Locality is something it’s easy to lose sight of on the global net. Everything is, essentially, anonymous. Businesses may strive to address local customers, but the bigger picture always looms with the possibility of attracting significant amounts of outside business. Without a solid piece of real estate, a business seems to float on the ether, with the internet seeming more like a cloud city than anything with real-world origins.

Local businesses are unlikely to be able to forget their real-world location. When an internet strategy is being developed, however, a certain amount of duality seems to come in. Many businesses seem to concentrate on the big picture with their internet strategy and leave the small picture for their local marketing strategy to deal with. This can be a big mistake. Just as SEO and your online marketing plan must go hand in hand, online and offline business needs to collaborate for either to succeed.

This is particularly true with local reviews. Local search should be a big part of a site’s search engine optimisation if the business has any local connections. For businesses with a strong local focus, SEO needs to extend beyond the usual techniques to embrace off-page factors that have a profound local impact. These are things like Google Local Search reviews.

The review functions on these popular local search tools serve as the online equivalent of word of mouth. In the real world, word of mouth has a big impact on local businesses. If someone comes into your restaurant and has a great meal, the story they tell their friends will see you getting more customers. Local reviews have an even greater effect, because the story is told not only to the customer’s friends, but also to everyone else who is looking for your business. It’s the equivalent of the customer scrawling their opinion on your shop window.

Just how important is word of mouth to your business?

In a recent study, 24% of those interviewed reported that they consult the net when shopping locally. This could mean that nearly one-quarter of your customers are directed to your business via the net. Local reviews are important for your internet business, as well. Another study showed that almost three-quarters of internet users trusted consumer reviews when making purchase decisions.

Using the power of local reviews

No business should ignore the valuable resource of local reviews, but businesses with a local focus simply can’t afford to. Local search behaviour involves a mix of regular search engine use, local search functions and review sampling. This means that locally-focussed businesses need to develop an SEO strategy that competes on several fronts. Your search engine optimisation needs to target all of the usual suspects, but also foster relationships with users that will encourage positive reviews, and incorporate reputation management strategies. This makes the services of SEO professionals even more useful for local businesses. You can talk to our experts at SEO Consult about adapting your SEO strategy for local search.

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