You’ve got the quality goods or services your community is looking for -- now it’s time to make sure they can find you when they need you! Enter Local SEO, the most important thing you may have overlooked.

Local SEO simply means optimizing your online presence so that your business shows up accurately and more often in local searches. Local searches are crucial for many businesses because that’s where your customers are. If people in your direct vicinity can’t find you online, then you are missing out on business and revenue every single day.

Optimizing your Local SEO means making sure your business is present everywhere it can be and that all the information is complete, consistent, and accurate. The most important place is on Google with a Google Business Profile.

Still not sold on the importance of Local SEO? Check out these statistics that will show you just how important Local SEO is for your business.

Google Business Profiles are Important For Local Search

• People interact with businesses that are on Google. A typical business receives 59 actions from their Google Business Profile each month. (Brightlocal)

  
  
  

• Businesses with Google Business Profiles get noticed! The average business is found in 1,009 searches per month, with 84% coming from discovery searches. (Brightlocal)

  
  
  

• From January through July 2020, businesses saw a 61 percent jump in calls just from their Google Business Profile. (Small Business Trends)

  
  
  

• Google Business profiles are often the first place a customer will look for location or contact information. In fact, 64 percent of customers look for a business’s Google Business Profile for contact information. (Brightlocal)

  
  
  

• Businesses with photos in their profiles got 42 percent more requests for driving directions and 35 percent more click-throughs than those that don’t. (Google)
  
  
  

You Can’t Afford to Ignore Local SEO

• The internet is where people find information, even for something in their own backyard. 97 percent of people learn more about a business in their community online than anywhere else. (SEO Tribunal)

  
  

• Looking for something nearby? 50 percent of all searches made on mobile devices are looking for local results. (SEW)
  

• Local search directly impacts local sales. 72 percent of people who did a local search visited a business within five miles. (HubSpot)

  
  

• 61 percent of mobile users are more likely to contact a local business from a mobile site or profile. Google Business Profiles are a great way to optimize for this. (HubSpot)

  
  

• 80 percent of all local searches eventually convert to sales with many converting within 24 hours. (SEW)

  
  

• Looking for instant gratification? 88 percent of searches for local businesses call on mobile call or visit within one day. (Nectafy)

• People use search engines to discover new things! 49 percent of users say they use Google searches to find a new brand or business. (Google)

• When was the last time you searched for something nearby? Probably pretty recently. In a two-year period, Google has reported over 900 percent growth in mobile searches for “___ near me today/tonight." (Google)

• Online activity isn’t just beneficial for businesses with an online store. 78 percent of mobile local searches result in an offline purchase. (SEO Tribunal)

• The world is getting more and more local. As of 2019 half of all website traffic globally has come from mobile devices. (Statista)

  
  

• If you build it they will come! 60 percent of smartphone users have contacted a business directly when conducting a search for a business or product. (Google)

  
  

• Google controls more than 75 percent of the search engine market share over competitors like Bing and Yahoo. Despite Google’s dominance, having an accurate and up-to-date presence on all search engines is the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any customers. (StatCounter)

  
  

• The best way to boost your day-to-day sales is to be easy to find online. Local searches result in a same-day purchase 18 percent of the time. (Google)

  
  

• “Where to buy” searches have increased by 85 percent since 2015. Customers turn to search engines when they want to know where they can buy specific items or brands. (SEO Tribunal)

• Paid Google ads can be impactful and important but even without them more than 31 percent of all clicks go to the top organic search result. (Moz)

• You may be down the street, but your customers will still look online for information about your business. 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find information about a local business or location. (Google)

  
  

• Being on the first page of search results is ideal. 92 percent of searchers will click on businesses on the first page of local search results. (SEO Expert)

  
  

• 74 percent of in-store shoppers search for information about the location they want to visit before going there. This can range from inquiries about hours, location, inventory and more. (Google)

  
  

• Google is usually the first place someone starts when looking for something online or in their community. In fact, 93 percent of online experiences start in a search engine. (SEO Journal)

local seo and google business profiles make a difference

Now that you know how important Local SEO is, how does your business stack up? If your business information is missing and inaccurate, Google will consider your local competitors to be more relevant. You can’t afford to not care about Local SEO! Check out my previous post on Local SEO to understand what it is, what search engines look for and how to take action to improve yours. There’s never been a better time to make sure your business can get found online.