According to a compilation of statistics from SEO software company Ahrefs, 68 percent of all online experiences begin with a query through a search engine, and SEO alone drives 1,000 percent more traffic than just using organic social media. SEO builds trust and authority with search engines, which in turn builds trust with consumers. Building local SEO is both cost-efficient and a long-term strategy that will outlast paid efforts.

Organic traffic converts at a higher rate than any other marketing channel. Prospective customers typically search online for what they want. While organic search traction on Google takes time – often up to many months – the payoff can be lasting. Once high search rankings are achieved, they can be sustained for a long period of time and diminish the need for reliance on paid search.

SEO uses tactics that lead to a single result of higher ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Like all good things, these tactics require time and effort. But, when done correctly, they provide sustainable, online visibility for local businesses.

A higher ranking on a SERP means that potential customers are more likely to click on a website when they search for businesses similar to your business. According to Backlinko, less than one percent of Google searchers click on the second page of search results.

Local search engine optimization (SEO) is an organic inbound marketing strategy that drives quality traffic to a website. It’s used to optimize a website for local search by increasing its visibility in the search engine results. Local SEO is of particular importance to smaller businesses that look to do business with customers in specific geographic regions.

Brick-and-mortar storefront or services businesses within a local community use local SEO tactics and tools to generate more sales leads by showing up as a top local search result. Consumers want to find local businesses quickly and easily.

Why local SEO is important

Local SEO is important for two reasons. The first being that it helps a local business climb higher in the ranking of search results.

The second is that local SEO, as it pertains to Google My Business (GMB), is the only way to be found when someone searches on Google Maps. The business location needs to be added through GMB and the rest of the information will be pulled up from GMB.

Pay-per-click advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a quick fix that has no sustainability without SEO. It works extremely well at first, then plateaus with nothing sustainable built to continue performance when funding runs out. You want to combine PPC with SEO in order to sustain the momentum you build with PPC.

Search engine marketing

SEM is a digital marketing strategy that includes both paid and organic methods to increase the SERP ranking of a website. It is the most effective way for an online business to be found by prospective customers.

People often talk about SEO and PPC separately when truthfully the two go hand in hand. Both strategies target the same goal, and using the two together builds authority and drives quicker results simultaneously.

You will miss a big revenue opportunity if you aren’t using PPC and SEO products and services together. Both SEO and PPC ads fall under the umbrella of SEM, and they are both used to obtain a higher ranking in search.