There are few things that you can do for your website that have the same impact on your visibility and won't drain your bank account than local SEO. Experts agree that more and more consumers are using local search technology on their mobile devices to find businesses in their areas that can provide the goods and services they need. This means that in order to be competitive online, you need a strong local SEO strategy.
However, it is important to note that with all of the hoopla out there about the benefits of local SEO, there are some online properties that simply won't benefit from employing the techniques. This article is designed to help you understand when you should use it and when it simply doesn't make sense.
Companies With No Brick and Mortar Presence
The main benefit to using local SEO techniques is to drive customers to your door…your actual, physical front door, not your virtual front door. For companies that don't have a physical location, spending time updating your local SEO strategy simply doesn't make a lot of sense.
Of course, there are always the exceptions to the rule. For example, many companies these days are utilizing less traditional "retail" space meaning that they offer local services, but aren't ready to lease a retail space and take on the additional costs of operating an office. However, they still rely on a local population to make purchases from them. In this instance, following through with local SEO is not only a good idea, it is imperative to the viability of the business model since local SEO and online marketing are the main avenues of advertisement for your business and in some cases may be the only marketing strategies you utilize.
International Companies
Whether you have a local presence or not, if the majority of your sales come from outside of your immediate zip code, local SEO may not provide the return on your investment that another marketing strategy could, meaning that whether or not you choose to do local SEO will depend on whether or not it is the best use of your time and/or other resources. This is, once again, because local SEO is designed to attract customers from your immediate area. If your company is reaching outside of that range, a different, more versatile strategy may provide you with better results. That's not to say that local SEO won't produce results, it's just that a more global approach may provide better results.
The idea company for local SEO is a business that relies heavily on foot traffic or local sales to succeed. In these instances, local SEO will far and away be the better choice for online advertising and may even eclipse other, more traditional advertising strategies. If you own a local business and are looking for better ways to bring in new customers, performing local SEO yourself or hiring a professional marketing firm to handle it for you is most definitely an avenue you should explore.
