Last week our blog explored SEO (search engine optimization) and how this helps with customer acquisition. This week we are examining the importance of local SEO and how it can improve the visibility of smaller businesses, brick and mortar businesses or start-ups.
Local SEO is simply improving the visibility of your business on local google search. Although it seems like a modern practice, it has been around for a long period of time, however until the introduction of mobile devices it was not utilized to its capacity as potential customers were stationary on desktops. Now these potential customers are constantly on the move with their internet connection and businesses have an increased chance of access to them (Gillford, 2019). Local SEO can also benefit larger or ecommerce businesses by improving their position in a community.
If you do not introduce local SEO to your business, you could be missing out on many potential customers. In the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, any possible improvements to the digital marketing strategy of your business should be applied to help you stay relevant and ensure you can continue to trade.
The most important step in harnessing local SEO is Google My Business.
Google My Business is a free tool provided by Google which lets any business set up a profile and manage how they appear on google maps and google search (Frost, 2018). You need to verify your business using this tool, then you can add all the essential information such as location, opening hours and contact information. With Google My Business you can contact customers directly through their reviews and add images of the business as well as what you provide. Once you are signed up with this tool you can appear as part of the ‘localised pack’. This is when a potential customer searches for a service or product on their mobile device, they get localised listings. The better reviews and ratings you receive on Google, the higher rank (Patel, 2017)
Other important processes for local SEO include
Ensuring you have the contact information and a map available on your website and is consistent everywhere online, i.e. Google My Business and your social media accounts.
Inbound marketing such as writing blogs on the topic of what your business is involved in, this will help attract prospective clients to your website when they search keywords relevant to your business, thus, keyword research is important here.
Working with other organisations in the area, providing partnerships and this will develop essential backlinks to your website.
Revolut is an online only business or NEO bank, therefore it is difficult to see how local SEO is relevant. However like all businesses, they need to start somewhere, when first beginning in the United Kingdom, Revolut would also have used local SEO strategies to help grow its visibility on google. It is evident with Revolut’s blog that they are still using this strategy to bring customers to their website.
We have previously spoken about Revolut’s constant aim of customer experience, this would of course improve their reviews online and help them acquire more customers.
It can be assumed that Revolut works with businesses that have Google My Business accounts to help push rewards and discounts to customers in the same area with these businesses. This collaboration also improves the backlinks for these businesses and helps them to improve their rank on google.
References
Frost, A. (2018). ‘The ultimate guide to Google My Business’, Hubspot, 26 April. Available at https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-my-business [Accessed 06 March 2021].
Gillford, G. (2019). ‘What is local SEO, and how does it work?’, MailChimp, 22 November. Available at https://mailchimp.com/resources/what-is-local-seo/ [Accessed 09 March 2021].
Patel, N. (2017). 4 local SEO marketing strategies to build your brick and mortar business. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHG4wDlvAMY [Accessed 07 March 2021].
Excellent blog Siobhan, certainly one to be shared. With the rise of voice search, we can see the impact of location based search also. this area of marketing is growing in popularity, and if a business' location is not already evident online, they cannot maintain a competitive footing.
ReplyDeleteGoogle My Business is essential, and should be maintained. I've seen far too many organisations fail to update their opening hours over the last 12 months during lockdown. It is important for customers (and Google!) to know if you are open, whether that be in an on/offline capacity.
The importance of Local SEO during the coronavirus pandemic cannot be underestimated by any business onwer. Local SEO is a vital tool for SME's to connect with their local customers and build brand loyalty.
ReplyDeleteA Google My Business page is now a vital tool for any business to survive in the era of enforced lockdowns. GMB helps build a reputation for trust and high quality with the local residents.