Are you a local business looking to take your business to the next level and grow online? Local seo Sydney is the key! But, why?
Gone are the days when only a few local businesses were in the community. Today, you can find many local businesses in the same niche. The competition is fierce, and businesses find it difficult to attract new customers and retain the old ones. This is because the consumers are greatly dependent on digital devices to access any information, be it finding a local painting company to seo specialist Sydney and everything in-between.
In addition, the recent shift to remote and hybrid working options has greatly increased the dependency, and digital devices are now an integral part of people’s lives in both work and personal. This is when local SEO comes into the picture. In fact, to stay ahead of your competitor in local search, you need to keep up with the ever-changing trends, understand, and learn how to integrate into your business.
How Important Is Local SEO For Small Businesses?
Nearly half of Google searches have local intent. This highlights the value of appearing at the top of search engine result pages like Google for businesses that are targeting local audiences.
About 97% of users searched online to find a local business. It’s no wonder people are relying on the internet to find products, services, and businesses. But, did you know the majority of the users search to find businesses nearby their home or community. Yes! So it makes sense to start focusing on local SEO.
In the digital world where large businesses have dominated everything, Google allowed small businesses to target the local audience and grab their attention towards their business when they introduced pigeon update a few years back. Ever since the pigeon update, local seo Sydney has become an integral part of the marketing strategies of local businesses.
Local SEO is boon for small businesses. A local business can attract a local audience and promote their service or products online when done right. Local SEO can generate high leads, local organic traffic, and conversions. If you’re new to local SEO, it’s a good idea to get the assistance of seo Sydney experts.
Search engines constantly evolve and bring new changes to their search engine algorithm to satisfy consumer needs, making it difficult for business owners to overcome and optimise their website for local SEO trends.
Although it’s hard to predict how local SEO will unfold in future, there are certain trends that are to emerge and influence the local search which SEO experts anticipate.
So what are they? Read on to find out…
Local SEO trends that will greatly influence the local search results
Mobile-Friendliness
Is your site mobile-friendly? No? You better focus on creating a website that can be accessed and navigated from any website. According to leading research, “about 4.28 billion people use mobile phones to browse the internet, and 80% of smartphone users will buy from businesses with mobile sites and apps that are easy to navigate.” These statistics show us the importance of creating mobile –friendly websites and how they’ll change the local search in the coming months.
With this in mind, if your website isn’t optimised for mobile devices yet, then you’re missing out on valuable potential clients. If your users can’t access your website from their smartphone, they’ll never leave the site immediately and never return.
Google My Business
GMB has become the pinnacle of local search. Google My Business is a powerful tool that can be used by local businesses to meet Google’s requirements. Despite the data available online about a business, certain information can be provided only by you. One of them is information about your business. It’s up to you to provide your customers with the information they need to find you online. Your business address, location, products, service, timings, contact number, and operating hours are some of the crucial information your target audience looking for from you.
However, but how customers will find this information online? Well, through Google My Business. You can make these details readily available through your Google My Business listing.
According to research, about 84% of searches for a local business are focused on discovery through GMB, while only 16% are direct searches. Moreover, 86% of people look at the location of a local business Google maps through GMB listing. Hence, these stats show the importance of claiming your business in a GMB listing. Optimising for GMB brings target visibility to your business. The best part is that GMB listing does well to local businesses and is also completely free.
Voice Search Optimisation
Ever since smart assistants like Sri, Alexa, etc. was launched, it has changed consumers’ shopping and searching behaviours. Voice search is the future of SEO. It is expected to become a game-changer for businesses looking to increase local traffic in the following years.
With voice searches providing exactly what customers want, it’s becoming a practice to find a local business through voice search. Create contents that have valuable information that your consumers are looking for in your niche with questions like who, how, what, when, where, etc. You should also target long tail keywords like seo experts near me rather than targeting for best seo company in Sydney.
Online Brand Mentions
Online brand mentions are becoming critical for local search and rankings. In fact, Google uses online brand mentions in their algorithm to improve organic rankings. Google also considers the context in which these mentions happen by analysing certain factors like advertising, trust among customers, and how a company resolves complaints online. Google is trying to assess a business’ reputation among the public and display the sites on their top search engine result pages for enhanced user experience.
Video Content is on Rise
Video content accounts for about 80% of all web traffic. Users feel that video contents are convenient and entertaining to watch. So, make an effort to include more video contents on your website. Utilise your old content and make them into new, interactive video content that have valuable information your consumers are looking for. Learning about the local SEO trends and data will help develop effective SEO strategies that can bring more traffic and leads to your website. For further queries on local SEO, please contact our team.
'