In 2024's rapidly developing digital landscape of smarter AI (I swear ChatGPT 4, soon to be 5, has been judging the jewels out of me), cookie conundrums, and ever-nuancing algorithms, staying ahead of the curve is still classically critical, yet increasingly challenging for professionals looking to enhance their online presence in competitive local markets and in search-engine results.
The world of "local" SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is also constantly moving and changing on its own scale, and in niches within market types and sizes. Understanding key elements behind these trends can be the game-changer for businesses. Here, we'll delve into some of those more local SEO trends that professionals can learn to anticipate, proactively incorporate, and leverage to succeed now for going into 2025.
"Near Me": Universally the Local SEO Place to Be
One of the most impactful trends in local SEO is the continuous rise of those "near me" searches, which have now become vital to many people being the way they find businesses. The convenience factor has led to the ever-expanding big bang of sorts of these localized queries, and as of recently, 76% of people who search for something nearby on their phones visit a related business within a day—and get this: 28% of those searches result in making a purchase.
Typing the mere words indicates a strong intent to act—users searching for “[this] near me” are in the highest likelihood of converting, making it crucial for businesses to optimize for these kinds of signals. An easy way to approach this is by brainstorming specific phrases regional to your locale and incorporating those along with keywords containing: "near me" into your front-facing content, back-end meta tags, and your Google My Business (GMB) profile. The more you can do this, the more your chances will be increased to appear in front of ready-to-buy customers.
We should also note how Google is increasingly prioritizing the concept of proximity in its local search algorithm. Businesses that pay attention to location-based SEO strategies, such as geotagging and optimizing for hyperlocal search—will have a strong edge in attracting traffic and driving conversions.
User Experience (UX) Optimization
We know that one of the most critical aspects of SEO is the focus on enhancing the user experience, but in local SEO, this applies with regard to utilizing specific recent technological features such as GPS mapping, geofencing, field entry/exit ping notifications, and more as ways to entice people around town, send offers to passers-by, and be appealing to your community. As the Goog continues to favor websites that offer a seamless user experience from foot to store to purchase and back, optimizing your sites for mobile-friendliness first rather than the other way around becomes kind of paramount in this regard. Brands should ensure that their websites load quickly, yes, because duh, but also because local moments are fleeting; and as we go from here to there, buzzing from A to B, a loading time goes from an annoying wait we want to avoid to your window of engagement.
As far as what to engage them with: providing immediate value first before fluff is an effective tactic. Try focusing on specialized offers by community or interest group, then sending at strategic times or before/during local events to maximize revenue during prime-time opportunities. "Local UX" can improve your search-engine rankings, increase sales, and make a lasting impression on potential buyers and loyal customers.
Voice Search Optimization
With some devices now becoming "smart"er than possibly a few people, plus the advent of their virtual assistants, voice search has become the next thing of today.
At the time of this writing in Q3 2024, approximately 43% of consumers use voice search to research products of interest, and 26% of voice-search users period have made a purchase via voice search. This offers marketers many opportunities to capitalize on yet another booming avenue.
Fellow SEO-ers can optimize their content for voice search by:
Using conversational language*
Answering common questions - and writing stylistically in answer form (one you'd want to see from Google if you'd asked)
Incorporating long-tail keywords throughout content
If you have the time, writing and integrating clear and concise "answer-type" copy and information to address voice-search queries can help your business capture more local search traffic, and thus reach a wider audience. Incorporating voice-search into your strategy is a proactive and definitive SEO step you can take, and if you haven't – this is a sign to get started, after considering how the gain is pertinent to your get-up.
Local Listings and Citations
Accurate and up-to-date local listings can too-easily fall through the cracks as business burns and churns, but can play a significant role in local SEO success. It's therefore probably worth taking just a few minutes to check and make sure that your business information – proper name and/or DBA(s), address, phone number (NAP), and website URL is a consistent set across local and key online directories and platforms. All this can do is make it easier for potential customers to find and engage with your business!
Another impactful way to boost your visibility in local search results is by optimizing your Google My Business profile. Some practical ways you can go about this are:
Entering or adding more business information — the more detail, the better
Upload a variety of images — high quality imagery, if available, for optimum assessments and viewing experiences
Show customer reviews. 5 stars can go 5-hundred miles. A bit shy in the fiver department? Ask for reviews in a 'thank-you' post-purchase campaign and include a direct link to your GMB review page.
Content Relevance and Quality
Content, content, Marsha, so drilled in our head but not without reason, remains king in the realm of SEO. Businesses are generally well-served by prioritizing high-quality, highly relevant content, and let me just say, we are all getting creative in 2025 and beyond! Meaning, the public is expecting bigger, better, grander things—those "wow" factors—hard-to-come-by ideas and experiences, but if you can find a way to produce or acquire the means to generate what they crave, through intriguing using foresight and resourcefulness, you'll have your shot at grabbing your customer share with things as times move ahead—along with the search bots cruising through looking for similar things. You know, moving, shiny things.
If you'd like assistance producing such content or maximizing existing content potential, FixxeL can help. Given we specialize in delivering deeply aligned content narratives in creative innovation, thinking location-wise, we strategize around your success by incorporating your biz's high-intent, local/transactional keywords, location-specific information, our own industry research, and marketing insights to make you stand out in a crowded landscape. Why not reach out and get started today?
Shameless promo aside, prioritizing content quality goes a long way in many directions, and as that fits in to a long-term marketing strategy, can really be the thing that yields lasting results in today's localized SEO, and in business period.
Local Link Building
Building backlinks has become a subject of recent controversy while very generally regarded as good for improving site authority and visibility in search results. In this realm, local link building involves acquiring links from reputable local websites, directories, and other industry-specific sources. In other words, by earning not-shady, innocuous backlinks from local businesses and organizations, businesses' SEO professionals may have an opportunity to enhance their website's credibility and relevance in local search results. I'd do owned research.
Getting ahead of the latest local SEO trends is a great idea for those seeking to optimize their business presence online, attract local customers, and perhaps gain traction in a communal sense. It can seem like an uphill fight sometimes - the shifty algorithms and rule-changes and AIs that be – but embrace known trends like these, and be adaptable with the SEO/SEM evolution, and hopefully, you'll be rewarded with rich local visibility and watching those KPIs and your customer engagement flourish. "Buy Local" but near or far, learn and incorporate these best practices into your strategy, look ahead to 2025, and the way will be paved for attributable growth and sustaining success.