Mobile has completely changed the way people shop. No longer are individuals interested in physically shopping - going from store to store to find what they need at the best price. Now many spend their time researching price, availability, and location online prior to visiting a store.
If a customer were to start researching looking for a product in your category, would you be found?
With this shift in the way people shop, it is critically important to ensure you have optimized your website for local search. Make sure you show up and rank high in search.
Google’s Mobile Path to Purchase Report shows that search is the most common starting point for mobile research at 48%. And 40% of mobile visitors will abandon a site if it isn’t optimized for mobile - once you grab their attention, you definitely want to keep it.
When optimizing for local search, each page of your website needs to include the following basic company information (at the minimum):
- Company Name
- Address
- Phone number
“Consistent NAP (Name/Address/Phone) information is essential to getting more citations and improving search engine rankings.” – Moz
According to Moz, NAP represents the “thumbprint” of a business online.
Google’s emphasis on content relevance continues to make it easier for individuals to find products and services on a local level. This is why your company info needs to reside on each page on your website AND be listed exactly the same in each business directory. Be proactive and check your local search directories for businesses and make sure your company information is listed correctly. If you aren’t sure what directories exist and include your business, save yourself some time and utilize this free report tool by LocalVox. This tool will check the major directories that reside online and show how well you are represented.
Here are a few additional tips to consider to optimize for local search:
1. In addition to the basic company information, you may consider including the following within directories where appropriate:
- Hours of operation
- Website URL
- General information about your top selling products
- Prices
Simplifying the research process can give you a competitive advantage. Rather than requiring the individual to go to your website and search within for that information, you have made it available at the point of search.
2. Include the name of your neighborhood in your company name or company description within business directories. If your city is large, rather than simply list ‘Company Name’ + ‘City Name’ include ‘West Village’.
3. Make customer testimonials available on your website. They build your credibility and add to the ‘relevant content’ piece contributing to your ranking in search.
And finally, with all the effort required to optimize for search, make sure your website is usable. This means responsive. Make your site easy to view and navigate whether that is through the use of a desktop, tablet or mobile device.
“The one thing I keep saying to clients and small business owners is that the most important business profile you have isn't Yelp, Facebook, Google+ or even your Google My Business page. The profile you're optimizing is the Google SERP for your business.” -- George Freitag, Portent, Inc.
Optimizing for location-based search is not simply about including your business information on each web page. It is the combination of business location data along with content and keywords that matter that will help you rank higher.