Local SEO is an internet marketing approach that makes a company’s business website content appear prominently in Google organic search results when local people are doing the searching. Local SEO is tailor-made for remodeling companies serving local markets. Here are five very important reasons your company should seriously consider investing in local SEO.

1. Local search is ultra-popular
Google processes billions of searches every day, and many have local intent. In fact, Google has stated that nearly one-third of mobile searches are location-based. When people are looking for a company to remodel a kitchen, repair a deck, etc., their first step is very likely to be a Google search. And, because people generally prefer to work with remodelers that are nearby, remodelers that appear prominently in Google as local companies have a great advantage in securing an inquiry.

2. Google is promoting local search
In the last few years, Google has changed the layout of its SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) to give local search results more prominent display. This stands to reason, since so many searches have local intent (see reason #1 above) — Google wants to give its users what it wants. And because mobile Internet usage and search volume is going to continue to skyrocket, Google is likely to make local companies even more prominent in the future, making continuously improving local SEO results — sales leads — very achievable.

3. Local search is affordable for small and midsized companies
Local SEO can be executed on large scale or on a somewhat modest budget — a lot depends on how large and competitive the local market is. Nevertheless, even a company with limited marketing resources can make solid progress in local SEO simply by devoting time to obtaining customer reviews and making a few important changes to the company website.

4. Local SEO drives actions that are good for branding and new business acquisition
Positive customer reviews are a major component of effective local SEO. Google gives a lot of weight to reviews that appear both on the company website and on review websites such as Yelp, HomeAdvisor and many, many others. Again, Google’s reasoning is simple: What customers have to say about a remodeler is probably more helpful to a search engine user than a remodeler’s own marketing content. Local SEO aside, earning and publishing positive reviews is great business. Reviews add credibility, promote word-of-mouth referrals, and convey reliability and excellence in all respects.

5. Local SEO is measurable
At Straight North, one of the most common concerns we hear from prospects is whether certain types of marketing are worth the cost. Do we really need expensive business cards? Is social media really helping us? A big point in favor of local SEO is that you can measure it. If your organic website traffic is improving and you are collecting more phone and form inquiries, your local SEO campaign is working. And, it may take only a handful of new projects a year to pay for the campaign.