Growing your business was hard, but you did it. You took extra care to pay attention to every detail of the quality of your product/service. You interacted with your customers, asked them about their experience shopping from you and the benefits they have received. With huge amounts of money spent on marketing, building awareness for your brand, you have ensured that you are the first brand consumers think of when they are looking for the products/services you offer.
Even after all this, you are not able to find your website on the first page of your search engine results.
Why?
The answer is simple—local SEO.
Your competitors might rank higher even if their services are not at par with yours simply because they have configured their website to local SEO standards.
In the current times, there is a palpable shift going on in online search and consumer behaviour. According to an article by Forbes, consumers are shifting their shopping preferences with a focus on engaging experiences in local brick and mortar businesses. This has changed their online search strategies.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is an incredibly effective way to market your business online to reach an audience near you. It is effective because it helps businesses promote their products and services to potential customers near them at the exact time they are looking for them.
If you think perfectly setting up SEO on your company’s website won’t require you to localise your brand, you need to rethink this. Local SEO practices and methods differ greatly from standard SEO services. So, you need to make sure your business is set up and optimised for local SEO as well
Why Is Local SEO Important?
Ranks You Higher On Search Engine Results Pages(SERPs)
Over the last few years, search engines have been known to show slight favouritism towards newer, smaller, more agile companies. While most of its rankings biases have to do with a brand’s history and authority, search engines also want to give the people what they want, and that often means showcasing nimbler, more popular brands.
Search engines also tend to show results that are relevant only to their search terms and geographic vicinity. So if your brand name, address, contact numbers, etc. are inconsistent, SERPs will overlook your brand and move on to ones that are consistent with their information. If you are new at this, look for SEO services in Gurgaon to help you out.
Individualised Results For Consumers
Search engines love giving people customised results. While its predictive and customised search features are relatively limited for the time being, the search engines are already being able to generate specific results based on the person who is searching. For instance, as long as you are logged into a Google account, your search history and geographic location both will play a role in showing you the type of results you want to see. As search engines grow more sophisticated and consumers start asking for even more individualised results, the importance of local optimisation for brands will only grow.
First Impressions On Your Customers
While it is clear that you care about your customers and want their experience with you to be memorable, these days, such experiences don’t start when they step foot in your store. It starts with their first search. And more often than not, it is online.
By making it easy and convenient for your customers to find you by using local SEO on your website, you can make an everlasting mark on their experience and make it memorable. People enjoy being taken care of, so don’t make them look any harder for your business information than they have to.
For example, in your store, you are not going to let your clients just lurk until they find something to buy, are you? You will guide them through the process of finding the perfect product/service that suits their needs. The same goes for when they want to find your store online in the first place.
Your measures to implement a local SEO strategy should be consistent and committed. With the effect of your efforts compounding, results will start to show within a few weeks to months. With further changes in favour of locally optimised businesses, you’ll only stand to benefit more.
