What is the meaning of ‘Citations’?
A citation can be termed as such a place where information related to your business appears in front of the online audience. This can be an Online Directory or even a local business listing website. General information such as Name of the business, Address, Contact Details and the business’s Website URL appears in the Citations.
These citations are essential for a local business to grow. You need to make sure that the name of your business appears in the Citations where potential customers are looking for a service similar to yours. Otherwise, your competitors, with more visibility, will easily capture your potential consumers through such Citations.
Generally, there are two separate categories in case of Citations. One is Structured Citation and another one is Unstructured Citation. Mostly, structured citations are used in case of business listings or in case of a listing that is claimed by filling up certain criteria or forms. Most unstructured citations are the results that are derived from social or print media. In such a case, basic information related to your business appears to the online audience through a small local news article/write-up or is connected through a web-page. This information doesn’t appear in a structured format though.
Yes, citations can be extremely important for the growth of your local business. Not enough citations mean less visibility of your business online. This will ultimately result in poor results of your business. This concept is popularly known as ‘table stakes’, in terms of Local SEO.
As evident as it may get, it is absolutely essential to build more citations in most relevant web-pages and website for the sake of establishing a firm foundation for your own business. Also, research has proved that if the profiles and citations are not kept up-to-date and mess-free, then you may have to face bigger problems in the future.
Time for a Fact: Do you have any idea that 68% of the local consumers feel that they would stop taking services from any local service provider if there is wrong information provided about them in local online directories? Yes, you read that right!
What are the noteworthy SEO Services you should know about?
There are a lot of aspects present in SEO, not only in standard SEO but in local SEO as well. The dynamics of SEO are ever changing and evolving. It can take a lot of effort as well as time to get expected outcomes. This is the reason that most local businesses rely on local SEO services and local SEO companies, instead of investing in broader SEO.
The rules and regulations of Standard and Local SEO can be drastically different at times. Therefore, in most cases, local businesses opt to improve their ranking in local search results and local online business directories. This definitely helps in establishing the factor of trust between the business and the customers and also results in more direct business contacts, rather than mere website visits.
5 Fundamental Local SEO Hacks you should be acquainted with
Now we shall discuss the major elements that fall under Local SEO strategies which can help you gain more online visibility. We have listed down 5 important Local SEO techniques that can make a huge difference for your business –
- ‘Localization’ of the Existing Website – The concept of website localization is very simple. You just need to include your business address, city or town, country, region, etc organically all over your existing website. This will definitely drive in more local traffic. Also, if your business covers more than one location, you can introduce a separate webpage for each location. Other than this, attending local community events and featuring information about them on your website can be an added advantage.
- Creating More Citations – Building more local citations can enhance your business’s visibility drastically. You just need to make sure that your business gets featured in various local online business directories and citation websites. On one hand, this will help you reach more consumers, on the other hand providing extra information on the citation sites can improve your ranking in local SERPs.
- Establishing your own Google My Business (GMB) Profile – Claiming and establishing your own GMB profile is an immensely necessary step towards the improvement of your online visibility. Your business will get displayed on various noteworthy Google Services, like local SERPs as well as Google Maps. GMB profile along with your Microsoft Profile and Bing Place for Business Profile should be your priority and should be taken care of while setting down a business with the motive of earning profits.
- Looking After Customer Reviews and Ratings – Honest reviews coming from a customer who has used your services or products becomes instrumental in fetching more customers to your business. These ratings and reviews showcase the quality of your services/products and send green signals to the search engines about the trustworthiness of your business profile. The number of reviews you receive and also what they say about your services are all essential factors while decoding rankings in a local search.
- Obtaining Relevant Backlinks – Organically secured backlinks from trustable and reputed websites helps the search engine in recognizing your website as a trustworthy one. This goes on to enhance your prominence in case of a local search. Such backlinks can be obtained from locally established bloggers, business associations, local newspapers or online media, citation sites, etc and they can help in boosting your business’s visibility to a great extent.
Nine Ultimate Reasons that will prove that Local SEO Services are Essential
Let us focus on the reasons why you should actually invest in a local SEO Company. We have successfully jotted down 9 logical reasons behind the usage of Local SEO Services to tempt more people towards your business –
- Local customers are keeping their eyes on the Internet to get in touch with services and products available nearby
Yes, you read that correctly. More and more customers are looking for local services online. People no longer have faith in telephone books or local print directories. They are willing to have more faith in the information they get through the internet. This is a great time to establish and enhance the online reputability of your local business. According to a research, appearing in local searches can increase the growth of your business drastically in recent times.
- Local search results are greatly targeted towards grabbing potential customers
By using Local SEO strategies, you can improve your position in local searches. This is the best way to market your business and gain attention from the crowd. This increases the chances that the local customers will see your business profile, while they are actually looking for a similar service or business. The best time to connect with your customers is when they actually need services from a business like you.
