The Marketer’s Power Quarter: A Local SEO Strategy

SEO/SEM

This is the sixth in a 12-part series of quick-fix tips to improve your digital marketing results. Catch up on our last tip, and subscribe to our newsletter to get the rest.

Search engines are only getting smarter. They’re prioritizing content that sounds human, and concurrently a majority of searches are being conducted on mobile devices. That means optimizing your content for voice and mobile search is more important than ever before. One of the best places to start is creating a robust, user-friendly Google My Business page that appeals to users’ search habits.

How can small businesses do this? Watch our quick tip to find out.

Revisit SEO strategies frequently to address trends

Think back to the last time you were searching for a product or service. Did you allow Google to use your current location? Did you ask it to find something “near me,” or did you type or speak the location you were looking for?

Google reports that mobile searches containing “near me” paired with strong indicators of buyer intent (like “can I buy” or “to buy”) have risen more than 500% over the last two years. Paired with the fact that 88 percent of “near me” searches are done on mobile and without a location manually added to the query, and you have a local search trend on a striking rise.

“Google reports that mobile searches containing
“near me” paired with strong indicators of buyer intent
have risen more than 500% over the last two years.”
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 Click to Tweet

Most people think the “near me” feature is primarily a location-specific search query. However, marketers can find value in targeting local, mobile users by answering the questions they’re asking as quickly as possible to secure their consideration and provide a good user experience.

How to optimize Google My Business for “near me” searches

By optimizing your Google My Business listing you can ensure your content appeals to this burgeoning search trend. Follow these three steps to kick off your local SEO strategy:

  1. Ensure your profile is up to date with all necessary business information, especially your address, phone number, and hours of operation.  
  2. Encourage authentic reviews on Google. But remember, don’t incentivize!  
  3. Add engaging media to your profile, including photos and a 30-second video, to make sure you stand out.

In phase two of your local SEO strategy, consider more technical elements of your site, such as local business schema markup and page speed. Off-page elements are important as well, including local listing sites and online reviews.

Next week in part seven of The Marketer’s Power Quarter blog, get some tips for improving the opening lines of your sales emails.

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2018-10-04T21:03:41+00:00

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