Local Citation Statistics 2022-2021 and 2020-2019

Search Engines play an important role in generating revenue for modern businesses. Recent improvements in the technology also allow local businessmen to use multiple sources that can easily improve their search engine rankings. Local citations, Google My Business, and SEO for voice search are just a few examples of local SEO tools.

As a local business owner, try marketing your brand using SEO and local citations to improve its visibility. As a result, your potential customers will start seeing your business page in search snippets, local directories, and keywords related to local products. This focused strategy will also help you compete favorably with larger brands.

If you’re still not convinced, here are eleven statistics about local citations and SEO that can help you understand the powerful response that you may get from creating such a strategy.

Citation Facts and Data Trends

Local search on mobile phone has increased 900% compared to previous years.
Nearly 61% of search engine visitors using a mobile phone are likely to contact a business near them.
Almost 93% customers use online reviews before making a decision to buy from a local business.
Nearly 20% of people use voice search to look for local listings.
Half of the customers looking for a local store use their mobile phones to search.
18% of mobile search for local businesses result in a sale within 24 hours.
A top ranking local business has approximately 81 citations from top-level domains.
Restaurants, bars, and hotels have the highest number of local citations.
Voice-based mobile searches are 3x times more likely to be related to a local search than a text search.
Google My Business is the top ranking factor for local search queries.
Local search on mobile phone has increased 900% compared to previous years.

In the last two years, search engine queries, which include words such as “near me” and “today” have increased 900% compared to previous years. For local business, it means that they can’t ignore the importance of local SEO. According to Think with Google, nearly three-quarters of local mobile searches result in a same day visit to the store. In fact, 26% of customers using a mobile to search for local listings end up buying the product or service.

According to Junto, it’s important to build a mobile-friendly website because 61% of people searching the web are likely to contact you if they’re comfortable browsing your website on their mobile. It’s important to remember that a website on a laptop may look entirely different on a tablet or a mobile. As a result, businesses should use website software that can help them create mobile-friendly pages and test it on different screen resolutions. You can also use Google mobile-friendly test websites to analyze your webpage.

Approximately 82% of potential customers take help from online reviews when making a decision to buy from the local service provider. This percentage increases to 93% for the age group between 34 years and 54 years. Considering the power of online reviews, local businesses must ensure that the online reviews provide a positive image of their service. If a loophole exists, the website owner should contact a brand management company that can rectify any issue with online reviews.

Voice search is increasingly becoming popular among users of mobile phones because 20% of Google searches are conducted using voice. The rise of artificial intelligence and voice recognition software like SIRI contributed to the rise of voice search. For local businesses, it means that they should also use long-tail keywords on their mobile phones because people use natural language when using voice search on their mobile phones.

A Google and Ipsos MediaCT Study indicates that 50% of customers use search engines to find directions to the local store and search for hours of operations. If you’ve never used Google My Business, it’s time to learn how you can add your business details in the Google search engine. Every major search engine gives you the option to market your business for local SEO. Whenever someone in the area searches for a query related to your industry, your business name can pop up in the results depending on the nature of the search query.

A recent “Think with Google” study concluded that nearly 18% of customers looking for a local listing on the web visit a local store and buy the product within 24 hours of the search engine query. These statistics should prompt businesses to take local search seriously because it can help them increase their revenue. Accordingly, local businesses should keep an eye on online reviews and actively manage business listings through Google My Business.

A local business in the top ten positions on a Search Engine Results Page has an average of 81 local citations. For website owners, who want their local business to show up on the first page of the SERP, they must acquire a variety of links from top-level domains and authority websites to rank in Google. It’s even better to put their business information on reputable local business directories.

If you own a hotel, restaurant, or a bar, you need to get links from authority website because your competitors will likely have more than 75 local citations from such websites. In contrast, service industries and independent dental professionals face less competition from their peers because tradesmen, photographers, and storage businesses can rank reasonably high even without a large number of local citations.

A search engine is a leading source of revenue for local businesses. It’s effective because 46% of searches on the Internet are related to a local business. In fact, approximately 97% of potential clients searched online to find a local business. It means that business owners must focus on local SEO to attract business. To rank higher in the search engine, they can get help from an SEO company that has in-depth knowledge and expertise in the field.

Recent research on the most important search engine ranking factors for local businesses concluded that local citations have a 13.3% influence on the ranking. While this may not seem much to most people, SEO experts understand the importance of the number because there are more than 50 factors in a Google algorithm. In simple words, local businesses can quickly increase their search engine ranking by including a mix of structured and non-structured local citations.

Since 2008, the share of voice-based search has increased considerably. The increase in mobile phone usage and improvements in human voice recognition has helped the cause. It’s good news for local businesses because research indicates that people are more likely to use voice search compared to the text search to find a local business. According to Search Engine Watch, mobile voice-related searches are 3x more likely to be local-based than text.

According to Moz, Google My Business helps businesses rank high on the local search page. It means that if you’re not using Google My Business, you’re potentially missing out on a host of customers as Google gives 25% ranking solely to Google My Business. The proximity of the customer, categories of business, and a keyword in the business title are the three leading factors that can boost your place on the search engine for local search.