Posts

Why You Need Local SEO (And How to Get it with GMB)

/0 Comments/in /by

Businesses may be going global, but your local presence is still critical for generating leads in your target market. Whether you offer a local service, or you want to attract clients to your brick-and-mortar business, local SEO is essential to your growth and success. One of the best ways to localize your SEO is with Google My Business.

Maximize your benefits with GMB and discover plenty of cool new tools GMB has added to help you grow your business.

What is Local Search?

If you are a small or medium-sized business, local search is critical for attracting new customers. Four out of five people use an online search to find information about businesses near them. If you aren’t maximizing your local search opportunities, you could be missing out on a significant number of customers in your area.

How do you make sure the right customers are finding you? Search engines rely on a variety of tools for local searches, including links, social pages, content, and citations. When you get these down, your local customers will be able to locate you.

Why is Local SEO Important?

There are plenty of facts and figures that demonstrate the critical importance of local SEO to your business:

  • 46% of searches on Google are to find local information
  • 97% of customers will go online to get information about a local business
  • 88% of people searching for a local business will contact or visit that business within 24 hours
  • 78% of mobile local searches result in offline purchases
  • 92% of searchers will choose a local business on the first page of the search results

Searches that include the words “near me” or “close by” have grown at an astronomical rate, particularly in voice searches. If your business doesn’t come up in the results, the number of customers you are missing is equally substantial.

What is Google My Business?

You are probably familiar with Google My Business already, even if you can’t define it. Have you ever run a search for a business in your area? When you see the box for a business (or local pack) come up in search results or on the right side of your screen, that is a GMB listing.

google local listing appliance repairman

GMB is a way to get your brick-and-mortar store listed on Google. It is a free business listing service that matches businesses to customers. When a user searches for your business, the box to the right will appear on their screen to give them the information they need about you.

GMB also lists local businesses when searchers look for a product or service you offer in your area. In this case, your business is likely to come up in a local pack of businesses with similar offerings. Your business may appear as both a listing and a pointer on a map, so your potential customer can see exactly where you are located.

local seo appliance repair company

Cool GMB Features You haven’t Used Yet

If getting in the GMB directory wasn’t enough, now there are multiple features with this tool that allow you to take your local SEO a step further. And since these aren’t familiar to many marketers just yet, getting onboard early will help your business stand out from the crowd.

1. Give ‘Em a Deal

GMB allows businesses to set up welcome offers right on their listing. By utilizing this tool, customers that find you online will also have incentive to visit your business to take advantage of a discount that pops up when a user follows your business. Appropriately, you can find this feature in your profile under, “Turn followers into customers.”

2. Customize Your Image

A picture is worth a thousand words, and when you can customize the picture on your GMB, it may also be worth a few extra clicks. Your photos on your listing can show customers in action and invite people inside your business. Photos will be prominently featured, so choose wisely to entice prospective customers.

3. Boost Your Lead Generation

Now, there is a feature that allows customers to request a quote as soon as they find your website on GMB. Businesses that have opted into the Google My Business messaging feature can take advantage of this.

request quote feature gmb

The messaging feature also allows you to review and respond to the quotes within the GMB app as well.

Activating this feature is simple. From your app, make sure your messaging is enabled by:

  1. Clicking on Customers tab featured at the bottom of your device
  2. Click Messages from your 3 menu options at the top of your device

You’ll be prompted to turn on messaging.

enable customer messaging gmb

4. Use Google Assistant to Your Advantage

Google Assistant now allows customers to order from restaurants and stores right from GMB. Deliveries are done through popular services like DoorDash, Delivery.com, and Postmates. To make the most of this feature, make sure your menu and your delivery apps are up to date on your website. The future promises more integration of Google My Business with Google Assistant. Especially with an estimated 50% of searches coming from voice searches by 2020 according to ComScore.

5. Make the Most of Your Reviews

GMB also offers new tools that allow you to use your reviews more effectively. Place Topics takes data from previous reviews to provide information about what customers think of your business.

Q&A Auto-Suggest Answers also takes snippets from reviews to answer questions customers commonly ask about businesses like yours.

questions answers google my businessanswer questions gmb

Make Your Local SEO Work for You

Local SEO is a necessary part of any digital marketing campaign. There is no substitute for the ability to target local customers to grow your business and your profits.

JS-Interactive.com is an Austin SEO company that knows how to boost your ranking and your online presence using local SEO and other strategies. Contact us today to learn more about our services.  

Voice Search and SEO: Is Your Business Ready?

/0 Comments/in /by

With SEO constantly changing, it has become more challenging than ever to keep up with trends. Now, the addition of voice search has complicated matters even further and as the popularity of voice has exploded, so has the necessity to use voice search to your advantage.

As an Austin SEO consultant, I help businesses adapt to the ever-changing world of optimization. I have a few tips to help you develop an effective strategy that incorporates both text and voice searches for your business.

Is Voice Search Really Important?

You might be reading this thinking, “Is this really an essential topic in the grand marketing scheme of things?” The answer is yes, and if you don’t believe me, check out what the numbers say.

The introduction of voice search by Google in 2011 and the Google Hummingbird update in 2013 significantly changed the way information was optimized. Instead of stuffing keywords into content, marketers had to begin considering the context of the text, addressing the needs of their audience so they could crack the search engine hierarchy.

In 2016, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that 20 percent of all Google users were hunting for information using voice search. In addition, one-quarter of all Windows 10 searches done on desktops were also performed via voice. By some predictions, as many as half of all searches will be done by voice by 2020. Voice search is that important and the sooner you learn to incorporate it into your SEO, the better off your business will be.

5 Factors to Ramp Up Your Voice Search Results

Let’s look at five factors you can use to take your voice search results to the next level:

1. Rich Snippets

Rich snippets add information to search engine results that allow for a better understanding of what it contains. The goal of rich snippets is to help users find the information they are looking for more efficiently. For businesses, the correct use of structured data markups could lead to rich snippets, which in turn increase your visibility in searches and the likelihood users will go to your website.

2. Longtail Keywords

Longtail keywords help you to bridge the gap between voice searches and traditional SEO techniques. These keywords use longer, more conversational phrases to minimize competition and increase the odds of precise search results. To ensure longtail keywords are voice search-friendly, you need to create them like people would talk or ask a question. For example, instead of searching for “best coffee shops in Austin, you might plug in, “where is the best coffee in Austin?”

3. Conversational Words and Questions

Think about the words that come out of your mouth right after, “Okay, Google…” It is likely your requests are worded conversationally, as you would talk to another person rather than type in a keyword on a device. The style needs to be reflected in your content if you want searchers to connect with you. Since most queries to an assistant are worded as a question, keywords structured in a similar fashion will also perform better overall.

local seo voice search

4. Structured Data

Structured data helps search engines better understand what is contained in your content. Since context is the key to successful voice search SEO, this data is critical for helping users find you by voice searches. Structured data is also the first step in achieving those rich snippets that are so important in helping search engines and users understand the content you offer.

5. Local SEO

Voice searches are frequently localized to a specific area, so optimizing with your geo-locale is another essential feature for best search results. Also, local reviews and a Google My Business (GMB) listing can help customers find you more efficiently. Make sure your location, hours and contact information are updated so interested customers can get in touch with your business.

Voice and Text: The Ideal Union

Combining your optimization to encompass both traditional and voice searches is the best way to make sure your business gets found today. As voice search is only going to increase, the ability to optimize for these searches now will mean more robust marketing for your business later.

Looking for expert SEO advice in Austin? JS-Interactive is ready to help you take your small business marketing to the next level. Contact us today to learn more about our SEO and web design services.