Why SEO is Still Important for Location-Based Businesses

There is a misconception among some small brick-and-mortar businesses that SEO is a newfangled marketing technique that might help web-based businesses but will not provide any value for them. This is actually untrue – SEO can benefit any business with an online presence, even if their operations take place offline. Here are some of the major ways it offers value to location-based businesses. 

More visibility

Ignoring SEO as a small location-based business is a bit like placing a billboard on a quiet side street instead of next to the highway. It means that your business will only be seen by a few people instead of the many who could see it. Hardly anyone clicks on the second page of search results. Most do not even read past the first handful. It pays to make sure that your business is one of them.

Affordability

SEO can be much more effective than billboards because it targets customers who are already actively looking for what you are offering. Targeted marketing strategies like this are often cheaper than those that rely on being seen by large numbers of people. You could even let an agency handle SEO for you and still achieve a higher return on investment than you would get with traditional marketing methods. You can find out about the ROI you might expect by contacting an agency like King Kong, a top Australian player.

People trust you more

People are primed to trust large, established businesses. As a location-based enterprise, physical expansion by opening new locations can be expensive and complex. However, you can give people the impression that you are a well-established and reliable business by expanding your online presence instead. When people see that your brand is active on multiple different platforms and is ranking highly in searches, it gives your business more credibility. 

Competitive advantage

If you are reading this and considering whether SEO might be a good investment for your business, then there is a very good chance that your competitors also have not yet embraced it. Effective SEO can confer a considerable competitive advantage on businesses, but it can take a few months before the results really start to show. Getting started ahead of your competitors is ideal. 

Conclusion

SEO is not a kind of special strategy that only benefits online businesses. It can help any business with a website or social media presence get seen by its intended audience, even if its operations are based in a physical location.