In today’s digital age, local businesses face a lot of competition. So, it’s really important to stand out from them. But the question is how you can do that. It’s not by providing discounts, making offers, or low-price selling. You can easily achieve that by presenting on the Google “near me” searches. Because customers often search for online products & services in the local area by the phrase “near me.”
And if you start appearing in the local area services online, your foot traffic and online inquiries will gradually start increasing.
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Meaning of “Near Me” Searches
In the “near me” searches, customers search for products and services in a particular location. At the time of the search, chances of immediate purchase are high. By optimizing for “near me,” you can easily boost sales and brand visibility online.
Why Optimizing ‘Near Me’ Searches is Important for Your Business
In the US, according to stats, 18-27 billion local searches happen monthly on Google. Out of these, 43% of customers have a high intent of buying while searching. That means for boosting sales, online visibility, and foot inquiries, your business must be present on the “near me” searches. With a high ranking on “near me” searches, your revenue will increase within a few months of implementation.
Rise of Near Me Searches on Google
In recent years, “near me” searches have increased gradually with incredible growth, as evidenced by the following statistics:
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- 150% surge in phrases like “near me now” (e.g., “Pizza near me now”).
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- 900% increase in phrases like “near me tonight/today” (e.g., “clubs near me tonight”).
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- 200% rise in phrases combining “now” with “near me” (e.g., “stores open near me now”).
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Local SEO Mistakes You Should Never Do
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- Neglecting Website Optimization: By not optimizing your website’s local SEO, you reduce your visibility in “near me” searches. To rank highly in “near me” searches, your website should include local keywords for better online visibility.
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- Neglecting Content Creation: Content is king. By not producing blogs or landing pages, your business is missing out on huge opportunities for relevant local searches.
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- Not Asking for Reviews from Happy Customers: Businesses that don’t actively encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews online risk being overshadowed by competitors who do. Customer reviews are crucial for getting better authority and integrity online.
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- Failing to Manage Duplicate Listings: It’s essential to remove all the duplicate businesses to get better search engine and local SEO performance. It’s essential to ensure all information related to your business is accurate and consistent across all platforms.
10 Expert Tips on How to Optimize for “Near Me” Searches on Google
- Fill Out All Information Accurately: Your business information needs to be listed correctly, like your business name, address, and phone no throughout your website page. There should be a contact page that needs to be very clear and concise. Make sure your GMB listing matches exactly with your website.
- Keep Your Online Presence Updated: Keep your online presence updated, like business hours, services you provide, and updated content according to audience needs. This will help in bringing authority and integrity to your customers.
- Encourage Positive Customer Reviews: Every business wants to rank higher. But some forget it’s not about the money you make. It’s about how you are helping your customers. By helping, you will get positive reviews, and you can easily use that to rank higher for near-me searches.
- Use Location-Specific Keywords: By using location-specific keywords in your content, you will get a higher ranking with more online visibility in “near me” searches. This will help you in finding how to rank for near-me searches easily.
- Publish Relevant Blog Content: According to your audience, you always need to publish relevant content for them, like educational, informational, and beneficial content related to your product and services. By publishing relevant content, you will build a personal connection with your audience, which ultimately leads to sales and more visibility for your business.
- Be Active on Social Media: Engaging and connecting with your audience on social media helps you get more visibility and traffic to your website. This will help you in getting local SEO near me searches.
- Collaborate with Local Businesses: By collaborating, you will get a new, fresh audience that can be your dream customer. This will strengthen your relationship with other local businesses, which will help you gain credibility.
- Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly: Nearly 77% of “near me” searches occur on mobile. So, for the audience’s convenience, you must always check whether your website is mobile-friendly.
- Optimize Mobile Page Load Times: In today’s social media world, the attention span is decreasing daily. If your website takes time to open, your customers will go to other sites and purchase there. So, it would help if you optimized the mobile page load times.
- Boost Local SEO with Geographic Backlinks: Backlinks are particularly important for establishing your website’s authority and relevance in a specific geographical area. This will ultimately boost the local SEO of your website.
If your business is visible and reachable, you can help your audience with your product or service. So, by improving your “near me” searches, your business sales and revenue start increasing.
Looking for expert help to optimize your local SEO near me? Our SEO consultants on Near Me Searches can help you rank higher in “near me” searches. Contact us today to learn how we can boost your local visibility and drive more traffic to your business.
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Rishabh Sharma (Rish)
Founder, ICONIER Inc.
Over 7 years of experience in managing digital products with a specific focus on branding, lead generation, and delivering custom IT Solutions. Graduated from the University of London (U.K) in Business & Management. Rish saw the opportunity to improve and digitalize operations for small and large businesses by providing simple and innovative online solutions.
