3 Tips For Securing Local Business Search Traffic From Non-Locals
Around a third of all local business searches are actually conducted by non-locals. For example if you were living in Cork but you were visiting Dublin for a few days on business, you may conduct some local searches such as “restaurants O’Connell Street” or “things to do in Dublin”. This is a huge portion of searches that are being either underutilised or completely ignored by local businesses. Here are 3 tips for securing local business search traffic from non-locals.
1: Google My Business & Other Directories
To entice non-locals to visit your local business, you must make it as easy as possible to find you. To do this, start by claiming your Google My Business page, Yelp page and any other relevant directories or review platforms for your industry. Make sure your address and business information are correct and identical across all of the directories. A business’s name is something that is often slightly different across different platforms, make sure it is spelled and laid out exactly the same wherever it’s mentioned. Consistent business information makes it easier for customers to find you and also works with Google’s algorithms to help build your SEO results.
2: Broader Search Terms
Non-local searchers won’t know the area and what it has to offer as well as a local searcher. For this reason, they tend to use broader search terms. Unlike traditional local search advice, long tail keywords aren’t very useful in this situation and the broader and higher competition keywords will come into play more. PPC campaigns with broad terms can be very costly and yield minimal results. So developing an organic SEO strategy for those broad search terms is generally the best approach.
3: Optimise For Mobile
You have probably heard about the huge importance of having a mobile friendly website a thousand times, but it is even more important if you want to attract non-local searchers. The vast majority of non-local searchers search from mobile while they are on the move. Page load speeds and a good user experience for mobile are critical if you want to turn those browsers into leads and sales for your local business.
Start generating more leads and sales by securing local business search traffic from non-locals. You can do this by ensuring you claim your business in every directory, all of your business information is consistent across every channel, use a broad search term SEO strategy and provide a great experience for mobile users.