It’s easy to think of local SEO as just one of many search engine optimization strategies, and it’s even easy to think of it as something that your business doesn’t necessarily need. Many small business owners consider local SEO to be an unnecessary part of SEO services, since a good search marketing company will be able to provide PPC campaign management for immediate conversions while also building up an SEO campaign for long-term conversions.

Many business owners are surprised when they hear that local SEO is actually more important than ever; after all, considering how much consumers prefer to shop online, why even bother trying to get them inside your brick-and-mortar store?

It’s definitely time to start thinking about local SEO differently! If you’re still unsure about why this is such an essential part of SEO marketing (including your own SEO campaign!), here are just a few reasons why local SEO still matters:

 

    1. 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page of search results. It could take a few months for your SEO campaign to start “working,” meaning that SEO is more of a marathon while PPC is more of a 100-meter dash. The stakes are high to get on that first page of search results and even when you get there, it’s possible to be jostled around a bit by your competitors. The major advantage of local SEO here is that your business can get on that first page and be right at the top.

 

    1. 58% of consumers research a product online before making a purchase. The important detail here is that consumers tend to do product research online first, regardless of whether they plan to make a purchase in-store or online. Wouldn’t it be convenient if, while consumers were doing research online, they happened to stumble upon your business’s name, address, and hours of operation without even conducting another search? You’d be surprised by how much influence online marketing can have on sales in-store.

 

    1. Right now, local mobile ad spending is around $800 million per year. By 2016, this is expected to reach $16 billion. Why? Because there are around 645 million page views of local business pages in the U.S. each week. Paid advertising can get expensive! And let’s be honest here, it’s only going to get more competitive in the next few years as more mobile device users conduct local searches. With local SEO, your page ranking is organic and you don’t have to pay for it. Sure, it takes some upkeep to stay in a top spot, but it’s important to think of your journey there as an investment.

 

So why exactly does local SEO matter so much? Because your business deserves to be at the very top of that Google search results page.