Why Local Matters
Mobile Search Popularity
In May of 2015, Google confirmed that more searches are now being done on mobile phones than desktop computers.
Map Results Dominating Results
The majority of local business searches are now displaying map and review results rather than company websites.
Customers Care About Reviews
Building positive reviews and ratings is an extremely important aspect of your company's first impression to a customer.
local searches on mobile phones convert
of searchers click another mobile result if a site's not mobile
of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations
of mobile local visitors visit stores within one day
Citations Save Businesses
Citation building has become an extremely important tool in increasing the visibility of your business to local customers. Citations will also include links back to your website increasing your ranking in Google Plus Local.
What are the benefits of citation building? Citation building is the most important element of any successful local search engine optimization strategy. Without citation building, your business will have a much more difficult time ranking high in map based searches.
Citations make up 28% of the ranking influence search engines use to determine rank. Businesses with a greater number of citations will outrank businesses with fewer citations.
Why Local Search Matters
Google released important information reminding us why it's so important for people to be able to locate your business online. 50% of mobile users are more likely to visit a store after conducting a local search! 54% of users look for business hours on a smart phone, 53% look for directions and 50% look for the local store address. Local search has now become even more important because most of the time the users are not just seeking out information, they're acting on it.
The overwhelming and ever growing nature of smartphones has made mobile strategy for businesses more important than ever.
Why Reviews Matter
Reviews also carry an extreme importance. 90% of customers say their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. Not only do reviews impact map based search rankings, but it obviously impacts the perception and trust your product or service has on the customer.
Obviously there are many ranking factors in local search. MOZ did a local search ranking factors survey and found that over 10% of the overall ranking signal comes from reviews. Not only the amount of positive reviews matter but the number of reviews as well.
Obviously reviews continue to play a major role on customer decision making, but it also influences search engines rankings.
