7 local SEO updates starting in 2021 will affect your plans

This is a year of rapid development in digital marketing, and local SEO is no exception.

With the growth of consumer demand for information and increasingly fierce competition in the local market, search engines have adapted to these needs.

Businesses, local SEO professionals, and their agencies have new tools, more data, and easier access to both.

What about consumers? Through an increasingly rich, engaging and seamless local search experience, they can access more of the information they care about.

Google and changing consumer buying habits disrupt local search

This year, many of our popular local search updates came from Google, but this is not surprising.

Due to the pandemic, Google quickly responded to changes in consumer buying habits and remains the dominant force in the market.

• Google currently enjoys more than 92.4% Market share in the field of global search engines.
• 83% Of local consumers use Google search to find information about local businesses, and 90% of consumers will make a purchase within a week of the initial search.
• Google facilitated 2000000000 In 2020, monthly reviews and bookings between American companies and shoppers.
• [Available near me] Increase in search volume 100% 2021; [now near me] Search method 200% 2021, and [along my route] search 1000% In 2020.

With such numbers, companies cannot ignore local search engine optimization. Capturing some of these searches can even change the rules of the game for any business, and it is a matter of life and death for those struggling.

This means understanding the changes in local search throughout 2021 and adjusting the local search engine optimization strategy for 2022 accordingly. So, what do you need to know about the many updates and changes in 2021?

1. Google’s corporate profile makes local search engine optimization more convenient for businesses

When Google Renamed “Google My Business” to “Google Business Profile”, The new nickname also brings updates and new features.

Perhaps the most influential is that business owners no longer need to dig into applications or platforms to update or correct their lists. You can add or update contact information, business hours, add pictures, etc. directly from Google Search and Google Maps.

You can also complete the verification process and resolve issues such as search pauses, making it easier than ever to gain a strong presence in local search results.

2. Google makes it easier to find and understand the latest local news

Behind the search [news near me] Tripled in five years Globally, Google has added functionality to local SERPs Local news is easier to find And creation.

Google has launched two projects to help journalists use local data and information to enrich their stories:

Census Map Project

Collect, analyze, and visualize local data collected and processed by The Associated Press.

Common Knowledge Project

Access geographic comparisons, graphs, and visualizations for data analysis at the county, state, and national level.

Search engines have also made the following updates to make local news stories easier to find in SERPs:

• Local news carousel: Local news reports related to user queries are now displayed at the top of the SERP, making them easier to find, while providing more visibility for local reporters and publications.
• Headline News Carousel: Authoritative local news sources appear together with major publications that once dominated this part of the SERP.
• More news search: Google has improved its ability to link news to a wide range of topic queries.
• Local tweets: Local publications and reporters appear in local news through tweets, not just published stories.

3. Bing adds more visual elements and rich results

In March 2021, Microsoft Bing rolls out five updates Focus on providing a richer experience for local searchers by improving the integration of visual elements with their text-based search results.

• Scalable carousel When users hover over the results, give them access to other information.
• Results of similar infographics Now attract searchers who use a wide range of queries to dig deeper into the topic.
• Intuitive highlights Extract detailed information such as ingredient lists, calorie counts, and nutritional information from the page without the user having to click to enter the website.
• Integrated visual search Allow users to intuitively search for similar-looking items by clicking the integrated visual search button.

Why are these things important to local SEO professionals? Bing incorporates these same concepts into its local search results.

What Microsoft Bing provides is not a simple image carousel or text-based facts, but Visually rich SERP for local query Includes related resources collected from Bing maps, popular images, visitor comments, and other sources.

These changes make it more attractive to focus some local SEO efforts on Bing. If creative companies are willing to take advantage of many local search opportunities to be creative, they can have a local search space.

So, if you haven’t, Enrich your website and list There are various media types and content, including user-generated content.

And don’t forget Usage mode.

4. Everyone gets new attributes

It seems that Google keeps Publish new properties, This is for good reason.

Attributes provide proactive answers to questions frequently asked by searchers for specific business types and are highlighted in Google business profiles.

