Are You Looking for a Way to Drive Your Company to the Top of Any Related Searches?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the leader in the alphabet soup of acronyms that drive today’s consumers. In fact, without even knowing it, search engine optimization strategies influence nearly every decision you make when you go online to search for a suggestion about what movie to go see, where you you should go to eat, and even when you should arrive at a popular tourist attraction to get the most for your money. Consider, if you will, a recent vacation you may have taken. Did you ever stop to ask SIRI or any other cleverly named online search provider where you should eat lunch?
Local Search SEO Success. You may not have realized it until you were on the plane for the flight home, but if the names of the same restaurant, or at the least the same two or three, kept coming to the top of the list no matter where you were in the city, it is likely that the local search SEO algorithim caused that. If, for instance, you are only a half a block from the most popular brunch location in New Orleans you might not be surprised that its name shows up as the top listing. When you are six blocks away, however, and there are literally hundreds of other restaurants nearby it is no mistake that the same popular brunch spot keeps making the list. An SEO marketing company has probably taken ownership of all of the key words that you are searching for in a deliberate effort to drive customers to their client. Result: you eat at the recommended restaurant.
Local Search SEO Fail.You had an extra long layover on your flight from New Orleans to Omaha so you decided to get a Uber driver to take you away from the airport to get a bite to eat. You searched in vain on your phone, but really did not have any luck getting any interesting results. Instead of finding any local spot you simply kept finding nothing more than the national chain restaurants that you have back at home. With no other idea of where to eat, you simply asked the Uber driver if she had a suggestion. She did, and as a result you had some pretty mediocre pasta at a restaurant that was about a 30 minute drive from the airport. The food was good, but nothing spectacular. Later, after you had already boarded the plane and were about ready to take off, you finally received an email from a local travel app that suggested three really great regional seafood locations that sounded delicious. Too little too late, though, you missed out on these more interesting meals as you were almost ready to leave. The SEO algorithim for these local restaurants did not work quickly enough to instantly get you the information that you needed when you needed it. Result: you miss out on the best dining opportunity and instead eat at the restaurant owned by the driver’s boyfriend.
In today’s local search SEO world it is all about making the top of the list in as short a time as possible. You only have to think back to your search engine habits to know that if a company does not make the top two to three listings they rarely get any attention. Consider some of these other known facts about today’s SEO driven world:
- 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine.
- 75% of search users never scroll past the first page of search results.
- the best local search companies work closely with businesses to create compelling digital content that will help a business stand out from their competitors.
- 70% of social media users in North America are connected to at least one local business. When these social media users travel or purchase items online they are often tempted to check with their connected companies first.
- 50% of all local searches are performed on mobile devices. SEO content must be able to work on cell phone, tablet, and laptop formats.
- 51% of consumers indicate that they are more likely to purchase from a mobile optimized site. Making sure your company website is available in every format will help you reach the customers you want.