Whether you’re a small business or a big international chain, ranking well in Google Local Search and Google Maps can play a crucial role in boosting your website traffic and conversions. Optimizing for local search can be challenging, but the return is immense.

Google recently released a study of local search results which reported the following observations:

– 4 in every 5 consumers use search engines to look for local information.
– About 50% of local smartphone searches will lead to store visits in less than a day.
– 18% of local searches will result in sales within a day.

This information makes it clear that even brick-and-mortar stores in the modern-day need to care about online visibility and local search results. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of competition for the top spots in local search results. It is hard to rank higher in local search results without publishing content optimized with a strong local SEO strategy.

Any company looking to reach the top of the local search results should pay close attention to content creation. Posting regular content on a blog or other social media platform is vital for increasing online traffic and thus driving up your search result ranking. Your content should educate, inform or entertain the readers while remaining relevant to your brand.

When publishing content for your brand, you need to identify keywords that will increase traffic and improve your revenue. What are locals searching for when they want to find your business? Incorporate these keywords into the content you publish for a greater chance of showing up in search results.

Your content should also reflect a strong sense of local community. Writing about local stories relevant to your brand or displaying positive customer reviews is one way to do this. Whatever your strategy, make sure that your content is of a high quality and relevant to the interests of your local customers.

If you’re looking to optimize local search results, we recommend this in-depth blog post from Bruce Clay. Local search and local search optimization continue to increase in importance and just like traditional SEO; it’s an ever-shifting landscape. That’s where LocaliZer from ASTRALCOM can really make an impact in your local SEO efforts.

Ready to optimize your brand’s local search results? At ASTRALCOM, we have years of experience helping clients to maximize their online potential. Contact us today to start planning your successful online marketing campaign.