Why Local Search Presence Replaces The Yellow Pages In 2021?
Why Local Search Replaces The Yellow Pages In 2021?
Years ago business owners turned offline to promote their businesses. They used the Yellow Pages to get found and often bought ads in several different books. It was expensive, but essential to grow and survive. However, a strong internet focus is now a must for local businesses. Yellow Pages are now replaced with a strong presence in search engine directory local listings.
Local Search Optimization is the key to online success for a neighborhood or a local business in 2021.
” Near Me ” and “Voice” searches are what companies must dominate to win on a local level “Both Google and Bing have indicated that over 20% of all desktop search queries are local in nature and that somewhere around 50% of queries on mobile phones and tablets are local. These percentages will only increase in the coming years” (Moz).
And part of that search process is potential customers looking for reviews. If you don’t have a review management process as a local business, then you are probably losing business in a very stealth-like manner. 88% of consumers today read online reviews to determine the quality of local businesses.
Having seen all of these local search trends has caused us to refocus our search engine optimization efforts for local businesses in a dramatically different direction than traditional, technical SEO. We now offer local businesses the iCommotion Online Presence Management Dashboard.
It provides a unique listings management process combined with a powerful reputation management platform. It will help a local business grow revenues by building a major consistent presence across the web! Click here for your local listing report and to learn more about our process.
We would be glad to send you additional information or set up a meeting to discuss how inexpensively you can embrace Local Search Optimization ([email protected]). We’ll increase your search impressions and improve your search based new customer aquisition.
The Google Search Survival Guide
If businesses want to survive and thrive on Google, it is important to understand what drives Google Search and the direction Google is headed.
While Google has always strived to be the best search engine on the planet, this quickly escalated in 2011 when new competition entered the search engine market. Living with Google today doesn’t seem much different than in 2011, but for business owners, the devil is in the details.
In June 2009, Microsoft made the surprise announcement of their own search engine: Bing. Bing caught Google by surprise, sparking its determined effort to become so good and so complex that no other search engine could dethrone it as the search king.
Since 2011, Google has launched dozens of major algorithm changes that significantly impacted the quality of search results. Many algorithm changes have names and specific purposes including Panda, which penalizes websites for duplicate or low-quality content, and Penguin, which penalizes websites for low-quality inbound links. Since then, major updates are launched several times a year, helping Google display higher-quality search results and making it more difficult for those trying to cut corners to prosper.
In late 2015, Google confirmed RankBrain, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence system capable of extracting deep user behavior insights. RankBrain is a complex learning machine and a very good one. RankBrain can understand the content on your website, as well as the intention behind a user’s search query, but more importantly, it also understands how people react to the search results that Google presents.
What does this all mean? Google can understand the user experience on your website. Do the web site’s content and capability satisfy visitors? Do they like your website, or do they leave quickly and find a competitor’s site? Does your website load quickly and does it look good on a cell phone? These and other human factors are now a major part of your website’s ability to perform well on Google, all thanks to RankBrain. In Google’s eyes, may the best website win.
This investment in the user experience makes sense. Would people like Google if it delivered bad search results or slow websites or websites that look like they were built in 1990? Would you shop in a grocery store that was always filthy? How about dining in a restaurant that always had bad food or service? Google shouldn’t be any different, and thousands of Google algorithm changes, including RankBrain, ensure this doesn’t happen.
So what does a business need to do to survive on Google? Simple: you need to respect your website just as you would your storefront, your business cards, your brand and reputation. The internet is a serious marketing channel; Google is serious about delivering quality results and your website is the front door to all of it. Improvements will come from a place of honesty. Are competitor’s websites better than yours? Does your website have unique, quality content? Does it load quickly and is it aesthetically pleasing? Is it secure and will it function well on a mobile device? Businesses with sites designed as a quality resource for Google will be handsomely rewarded. Whereas, businesses with a minimal digital presence will see minimal results.
If you feel your website exceeds status quo and you work on it regularly, then we encourage you to keep up the good fight. However, if your website is not the best amongst your competitors, it’s time to take your digital presence seriously before Google makes you obsolete.
We understand this is a lot of info – Please let us know if we can clarify anything at [email protected]
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