Trend #1: Growing Focus on Mobile Search and Voice Search
As the world increasingly relies on mobile devices and voice assistants, it’s no surprise that local SEO is following suit. Mobile searches have now overtaken desktop searches, and many people are using voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to find local businesses. This means that if you want to stay ahead of the competition in local SEO, you need to be optimizing for mobile and voice search. Here are some tips on how to do just that:
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. This means it should be responsive (able to adapt to different screen sizes), load quickly, and have easy-to-use navigation.
- Optimize your content for voice search. This means using natural language and long-tail keywords, as well as including structured data to help voice assistants understand your content better.
- Claim your business listings on popular directories like Google My Business and Yelp. This will help ensure that your business comes up when people search for it online.
- Make use of social media platforms, especially those with location-based features like Instagram and Snapchat. Posting regular updates and using relevant hashtags will help get your business in front of potential customers near you.
Trend #2: Increasing Relevance of Local Reviews and Ratings
As we all know, online reviews and ratings are becoming increasingly important in the purchasing decisions of consumers. And this trend is only going to continue to grow in importance, especially for local businesses.
With the advent of technology like Google Maps and Yelp, it’s easier than ever for consumers to find and read reviews of local businesses before they even step foot in the door. In fact, a recent study found that 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
What does this mean for small businesses? It means that if you don’t have a strong online presence, complete with positive reviews and ratings, you’re likely losing out on customers.
To stay ahead of the curve, it’s important to actively encourage your customers to leave reviews and ratings on popular platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook. You can do this by sending follow-up emails or messages after they’ve made a purchase, or by providing links directly to your review pages on your website or social media accounts.
It may seem like a lot of work to keep up with all these different platforms, but the effort will be well worth it when you see an increase in customers and sales.
Trend #3: Content Quality Becoming Increasingly Important
As the saying goes, “content is king.” And that couldn’t be more true when it comes to SEO. In the past, businesses could get away with stuffing their website with keyword-rich content and not much else. But today, Google’s algorithm is much more sophisticated and can detect low-quality content from a mile away.
That’s why it’s more important than ever to focus on creating high-quality, original content that provides value to your readers. If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at your competitors’ websites and see what they’re doing right (and wrong). Then, craft your own content that’s even better.
Not only will this help you rank higher in search results, but it’ll also keep visitors on your site longer and improve your chances of converting them into customers or clients.