In the digital marketing and advertising world, obtaining approval for budget and resources often requires proving the impact of your concept.
It’s disappointing to have a gut feeling that an initiative needs attention, only to be turned down because you can’t demonstrate its value.
There’s an old saying that the “devil is in the details.”
In reality, all of the opportunity lies in the details.
Proper analysis and effective tracking and reporting of local search performance can reveal these opportunities.
In local search, the focus isn’t just on non-branded keyword delivery to sales and leads.
It’s also about how well your branded local visibility drives traffic to your site.
1. Start Small
We know that Google holds a significant share of the overall search engine market.
However, you might not know how well it performs for your business.
By owning your local listing and doing a bit of optimization, you could already be driving substantial traffic, calls, direction requests, and website visits.
To measure this, implement a UTM variable to your website URL link.
The URL tag can be easily created with Google’s URL builder.
Ensure you note the search engine source, the medium as “organic,” and the campaign identifier.
Edit the website address in your Google My Business listing info area.
This allows you to assess local listing traffic in Google Analytics Campaigns and tie it to lead, goal, or revenue data.
Apply this exercise to Bing Places too.
Now what?
Google My Business effectively shows you location-level engagement.
Connecting Google My Business to Google Data Studio provides a great way to show improvement over time.
This allows you to understand engagement levels by location, sentiment changes through star ratings over time, and performance for non-branded local searches.
Armed with this data, you can demonstrate visibility within a segment of your brand’s online user behavior and its impact on your bottom line.
Opportunity
This insight into your Google local listing performance might compel you to:
- Dedicate more time to listing optimization, adding photos, videos, and information details.
- Maintain the site by continually adding Google Posts to promote company events and offers.
- Consider review generation services to increase positive reviews on your Google local listing and other relevant sites. You might also see the need for brand reputation management tools or resources to monitor sentiment on your listings.
2. Get the Ball Rolling
You’ve shown the power of the largest player in the arena. Now, it’s time to explore other local channels driving traffic to your site.
Using a local listing audit tool can help you understand your Name, Address, Phone (NAP) presence across the web and ensure accuracy.
Traffic directed to an incorrect destination doesn’t help you.
These tools also provide domains of authoritative listing sites, helping you filter website visitor referrals and understand the quality of these visitors.
Opportunity
While your Google listing review focused on revenue and lead generation, this review emphasizes accuracy and traffic.
Accuracy will aid in your domain’s overall local search success.
If you lack in these areas, consider a local listing management feed distribution service to correct inaccuracies and broadcast your web info more widely, potentially driving more traffic back to your site.
This will also help you monitor reviews for better control of your local reputation.
3. Think Locally
Does your organization have ties with other organizations through partnerships, sponsorships, or charitable events?
Such associations with websites having more traffic than yours can drive significant traffic to your site.
The inbound link holds local-specific relevance with search engines and offers additional benefits.
Opportunity
Filter traffic by these associated domains and review any lead generation or revenue. Analyze user behavior such as bounce rates and site navigation.
Capture this audience in a Google Analytics audience, targeting them in the future with Display and YouTube ads. This keeps your brand fresh in the minds of a locally relevant audience with mutual associations from linked sites.
4. Look on the Inside
Review internal location-specific pages, their performance, and how to analyze them moving forward.
Don’t have location-specific pages? You need them. Even if you don’t service clients at your location, mention your address on your site to associate with local listings.
In Google Analytics, filter Landing Pages to your location page(s) specifically for Organic Search traffic. Invest in local search optimization if the traffic percentage is substantial.
Review all referring sources leading to a location page to understand differences.
Opportunity
Assess whether users move past the location page to other parts of the site or if they bounce away. Check if they convert on the site and complete goals like phone number clicks or emails.
If there’s a lack of positive behavior, understand what should be on these location pages to give users the necessary contact information, company info, or internal links to other relevant site content.
Valuation & Understanding the Need
This exercise should help you see the value your local SEO efforts bring in terms of locally relevant links, traffic, conversions, and revenue. You should now be able to visually prove this to those who can approve your further efforts.
With a little perseverance and a lot of data, you’ll be on track for local search success.
More Resources:
- Local SEO: The Definitive Guide to Improve Your Local Search Rankings
- The Complete Guide to Local SEO for Multiple Locations
- A 50-Point Audit for Getting Started with Local SEO
Image Credits
Featured Image: Created by author, June 2020
All screenshots taken by author, June 2020
