Why Small Businesses Should Go For Local SEO – 5 Reasons
Local SEO has long been acknowledged as the next big thing however, it has taken a long time to come to fruition. However, now things look radically different and small business will be able to make the most of Local SEO to garner more business and also boost ROI.
According to a recent earnings conference call it was announced that more than 11 million businesses have Facebook pages and almost 1 million places are claimed every month. Thus there are 9 million now and more than 150 million active users as of end of June 2012.
Many small businesses are trying to sell directly within Facebook while others are resisting the temptation and doing it on Local Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Whatever the choice here are five compelling reasons why Local SEO should be embraced by small enterprises.
- Google is allocating more space to local results than before and hence sticking to traditional SEO and PPC means losing out on all that space. If you have a small business it makes sense that you get more eyeballs from your local community than from the global audience.
- Users find local listings on Google+ and Facebook more reliable than organic search results. Map, address verification, reviews, images and videos all add to the authenticity of such search results. And as you all know in online business trust wins the battle.
- With the increasing proliferation of smartphones it has now become the new Yellowpages of people on the go. They account for more traffic on the internet. Smartphones are a boon for local businesses as people would like to know what is available nearer to them.
- It has been conclusively proven that local searches have a far better conversion rates than global. The very fact that a business is physically close to the searcher results in higher conversion.
- This is a relatively easy way to get business. Build up your presence on Google+, Bing, Yahoo, and Facebook to engage audience that is discussing about business you are in. This targeted audience should be provided with reviews and comments which are easily verifiable. As is the norm everywhere people love to support local businesses whenever possible.
Global SEO is complicated when compared to Local SEO and has many entry barriers in terms of budget, change of policy, and other technical issues. Local SEO has no such barrier and is easy and affordable to a small business.
