Above all, when you think of SEO, you think of results generated by a Google, Yahoo or Bing internet search.
However, if you are looking for a local business, you are probably going to search via city or town. This will bring up businesses in that particular search area, in other words, a local search.
Above all, local searches have an advantage in that they tie the business to a local address. Certainly this is important if you are looking for local services or a brick and mortar store. For example, you may be looking for a local mechanic to fix your car, or lawnmower.
This is something a lot of folks favor over “out of town” businesses. Dealing locally means you can usually go to the local physical structure.
Advantages
The biggest difference between local and national search is that it is limited to a local map location, and therefore much smaller amount of competition. Subsequently, it is the quickest avenue for driving relevant local traffic to your business.
To clarify, if you are located in a small area of say 5,000 people, and you are 1 of 5 dentist offices in town – you are only competing with 4 other businesses. On the other hand, if you are a dentist in say, Chicago, you are probably competing with hundreds of dentist offices.
Most importantly, competing on local level deals with substantially less competition than national level endeavors. Subsequently, it requires less resources and time to attain great exposure.
Direct Traffic
Firstly, being visible in local searches drives direct traffic to your physical location, not just your website. Secondly, most search providers list a map section right on their results page. Therefore, as a result, your listing also appears on the first page of search results as well.