- Local searches have the highest business conversions
We can see that many local online directories are highly visible in the very beginning of most of local search result pages. Therefore, landing your business information up in one or more local directories can fetch you leads that have high chances of getting converted into actual customers. This kind of Local Directory Marketing (one of the many Local SEO techniques) has higher guaranteed conversion rates than most conventional forms of advertising. You can get up to 50% guaranteed business conversions from popular local directories.
- Use of Mobile Internet is growing rapidly
Since the last few years, more and more users are opting to use the internet on the go. Using the internet with the help of mobile phones and tablets are on the rise. With the arrival of cheap internet services in India, almost everyone in the nooks and corners of the country now has access to the internet. Local SEO techniques are aimed for both PC and Mobile internet users so that you never miss an opportunity to attract a potential customer of your business.
- Great returns can be expected from Local SEO Services
In general, the conventional advertisements (leaflets, print ads, local newspaper ads etc) reach the customers without knowing whether they need the service currently or not. In the case of Local SEO, the effect is completely the opposite. Local SEO makes sure that the name of your business reaches the potential customers exactly when they need it the most. In this way, Local SEO ensures more visibility and more conversions. Therefore, it is both cost-effective and fruitful.
- Many local businesses have not claimed their Google My Business (GMB) listing yet
Google My Business (GMB) profile is a free listing and it is available for all kind of businesses. Getting listed on Google increases your chances of being seen by people around you who need your service. The fact is many local and small investment businesses still lack the proper idea about digital marketing. Therefore, many of them do not have a GMB profile. This definitely increases the chances of your business being more visible to people, once you claim your own GMB listing.
- Local Newspaper Advertisements are a thing of the past now
In the last few years, the number of readers of local newspapers has decreased dramatically. Research shows that in the last 20 years, the printed newspapers have lost almost 80% of their readers. People are now tuning in to the internet to get in touch with local news as well as local business. So, investing in Local SEO services seems to be a far better idea than investing in local newspaper advertisements.
- Local customers believe in the information provided on the internet
More people these days actually rely on the internet to find out all sorts of information related to a certain business and the services that they provide. Voice search is also gaining popularity in case of local searches. So, if your business is not there in any of the local search results, then it is evident that you are going to miss out on a lot of new customers. This is exactly where Local SEO strategies can help you.
- Most customers treat online reviews and ratings like personal recommendations
Word of mouth publicity never goes out of fashion. Nowadays online reviews and ratings are treated equally to personal recommendations and word of mouth publicity. Your company’s online reputation can be easily improved when happy customers leave good ratings and positive reviews about your business. This is one of the most convenient ways to attract a good number of new consumers towards your enterprise.
See Your Business Flourish with the Advantage of Local SEO Services
As evident from our discussion, local search marketing is an ongoing trend these days. The use of Local SEO is definitely going to be more diverse in the days to come. We can see that Google is aiming to make the local searches more personalized and best suited to the searcher. Probably, this is just the perfect opportunity to make a move and invest in the best local SEO Company that is available near you.
All sorts of local business, starting from electricians to plumbers, carpenters, accountants, travel agents, and even florists need the help of proper Local SEO techniques in order to establish their business and increase their presence in the online environment. This is just the right time to indulge in the advantages of Local SEO Services. So why wait? You can get started immediately!
Why should you prefer Pixel Global IT Services for your Local SEO needs?
Pixel Global IT Services has been in the field of Local SEO Services since the last 10 years and has proved their worth in this field of online marketing. Pixel Global IT Services has also helped several local businesses as well as big businesses to understand their position in the local search market and to improve their online visibility in a pre-provided time frame.
Let us give you some more reasons to choose Pixel Global IT Services for your nest local SEO campaign –
- Visualize the position you hold – It is essential for a local business to first understand its current ranking. Pixel Global IT Services helps you to do that. You can track down numerous keywords all across popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. You can also get a detailed summary of your organic ranking, mobile ranking as well as ranking in the Google Maps. You can use this to compare your ranking against others in the same business like yours and also create reports to get a fair idea regarding ongoing ranking trends as used for diverse locations.
- Establish a reputation of your business online – You can easily establish and manage the repute and status of your business online by minutely observing the reviews and ratings across various search engines and social media sites. Pixel Global IT Services will help you guide your satisfied customers to leave valuable reviews on the most popular sites.
- Increase the visibility of your business – Pixel Global IT Services ensures that your business becomes visible to more and more local searchers and ends up landing in many local search result pages, with the help of best local SEO techniques that are smart as well as effective.
- Build relevant and effective citations – Pixel Global IT Services will help you in your journey of building a strong base with the help of accurate and relevant citations. The manual citations team and the citation building services ensure high visibility and consistency in the appearance of your business in local search results.
So, if this sounds good to you, then don’t waste more time. Get in touch with the Pixel Global IT Services team today and see your local business flourish significantly. Invest in our local SEO Services and we assure you that you are going to get best possible local search results within the given timeframe. Be sure that you are not going to regret this decision of yours ever!