{"id":113570,"date":"2015-09-11T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/why-local-businesses-should-be-using-content-to-win-local-search-visibility\/"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:55:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:55:16","slug":"why-local-businesses-should-be-using-content-to-win-local-search-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/local-search\/why-local-businesses-should-be-using-content-to-win-local-search-visibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Why local businesses should be using content to win local search visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 90% of all online activities begin with search. It makes one wonder how we found anything before Google! What may come as a bit more of a revelation is that 46% of searchers<\/a>, now use mobile exclusively for their product research, and the majority of these mobile searches are local specific. People act quickly after a local search, and 50% of people searching on a mobile visit a store within a day. It\u2019s become second nature to search on the fly and as a result, Google particularly has really upped its game in local<\/a> search recently. Understanding how to gain visibility in local search is becoming critical for local businesses; but is also something that every business should be thinking about. It can sometimes be tricky to identify where the best opportunities lie in local search. The ultimate objective is always to gain some visibility on page one \u201creal estate\u201d, but opportunities range from local pack results, through to organic results for\u00a0high volume \u201chead\u201d\u00a0terms, as well as results for long-tail and\u00a0geo-modified search terms. Generic keywords, such as \u201cplumber\u201d, \u201caccountant\u201d and \u201cflorist\u201d tend to be the most competitive and highly sought after, and generate the largest search volume. Generics are what all local businesses aspire to rank for, but the reality is that they are generally out of reach. These tend to be the exclusive domain of large businesses such as news publishers, national directories, UK-wide or global businesses, and government sites. \"local The better opportunities for local businesses to appear in page one results lie in the local pack. Of the three main search engines, Google is\u00a0the most\u00a0generous, displaying an average pack size of six\u00a0results versus just\u00a0three or four displayed\u00a0by Bing and\u00a0Yahoo. In addition to this, long-tail terms are where local businesses could be setting their sights, to help gain visibility in organic search results. However, the search volumes for long-tail terms are significantly less than generic terms, so businesses should be aiming to rank for a high number of them for it to have any benefit on site traffic. Long-tail keywords\u00a0<\/strong>are longer and more specific\u00a0keyword\u00a0phrases that visitors are often likely to use when they\u2019re closer to a point-of-purchase or conversion.\u00a0For example, a local coffee shop is never going to rank near the top of an organic search for the term \u201ccoffee shop\u201d as there\u2019s too much competition. But if the coffee shop in question is an authentic Italian delicatessen, then keywords such as \u201cItalian deli cafe\u201d or \u201cItalian delicatessen cafe\u201d are going to help find customers looking for exactly that sort of establishment. By additionally adding a geographical modifier to long-tail keywords, such as \u201cItalian deli cafe in Bournemouth\u201d, this can also act as proof of local relevance, and hence boost a business\u2019 chances of page one visibility. It\u2019s this understanding that helps to explain the importance of local businesses using content to gain traction and visibility in first page search listings. Local businesses need a solid content strategy<\/strong>\n

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