Mar 16, 22 | 11 min read
local seo for retailers
Reading time: 8 minutes
Many small businesses struggle to compete with big ecommerce brands, such as global giants Amazon and Mercado Libre, which seem to dominate the entire world.
Their lower prices and affordable shipping make it difficult to compete, which for some time created a challenging environment for local community stores.
Enter the "Buy Local" movement
In a surprising turn of events, local retail business owners are suddenly benefiting from customers' renewed desire to support their local community.
Customers want to shop in stores in their area. The already growing “Buy Local” movement has greatly increased in popularity during the pandemic.
Prior to 2020, shopping local was a list of somalia consumer email priority for over 46% of U.S. consumers due to the convenience, necessity, and appreciation of local commerce.
With the pandemic, 53% of Americans say their consumer behavior has changed and they have started making daily purchases online, in local stores.
At the same time, 57% of consumers throughout 2021 gave preference to local businesses, and 34% said they began doing so more frequently after the start of the pandemic.
More customers want to support local businesses online. Your next step in 2022 is to make sure you capture the benefit of “Buy Local.”
How can SEO help local retailers?
Local SEO can bring retailers closer to their target audience, creating a connection that directly influences the purchasing decision. It consists of a series of website optimization strategies that highlight a business in local searches.
A local business can become the first choice in the SERPs in its region!
For retailers like you, local SEO helps you in two ways at the same time:
boost your online product sales;
increases physical purchases in a city, region, or even a specific neighborhood.
Some examples of businesses that can benefit from optimizing their website for a local audience include:
a physical store that sells fishing supplies in a lake region;
a frozen vegan food producer that delivers to only a small group of neighborhoods;
a fashion ecommerce brand that only ships to a specific city.
Can you relate? Then read on to learn more about the topic!
Achieve high-impact results with reduced budget expenditures
Companies that serve specific regions can impact their entire audience in a very targeted way, on a small budget .
Imagine a small shop that sells fishing supplies in one area of a lake. Its audience is much more restricted than a large e-commerce that distributes nationwide. This makes the budget expenditure more contained.
Another plus point for small businesses, especially retailers, is the ability to more easily segment their audience and avoid wasting budget by reaching out to people in other regions.
Attract the most qualified buyers
Imagine you sell only in Mexico City. With a well-structured local SEO strategy, you prevent your marketing investment from attracting Guadalajara consumers interested in the same product and wasting time on your site without converting.
You can effectively increase your ROI by incorporating local SEO into your marketing strategy.
How is local SEO different from traditional SEO for brick-and-mortar stores?
Traditional SEO can reach any user , anywhere in the world, as long as they perform an online search. Local SEO, on the other hand, helps highlight a business in local searches , specifically targeting the audience that has a nearby geolocation of that business's stores.
You'll attract more of the right consumers by using the right keywords, phrases, and intents that are customized to reach more people in your local area. 46% of all Google searches come from users looking for local information.
These local searches are typically for products, services, or businesses in a specific area, and are mostly from consumers who are close to the moment of conversion, as local searches are typically done at the bottom of the funnel .
Why is SEO important for local retailers and who should invest?
Local SEO brings many advantages, some of them are:
better positions in Google;
increase in visits from a segmented audience with strong conversion potential.
more brand awareness to attract new customers;
budget optimization.
When done right, local SEO allows people to find information about your business easily, bringing them one step closer to a transaction .
This strategy allows businesses to create touchpoints with their ideal customers literally where they are. It's a cost-effective and precise way to attract potential converting customers.
You should invest in local SEO if your goal is online sales to specific regions or operating a physical location!
Online sales of products for specific regions
Although most ecommerce companies currently deliver worldwide, there are some companies that choose to work only in specific regions due to:
specificity of its products;
validity (food and drinks, for example);
audience that shares the same cultural and community values.
If this is your type of business, local SEO is very important because you need to be very assertive with your strategies to ensure the expected ROI.
After all, any investment has a huge impact on a small business’s cash flow, right? Because local SEO is more targeted, it attracts the right audience without wasting this investment.
The goal is to drive Google users from the SERPs directly to pages where they can make purchases from local businesses.
Physically operating stores
If you have a physical location, local SEO is also extremely important to you, as over 74% of shoppers conduct research on the store closest to them, items in stock near them, hours, and directions before heading out to make a purchase.
Therefore, the goal is to make sure you appear in these searches by taking advantage of local SEO techniques.
You should have a corporate website to concentrate all the information related to your company and your offerings. One page per product category will do the trick. In addition, you should use or update your Google Business Profile, making sure to include:
address of your business;
references of your location;
user ratings and comments.
How to Build Your Local Retail SEO Strategy
A local SEO strategy can have different facets, but these are the areas you are most likely to focus on:
keyword research with local terms;
study of local behavior;
inclusion of local elements in the domain structure;
create pages that meet search intent;
on-page optimization ( SEO On-Page );
use the Google business profile.
Next, let’s dive into each of these practical steps for creating a local SEO strategy for retail. Read on!
