Why Do I Need Local SEO?

In practice, local SEO is no different from traditional SEO. Both have a focus on increasing organic traffic for industry-relevant keywords. The primary difference though is what keywords each is focused on. Traditional SEO may target more generic keywords that anyone across the country could look up. Keywords such as; “Guitar For Sale”, “Cheap Guitar”, or “Electric Guitar”. Local SEO however focuses on keywords with a focus on their location. Such as; “Guitar Shop Near Me”, “Quality Guitar in (City)”, and “Guitar Shop Open Now”. These additions to the key phrases allow brick-and-mortar shops that only serve people within the local area to focus their efforts to just getting exposure locally and allows them the opportunity to rank online without competing with large name brands, such as Amazon.

Local SEO helps businesses gain more traction and visibility in their local area. According to Safari Digital, 72% of users who did a Google search visited a store within 8km of where they were searching. “Near Me” searches also increased by 130% during 2020 and more than 50% of those resulted in an offline purchase.

Local SEO has become an essential part of any local business’s marketing strategy and offers local businesses huge potential to get seen and profit from potential customers that would never have to see them otherwise.