Imagine you just relocated to another city and you barely know anyone there. You realize that you either lost or forgot your glasses and you can’t work without them. Would you go back to your former city to find your optician friend? No, you would look for a local optician, and how would you find them? You will most likely search online, and immediately you get the number and call them. That’s what people do, and if you are a business owner, you will want to get them to your store, something like that can be done with the aid of local Search Engine Optimization. Let’s discover 21 surprising facts you didn’t know about local SEO.
- Search Engine Statistics
87% of the people living in an area use the search engine with their smartphones at least once a day.
- People using Google Maps
About 86% of people depend on Google Maps to search for the location of a business or institution.
- Online Reviews
Most people check online reviews before proceeding, and 84% of them trust online reviews like a personal recommendation.
- Finding Businesses
According to Hubspot, 72% of consumers searching local businesses end up going to stores less than five miles away.
- Buying Decisions
Nine in every ten customers say that online reviews influence their buying decisions according to Marketing Land.
- Google Searches
Almost half of all searches on Google are for local businesses.
- Local Products and Services Search
Over 60% of adults use their tablets and smartphones to look for services as well as local products.
- Visiting a Business
88% of the consumers who search for local businesses via smartphones either call or visit the business in less than 24 hours.
- Search Traffic
By June 2018, Google was leading in search traffic with 72.47% followed by Baidu at 13.47%, Bing with 7.64%, and Yahoo closed with 4.74%.
- Positive Reviews Boost Conversation
According to Bazaarvoice, conversations rise by 133% when mobile shoppers find positive reviews online before buying.
- Information Sourcing
15% of in-store actions are as a result of people looking for information on the price of a product.
- Finding a Local Company
According to BrightLocal, in 2017, people found more information about local companies on local business listings online.
- Business on the First Page
92% of people who search about businesses pick the ones on the first page results of the local search.
- Purchasing after Search
78% of all local searches from smartphone and tablet searches likely result to an online purchase of products from the local businesses.
- Customer Feedback
According to MOZ, in 2017, 13% of the traffic value was from online reviews, making customer feedback the fifth most important factor in ranking.
- Trusting a Business
According to a survey, 74% of consumers develop a greater trust in a company or business after reading overwhelming positive and minimal negative reviews online.
- Mobile Searches
Before someone goes to a store, there is a single search for every three phones. That means that one in every three people looks for information about stores.
- Directions
68% of people looking for businesses online depend on directions or phone contacts provided by the business via its website.
- Some Local Businesses Haven’t Been Google Listed
56% of local stores have not yet undertaken a step to claim their Google local listing. It’s actually free to list your business in Google My Business or Bing Places for Business.
- Holiday Shopping
During the holidays, 76% of customers shop in physical stores, according to GEO Marketing report, while 24% shop online.
- Losing Customers
Companies or businesses have a 22% risk of losing potential customers when they find a negative article on the first search results.
Conclusion
Millions of people use local searches every day to find products and services near them. So, grab this opportunity of optimizing your business for Google local search.
