The ability for people in your neighborhood to easily find your business on the internet matters. However, with artificial intelligence shaping the way people search and how results are delivered, staying visible online has become more challenging than ever. Today’s blog discusses how small, independent businesses can win in local SEO and drive more foot traffic to their stores in this AI era.
Why Local SEO Is More Important Than Ever
Did you know that 76% of consumers who searched for local businesses online visited one within at least a day? In addition, 46% of Google searches have local intent with the purpose of advertising your business if it’s within the area of the searcher. Last but not least, 58% of all local search sources in ChatGPT consist of business websites — followed by 26% of business mentions and 15% of directories (BrightLocal Report).
Based on these facts, it’s evident that having a strong online presence is more important than ever.
Therefore, investing in local SEO can help folks within your business’ neighborhood find your services when they need it most. However, it’s critical to note that generative AI has changed the way people search and how search results are delivered. When in doubt, make sure that large language model-powered search engines favor your business when generating responses to location-specific search queries.
Local SEO Essentials for AI-Era Success
When it comes to local SEO essentials for AI-era success, it’s valuable to claim your Google Business Profile and optimize it accordingly, use natural, localized keywords, optimize your online presence for voice and mobile searches, leverage AI tools and engagement strategies, as well as gather community involvement and partnerships. Let’s break it down:
- Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile: Having a properly optimized Google Business Profile can ensure that your business shows up when people nearby are looking for the products or services you offer. Even though it’s a free tool, the competitive edge it offers is huge. When it is utilized, its appearance in local search results and Google Maps encourages calls, direction requests, bookings, and website visits, attracting more local traffic to your store.
- Leverage Natural, Localized Keywords: AI-powered search engines are talented at understanding search intent, context, and nuance. If you want them to favor your business, you need to follow a local SEO strategy that aligns with how people actually speak and search. Instead of optimizing your website with high-volume search terms, you should focus on key phrases that sound natural and relevant to real people in real places. We recommend using long-term keywords that contain phrases like ‘best’, ‘open late’, and location-specific mentions such as neighborhoods, addresses, and landmarks.
- Optimize for Voice and Mobile Search: With smart devices becoming more embedded in our daily lives, how we search has changed significantly. Instead of typing specific phrases in the search bar, many of us use voice commands as a more convenient means to retrieve information online. According to a DataReportal report called BACKLINKO, it highlighted that 30% of internet users, aged 16 to 64 worldwide, use voice assistance each week, predominantly on mobile devices. If you don’t want to miss out on local traffic, build your local SEO strategy around voice and mobile searches. Optimize for conversational, question-based, location-sensitive, and intent-driven queries.
- Leverage AI Tools for Smarter SEO: It’s common knowledge that SEO is all about creating high-quality, well-researched, and in-depth content that meets the high expectations of the user. How the information is presented and its accessible convenience for users matters. Therefore, by simplifying complex SEO tasks, large language model-powered tools can allow small businesses compete with big brands and stay ahead of trends to continuously improve their local visibility by presenting the data in a digestible manner. Whether you want to find the list of keywords your competitors rank for, generate blog titles based on your niche, generate schema markup, or scan your website for broken links or outdated content, AI-powered SEO tools can help.
- AI-Enhanced Customer Engagement: Online interactions with customers impacts your business’ ranking in search results. For example, reviews left by customers on platforms like Google and Yelp help the search engine understand what real people think of your business, what your business does, how legit it is, and how well it meets customer expectations. Due to this, small businesses can leverage AI-powered customer engagement tools to stay responsive, professional, and helpful 24/7 by providing real-time assistance, solving customer queries, responding to reviews, scheduling appointments, taking orders, guiding users to specific products, and collecting leads for follow-ups. Since these measures can improve the overall customer experience, they can boost your local ranking.
- Community Involvement and Partnerships: When it comes to local SEO success, what people in your area think about your business matters. Major search engines like Google and Bing place high value on trust, relevance, and authority when ranking local businesses. For that reason, supporting community causes and showing up at local events can boost your business’s online visibility, making it a recognizable name in your neighborhood.
If you’re looking to strengthen your local SEO through community engagement, try:
- Sponsoring local events like a school sports team.
- Participating in community activities such as cleanups, charity drives, etc.
- Collaborating with other local businesses to share customer bases.
- Getting in touch with local news agencies and blog owners to have your business featured.
These efforts not only help spread the word about your business but also help build trust and credibility, ultimately improving your business’ online visibility.
Concluding Remark
It’s evident that local SEO is an every-evolving field. However, it’s important to note that if you want your business to be favored by AI-powered search engines in their location-specific search and map results, you need to combine tried and true time-tested local strategies with modern AI tools and trends. If you’re able to do that, your local SEO can improve greatly, strengthening your customer base and sales. Rather than stressing over it on your own, reach out to us at Outreach Digital Marketing for guidance. Our qualified team will provide thorough explanations and creative ideas for the best online approaches. We offer analytics, blog creation, email marketing, local marketing, pay per click, review management, search engine optimization, social media marketing, video production, and website development so your small business can succeed!
