If you haven’t jumped on board and started working on your local SEO, we’re here to steer you in the right direction. There are clearly a million things that you have to worry about when running a business of any size.

In the swarm of things on your brain, web optimization might fall toward the bottom of the list. That doesn’t mean it should be at the bottom of your list, however.

It doesn’t have to be a huge burden to optimize, and local optimization can genuinely send a lot of in-store traffic your way. Hopefully, these SEO statistics can show you the actual value of local optimization.

Local SEO Statistics

No matter what your business is, the truth is that a web presence is essential in this day and age. Brick and mortar business is increasingly influenced by the web, and here’s how things are changing:

1. The Google 3 Pack

While the term might be unfamiliar to a lot of you, the Google 3 Pack is something most of us know and use. It’s the list of the three most relevant local businesses to the search you made.

It’s essentially Google saying “here you go, here’s exactly what you’re looking for.” Ranking in the top three is key, as the 3 Pack shows up in 93% of local searches.

2. Users Lose Trust if Information is Inaccurate

Keeping up on your business information listings is essential if you want to retain your customer base.

In fact, 73% of customers say they lose trust in a business if its listing information is incorrect.

3. ‘Near Me’ Searches

We’ve all had a hankering for a particular food, whipped out our phones, and searched “gyros near me.”

Substitute your hankering for “gyros” and you get the picture. That happens across products, throughout industries. In fact, 82% of people say they engage in ‘near me’ searches, and most of those users click one of the first few results.

4. Most People Check Online First

Almost everyone in relevant surveys has admitted to searching for a business before visiting it in real life. This is something that you can reference from your own experience.

Even if you’re generally sure that a store will have what you need, you typically do a search and verify the address, hours, and product availability.

5. Small Towns Don’t Optimize as Much

If your business is situated in a small or medium sized town, you’re likely to see big results from even slight optimization. Places that have traditionally relied on word-of-mouth to get traffic are still seeing customers use near me searches.

Do yourself a favor and rise to the top of your local searches to skim off a great deal of customer traffic.

Need Help Getting Started?

These SEO statistics should have at least given you an idea of what local SEO can do. The process of optimization can be a little difficult, though.

If you’re looking to do local optimization right, contact us to see how you can get started.