When it comes to utilizing local search marketing for your business, it’s crucial that you don’t stop or pause your marketing strategy. Why?
Local search takes time to become effective and doesn't instantly show results compared to paid advertising, for example. Essentially, stopping your efforts takes you back to square one.
And, sometimes, trying to start your local search marketing again after pausing can be more work than when you initially started.
To back us up, here are six reasons you shouldn’t stop your local search marketing (commonly referred to as local SEO):
With local search, what you’re doing is competing with other businesses online. When you stop or pause your local search efforts, you are no longer competing for the top spot in the local pack.
Ultimately, you’re giving business back to your competitors. Consumers normally click on the first few businesses in the local pack. And if your business isn’t there, they won’t even have the option to choose you.
Plus, you are no longer attracting new visitors to your listings. Fewer new visitors = less business.
Stemming off the first point, when your business isn’t being found or chosen online, you are going to notice a smaller number of reviews coming in.
Did you know that reviews can actually help improve your search ranking?
On top of that, reviews help consumers decide whether your business is the best option for their needs. However, if you aren’t generating reviews on a consistent basis, it indicates your business might not be trustworthy.
Not having recent reviews can hurt you just as much as having negative or neutral reviews.
Posting photos on your local search listings can be extremely beneficial to consumers. You can highlight your products, services and past projects for consumers to see.
However, if you aren’t maintaining your local search presence, consumers aren’t going to see your photos at the scale they were previously.
Similar to reviews, photos can help improve your search ranking.
If you want to learn more about improving your local search strategy with photos, be sure to check out this blog.
When you have a local search marketing plan through RevLocal, we make sure to consistently update and monitor your listings and content on your website.
Search engines, like Google, look for specific information and rank pages based on the content.
If you stop refreshing the information in these spots, your content will become outdated and will likely cause you a decrease in search ranking.
And when you don’t check and refresh your content, there’s an increased chance of error or inconsistency in your listings. This includes old phone numbers, addresses, websites and more.
If outdated information appears, online consumers will be confused about what info is correct and it will also drive down your business’s search ranking.
When it comes to local search, monitoring your listings is part of the upkeep you need to manage.
Sometimes, technical issues can occur, such as your Google My Business profile being suspended. When you stop your local search efforts, it’s likely you won’t notice any technical issues right away.
Letting technical issues go unnoticed can affect your overall ranking in search results, which means customers aren’t finding your business as easily.
Updating your content on a consistent basis is a huge part of local SEO. When you stop refreshing your content, you can expect that your social media shares will begin to decline.
If you begin sharing less of your content on social media, your traffic and engagement will then suffer because you’re not posting new content.
Online consumers almost always check social media channels to see if a business is making posts consistently. If they notice your channels are lacking content, they’ll probably navigate to another business.
There’s nothing worse than having social media for your business and not creating posts or sharing your new content.
When you look at the big picture, local search is a vital part of your ongoing digital marketing strategy. While it can take time for your local search strategy to become effective, that doesn’t mean it’s not working.
If you stop your local SEO efforts before you give it time to grow, it’s possible you’ll have to work harder to get your local search back to where it was.
There are a lot of components to local search, and we know it can be overwhelming if you have never tackled this part of marketing for your business. However, you don’t have to do it alone!
At RevLocal, we have your local search marketing handled. When you partner with us, we’ll pair you with a dedicated marketing strategist to help you come up with the best strategy for your business.
We’ll help you claim, optimize and manage your listings so you can do what you do best – run your business!
Request a demo today with one of our local marketing experts to see what type of strategy aligns with your industry.
This blog was written in collaboration with Brady Stagg, one of RevLocal's Senior Digital Marketing Strategists.
Lauren Snyder, Content Contributor
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