Trends Shaping The Future Of Local SEO In 2022

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1. User Experience Is Everything

This is a big way to get ahead with local SEO in 2022.  In May 2020, Google announced that it would be factoring user experience (UX) signals into its rankings. This means factors like how fast your web page loads, how easy it is for people to navigate your design to find the content they’re looking for, and how well this experience ranks 

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1. User Experience Is Everything

on both mobile and desktop are all factors that will heavily influence a website’s ranking on the search engine results pages. To make this easier on businesses, Google has a tool called Google Search Console. Within it, on the left side of the page, is a section called Core Web Vitals. 

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1. User Experience Is Everything

They’ve included information there on how well your website UX is as judged by Google. So how do you improve your UX? While marketers for years have sworn by putting pop-up ads and banner ads on websites, users hate them. This has been known

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1. User Experience Is Everything

for a long time, and now, they have to go. If you aren’t convinced, consider this.   According to Business Insider, users are 279.64 times more likely to have climbed Mt. Everest than they are to click on your banner ad. It hurts your SEO, angers your customers, and isn’t effective enough to mitigate those losses.

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1. User Experience Is Everything

Is your website loading quickly? There are tools online you can use to test this. Make sure it’s tested across platforms. That means you need to load fast and smoothly on smartphones, both iOS, and Android, as well as desktop computers and tablets. Local businesses would do well to consider 

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1. User Experience Is Everything

what people most want from their websites and inform their navigation.    What do people want when they are loading your front page? Can they find your contact information, store hours, and address easily?

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2. Google My Business

Google My Business (often shortened to GMB) has come up a bit in recent years and only matters all the more now. Google is putting a lot more emphasis on search intent these days. They aren’t just showing results based on keywords but on what they know a user is really looking for.

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2. Google My Business

When someone searches for the best realtor, the search engine knows that the user isn’t looking for the best realtor in the world. Google will use the location-based information they have and show the best realtors within that user’s local area. That’s going to pop up with Google My Business results.

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2. Google My Business

Just how important is this for local businesses? Research shows that 49% of local businesses will have over a thousand views on their Google My Business listing each month. So how do you make your listing perform well? First of all, if you haven’t set it up yet, it’s free. Complete your profile

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2. Google My Business

with as many details as possible. If you change your business hours, update them in your listing! Updating with a fresh post every two weeks will help keep your listing relevant and allow you to add more local keywords to your account. 

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2. Google My Business

The more engagement and activity on your listing, the happier Google is, and the higher you’ll rank in the results.

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3. Zero Click Results

This may sound like a depressing trend, but it’s an important thing to be aware of. In 2019, more than 50% of all Google searches resulted in the user getting the information they needed from the search results page. This means they didn’t click through to a business’s website.

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3. Zero Click Results

What can you do with this information? For one thing, look at your Google My Business page and your Google Maps information for your business. Keep them fresh since this is where people may be discovering the information they need about your business. For another thing, try to create rich content for your website that they

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3. Zero Click Results

can’t get just on the results page. Also, put work into focusing on keywords that bring people to your website.

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4. Your Website Still Matters

Just because there’s a growing trend of zero-click results does not mean that your business website doesn’t matter. In fact, this is a growing way that consumers build trust with businesses. According to a study from BrightLocal, 56% of consumers expect that your website will be where they find the most 

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4. Your Website Still Matters

accurate information. That means they are checking your website for the vital information they need, like your business location, hours, and contact information. Another important fact from the study: 50% of consumers would be less likely to use a company without date contact information on their website.

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4. Your Website Still Matters

This goes back to creating a site with a strong user experience. Keep your site updated and your customers happy.

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5. Your Site Must Be Optimized for Mobile

When your customers are going about their day and realize they need to make a purchase, they’re likely to perform that search on their mobile device right then. Recent studies found that 52.2% of website traffic is happening on mobile devices. If that statistic doesn’t urge you to take your

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5. Your Site Must Be Optimized for Mobile

website’s mobile design more seriously, then consider that Google is now indexing new websites with mobile-first indexing. This means that new websites will be reviewed by Google based on their mobile design first instead of their desktop design. And again, they’re looking at the user experience.

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5. Your Site Must Be Optimized for Mobile

This means they want to see easy-to-navigate mobile designs that load quickly. Is the font big enough on your mobile design? Are the most important links and pieces of information easily found right away?

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6. Voice Search Matters for Local Search

When people talk to their phone or their smart speaker, they phrase their internet searches differently than to type them into the search bar. These searches are longer. This means you need to think about how people naturally talk when creating content on your website if you want to show up for local voice searches.

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6. Voice Search Matters for Local Search

And looking at recent statistics, you want your site to rank well for these searches. BrightLocal found that 75% of people who own smart speakers use them to perform searches for local businesses weekly.

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7. Video Content Matters

Above, it was mentioned that many of the searches done today are zero-click results. A lot of those searches for local businesses are met with Google Maps or Google My Business. Others are met with YouTube videos showing up in the results.

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7. Video Content Matters

orrester Research found that video content is 50 times more likely to land on the search results page. Consumers like video content. It makes products, services, and businesses seem more real to them in the virtual world.

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8. Text Content Still Matters

If you want your local business to rise in the rankings, you may want to consider how much content your site has for visitors. A study by Orbit Media found that successful blog posts today are averaging 1,142 words long. That length is going to keep growing if the trend stays consistent.

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8. Text Content Still Matters

What do your local customers want to know? Are they looking for the best root beer in your town? Do they have unique concerns? For example, if you’re a roofer in San Diego, you could create content addressing concerns like what roofs are safe for earthquakes and which materials last the best in the hot California sun.

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9. Search Intent Is More Important Than Ever

Did you know that terms like “to buy” have increased search usage by 500% in recent years? There are four types of search intent. These include making a purchase, getting to a business’s website, getting information, browsing, and comparing products.

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9. Search Intent Is More Important Than Ever

Google now tailors its results to meet the search intent. If you want your local business to rank, you need content that meets their search intent. If you’re selling organic, eco-friendly coffee, then your customers probably want to know more about how that coffee was made. 

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9. Search Intent Is More Important Than Ever

They want information on the flavors available and your roasting techniques. If your business has a local recycling program, they likely want to know about it. You can develop a frequently asked questions page, with content written in a natural style that targets more local searches.

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10. Your Online Reputation Matters

Did you know that 87% of consumers read online reviews? Google knows this. Because of this, online mentions of your business matter more for your search rankings.  Context matters for this. 

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10. Your Online Reputation Matters

By linking out to your reviews on sites like Yelp and Facebook, you link your website to those reviews, making the connection for Google. When you respond professionally to your reviews, you’re improving engagement and showing Google that your business handles complaints and engages with  customers.

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10. Your Online Reputation Matters

There was a time when ignoring a business’s reviews was often thought to be the best advice, but brand engagement matters today, and Google rewards it.

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