WHAT IS LOCAL SEO & WHY LOCAL SEARCH IS IMPORTANT?

Local search encompasses all those nifty search terms that scream local, such as:
• lawyers near me
• doctors near me
• lawyers in [city name]
• doctors in [city name]

Basically, local SEO is a strategic process that focuses on emphasizing the optimization efforts of local brick-and-mortar businesses.

Content, on-page optimizations, and link building all with a focused, localized intent are part of these efforts.

The focus changes, however, when it comes to localizing link acquisition.

The focus changes to make sure all potential local signals across Google’s local search landscape are consistent and correct. If they are not, or you accidentally provide different information for the same
business, you could potentially experience situations where your local results display something different than what was intended.

WHY LOCAL SEARCH IS IMPORTANT

Here are a few stats that prove how important local search continues to be for businesses:

• 50 percent of people who did a local search on their phone went to a physical store within one day.

• 34 percent who did their search on a computer or tablet did the same.

• 18 percent of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day.

• 60 percent of American adults conduct searches for local services or product information on tablets and smartphones.

• 50 percent of searchers on their mobile phones who conduct local searchers are looking for things like a local business address.

• 78 percent of local-based searches on a mobile device end in purchases being made offline.

• 71 percent of people who have been surveyed have said they search for the location of a business in order to confirm its

existence before going there for a first-time visit.

• 1 in 3 searches on a smartphone was conducted just before arriving at a store.

• 97 percent of consumers looked online for local businesses in 2017, with 12 percent looking for a local business online every day.