2020 wasn’t the easiest year and there are not too many people who can argue with that. It wasn’t easy for local businesses as COVID-19 forced so many of them to start over or completely reinvent their digital presence strategies. To some of the local businesses this has been especially difficult: retail industries and restaurants went through a hard time. COVID-19 brought long-lasted changes and we need to adapt to them.
Taking all of that into consideration, we can say that the online presence for every business will be more important and thus the importance of local SEO will rise as well. You need to be found, easily discoverable both online and offline by foot traffic, web-based platforms, and word-of-mouth. To do that you would need not only to follow the basic rules of SEO but also to watch out for trends. And that’s exactly what this article will be devoted to.
Rise of GMB
There are a few directories that you have to be in, such as GMB (Google My Business), Facebook, Linkedin, Yelp etc. GMB is the most important one, as Google is the biggest search engine for now and will stay here for a while. Moreover, from GMB you could manage your presence not only in Google Search but also in Google Maps. You can check here the full list of directories which usually varies between 60 and 70.
As more and more people are going to use Google Search and Google Maps (in 2020 Google Search dominated the search engine use with a share of 70.38% on desktop and 93.87% on mobile, while Google Maps held 67% of online maps market share) GMB will become more and more important. As stated by Chatmeter: “Consumers can find out all the information they need about a business through their GMB, without ever having to click through to their website.”
Importance of Reviews
Reviews affect your rating. With that being said, if you work with your reviews well by resolving negative feedback and replying to happy customers you can get a better rating and then be ranked higher in search results. A high star rating basically equals high search rankings. Respond to reviews promptly, include keywords in your response, and try to encourage customers to leave keywords-rich reviews as well.
It also gives you an additional channel to understand consumer sentiment and keep your authority and relevance in a specific niche in check. Moreover, it’s good for your GMB. Reviews influence rating and if your rating is more than 3,5-stars your business will be shown up to the customers along with the contact details. Let’s take a look at some statistics to back it up. According to Chatmeter in 2020 reviews made up 16% of the local ranking factors, while in 2015 it accounted only for 11%.
Get set for new visits
People (well, most of us) miss direct communication and wait for the moment when all restrictions will be lifted and we would be easily able to go to the restaurants/barbershops, and finally do some medical checkups that had been long overdue. So, expect a spike in booked visits from clients who have postponed all kinds of appointments during the lockdown. It's a good time to check out some booking software as well as Google’s options for this.
Take Care of Online Videos
Add some videos! According to Semrush, it would also positively affect your SEO and this trend will be only increasing. There are more than 1 billion users on Youtube all around the globe and even if you get a local junk of this audience that would be great! You need to optimize your videos for the search as well, beginning with the name and description of your video channel.
Don’t make your description based solely on your keywords, it would be better if you give a precise and short description of your topic that reflects your content. Speaking of video content, to attract customers you can also use different social networks. Everyone had already adjusted to Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram. But don't forget about relatively new players, such as Snapchat and Tik-Tok.
Snapchat
In Snapchat, you can use a feature called geofilters, which would allow you to create graphic designed “frames” or “overlays” that could pop up to specific users based on their location. It might be a handy tool for local targeting. As stated in the study by Search Engine Journal: “restaurants, conferences, and events can outline a geofence of their desired location and any Snapchat users within that geofence will be able to use the geofilter.”
Tik-Tok
The newest player in local marketing that can be a solid addition to your Facebook/Instagram marketing strategy, especially as the last one is being heavily impacted by fake accounts and spam. It might be especially useful if your targeted audience is young adults (17-25-year-olds) or if your business is operating in hip and trendy niches like the eco-friendly design or vegan restaurants. If it's all about your business, in TikTok you could also create a hashtag challenge campaign, which allows you to promote your brand.
Voice Search
Probably the last, but definitely not the least, important trend in Local SEO for 2021 is Voice Search. As most of the local searches are being done on the go users have a convenient option of looking for a “closest restaurant” by using voice search and your business listings/sites should be optimized accordingly. This tendency is more than likely to increase over the years. According to Global Market Insights by 2024 global smart speaker sales will surpass 30$ billion and soon might be one of the top-selling consumer electronic products.
Thus, voice-enabled devices might soon become a part of consumers' day-to-day routine. According to a Semrush Study, with the expanding voice search the market introduces more virtual assistants to keep up with the trend, where Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant have the biggest market share (36% each) and Amazon Alexa and Microsoft Cortana are slightly lagging behind (with 25% and 19% accordingly). For Google Assistance you would need to adjust the content to match more natural intents of voice search queries, while for Siri the 2 following factors will be of the biggest significance: higher Yelp rating (try to aim for 4.5/5) and a number of reviews (the higher the better).
Conclusion
It’s always difficult to guess what exactly will be important for SEO in the future. However, if you notice changes and quickly adapt to trends, you might get ahead of your competitors. Prepare for a spike in booked visits from clients who have postponed all kinds of appointments during the lockdown. To be easily found by them you would need to make sure that your site is optimized for GMB, as well as for voice assistants. Work with reviews and don’t forget to use video channels. Don't miss out on new players, such as Snapchat and Tik-Tok, especially if your targeted audience is 17-25 years adults. All of that will help you attract more local clients and maintain a respectable online brand presence in 2021.
