The majority of businesses today are online, and in the last two years, the pandemic has further highlighted the importance of making your services and products available via the Internet. Customers expect to see local businesses within the results of their searches, and if you’re not in the search results, then you’ll lose out.
How Do You Stand Out From Your Competition?
A local SEO strategy should be engaging, simple to use, and almost everything that makes your customers content. This is why staying up to date with local SEO updates is vital.
Google and the shift in customer buying habits disrupted local Search last year. The majority of the most frequent local search updates come from Google, and it should not come as a surprise. Google quickly adapted to shifting consumer buying habits following the pandemic. It is the most prominent player on the market. Google has the 92.4 percent market share of the worldwide market for search engines.
83% of customers within the local region use Google Search to find information about local businesses. 90% of people will make purchases within a week of completing their first Google search. Google has made it possible to create more than 2 billion connections such as reviews and reservations among US retailers and companies every month from now until 2020.
Searches for in my area near me have grown by 100 percent by 2021. Near me searches rise by 200 percent in 2021. All along my route, search results increased by 1000 percent by 2020. With this kind of number, businesses should not be ignoring local SEO. Just a tiny portion of these results can change the game for any business and make the difference between life or death for people struggling.
It’s why you need to note changes in the SEO landscape that affect the local Search through 2021. It is also important to change the new changes to the regional SEO strategy for 2022. What are you required to know regarding 2021’s numerous changes and changes?
Here is The 7 Local SEO Updates That Will Impact Your 2022 Planning
1. Google My Business Profile Made Local SEO More Convenient For Businesses
When Google switched its brand name Google My Business under the name Google Business Profile Google Business Profile, improvements and new features accompanied its name change.
The most important thing was that business owners do not have to use platforms or applications to edit or update their listings. You can edit or update contact information such as the hours of operation, opening times, contacts details, pictures, and so on through Google Search and Google Maps.
You can complete the verification process and resolve issues such as suspensions by Search and more. This makes it easier than ever to get a prominent presence in local search results.
2. Google Made It Easier To Find And Catch Up On The Latest Local News
Based on the fact that the number of people searching related to “news near me” news nearby me” increased by a third in five years across the globe, Google added features to local SERPs to make local news easier to find and create.
Google has announced two initiatives that will assist journalists with enriching their stories with local information and information:
Census Mapper Project
Analyze, collect and display data you have gathered and processed through The Associated Press about a local area.
Common Knowledge Project
Explore maps, charts, geographic comparisons, and graphs to study county, state, and national statistics.
The search engine has made local news easier to find in the SERPs due to these improvements:
Local News Carousel Local news stories that relate to the search query appear at the top of the SERPs. This makes them easier to locate and gives local publications and journalists greater exposure.
Carousel of the Top Stories Local information from reliable sources is shown alongside major media, which once controlled this section of SERPs.
More Information In Search: Google has increased its ability to connect news stories with broad topics.
Local Twitters Local publications and journalists are featured in local news through tweets instead of published stories.
3. Bing Added More Visual Elements And Rich Results
On the 20th of March 20, 2021, Microsoft Bing rolled out five changes designed to give local users more experience. This is done by improving the interaction of images with the results based on the text.
Benchmark Your Google Search and Shopping Results
Review your CPCs, CTRs, and more in the industry. Examine how your CVR bounce rates, your AOV, and other KPIs do. Examine the performance of each channel. Expandable Carousels enable users to gain access to additional information while hovering over a specific result.
Information graphics results are popular with users who use broad search queries to probe an area of study. Highlights that incorporate intuitive features provide details like ingredients lists, calories counts, and nutritional information directly from a web page without visiting the site. Visual Search integration lets users visually browse for similar items by clicking the button to use visual search.
Why are these topics important in the eyes of the local SEO experts? Bing has included the same ideas in their local search results. Instead of a standard carousel of images, or text-based data, Microsoft Bing delivers a visually rich SERP optimized for local Search, composed of relevant information gathered through Bing Maps, top images analysis of visitors, and other sources.
