When you wish to achieve the best possible search rankings online for certain relevant terms, there’s one big focus your local business is likely to have: SEO.
SEO stands for “search engine optimisation”, and is mainly used to help ensure the optimised website will appear as a suggestion if users search for a certain term, product or key phrase.
Over the last few years, the best SEO strategies have changed to suit the multitude of growing markets from all over the world. You can no longer simply spam a key phrase to make your website become the first recommended page on a search engine. Instead, you will have to optimise your website to ensure it earns its place.
So, if you are thinking about using local SEO to enhance your brand’s online presence and impact, keep in mind that the techniques used in 2022 could change in the upcoming year.
What is local SEO?
Before we jump into what could change in 2022, let’s take a brief moment to talk about what local SEO actually is. That way, you will be able to get a better idea about whether or not you actually need it.
Local SEO entails utilising search engine optimisation to find local customers, rather than ones who might be based at the other end of the country or in another part of the world.
By focusing on a local demographic, you can help increase the numbers of relevant people who visit your store, both online and offline. You can also help to bolster your sales by advertising to a more specific audience.
So, if you have a shoe store in Lancaster – for example – your SEO tactics may include keywords like “shoe stores in Lancaster” and “Lancaster shoe shops”. That way, if people search for these terms, it’s likely that your website will appear.
With that said, let’s now take a look at three of the ways in which it is expected local SEO might change over the course of 2022.
- Google Pointy
Whether you optimise your own website or you receive assistance from a specialist local SEO agency, you might have reason to be extremely excited about the arrival of “Pointy”, or to say its name in more formal terms, “Google Pointy integration”.
If you have a Google business profile, it’s likely that you have been keeping an eye on the products you have been selling online. It’s natural for your inventory to fluctuate, however it’s important to understand that if you announce a future arrival, it’s more likely that your customers will pre-order your product. This may lead to problems on the day when the product is released, because there will be no products for non-booked buyers to purchase.
This is where Google Pointy can come in to help you. If you decide to use this SEO tool in 2022 to enhance your local business, it will keep an eye on the amount of stock you have left to sell. So, every time someone purchases a product from you, it will announce it and show future customers how many items have been sold. It can also show what has been sold out. You can use this for your local SEO, especially in relation to the amount of stock there is in specific stores or areas.
- Google Business Profiles
As we have previously stated, it’s very likely that you already have a Google My Business profile to help monitor your websites, traffic and sales. However, as part of an effort to help smaller companies enhance their local SEO techniques, it has been renamed Google Business Profiles.
This rebranding has come with brand new updates, features and applications for business experts to track their market and achieve their marketing goals. If you don’t already have a profile, you should create your own as quickly as possible.
Instead of being forced to dig through your listings, all of your information can remain in one place. You can add your contact information, your location on Google Maps, your opening hours and visual images of your store. Ultimately, this should help increase your local visibility.
- Optimised content
For many years, it has been known that the best way to increase the visibility of a website is through the creation and publication of compelling content. This can include the quality of product descriptions, blogs and landing pages.
However, 2022 may see you needing to introduce more interactive content than ever to be noticed. This may include introducing location-specific videos, audio, and pictures to influence people to stay on your website. Make sure to utilise your content to show off locations that your store operates in.
It is likely that throughout 2022, you will have to keep optimising your local content with more distinct keywords. So, make sure to keep it updated with brand new information that is area-specific.
Would you like to learn more about the many ways in which we could help your own brand to make a more powerful online impact in its local area? If so, our team here at Mr SEO would be pleased to give you the benefit of related services.
