Marketers know they need to optimize web content for local search if brands are going to stay visible in the future. Recent reports showed consumers are spending more time browsing on smartphones than desktop computers, and they are often looking for information about companies in their immediate vicinity. However, brands may not have successful local SEO campaigns if they’re not delivering the four Ps when visitors land on their sites: product lists, prices, phone numbers and physical addresses.
According to a recent BrightLocal survey, these are the four most important elements for local web marketing success.
- 12 percent of people consider product lists to be the most important information on a page
- 11 percent of consumers cite price data as critical
- 11 percent think phone number as the information with the biggest impact
- 10 percent of consumers consider physical addresses to be the most crucial facts on the page.
Prospects want action-critical information when they land on local business page
Brands that optimize their sites for local results will have a significant advantage over companies catering to search behaviors of the past. Users will have better experiences when they visit sites that anticipatorily answer their questions, and search engines reward these domains with prominent positions in results pages. It’s up to marketers to convince decision-makers that smart investments now will pay off in the long run.
The takeaway is that prospects want action-critical information when they land on local business page: Answers that will tell them if they want to visit the company or look for an alternative. There’s evidence that marketers may be having trouble convincing executives to invest in the tools and strategies they need to succeed. A separate study from Balihoo found that 18 percent of brands prioritize local SEO as an essential marketing effort, while 71 of marketers consider it “very important or essential.”
