Local Search Engine Optimization
What is Local Search?
Local Search happens when the search engines detect that location is important to the search result. "Plumber near me" or "restaurant for dinner" are examples of local searches, and Google is going to deliver a number of different elements including local maps and highlighted businesses.
Why is Local Search Important?
According to Search Engine Journal, here are some statistics that reflect the importance of local search for business:
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According to Google, 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase.
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30% of all searches it processes are related to location, also according to Google.
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61% of consumers said in a recent local search survey that they search locally every day.
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A recent local SEO survey found that 82% of consumers read online reviews for businesses during a local search and spend close to 14 minutes doing so before making a decision.
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86% of people rely on Google Maps to find the location of a business.
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Yelp appears in the top five search results for SMB searches 92% of the time.
Google Business Profile
This is the information that Google has about your business that you have lots of control over. You need to claim your profile, then interactive with it often. The degree to which you interact with this has a dramatic impact on how your business show up in local search results.
