marketing departments already feel overwhelmed with their daily to-do lists. You were already feeling overwhelmed just trying to come up with content for your blogs and websites. Now you’ve got to update the content you’ve already written?
Digital marketing is a double-edged sword. It lets smaller independent businesses compete against major league Fortune 500 companies. It also greatly increases our daily workload, which can leave you feeling more overwhelmed then you were in the beginning.
Working with highly trained experts helps to diminish that workload, so you can focus on building and growing your business!
Ready To Find Out How A SEO Expert Can Help Your Business?
The Internet is changing at the speed of thought as we develop tools to navigate this shifting landscape. Google’s updating their algorithms like never before, which can have major implications for your digital presence. Check out our listing of SEO services, and let us help you get found in the search engines today!