What To Know About Local SEO In 2020

Search engine optimization is no longer a luxury that companies can afford to ignore – these days, it’s the lifeblood of modern businesses and could determine whether or not you survive this eCommerce-heavy era of social distancing. Many entrepreneurs and marketing gurus nevertheless keep ignoring SEO at their own peril, largely because they’re unfamiliar with the techniques needed to master the SEO marketplace and get their message out to the internet in a coherent and well-targeted fashion. By learning how to manage niche SEO marketing and put a specific emphasis on local SEO in 2020, you can overcome these issues and soar to new heights of commercial success.

Here’s a review of what you should know about local SEO in 2020, and why the future of this industry is going to be increasingly focused on nearby customers.

Failing to invest in eCommerce is commercial malpractice

The era of social distancing has ensured that more people are doing their shopping online than ever before. While some people think that this only means that more clothing, toys, and recreational equipment is being purchased online, it actually means that eCommerce sales are skyrocketing in virtually every industry. Even local service-based businesses are finding it imperative to market themselves online if they want to remain robust and healthy amidst all of this economic turmoil. Thus, SEO marketing should be a major priority for just about everyone.

Not all SEO is created equally, however. While some brands earn their bacon by marketing to customers at a national and international level, the vast majority of businesses are going to be relying on nearby customers for the bulk of their revenue. This is true even if you can ship products over long distances or provide digital services from afar, as many customers are only going to trust brands and companies which are situated near to them. After all, wouldn’t you prefer to invest your hard-earned dollars into local companies at every opportunity, even when doing your shopping online?

Local SEO is thus going to be the foundation of your future success. Mastering it is quite difficult, however, and you’ll need to familiarize yourself with common SEO mistakes to avoid making on a local basis if you don’t want to alienate nearby customers. If you don’t have a business profile for popular search engines like Google, for instance, customers may not even think that you’re a local business in the first place. This will drive revenue away from your company as customers flock to the arms of your competitors, something you really can’t afford right now amidst this economic downturn.

You should also know that failing to provide contact information on your website and social media pages is going to end up costing you huge sums of money. Local customers like to contact local businesses before going in to ensure they don’t accidentally show up when you’re closed. Even in the era of social distancing, many of them are still going to call you before investing their money into your products or services, if only to get a first impression of who they’re doing business with.

Come to master internal linking

Having backlinks which direct customers to your operation is important, yet few marketing gurus and entrepreneurs pay enough attention to the vital nature of internal linking. Internal linking, as the name implies, helps customers go from one page to another on your website without ever having to leave the microcosm of your brand’s web presence. The seven commandments of internal linking should be closely understood if you really want to become a local SEO guru.

Excellent SEO companies like Yeah Local came to understand this long ago, and benefited from their prescient foresight. As your business pivots to local SEO, pay plenty of attention to internal linking and regularly updating the web design of your website. Additionally, make sure that customer reviews are prominently highlighted on your website, as local customers want to see what other local consumers have said about your brand before investing in it themselves. There’s no easy way to get good customer reviews, other than consistently providing excellent services and politely asking customers to leave a review after they’ve completed doing business with your brand. If anybody says otherwise, they’re probably trying to sell you something.

Finally, ensure that your content is local, too. This means that the people producing your content need to have an understanding of local affairs, local consumer preferences, and the local culture to ensure they don’t inadvertently give offense to your customer base. Outsourcing may sound appealing, but it will likely lead to lackluster results in the long run unless you find a truly excellent content guru.

Know that SEO is the way of the future, but don’t be misled into focusing on a national or international SEO campaign. Keep your focus local in 2020, and your SEO results will soon be better than ever before.