I’m going to get into several Local SEO Statistics that I see and incredibly important if you’re considering ways to grow your business today. But first, let’s put Local SEO in context and explain what exactly Local SEO is.
Remember when you used to use the Yellow Pages to find businesses near you? You know, the actual physical Yellow Pages book?
Well, times have certainly changed. Nowadays there are very few people who will pick up a physical copy of the Yellow Pages or any other print directory for that matter. When’s the last time that you used the Yellow Pages?
People are relying on online searches more and more.
Bright Local stated that “64% of local customers use online search engines and directories as their main way to find local business; only 28% of people use old paper directories as their preferred source of local information.” (1)
In fact, according to Search Engine Land, 78% of local-mobile searches result in offline purchases. (2)
If you’re a doctor, lawyer, dentist, music teacher, tutor, mechanic, car dealer, home remodeler or any one of the hundreds of types of local businesses your customers are searching for your products and services every day using their computers and mobile devices.
And in this day and age of speed and urgency, people are less willing to travel long distances to get what they want.
WordStream shared that 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles. (3)
If you want to compete, then it’s critical that you show up when your customers are searching for you.
In a minute I’ll share over 11 Local SEO Statistics to help state the case.
So what exactly IS Local SEO?
First, let’s start with SEO. This is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. That means that when someone searches for a term using an online search engine – think Google or Bing – the best optimized websites will be the ones appearing at the top of the results.
The page that you see after you submit a search is called a Search Engine Results Page or SERP. So if you go to Google.com and enter “car repair” in the search field, 10 websites will appear on the first page.
Note: when referring to SEO we’re talking about organic, NON paid search results. You will also see several results that appear through what’s called Pay-per-Click advertising or PPC. Those will appear at the top and bottom of the Organic search results and will have a small “Ad” icon on the bottom left of the result.
Paid placements can cost pennies or over $100 per click depending on the topic and competitiveness of the search term.
Anybody can outbid you for a search term so our goal is to get to the top of the SERPs organically.
The local aspect of SEO is based on the location of your business as it corresponds to the search intent of the customer.
If someone’s in Tucson, Arizona and they use their mobile device to search for “transmission repair” then the search engine will ideally show auto mechanics located in Tucson.
Here’s what this looks like:
What are the benefits of Local SEO for your business?
Local SEO allows local businesses to promote their services to local customers precisely when they’re looking for your type of business and in the location they’re searching for.
Here are 11 compelling Local SEO statistics that might help sell the case for building a Local SEO plan for your business.
- 30% of mobile searches are related to a location. (Google, 2016)
- 28% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase. (Google, 2016)
- Local searches lead 50% of mobile visitors to visit stores within one day. (Google, 2014)
- 78% of local-mobile searches result in offline purchases. (Search Engine Land, 2014)
- Mobile Search More Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the U.S. and Japan. (Google, 2015)
- 49% of B2B researchers who use their mobile devices for product research do so while at work. (Google, 2015)
- 65% of smartphone users agree that when conducting a search on their smartphones, they look for the most relevant information regardless of the company providing the information. (Google, 2015)
- 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphone. (Google, 2015)
- 48% of consumers start mobile research with a search engine. (Smart Insights, 2016)
- Google alone gets over 3 billion searches per DAY (Mashable, 2015)
- While Google accounts for the majority of online searches, but Bing’s share of desktop search is over 21% and growing. (Search Engine Journal, 2016)
In the next article I will break down the 11 Essential Elements of a Successful Local SEO Plan
Statistics Sources listed below if not sited in the article:
1 – https://www.brightlocal.com/about-local-seo/
2 – https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
3 – https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics