Hey guys, In this article, we will discuss the five business sectors that can benefit the most from local SEO. So keep reading.
When you’re looking up a business online, chances are you also include a location next to its general field of activity or at least a location-specific phrase such as “near me.” If we’re looking at the latest stats, the future of Google belongs to local searches:
- Almost half of all online searches are looking for information about a local business
- 4 out of 5 people rely on search engines to look for local information
- 72% of smartphone users want ads that are customized for their location (at least approximately)
What’s more, data shows that focusing on a local SEO strategy has tangible results for businesses. According to the latest data, the majority of people who find out about a local business online will also visit its physical address in the next 24 hours, and 18% of local smartphone searches led to closed sales, compared to just 7% of non-local searches.
For the following years, digital marketing experts estimate that “near me” searches will skyrocket and that local SEO will become even more important. Generally speaking, most businesses can benefit from local SEO, at least partly, but for some, it’s simply non-negotiable. Is your business one of them?
Five Business Sectors That Can Benefit The Most From Local SEO
2. Contractors
3. Automotive
5. Real Estate
1. Hotels & Restaurants
Unsurprisingly, hotels and restaurants are the businesses that can benefit the most from local SEO, especially these days when they are trying to recover financially from over a year of inactivity.
When looking online for accommodation and dining options, people will always include a location, so it’s essential to have a local presence.
Apart from putting your hotel/restaurant on the map, local SEO can also improve your reputation. If, right next to your name, users also see that you have five out of five stars on Google Reviews, they are more likely to choose you over a competitor.
If you have a hotel, restaurant, or café in a busy area with many tourists, a local SEO strategy is even more important.
While it may be true that new clients can also come from word of mouth, in this day and age, online reviews weigh just as much as recommendations from friends and family, so rejecting the option of local SEO altogether means saying no to potential expansion opportunities.
2. Contractors
When was the last time you needed a local plumber to fix a pipe that burst in the middle of the night or a trusty handyman to repair that hole in your roof? Probably recently.
Until not very long ago, most of us relied on friends, family, and coworkers to get recommendations for contractors, but this doesn’t always work – especially when those recommendations happen to do a really bad job.
Enter local searches. Local SEO can improve your visibility as a contractor and even build trust.
If you set up your Google My Business account and encourage clients to leave positive feedback, that will strengthen your reputation and persuade others to contact you.
Plus, as a contractor, you have limitless content marketing options, especially educational guides on fixing various things around the house. This way, you can show up on the first page when clients look for a contractor.
3. Automotive
Several automotive sub-sectors can benefit from local SEO services. First of all, local SEO services are as essential for car mechanics as they are for general contractors because they’re a fantastic way of growing your reputation.
Secondly, you can benefit from local SEO as a car dealership. When someone wants to buy a new or used car, they will look for sellers in their area, so you need to have good rankings in local searches.
And that’s not all. If you have a web service that caters to drivers in a specific area, you need to focus on that. For example, let’s say you offer parking services in a busy city with heavy traffic, such as San Diego.
Many people will be looking for monthly parking in San Diego to save time, and they’re more likely to choose you if they see you among the top results. Your clients can be local professionals, people on business trips, or families on vacation.
4. Medical Services
They say that people don’t change their doctors too often, but there are many cases when they might head to Google search to consider new options:
- They recently moved to a new city/neighborhood
- Their current healthcare provider retired/went out of business
- They are no longer satisfied with their current healthcare provider
- They need advanced services that their current provider doesn’t offer
When that happens, people will look for a new medical practitioner online, and the higher you appear in search results, the better. As much as 92% of search results end on the first page, so if your clinic appears on page 2, you’re playing at a disadvantage.
Optimizing medical services for local searches is essential and easy. Like in the case of general contractors, you have many possibilities for content marketing, and you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.
5. Real Estate
Location, location, location. This is one of the mantras of real estate, and – you guessed it – it applies to digital marketing, too.
The concept of real estate is literally inseparable from that of location. Hence, if you offer real estate services of any kind, whether it’s selling apartments or offering consultancy, then you need to include local SEO in your strategy ASAP.
Forget about the days when people would look for home ads in newspapers (although that was a precursor to local marketing). Nowadays, almost everyone looks for properties online.
According to data from the National Association of Realtors, a whopping 90% of buyers started the search for a new home online. Other studies place that percentage even higher, at 98%, which goes to show just how much local searches matter.
Although the journey continues by meeting with the realtor face to face and arranging a live property viewing, that initial online interaction is crucial if you want to connect with potential buyers.