How To Use Local Search Marketing to Attract More Customers

What Is Local Search Marketing?

Local search marketing is when you promote or advertise an in-person company that conducts its business within a local market.

The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to have a brick-and-mortar location in the traditional sense. Local search marketing can be used by businesses of any size, within any industry, targeting any customers in a specific area.

If you’re meeting customers face to face at a store or even in their homes, chances are you could use a local search marketing strategy.

One factor that is important to explore when talking about local marketing is something called a local pack. These are the top results displayed on Google. Google provides us with these results based on reviews, preferences, clicks, location, and a million other factors. Chances are, these businesses are implementing some form of local search digital marketing strategy to ensure that they’re the business that shows up first when you Google that phrase.

Why Is Local Search Marketing Important?

Besides the obvious, why is local search marketing important? Why does it matter to a local business?

First, you want to stay ahead of your competition. Google Maps is the most popular navigational app, reaching 54 percent of all smartphone users. This means when they’re looking for you, most users are on Google Maps.

If people can’t find you quickly and easily on Google, you risk losing them altogether.

Keep in mind, we’re not talking about paid advertisements (yet). Paid ads are just one example of local search marketing being used, but most users ignore paid ads and skip to the first organic search result anyway. You want to make sure that your link is near the top.

Lastly, the best part about focusing on local rankings is the ability to rank for a question or long-tail keyword. It’s one thing to rank on Google for the name of your business, type of company, of value add search such as “best restaurant in XYZ,” but it’s another thing to rank for a question someone asks that related to your goods or services.