Have you ever run a ‘near me’ search on Google or Bing? I’m guessing you have. ‘Near me’ searches are pretty common. They are also a gold mine for local businesses and digital markers who know how to take advantage of them. Mastering the ‘near me’ search brings in customers that would not have found your business any other way.
The Starting Point
The starting point for leveraging ‘near me’ searches is optimizing your online presence. For more on that, we turn to a Salt Lake City company known as Webtek Digital Marketing. Local companies running a Google search on ‘SEO services near me’ will see Webtek in the search results. This is no accident.
Webtek practices all the same tips they employ on behalf of their clients. This includes online optimization. For ‘near me’ search purposes, Webtek recommends four optimization techniques:
- Establishing and maintaining a Google Business profile.
- Ensuring that name, address, and phone number (NAP) information is consistent across the web.
- Claiming all business listings found on sites like Yelp and Bing Listings.
- Optimizing the company’s website with proper keywords and location references.
These four optimization techniques give search engines critical information for ranking based on location. Remember that location and relevance are the two most important factors in ‘near me’ searches.
Prioritize Speed and Mobile Friendliness
Within the last seven or eight years, Google has made page speed and mobile friendliness seriously important ranking factors. They are critically important to ‘near me’ searches simply because people often search for nearby businesses using their phones. Ideally, they want pages that load quickly so that they are not wasting time. They also expect sites that are fully functional on their devices.
Target the Local Audience
Given the fact that ‘near me’ searches are conducted by local residents and businesses, it makes perfect sense to target that local audience with on-site content. Make content appealing with local references. Use language local residents are familiar with.
It is okay to have some generalized content to appeal to a larger audience. But the rule of thumb for capitalizing on ‘near me’ searches is to localize content as much as possible. For example, Webtek emphasizes SEO services in both Salt Lake City and Utah. Their content is designed to reflect that emphasis.
Engaging With Consumers Is a Must
Consumers are a business’s lifeline. That being the case, mastering ‘near me’ searches requires placing an emphasis on customer engagement. Companies should absolutely engage by quickly answering inquiries, responding to online reviews, encouraging user-generated content, conducting polls, and so forth.
An underutilized engagement tool is the company newsletter. These are digital newsletters that are sent by email to customers who have voluntarily signed up for them. A newsletter can engage with local customers in ways that no other form of marketing can touch.
Collaborate With Other Businesses
If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can take your marketing efforts to a whole new level by collaborating with other businesses. Cross market by utilizing one another’s websites. Swap ads in your newsletters. Offer to help other businesses increase brand awareness through your marketing channels and ask them to do the same for you.
In its simplest form, the ‘near me’ search is an attempt to find a business or organization that meets one’s needs without forcing excess travel. Searchers are looking for companies nearby, companies that can get them what they want quickly and with as little hassle as possible. If you understand this, you probably understand the need for mastering the ‘near me’ search. Now go out and do it.