Semalt Expert On The Importance Of Local SEO

Any business can use local SEO to its benefit. Local SEO has continued to grow ever since the launch of the fan-based "Pigeon" update by Google in 2014. The result was that entrepreneurs started looking to local SEO as a strategy for their business despite never having considered it as a local tangent to their inbound marketing campaign. Those who had used the strategy before saw the update as an opportunity to increase their efforts further.

The decision to pursue local SEO is understandable as it continues to grow in importance.

However, it does not end here as local SEO should continue to become more impactful and Michael Brown, one of the leading experts from Semalt, explains here why:

Google loves local businesses

There is a slight favoritism to smaller and agile companies by Google search engines. The company has had some ranking biases in the past, arising from the history of the brand, or its authority. However, Google is also interested in giving the people what they want, which is why they showcase some of the smaller and more popular brands.

Another reason why they would do this is to enable small business owners with limited resources, break more ground. There are some free tools offered by Google such as Webmaster, and Analytics, with the intention of helping them increase their online visibility.

More individualized results

Google likes to enhance its customer experiences by personalizing its services. There may be a current limitation on the predictive and customized search filters, but its search engines have the capability of generating search results which are unique to the person typing the query. The search history and geographical location play a significant role when returning results in Google. People continue to become more sophisticated, that is why Google intends to deliver more individualized results, indicating that local SEO will only continue to grow.

The rise of mobile and wearable devices

People use mobile devices to search the internet and while on the go more often. The number continues to grow annually, and with digital companies developing more wearable gadgets, the number of searches is set to increase exponentially. The result will be that searches based on proximity will become more relevant with the local searches utilizing hyper-specific locations. These wearable devices will bring back results that are more accurate to the user's location.

Increasing competition

There are millions of new sites created each year. The impact it has on existing businesses is that it increases competition. Therefore, some of the websites that experienced high ranking on search results may drop significantly. Companies wishing to salvage their activities may want to target smaller market niches to achieve the relevant visibility they want. Local SEO marketing is the way to go when competition begins to hamper success in the firm's activities

Getting started with a local SEO campaign

• Local citation correction. Make sure that it contains all the essential information to prevent conflict from two sources.
• Local content and relationship building. Optimize all links and post content that is relevant to the target population.
• Local reviews and management. Convince clients to post positive reviews on the site.

Once this is complete, one should make arrangements to have a consistent and ongoing strategy, together with a monitoring system to see if the efforts pay off.