The change increased the importance of local-focused SEO efforts to make Bing more attractive. Innovative businesses could take over the market for local Search when they’re creative and use the many local search choices. If you haven’t already done this, make sure you enrich your website and listings with different content, and media users create, such as user-generated content. Make sure to make use of schema.
4. Everyone Gets New Attributes
It appears that Google continually introduces new functions and features, all for the right reasons. Attributes can answer users with questions related to a particular kind of business. They are prominently shown on Google Business Profiles. Why Google is constantly trying to figure out methods to help businesses stand out and answer the question?
You May Like: Why Does SEO Matter For Every Business?
Businesses owned by black or women-owned businesses with female features, for example, can assist those trying to assist businesses with the same value to make these connections. In February 2022, Google introduced security, health, and pandemic-related attributes on Google business profiles.
With these benefits, local companies will offer information on safety measures and advertise new or altered services such as curbside pickup or delivery services that are not directly in contact with the client and dining-in services. Google added online appointments, estimations of online classes, and digital health.
Messaging, call logs, and access to the most current information and data via Google Search and Maps help keep customers on the phone and allow businesses to monitor the number of calls from customers and answer calls that are not answered. Each of them is important for businesses. If you’ve never explored the various new features that will be available in 2022, this ought to be among the most important local SEO tasks you undertake during the next year.
5. Local Ecommerce Got A Boost With Pointy
In June, 50 percent of US consumers indicated that they’d like to look online to determine if the item they wanted was in stock before buying their Christmas presents. However, searches that contained”in stock” or “in stock” increased by 800 percent before this. This means that you should add your items to Your Google Business Profile, and making sure your inventory is up to date is very advantageous. However, it’s a costly feature that many businesses cannot afford because sales are growing.
To simplify the process, Google announced Pointy integration.
This feature is now accessible and available for those who qualify. US retailers can now get their inventory of products that they sell immediately uploaded to Google.
The inventory is updated each when you make a sale and ensures that your inventory is available online, so customers are always aware of the inventory available.
6. The Mobile-First Indexing Rollout Is Still Rolling Out
The idea of indexing mobile-first has been in the works since Google first announced it at the end of the year. Since then, there’s been a range of extensions, stops, and starts, including the delaying of September 2020, during which Google declared that it would defer its indexing for mobile devices until March 2021.
What is the root of the issue? Google has identified various issues like meta tags of robots lazy-loading blocking primary information for resources and mobile device images and videos. It is important not to be caught off guard. If you’re not offering the user a seamless mobile experience, you must improve your speed.
Google’s stats on Search reveal that 76 % of people use their smartphones to search for things nearby during the day. A quarter of these leads to a sale.
How Do You Prepare Yourself?
The best advice for local marketers and business owners who want to be noticed by local users on the move According to Google, the most effective advice is to make sure that mobile users enjoy the best experience.
7. New Free Local SEO Tools And Insights
Local businesses and SEO professionals trying to stay ahead of all changes also access the latest, no-cost tools. One tool developed by the Local SEO Guide is the Local-Pack O-Meter. It’s a tool with which SEO or business experts could examine data for ten different types of Google search results, including local packs, knowledge panels, job ads advertising, shopping, and, to name the most common.
The software is built on the data of around 60 million US queries which are available via Traject Data. This means that it contains an increased quantity of data samples and is more precise than most US queries. From as early as May 2020, people who utilize it can search through the data and discover intriguing patterns and trends that will help them plan for the future.
Another great resource released during the past year is a research report from Milestone Inc, which analyzed 500 businesses in different areas and their sessions and page views to find out which channels generated the highest profits and most return on investment.
Conclusion
While these seven changes are crucial to creating an efficient Local SEO Sydney strategy for next year, much more should be considered. Businesses must take the latest developments to improve their locally-based SEO performance.