5 SEO Benefits of Offsite Local Listings
Nearly all consumers turn to the internet to learn about a local business. With local SEO, companies can attract more eyeballs online and offline. But what is local SEO, exactly?
Local SEO is an element of search engine optimization that focuses on gaining more visibility among local search queries on Google and other search engines. If you’re part of a business with a physical location, you’ll want to have a solid local SEO strategy to complement your current search engine optimization plan.
When you focus on local listings for SEO, your business with a physical presence in the community can gain several benefits. Remember, local SEO is all about making sure people can find you online and offline!
Here, we’ll look at some of the top benefits of local listings for SEO. We hope this review will help jump-start your business’s local SEO strategy or take your current one to the next level!
1. Builds Visibility Online
Many online searchers and shoppers are actually looking for a local business to visit and purchase from offline. But they start their search online.
One advantage businesses with physical locations have over online-only companies is that they can easily rank in local search queries. And with the rise of “business, product or service near me” searches, local businesses can attract potential customers from their immediate community online with greater ease than ever.
Creating, maintaining and updating your local listings is a top way to capitalize on local search traffic. That’s because having informative and up-to-date local listings can help highlight your business in local searches as well as on services like Google Maps.
A Google Business Profile, also known as a Google My Business (GMB) listing, is Google’s online listings tool for local businesses. There are several reasons to optimize your GMB or Google Business Profile.
Updating your GMB helps provide valuable information about your business to prospective customers, including your store hours, location and news. But chief among the SEO benefits of updating offsite local listings is the boost in visibility your business can experience online.
2. Delivers More Targeted, Relevant Traffic
Building visibility online is great, but local businesses want to attract local consumers. By utilizing local SEO tactics, you can attract the right visitors to your website, leading them to call or visit your business’s physical location.
Tailoring your website’s content for a local audience helps establish authority, proximity and goodwill with consumers shopping within your community. So consider creating landing pages dedicated to specific cities or areas you serve.
And don’t forget to update your local listings like GMB to help attract local shoppers online.
3. Attracts Local Repeat Customers
Local SEO allows businesses to attract both residents and consumers visiting the area from far away. By maintaining a consistent and dedicated approach to local SEO — including regularly updating your local listings — you can potentially engage repeat customers.
Whether a previous customer seeks out your company for repeat business or simply searches online and finds your business a second time, building online visibility within the local community can lead to increased leads, sales and repeat visitors.
4. Reduces Advertising Costs
Pay-per-click or PPC ads can be costly, especially when you’re targeting the same local keywords as your competition. If you’re running paid ads online, trying to target local keywords, adopting a quality local SEO strategy may help save you money.
If you rank high in Google searches thanks to local SEO tactics, you’ll be saving money you otherwise would have had to spend on ads to boost your visibility online.
5. Helps Generate More Sales
We’ve covered several reasons to update local listings like your GMB and develop a local SEO strategy. Still, we can’t forget about a primary goal of any business: to generate more sales!
When you build visibility online, gain more relevant traffic, attract local repeat customers and reduce advertising costs through local or offsite SEO, you’ll be well on your way to boosting leads and sales.
For more SEO tips and tricks from the fusionZONE team, follow our blog or contact us.
Curious about your current local SEO presence? Use our directory scanning tool to identify any gaps in local listings!
We’d love to help your business develop a winning local SEO strategy that will see it increase visibility online and offline! So don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for more details on our digital marketing services.
