Trends in Local SEO Factors in 2019

If local SEO plays a major role in your company’s marketing plan, you are in good company. Local search engine optimization provides you with incredible opportunities to boost search engine rankings within a local geographic area and to make your business more easily found as a result. As is the case with general SEO, the local variant seems to have ever-changing rules and guidelines.

Say for instance, as a business owner, you may have decided to go easy by opting for a dropshipping service and looking into turnkey dropship websites to reduce your workload. However, you still have to put every possible effort into marketing your small business and for that local SEO plays a huge role. If you are updating your marketing plan and are trying to maximize the benefits of local search engine optimization, it makes sense to look at the most important trends in this area.

Companies, on the other hand, also want to know the results and success rates of their marketing campaigns. As a result, they tend to use a variety of methods and strategies to conduct the analysis, which includes a variety of modeling techniques such as marketing mix modeling. Market Mix Modeling (MMM) is a technique for calculating the effect of various marketing inputs on sales or market share. MMM is used to determine how much each marketing input contributes to sales and how much to spend on each marketing input. It is a statistical method for determining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by disaggregating aggregate data and distinguishing between contributions from marketing tactics and promotional activities and other uncontrollable success drivers. So, while SEO is unquestionably a good marketing strategy, measuring its impact is also critical.

Google My Business Signals in 2019

By paying attention to the developments in Google My Business, you may be aware that several new features have been added that promote localized SEO efforts. For example, you can add a question and answer segment and utilize customer reviews to refine your business listing and to promote relevance related to specific keyword queries. Keep in mind that there is no cost associated with updating your Google My Business profile, so this should be included in any local SEO marketing campaign.

Online Review Signals l Digital Marketing Trends

As you explore hot trends in local SEO strategies, you cannot overlook the importance of online consumer reviews. Reviews are among the leading SEO factors that top search engines use to determine relevance as well as the quality of the company. Because online reviews are supposed to be independent comments from knowledgeable third-parties, it makes sense that search engines would rely heavily on them to determine relevance. As you consider how to take advantage of the trend related to reviews in your online marketing campaign, keep in mind that you can ask satisfied customers to write a review. However, you cannot pay them for reviews, and you also cannot make a mass solicitation for them.

Website-Specific Signals in 2019

The company website plays a great role in SEO and overall business success. The right web design can help with user experience and hence improve search ranking. This is probably why many businesses hire services like XCITE web design company to optimize their websites. Besides the website layout and visual elements, the content on your website can also impact the local SEO results. At one time, on-site text was more important, but trends indicate that this is changing. Keep in mind, that on-site text is still important and should be optimized with geo-specific keywords. If you are just starting out your business website and have hired a development agency to build it for you, then SEO optimization should fall in the list of priorities. However, it can be seen that the links embedded in your website are increasingly becoming important. The number and quality of inbound links is also important. For the best results, they should come from an industry leader, a recognizable trade association or another reputable source.

Citation Signals
While some SEO factors are well-known, the importance of citations is usually overlooked. In fact, to achieve a top spot in localized search queries, the use of citations is almost effective. Understand that it is not the number of citations on your website. Instead, you may gain a lot of ground by simply having a few citations from highly-recognizable and reputable websites. Many local websites use citations, so your lack of their use could be a huge detriment.

Behavioral Signals
When you explore trends in local SEO, behavioral signals related to consumer behavior on your website is critical. One reason why this trend is increasingly prevalent in search engines is because it generally cannot be manipulated by the company to artificially boost ratings. These signals include the click-through rate, check-ins on social media sites and more. Because of this, it is imperative that your business website is well-designed, easy to understand and appealing to the eye. If your analytics indicate that most visitors leave the website after visiting a specific page, close analysis to uncover why is important.

Personalization and Social Signals
For several years, the relevance of social signals in local search engine optimization results has been obvious, and this is one of the trends that carries over from previous years. These signals are often derived from social media accounts for the business, so you can see that these signals are easy to manipulate. Search engines are generally moving away from aspects that can be manipulated by businesses and relying more heavily on SEO factors that may be more accurate and unbiased.

As you explore trends in local SEO, you may understandably feel overwhelmed by all of the changes. The reality is that local search engine optimization is like many other aspects of online marketing. The rules are constantly changing. This makes it challenging for business owners like you to keep tabs with the changes and to know how to apply those changes beneficially. Customer Scout is an online marketing expert that specifically serves auto dealerships like yours. We keep tabs on changes that impact car dealerships, and we know exactly how to adjust your online marketing efforts to maximize the benefits of changes. Reach out to Customer Scout today for more information about our services to improve your digital marketing efforts in 2019!