The Impact Of Local SEO On Brick-And-Mortar Businesses During The Holidays

The holiday shopping season is in full swing!

Families are out stocking their sleighs to keep gifts coming down the chimney!

But with the ever-changing technological world, Santa’s elves are spending not only in stores, but online as well. 

In fact, research shows that Black Friday spending this year hit an ONLINE record!

So yes, while many woke up bright and early to hit the stores, consumers desperate for deals spent their time shopping online to avoid the crowds.

This isn’t the best of news for brick-and-mortar businesses.  Hence the importance of making your online presence easy to find with search engine optimization (SEO).

Search engines are huge when it comes to finding what you’re looking for. The good news here is that research shows that 93-percent of consumers say they use the internet to find local businesses. According to Google, 76-percent of people who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a physical store within one day.

So, what do you need to do to make sure you appear higher in search results?

First, make sure to think about what your customer wants. 

Promotions and offers are a huge hit, especially around the holidays!

You’ll also want to make sure to include your store hours, location and pickup information, as well as stock availability.

Having this information right at their fingertips will help attract your local audience to your store.

Next, don’t forget about your business profile on Google.

Desperate, last-minute holiday shoppers may be searching for a business that is open to make sure they can run in and grab what they’re looking for.  If your holiday hours are different, be sure to make that known, or you’ll have frustrated shoppers who won’t return.

Most importantly, once you’ve made sure all website pages are up-to-date, you want to make sure you use specific keywords throughout your site.

Experts recommend using two to three keywords today because search engine crawlers pick up more conversational text. Especially with tools available like Siri, who helps repeat what the customer is searching for.

Another SEO opportunity during the holidays is to create a fun, festive landing page!

Using seasonal words and descriptions to spice up your keywords will help your store be found by those who are shopping, searching, and in the holiday spirit.

Last, make sure to keep up with reviews on your website. 

Research shows that 87-percent of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 94-percent of them say positive reviews make them more likely to visit a business.  

This is a great way to lure in those shoppers for last-minute deals!

So, as you are busy ringing up your cash register, make sure to gift yourself an amazing holiday shopping season by taking some time to optimize your website!

In the end, we all hope our consumers have a memorable shopping experience, so the gifts keep coming down the chimney!