The rise of local SEO
Following a recent survey, it has been found that around 20% of Google searches are performed looking for local services. This figure is doubled when mobile searches are taken into consideration too. Bearing this in mind, why does this seem to be the case?
Starting with the more obvious, mobile search is pretty easily explained. When you’re searching on your mobile, more often than not it will always be for a local service because you’re trying to find a number. This could be for a taxi firm, plumbing firm electricians, builders and etc. When you’re looking for a number, you want one for a local business, rather than a company far away.
Google places and social media signals are changing search rapidly and are becoming more relevant all the time. This is because Google are trying to make search more user involved. Google places are user created pages displaying key information about a company and social media is user shared and created content. It’s the perfect measure for relevancy within the results.
Without a Google places page, you stand little chance of ranking for local terms. The same goes if you’re not keeping relevancy throughout adverts and citations. For example, if your business address is listed as “123 Example Street” then throughout adverts you should always reference that and not “123 Example St”.
