SEO – Facts that indicate the importance of local SEO

When you’re looking for a local business that can fix your favourite pair of shoes, sell you the book your friend suggested, or bake a space shuttle-themed cake for your child’s birthday, how do you find it?

You go to your favourite search engine to do a little online research, naturally. Your customers are no different. When they are looking for a product or service similar to what your local business sales, they go online to search for it.

Did you know that 88% of consumers who perform a local search on their smartphone visit or call a store within a day? Also, nearly 46% of all Google searches are for local information.

A solid local SEO strategy is key to attracting more people to your store, whether you have one store or five hundred. Consider these 10 facts about local SEO and see why using SEO could benefit your business.

10 facts about local SEO:

1. 46% of all Google searches are for local information.
2. 72% of consumers who conducted a local search visited a store within 5 miles.
3. 97% of people learn more about a local business online than anywhere else.
4. 88% of local business searchers on a mobile device call or visit the business within 24 hours.
5. 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if it has a mobile-friendly site.
6. By 2021, mobile devices will influence over $1.4 billion in local sales.
7. 18% of local searches on smartphones led to a purchase within a day, while only 7% of non-local searches led to a sale.
8. 78% of localized mobile searches lead to an offline purchase.
9. “Near me” or “close by” searches have increased more than 900% in two years.
10. 72% of computer/tablet users and 67% of mobile device users want ads personalized to their city or zip code.