What Local SEO Trends Can We Expect To See In 2020 And Beyond?
As more and more local businesses understand what SEO can do for them, they are definitely going to accept it as a major component in their business development and promotion strategy. This is surely going to increase the importance of local SEO in 2020 and beyond. Nearly 46% of all searches carried out on Google have got local intent. The increasing use of local SEO will not only raise the bar for the local companies but it is also going to give rise to more competition.
Under such conditions, let’s have a look at some of the practices that are going to emerge in the sphere of local SEO in 2020 and beyond.
One of the things that are definitely going to remain unchanged is the RDP, which signifies relevance, distance, and prominence. The relevance factor determines the way in which a particular business listing matches the intent of the user conducting the search. The distance defines the closeness of a business to the location of the searcher. So if someone is looking for a restaurant that serves Italian food, then the eatery that is closest to the home of the customer will have the highest ranking. The prominence factor depends on the popularity of a business. So if a restaurant is very popular, then it is going to have the best ranking.
Now let’s explore some of the factors that are going to create major changes in the way local SEO is going to work in 2020 and the coming years.
Better businesses are going to have higher ranking
Google is currently implementing some changes in its algorithm which can favor all local businesses having best ratings and reviews which make them the most popular. Therefore irrespective of the money spend on advertising by any firm; it is the companies that appeal to the mass audience that can have the best local SEO ranking. Companies that have the loyalty and support of their customers offline and online are going to enjoy better ranking at all times. On the other hand, companies that try to achieve higher ranking through unethical methods like buying reviews, likes and fake positive comments will find themselves being poorly ranked in the Google search engine result pages.
New and enhanced engagement metrics
A range of new and powerful search engine metrics are going to come forth which is going to transform the way local SEO works. These can include everything from how the prospective customers save contact information of a business entity on their mobile phones and the frequency in which people look for the location of a business on the Google Maps. All these data will be tracked by Google so that important local SEO decisions can be taken and businesses can have appropriate rankings.
Widespread use of entity authority
The authority of a local business in any given segment is also going to play a major role in determining the way in which Google algorithm for local SEO works. Google is likely going to use factors like popularity and engagement in order to determine the level of authority of the local business within a given sector. Popularity of a business is going to depend on how frequently a business is going to be talked about in the online world as well as the response it has in social media, on various sites, articles and forums. The extent to which people are engaged with the brand will also impact the local SEO of a business. So if you have a lot of people loving the interaction and experience that they have with your brand, your website is going to have better ranking in the Google SERPs.
Increased importance of Voice SEO
More and more people are going to use voice search when they need to find a local business in any given sector. Already voice search has become a major way in which people conduct searches on their phones. The improved voice technology has also played an important role in a popularizing the idea of voice search. Therefore companies offering local SEO solutions must include voice SEO in their strategy when they plan on optimizing the online ranking of a locally owned and operated company.
Implementation of question-based keywords
Question-based keywords or long tail keywords help to make sure that the search queries are more specific and to the point. The people who look for local businesses are going to use such long tail keywords with questions when they plan on getting any kind of product or service that they want.
These are some of the trends that are going to change the way local SEO is carried out in the days and months to come. Many of these practices are already in application and will only get more prominent with every passing day.