This article is sponsored by SOCi. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
As a marketer, you may feel like so much has changed in the world of search that the ground beneath your feet is shifting. From Google’s recent announcement to release AI Overview to all US users, to OpenAI’s announcement of GPT-4o, there’s a lot to keep up with.
How will these changes affect your search efforts? Do you need to change your search strategy?
We have the answers and more for you!
In this blog, we’ll explain how search marketing is changing, what this means for your brand, and share strategies to improve your brand online visibility. Finally, we will also introduce our new game changer Local search management.
let’s start!
The evolution of search marketing
As search grows, many marketers worry about their brands remaining visible online. While AI-generated search experiences are so novel, we do know that now is not the time to make any major changes to search marketing strategies.
You can test your brand’s performance in generating artificial intelligence (genAI) results (we call them GAIR), but there’s no reason to sound the alarm—at least not yet.
today, nearly three quarters of consumers conduct local searches at least once a week. Likewise, in the United States, more than 800 million Monthly searches that include some variation of “near me” result in more than 5 million keywords related to “near me”.
Focusing on traditional local SEO efforts is the best way for your brand to ensure its visibility in both traditional and GAIR.
For businesses with multiple locations, local SEO involves incorporating a local SEO strategy for each business location. A multi-location SEO strategy, if executed correctly, will improve your local search rankings, help you win local customers, and increase brand awareness.
If your business doesn’t have multiple locations, you can still follow the following strategies to ensure your business is visible to your target audience in a specific area.
5 Ways to Increase Your Online Visibility
Now that you understand how search evolves and the importance of local SEO, let’s dive into five local SEO strategies your brand can leverage to increase online visibility.
1. Declare and optimize local lists
Local listings are online profiles of local businesses. They appear on search engines, local directories, and platforms such as Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, Bing, and Facebook.
arrive Increase your visibility On Google and other platforms, your brand must claim local listings in all major local directories and remove duplicate listings.
Additionally, you need consistent and accurate information across all listings. At a minimum, your local listing should contain the following information:
- Name, Address and Telephone Number (NAP) Reference.
- Service category. (Example: sushi restaurant)
- Business hours, especially during holidays and major events
- The products and services your business provides.
- Links to your website and social media profiles.
- Attributes. (Example: curbside pickup or wheelchair accessible seating)
- High quality photos and videos.
back Optimize your local listingsyou can focus on local pages.
2. Create local pages for each location
A local pagesometimes called local login page, is a web page you create for a single store location or franchise. It’s similar to a local listing, but it’s on your website rather than an external directory like Yelp or Google.
Your multi-location business may have dozens or hundreds of local pages, each containing specific information about the store and the surrounding area.
Local pages should contain most of the business information in your local listings. However, they are also high-converting pages. Therefore, they should also include a call-to-action (CTA), such as an “Order Now” button or promotional sales and discounts.
Well-designed and optimized local pages can help your business rank high in local organic search results. As mentioned before, these higher rankings will typically result in more conversions and business for your store!
3. Leverage the store locator
Store locators are similar to local pages. A store locator is a web page that lists all local stores or third-party resellers that sell your products.
Store locators help website visitors complete the customer journey by displaying valuable location information and unique details about each store. They make it easier for customers to buy online and contact or visit local stores.
Well-optimized and compatible store locators and local pages will help improve:
- Local search rankings.
- Website traffic and online conversions.
- Analysis, such as where visitors are searching and where they are coming from.
4. Implement an online reputation management strategy
although reputation management You might be surprised at what you might not think about when you think about increasing your online visibility. according to Local SEO Expert, a high Google rating is the sixth highest ranking factor in Google local packs and finders. Meanwhile, the number of Google native reviews (with text) is the eighth-ranked factor.
A high volume and quality of reviews not only affects local search rankings, but also conversion rates. According to our Google Reviews Status Research reports show that for every full star added to a Google Business Profile (GBP), conversion rates increase by 44%.
To improve your reputation management strategy and get more reviews:
- Reply to existing reviews with a personal touch to show customers you value their feedback.
- Use social media to encourage customer feedback, ratings and reviews.
- Feel free to leave a comment! Include links to your website and emails.
- Monitor the feedback your business receives from reviews and adjust accordingly.
5. Create unique content
produce Localized content Also crucial for your local pages, websites, and listings. You want to make sure your localized content is optimized and targeted to a specific region.
For example, if you target the keyword “Seattle sporting goods stores,” you’ll want to update your URL, title tag, meta description, and title with locally relevant keywords.
You should also utilize local imagery, including photos of your store and products. Remember to include geography-specific meta descriptions, alt text, and descriptions in your images.
The types of local content your brand can create include, but are not limited to:
- blog.
- investigation.
- Infographic.
- white paper.
- Social media content.
- Neighborhood Guide.
- User Generated Content. (UGC)
For a more in-depth look at how to improve your brand’s local SEO strategy, download our 10 things you should be doing in local SEO right now guide!
How SOCi can help
Now that you know how to build a solid local search strategy, it’s time to increase your brand awareness. As a marketer, you know how important search marketing is, but let’s be honest, creating a large-scale promotion plan is easier said than done.
This is where SOCi comes into play! We’ve been building SOCi for over a decade to ensure multi-location businesses rank well on local search and social media platforms, are able to create engaging content, and can manage each location’s online reputation.
We’ve enhanced the Joint Marketing Cloud in the following ways social genius, an AI automation layer that helps automate all daily localized marketing tasks. As part of SOCi Genius, we recently released Genius searcha game changer in search marketing!
As the latest innovation in CoMarketing Cloud, Genius Search goes beyond traditional listing management by delivering dynamic, data-driven local search strategies that align with changing consumer behavior and market trends.
Genius Search uses top data signals (such as reviews, search keywords and search volume, weather, holidays, and more) to provide monthly AI-powered recommendations that can be accepted with the click of a button. Once accepted, these optimizations will immediately improve the ranking of your business listing to be directly relevant to each location’s community.
It’s time to upgrade your local search strategy, and SOCi is here to help. Request a personalized demo More insights for you today Genius search As well as our other Genius products!
Ready to start optimizing your website? register SOCI and obtain the data needed to provide a superior user experience.
Image Source
Featured Image: Image courtesy of SOCi. Used with permission.
