Local SEO trends to keep in mind today

In the recent DataReportal study, analysts reported that 63% of the world's population uses the Internet, 67% use smartphones, and 92% of all traffic comes from mobile devices.

It's also important to note that user queries have changed over the past few years. Safari Digital research shows a 500% increase in queries that include "near me", "nearby". This means that today users are more likely to search "locally" to quickly find the right company or service.

Moreover, 28% of local queries are converted into purchases. That is, users who make local queries are a well "warmed up" audience that has a need to find and visit a specific company. Therefore, it is important for offline businesses to bring users who search locally to their points of sales or service.

Large tech companies like Google and Apple understand the importance of developing their location-based services for businesses and actively invest in them. We can draw this conclusion based on how they have developed these services by today.

As we know, changes always create trends. So, let's take a look at 5 important trends you should keep in mind today to improve your online presence and reputation.

SERP is a page with results that a search engine generates in response to a user query. The page has organic search results, advertising, short responses to a query, hints (if the user made a spelling mistake), links and a map.

Last year Google has changed the look of local search results and companies' listings began to take up even more space.

Here's what local search results used to look like:

Now first, there is a Local Pack with a map and then goes companies' websites, articles, social media and other relevant links. Let's take a look:

For branded queries, SERP looks the same — a Local Pack with a map, then goes company's website, pages in social media and other links.

As we can see, listings take a priority position in the local search results. This means that directories, review platforms and social media are already fading into the background. What can we conclude from that? Businesses need to keep a sharp eye on information and reviews not only in social media, catalogs, and review platforms but also in location-based services.

To catch the eye of your audience, create comprehensive and beautiful listings of your company in Google Business Profile (earlier Google My Business): add up-to-date information, upload high-quality photos and videos related to your business, create posts with news and offers, and surely answer customers' questions and reply to reviews.

Mind the recent Google updates to get the most of your online presence. For example, now you can add new recycling attributes to make it easier for people to find recycling points nearby.

Reviews are often viewed as a tool for managing a company's online reputation. It's true. But reviews are also among the top 3 factors that affect the ranking of your listing in search results. And its weight continues to grow.

Recent research by WhiteSpark notes that reviews are the second most important ranking factor, right after the completeness of your listing on Google Business Profile.

Reviews show search engines whether a business is trustworthy, has credibility in the market, and how up-to-date the data about the company is. That is, search engines want to show users the most accurate and useful information.

Now, unique content is also needed for listings in location-based services. We used to think that it is used for the company's website and social media, but local trends and new features in location-based services convince us that content is at the helm here too.

Local SEO experts have noticed that company's listings are a great platform to build trust with your customers and tell them about what you have to offer: where to dine, which entertainment center to go to and where to find the best flowers in the city.

Local SEO will continue to grow as a valuable source of traffic and online visibility for businesses. Therefore, in addition to filling out the basics (up-to-date information about opening hours, parking availability, payment methods, and so on), you can use location-based services as a communication platform for PR activity as well.

Today, Apple Maps has more than 200 million users worldwide, so the prospect of active development of this service is high.

Last year, Apple Maps had a big update: the company launched the Apple Places service, which is similar to Google Business Profile. Inside it, you can find a location that has been added to Apple Maps, verify rights, and manage information.

Voice search statistics collected by the Invoca platform show that more and more customers are using voice to perform search queries: search for local companies, online stores, and products, as well as to make purchase decisions.

Before going somewhere users turn to Alexa or Siri. Basically, these queries are related to the fact that users are already ready to go to and want to clarify for themselves "where to have lunch", "where to dine with friends", "flowers near me".

Local businesses should think about what exactly they can do to effectively work with this traffic source. Optimizing listings for voice search is a smart move to add to your local marketing strategy.

In addition to up-to-date information about the phone number, address and links to the site and social networks, we recommend optimizing your posts for voice queries. For example, indicate at the end of the post the phrases "Now you know where to have a tasty breakfast in Riga", "The best choice of non-fiction books", and so on.

It is also good to track reviews and questions in the "Questions & Answers" section on Google and answer them using keywords: for example, "on our menu, you can find tasty and inexpensive Continental breakfasts".

So, what are our recommendations according to the trends we have just learned? Let's sum it up: