Every small business needs to have a local SEO strategy. That strategy will help ensure that you appear in local search results, bringing traffic to your business.
We’ve gathered the most important local SEO trends you should be aware of, so you can incorporate them into your strategy.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is search engine optimization that helps your business appear in local search results. Local search results are when someone searches for something with phrases such as “near me” or “in [City].” These local results appear at the top of the search results page with a map.
It’s important to appear in these results, as many people who conduct local searches are ready to convert. In other words, your efforts in local SEO are highly likely to pay off, as you will attract people ready to buy your product or service.
With that in mind, what are some of the most important local SEO trends? The following combines trends and best practices to give you the most important advice to improve your rankings.
13 Local SEO Trends to Try
You will notice that some of these trends have been around for years, while others are new. No matter how recent they are, they are all important to include in your local SEO strategy.
1. Google Business Profile Optimization
If you aren’t already making the most of your Google Business Profile, that should be one of the first things on your local SEO list. Claim your business profile and make sure that all of the information in it is accurate.
Yes, Google Business Profiles have been important for a while. But they are increasingly important as more people use them to find a company’s contact information or check reviews.
Start with the basics, and then make the most of the other features on your Google Business Profile. Encourage reviews, use the questions and answers, work keywords into your descriptions, and add photos.
2. Encouraging Reviews
Reviews are one part of your Google Business Profile, but they are also an important SEO trend. Google tends to rank companies higher if they have more reviews and a better star rating. So, do what you can to encourage customers to leave reviews. You should consider using a service like Podium that handles this encouragement for you while making it easy for customers to leave reviews.
3. Listing in Other Directories
While your Google Business Profile is the most important directory, it is far from the only one. Including your information in many relevant directories will make your company easier to find and boost your ranking. Just confirm that the contact information is accurate and consistent across directories.
4. Video Content for SEO
Traditionally, SEO was text-based or image-based, but videos are officially an important part of your search engine optimization strategy. Videos improve engagement, and this is the type of content people want to see. But just creating videos isn’t enough.
You also need to set them up properly and use them to boost your SEO. Add keywords in video tags and titles. Consider making a smaller version of the video and adding it to your Posts on your Google Business Profile.
5. Multisearch
Google announced Multisearch in select areas in April 2022, and it is quickly becoming an important SEO trend, especially for local businesses. If you aren’t familiar with it, Google Multisearch lets users:
- Upload photos of products they want to buy, adding details that are different from the image.
- Take photos of items to see if there are matching accessories or pieces.
- Take photos of items to get additional information, such as troubleshooting or care instructions.
In addition to being a new way to search, Multisearch is commonly used by people with strong purchase intent. As such, those are high-value searches. This feature emphasizes the importance of uploading photos and having a solid keyword strategy.
6. Voice Search
Voice search is another unique type of search, although it is much better known than Multisearch. You need to optimize for people speaking their search queries on their phone or via their smart home devices.
7. Zero Click Results
Google is doing its best to provide users with information quickly, which, unfortunately, means a rise in searches that don’t result in any clicks. Even in 2019, roughly 50% of all searches on Google ended in users getting their desired information without clicking on a page.
This means that even if you are one of the first search results, you may not get the desired click. At the very least, they will see your company name, but that’s not enough.
Given this trend, do your best to develop rich, detailed content on your website. It can start with a simple answer that Google picks up and shares as zero click results. But by providing more detailed information on your website, you give people a reason to visit it.
