Local SEO Predictions for 2021

 

Many local businesses today have been forced into digital transformation in order to adapt to the year’s challenges and survive. More and more companies are harnessing digital technology to revolutionize the way they interact with customers. But to be able to build and maintain a strong online presence, a local business would have to implement a sound local search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.  

What is Local SEO? It is optimizing your local business online so that it is more visible on local searches. 

Let’s take a look at the local SEO predictions for 2021, and how you can optimize your local business and make it more digitally competitive next year.   

 

Key local SEO trends in 2021 

• Authenticity will become even more important 

  

Major search engines such as Google place a premium on businesses that have many positive, authentic reviews. Feedback on your business must be from actual people who have visited your store, bought your products, or availed of your services.  

Having legitimate feedback increases the likelihood of your brand being listed on the first page of local search results, which is crucial to your business, as most people don’t look beyond the first or second page. 

 

• Reputation will be a brand’s lifeblood 

With more and more online users choosing to look up and transact with businesses via digital channels, you need reviews that can help strengthen your brand’s reputation. Online customer feedback can greatly impact how your brand would be perceived by potential customers. 

Google determines if your business is trustworthy, relevant, and is an authority in its category based on the number of positive and genuine reviews and high domain authority backlinks it receives from reputable sources. Think about it this way: Google has become the entity that most people trust to recommend a product or a service. If Google trusts you, more people will too.  

 

• Voice assistants and map recommendations will change search 

  

Come 2021, more people will shift to searching through their voice assistants. Voice search optimization, which works in a similar way to typewritten SEO, will become even more important for businesses who want to strengthen their brand reputation.  

Experts predict that small- to medium-sized enterprises will have a better chance of visibility if they are optimized for voice search.  

There’ll also be an increase in the number of people who will choose which store to visit based on the businesses they see on digital maps. Google maps, for instance, can suggest a specific product or service according to the user’s history and current location. This personalized recommendation can be a way for potential clients to find your store.   

 

Solidify your 2021 local SEO plan 

iMapping can help you strengthen your brand’s online presence by making it more visible on major maps and voice search platforms such as Google Maps, Waze, Siri, Alexa, and more. Being visible on these major maps and voice search platforms when consumers do a local search will drive more traffic to both your website and your physical store. Trusted by 10,000+ businesses, iMapping’s customized plans are designed to suit your business goals and needs.