Executive Summary
The position that our types of businesses initially occupied meant that we were not easily visible to each other, at least locally. We had less than 15 active inquiries per month and were featured beyond the 30 most popular results for Google. The owners decided to try Local SEO and after improving our Google My Business listing – the situation began to change rapidly. Explore the power of influencer marketing and how it drives engagement and sales.
Within three months, profile views quadrupled and reached the top three on the list of local search queries. Not only did the foot traffic increase by 40 percent but the online inquiries went up to over 60 per month. This brilliant approach transformed our local presence into a real cash cow for us.
Introduction
Some years ago, when we began this little local bread-making bakery, we could hardly get noticed in cyberspace. Yes, we have great products, yet in total, purchases from new customers constituted only 15 %; our website gets only 50 visits on average per month. That is why we realized that we needed a new strategy to become more visible in our community.
It is at this point that we realized that Local SEO and Google My Business hold the key to our success. In less than 90 working days of the above strategies, the GMB profile views had spiked by 120% and actual walk-in customers experienced a 40% boost. This case study is focused on describing all that went into making that a reality.
Problem Statement
As I reflect on the early days of my small business, the main challenge was clear: Which means we had very little social media presence. Indeed, there was intense competition because the restaurant was situated in a crowded area, and we were unable to drive a strong online presence in comparison to more established neighbouring competitors. At the start, we were getting few visitors to our website, with approximately 50 to 60 hits a week of which a handful were locals.
I understood that it's a huge disadvantage not to have an actively developing local online network – there are so many deals you lose. Potential customers in our niche were looking for the services that we provided but failed to find our firm in local search queries. It became apparent that we needed to reach into that market after learning that a survey showed that 78 per cent of local mobile searches translated into a physical purchase.
The reasons for selecting Local SEO and Google My Business (GMB) regarding website ranking stemmed from the low cost of implementation that would allow growth in line with our expansion. Discover actionable tips in this email marketing campaign case study to boost your ROI.
We aimed to improve our position on local search and bring more people in-store without the high cost of other advertising. What we observed at the time was that competitors received about thirty per cent more local inquiries solely because they ranked higher in local searches.
Strategy and Implementation
When I began the efforts of growth for the business, I was well aware that we required structure when it came to visibility. Local SEO and Google My Business became our major strategies. Let me walk you through the process of strategizing and delivering the medicine that was measurable.
Local SEO Strategy
To improve our presence on the internet, let us first perform keyword research. From the two search intent types, we found 20 local high-intent keywords such as 'best coffee shop near me' and ' affordable bakeries in Springfield'. We targeted some keywords, expecting our local organic traffic to improve within two months our website received about a 45% boost.
For any page on our site, we ensured that each had proper and clear titles and descriptions that were specific to the location. Use of local schema (structured data) enhanced search engines to identify our business. We posted five topics of local interest in our blog every month to attract over 1200 visits in the first three months.
Several backlinks helped to set up credibility for our news sources. Local blogs and directories remain helpful: partnering with these sources contributed more than 30 relevant backlinks. These efforts helped bring us from page three of local search results to page one in under 90 days. Dive into an insightful digital marketing strategy case study to enhance your campaigns.
Google My Business Setup
The turning point was, to set up a professional-looking GMB profile. Their first action to reach out to the community was uploading high-quality photos of the storefront, the products they sell, and their team. These photos got over 5,000 views in the first month and came from new customers.
We made sure our business information was consistent: street, opening time and contact number. By posting weekly about new promotions and events, the number of profile views on GMB rose by 40%. Positive reviews also turned into essential—out of 75 reviews, 90% have five-star reviews.
Content Marketing
The content marketing plan was geared towards reaching out to the needed audience which is the local people. It made us more relatable for the readers when writing articles regarding events that happen locally and tips on how to enjoy our offerings. There was a post about a local festival, which received 800 visits to the site in one week – the strength of hyper-local content.
For example, on GMB, constant features such as "Special Sunday Offers" or "Holiday Changes" attracted the attention of our consumers. People began arriving to wait for these offers. These posts over three months contributed 15% to total customer interactions.
Technical Enhancements
We also enhanced the technical aspect of our web presence. The page loading time of the website was pushed to below 2.5 seconds which brought down the bounce rates by 30%. We rendered the site mobile because 75% of the people are using it through their smartphones.
The use of local schema markup allowed us to specify that our NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information could be easily found by search engines. This small but important change helped to raise our visibility on Google Maps by 50 per cent, placing us on the map for our customers to find us. Find out how many keywords should I use for SEO to optimize your content effectively.
Challenges Encountered
Like every other endeavour, there are bound to be challenges when attempting to grow a business using Local SEO and Google My Business. Here you can have an insight on how I managed to address some of the challenging issues on the way.
Competing with Established Businesses
The main problem was to penetrate a market that had been mostly captured by more significant companies. These businesses captured 70% of local search result positions, making it difficult for us to get visible. Because we stuck to the localized keywords and, thus, the highly specialized services, we were able to increase the traffic by 25 per cent in two months.
Maintaining Consistency Across Platforms
Coordinated business information across different platforms was time-consuming and seemed like a process that had no end. Having inconsistent operating times listed across multiple directories meant that we lost at least 15 leads a week. In other words, depending on the type of mat, and colour it glosses, reflects, runs and feels, all details were standardized and proved an across-the-board increase in accurate customer contacts by about 20%. Learn the secrets of PPC campaign success through this in-depth case study.
Overcoming Technical SEO Issues
Technical SEO was enshrouded in a labyrinth, particularly structured data. I mentioned that mistakes made to schema markup resulted in a 20% drop affecting our rankings at first. We considered dedicating a week towards learning and straightening out these mistakes before noticing a 35% increase in our local search.
Results
Local SEO and Google My Business gave a completely new shade to our company and its visibility. In less than three months our website traffic from local search improved by 65% and the number of views on our GMB profile went up by more than 400%. This increase did not just sound attractive on the spreadsheets – it generated actual customer interest and traffic to our store.
Our reviews also skyrocketed. We moved from having only 10 reviews to having 85 happy customer reviews with a rating of 4.9 stars each. Due to this strategy, our monthly sales reached $16,500 which is double the initial amount of $8,000. These 'statistics' revealed to us what a properly developed local SEO strategy was capable of!
Lessons Learned
Once we made changes to our Google My Business listing, the number of local leads we received boosted by 30 per cent within a month. The accuracy of the information we have posted concerning our business operational times and our contact details has therefore served to establish credibility. Asking for customer feedback also provided even better results – we received 15 new 5-star reviews within the first two weeks of actively promoting the reviewing process.
These posts invited continued engagement with GMB and helped us stay top of mind; weekly posts about promotions, for example. This value became inspiring when it grew by 50% during the months we published consistent content. Often, these seemingly mundane, repeated steps were our most valuable learnings about sustaining our presence.
Conclusion
Thinking about this process, I've understood that Local SEO and Google My Business played a crucial role in the growth of my small business. Thus, in less than three months, web traffic on our local sites has risen by 70 per cent, and customer interest increased by 45 per cent. We could not expect numbers like these!
Believe me, if you are a small business owner, take the time to invest in these tools that transform the game. This helped us move up from the 15th position to the top 3 of the local search, not to mention that the clients trust us with over 50 positive feedbacks.