As a professional SEO, I hear a lot of people claim that they don’t need SEO services because their business is located in a small town. Is this true? Does being located in a smaller city or town mean that your business wouldn’t benefit from search engine optimization services? In this short article I will address that claim head-on.
I’m not one to mince words, so I’ll just go out there and say it. EACH The business website could benefit from organic traffic from people who search Google for the products and / or services you offer. Plain and simple. End of story. Now let’s talk about why.
Small Business SEO: Why You Need It
Do you know someone who still uses the Yellow Pages? When was the last time you looked through a yellow page or a phone book to find what you need? Probably not in years, right?
If so, then you might be one of the last old school students out there, and I’m not here to haunt you for that, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is an easier way!
This is what I do when my toilet starts to leak and I can’t fix it:
Pick up my phone (it’s probably in my hand or pocket by now), click the microphone button in the Google search app, say plumber Elkhorn Wisconsin.
That’s what I do. Actually, that’s what most people do, except they modify the search to suit their needs and location.
In a matter of seconds, I have abundant results at my fingertips. Not just results, but star ratings, reviews, images, whatever. If you had to pick a yellow page, you would probably still be trying to find the plumbers page!
So there is that, but what else?
Securing your brand
SEO is not just about appearing at the top of the rankings for searches pertaining to your products or services, it is about ensuring your identity, your brand.
If your business doesn’t appear in the first place when someone searches for you, your brand is not secured, which opens the door to the possibility of other people or your competition stealing those places, so when someone searches for JP Plumber, they get XYZ plumber. instead of. Or worse, the competition creates false information, so that when people come to that page, they say that it is closed, that it does not work, or that it simply does not work. In any case, everything is wrong and you HAS TO have your brand insured.
Final thoughts
I know the objections to SEO. I live in a smaller area and people always ask, do I need SEO to thrive? The answer is no, but having your business in front of people searching for the products and services you offer 24/7 is not a bad thing! Whenever I work with someone who was initially opposed, he is always glad he pulled the trigger after seeing the results and hearing that phone ring all day.