Why? Google is always looking for ways to help companies stand out and better satisfy queries.

For example, features such as Black-owned or Women-owned business attributes can help searchers who want to support businesses of common value establish these connections.

In February 2021, Google added health, safety, and epidemic-related attributes to Google business profiles.

By adding these attributes, local businesses can share information about security protocols and promote constantly changing or new services, such as curbside pickup, contactless delivery, and dine-in services.

Google also includes attributes for online appointments, estimates, online courses, and digital care.

Call history, messaging, and access to new data and insights in Google Search and Maps enable businesses to track customer calls and respond to missed calls, thereby helping to maintain customer engagement.

All of these are huge for busy companies.If you haven’t seen the many new properties available in 2021, it should be the first Your local SEO tasks in the new year.

5. Pointy promotes local e-commerce development

June 2021, 50% Of U.S. shoppers said they plan to check online for availability before purchasing holiday items.But even before that, search volume for the term “in stock” has increased 800%.

This means that it is very beneficial to add your products to your Google business profile and keep your inventory up to date. However, it may be a time-consuming feature-as sales increase, companies do not always have time to implement this feature.

For convenience, Google announced Pointed integration.

With this new feature, eligible U.S. retailers can automatically add their in-store product inventory to Google.

Then, it will be updated every time you sell an item, keeping the product’s availability up to date online, so searchers always know what inventory you have.

6. The launch of the mobile-first index is still rolling out

Mobile-first index Since Google first announced it at the end of 2017, it has been imminent.

Since then, there have been several expansions, stops and starts, including a delay in September 2020, in which search engines stated that they will postpone mobile-first indexing at least until March 2021.

The source of the problem? Google cited several, including robot meta tags, delayed loading, blocked assets, main content, moving images and videos.

In any case, it is unwise to be caught off guard-if you have not yet provided a seamless mobile experience, then you need to keep working hard.

Google’s search statistics tell us 76% Of people use their smartphones to search for nearby things during the day, and 28% Which leads to sales.

So how do you prepare?

According to Google, the best advice for local businesses and marketing professionals who want to attract the attention of local searchers is to focus on Create a positive mobile experience.

7. New free local SEO tools and insights

Local businesses and SEO professionals who want to keep up with all the changes can also use some new free tools.

One of these tools developed by local SEO guidelines is Local-Pack-O-MeterWith it, search engine optimization and business professionals can track data for ten different types of Google search functions, including local packages, knowledge panels, shopping, job postings, and advertisements, to name a few.

The tool runs on data collected from approximately 60 million U.S. search queries provided by Traject Data. Therefore, it has a larger sample size and is more representative of all American queries.

Since the data can be traced back to May 2020, users can search the data to identify exciting trends and insights to drive their strategy forward.

Another important resource released this year is research paper From Milestone Inc, the company analyzed 500 location-based businesses, their sessions and page views to better understand which channels get more benefits with the best return on investment.

Some of these insights include:

• Recommended traffic ranks third after ROI’s natural search and local search.
• However, referral traffic does have a higher participation rate.
• Local search provides the best return on investment, with the highest number of page views per session.

At the same time, Rio SEO has been analyzing Aggregate GMB performance indicators From more than 200,000 US business locations managed on its platform. Every month, the brand publishes a new report that contains vertical specific benchmarks for search views, click-to-call, click-to-site, etc.

If you are looking for data to inform your local SEO strategy for 2022, then you should definitely check these and other opportunities.

Effective 2022 local SEO strategies you need to know

Although these seven updates are critical to your 2022 local search strategy, they are not the only content you should be concerned about.

If you are just getting started with local SEO, make sure you Set up the product Get the most visibility and conversion rate in Google Search, and make the most of Google Maps for your business.

For large, multi-site businesses, make sure you take advantage of Google Merchant Center Provide support for your local SEO activities.

You still want to take care of any Corporate local search engine optimization challenges Or common Business issues in the service area.

More resources:

Featured image: Shutterstock/RoseRodionova