Skip to main content

7 Local SEO Updates That Will Impact Your 2022 Planning

 

7 Local SEO Updates That Will Impact Your 2022 Planning

consumers’ informational needs have grown and local markets have become more competitive, search engines have adapted to meet these needs.

Businesses, local SEO professionals, and their agencies have new tools, more data – and easier access to both.

And consumers? They’re gaining access to more of the information they care about through an increasingly rich, engaging, and seamless local search experience.

Google And Changing Consumer Buying Habits Disrupted Local Search

This year, many of our top local search updates are from Google, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.

Google quickly responded to changing consumer buying habits as a result of the pandemic and remains the dominant force in the market. 

1. Google Business Profile Made Local SEO More Convenient For Businesses

Perhaps most impactful was that business owners no longer have to dig through an app or platform to update or correct their listings. You can add or update contact information, opening hours, add images, and more right from Google Search and Google Maps.

You can complete the verification process and address issues such as suspensions from Search, too, making it easier than ever to gain a powerful presence in the local search results.

2. Google Made It Easier To Find And Catch Up On The Latest Local NewsGoogle launched two projects to help journalists enrich their stories with local data and information:

Gather, analyze, and visualize data collected and processed by The Associated Press about a local area.

Common Knowledge Project

Access geographic comparisons, charts, and visualizations for data analysis at the county, state, and national levels.

The search engine also made local news stories easier to find in the SERPs with these updates:

  • Local News Carousel: Local news stories relevant to a user’s query now appear at the top of the SERPs, making them easier to find while giving local journalists and publications more visibility.
  • Top Stories Carousel: Authoritative local news sources appear alongside the major publications, which once dominated this portion of the SERPs.
  • More News In Search: Google improved its ability to connect the news to broad topic queries.
  • Local Tweets: Local publications and journalists appear in local news with tweets rather than just published stories.

    • 3. Bing Added More Visual Elements And Rich Results

    • Expandable carousels give users access to additional information when they hover over a result.
    • Infographic-like results now entice searchers using broad queries to dig deeper into a topic.
    • Intuitive highlights pull details like ingredients lists, calorie counts, and nutritional information from a page without requiring the user to click through to a website.
    • Integrated visual search allows users to visually search for similar-looking items by clicking the integrated visual search button.

    Why do these things matter to local SEO professionals? Bing incorporated these same concepts into its local search results.

    Instead of a simple image carousel or text-based facts, Microsoft Bing delivers a visually-rich SERP for local queries consisting of relevant resources gathered from Bing Maps, top images, visitor reviews, and other sources.These changes have made focusing some local SEO efforts on Bing a more attractive prospect. Creative businesses can own the local search space if they’re willing to get creative with the many local search opportunities.

    4. Everyone Gets New Attributes

    Attributes provide proactive answers to questions searchers often have about a specific business type and are featured prominently on Google Business Profiles.

    Why? Google is always looking for ways to help businesses stand out and better satisfy a query.

    Features like the Black-owned or Women-owned business attributes, for example, help searchers who are looking to support businesses with shared value make these connections.

    In February 2021, Google added health, safety, and pandemic-related attributes to Google Business Profiles.

    With the addition of these attributes, local businesses can share information about safety protocols and advertise changing or new services such as curbside pickup, no-contact delivery, and dine-in service.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Use WordPress as A Content Management System

  How to Use WordPress as A Content Management System Or CMS  Using WordPress as A Content Management System Or CMS There has been talk about using WordPress beyond the typical blog set-up, into the realms of a full-fledged content management system or CMS. Yet, most people have no idea how this is even possible. I have to stress that the default WordPress software is intended to be a blogging tool, so if you're trying to make it work like a different type of content management tool you'll have to use the correct plugins (enhancements) and have the a clear idea of what you want to achieve. While the exact step-by-step method is out of the scope of this article, lets explore some of the ways you can use WordPress, as I have personally done before. 1) WordPress as An Article Directory To make WordPress work as an article directory, you'll need a special plugin, and a source for the articles. MyArticleMarketer.com is the perfect tool for this, as the articles the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Did you know what are the 6 ways to advertise your business.

  There is much more to a successful ad campaign than celebrity endorsements. To catch people’s fleeting attention and influence their decisions, it’s not just about knowing what to say—it’s also important to know when, where, and who to say it to. Before you unleash your inner develop the next iconic advertising campaign, you need to understand the different types of advertising channels available to you and how to leverage those channels to best target, influence, and convert more customers. What Is Advertising? Advertising is the strategic effort to shape consumer perception and spur action through targeted, paid messaging in various media forms, aiming to inform, persuade, and influence purchasing behaviors or brand recognition. Why Advertising Is Important Advertising is crucial for business success. Advertising fosters customer engagement and loyalty, which are essential for building long-lasting relationships. It also plays a pivotal role in building and differentiating...
Post a Comment
Read more

52 Work From Home Jobs for you

  52 Work From Home Jobs Paying as Much or a Lot More Than the Average UK Salary. The money can be pretty good but you're on your own. For some people that's the best part. 1. Affiliate Marketer  When the visitor clicks the affiliate link and buys the book, Amazon will pay you a percentage of the sale. People love affiliate marketing because they can start earning money passively with few startup costs. 2. Animator Are you an artistic and creative individual who is able to create animation and visual effects for television, movies, video games and other types of media? 3. Baker/Caterer/Chef If you have a knack for baking or cooking, then turn your passion into a side business. From your own kitchen, you could start a catering business or become a personal chef. If you're a baker, you could sell you goods to friends, neighbors, online or at local farmer's markets. 4. Blogger Blogging is inexpensive and easy to start doing. It could be as simple as you just writing about ...
Post a Comment
Read more