Local marketing is an extremely powerful way for small businesses to connect with new customers in their area. It levels the playing field and makes it possible for smaller businesses to compete with bigger brands.
The landscape of local search is forever changing, but its power remains constant. Recent studies show that local search is one of the most effective digital marketing channels for small businesses, but it takes hard work to stay on top. Columnist Jason Decker’s recent post on Search Engine Land delves into the latest trends in the competitive world of local search marketing, and takes a look at crucial changes that happened in 2015.
1. The Google Snack Pack
The biggest change that occurred with local search in 2015 has to be Google transforming the face of local search in their search results. The number dropped from seven to three on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) and suddenly local search results were appearing lower on the page. Ads continued to take over premium page space, a sure sign that pay to play is the new normal. What this means to small businesses is a necessary shift in how they market themselves online.
One trend continuing to move forward is Google’s rewarding of quality on all fronts. Citations, links and reviews are all a part of Google’s maturing algorithm. Companies have begun to claim their "My Business" pages and are learning to implement keywords and location relevant title tags, as well as site architecture.
2. "Near Me" Services
Google has done a number of studies about "near me" searches, with results showing 80% of said searches were done on mobile devices. To that end, proximity searches – searches where a user’s location is determined by their phone and IP address – are an ever-growing crucial local ranking factor.
While it isn’t possible for a business to optimize for each and every searcher’s location, local marketers will need to make sure a brand’s local presence is powerful in terms of essential ranking factors such as its name, address and phone number (NAP). To accomplish this, use the following tips:
- Your NAP should be accurate and prominently listed on your website
- Add relevant structured data markup, which will improve local and "near me" results
- Make sure your city and state appear in your title tags
- Strong local links should be used
3. Mobile-Friendly Sites
In the early part of 2015, Google essentially put businesses on notice that a mobile-friendly website was required if they didn’t want to see a drop in their search results. Tagged "Mobilegeddon" by some experts, it made clear that if local businesses want to capitalize on the nearly 80% of mobile local searches resulting in offline purchases, they’ll have to revamp their mobile marketing strategy.
As the past year has shown, the only thing about local search results that's constant is change. It’s a living, breathing, ever-evolving system, which can only mean further transformation in 2016. Stay tuned!
