Today’s State of Local SEO | Vicinus.ai

There are a few ways that SEO has changed in recent years. Today’s state of local SEO relies on proximity, maximising GMB offerings, managing reviews, and local rankings. 

In this article, we will discuss the various states of local SEO in 2021 and the various ways you can optimise your local SEO this year.

Proximity is an Important Ranking Among Local Ranking Factors for Local SEO

In 2021, user-to-business proximity ranked third for local ranking factors. Breaking the tradition of local SEO, user-to-business proximity indicates a shift in current trends and habits of local searches. 

Managing Google My Business Offerings

The management of Google My Business has always been powerful in optimising your local presence online. This is because Google My Business directly influences local pack rankings and is a constantly changing feature. 

Google My Business requires both expertise and commitment in order to optimise it. This is because there are various types of categories such as reviews, descriptions, menus, Posts, Q&A, and photos which can impact positively influence rankings. 

Managing Reputation and Reviews Local SEO

In one of our previous blog posts, ‘Should You Be Worried About Negative Reviews?’ we suggested that:

‘Negative reviews don’t have to damage your business reputation. You can actually use them to your advantage. By this we mean, don’t just respond to your positive reviews, also respond to those low-star reviews. This is because 45% of consumers are more likely to visit a business if it responds to negative reviews.’

Reviews have a massive impact on local rankings and help potential customers to find you and trust your business. In reviews, there are a few ways you can optimise these including:

• fast response rates
• handing of negative reviews
•  ongoing sentiment analysis.

Vicinus assists with monitoring reviews through machine learning sentiment analysis. Additionally, an integrated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) increases review quantity.

Monitoring reviews and interacting with customers will help increase brand trust, conversions, and user actions.

Organic and Local Rankings are Intertwined

The organic search results for your business are more likely to help your business rank in the local pack. 35% of marketers believe this. 

This means that organic content creation on websites still continues to matter in 2021.

The Importance of Google Maps

Google Maps has become a top choice for consumers searching for products/services ‘near me’. This is because the majority of the local search industry’s focus going to local packs. This means that the wide range of Google Maps features are yet to be explored and are an opportunity for marketers.