Lots of companies, specifically small-sized multi-location ones, can hardly manage or afford ‘national’ SEO. Even if they have an in-house SEO team or have hired a consultant, executing an SEO strategy and getting desired results seem next to impossible. When it takes five or six months to rank for a low competitive keyword, it’s a clear indication that something’s seriously wrong.
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Actually, there are one-million-and-one reasons hitting your SEO campaign to a roadblock.
SEO is not your highest priority. It’s always good to have some other sources of traffic or leads, but they are not good as long as they are not steady. For some businesses, content with their ‘offbeat sources of traffic’ puts SEO aside, and then SEO doesn’t remain their top priority.
SEO is expensive. Apparently, SEO is not just about creating some links for your website. It’s an ongoing strategy which starts with rewriting the URLs, updating the content, and sometimes updating the design if required. All these activities require resources and a huge amount of money. Small businesses generally find ignoring the SEO part more suitable than bearing these expenses.
SEO is complicated. And it has to be. If it was a piece of cake, everyone would have been seen doing this. Harsh thing is, search engines are making this process even more complicated. Strategies and algorithms keep changing, making it difficult for businesses to march with the changing updates.
So where are the keys of my car? When your budget or lack of resources doesn’t allow you to keep investing in your SEO campaigns, it’s high time you should start thinking about an alternative.
If your business has a physical presence, we strongly suggest you switch your gears toward Local SEO, for obvious reasons:
As soon as you verify your address for Google Business Listing, half the battle is won. And then it won’t require as much effort to take your business off the ground as national SEO. Target a few websites showcasing the businesses in your area, and you are a strong competitor to rank well amongst them.
If you think targeting a specific geographic area will restrict your reach, you might be wrong. There is abundant of low-hanging fruits within your reach. Targeting a local market may not bring you as much traffic as you would have received from national SEO, but being the best in your area is much better than being no one in the world.
With a clear indication of offering a particular service in a particular area, you eliminate the useless traffic to your website. When you compare the ratio of the number of visitors to leads between local businesses and national businesses, you will find that the percentage of converted traffic is much higher in local businesses. Apparently, your website will get less traffic but you will get more leads – your ultimate goal.
This point doesn’t require any explanation. There will be lesser people targeting your specific area, so you will have to combat fewer competitors. It will eventually increase your chances of ranking higher and ranking quicker. Also, you will be able to avoid those ‘sharks’ that rule the SERP for every keyword.
You need fewer efforts, and you need fewer resources. Apparently, you need lesser money to execute your local SEO campaign. One of the biggest ranking factors in local SEO – user feedback – costs you nothing. Your users will help you rank higher, making it more affordable for you.
With more and more companies jumping into local SEO and with search engines preferring local businesses, it’s thoughtful to give it some great consideration. Executing a national SEO campaign can be overwhelming and it may destroy your annual budget without any goods, but local SEO will pay for whatever you spend. So when you can’t do SEO, you can do local SEO.
