How valuable is non-local organic traffic for local business?
-
Hey friends!
I work for a local digital marketing agency in Greenville, SC – serving primarily local small businesses. Over the past six months, we've increased our monthly organic traffic by almost 100%. The majority of this traffic is coming to blogs we've written over the past year on industry topics and trends. I love seeing our traffic increase, but it hasn't necessarily translated to more quality leads. Conversion numbers have largely remained the same. I think one reason is that a lot of this traffic isn't local.
Here's my question: as a local business, how valuable is content that ranks well and drives organic traffic, when the traffic isn't local, and from users we would never work with?
A lot of this content has earned links and grown our authority, so I suppose we've seen benefit, but I'm struggling to convince myself that it's really that valuable. I know local content is key, but it feels like what we want to educate on isn't searched locally.
Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!
-
Thumbs up, Sean!
-
-
Hey Sean,
Hope you reported the fake address listings. Those are the ones that Google will actually remove!
-
I recently had some issues with an individual who was actually opening several fraudulent scammy businesses from P.O. Box addresses and UPS Stores for the purpose of getting the SEO benefits received on a local level. for one thing having relevance to be in big directories will gain your site authority (Not all directories do but, white pages, yellows pages, definitely the chamber of commerce)
Additionally, that whole #1 organic 33% of searches statistic definitely get's thrown out the window with the implementation of a map listing. This in combination with the bidding war typically seen above any valued local key term, I'd be impressed to see #1 organic banking 18% of traffic referred from Google. I don't have numbers to back it's just a hypothetical guess. Metaphorically it's like going from a simple game of Texas Holdem to Omaha Hi/Lo split and not knowing how to scoop the pot LOL!
I see only percs from the versatility of benefiting from local and national search results.
-
Hey Miriam! S'been a while : )
-
My pleasure, Brooks. I always enjoy your contributions here very much!
-
Thank you so much, Miriam, this is very helpful!
-
Thanks Nick, good word: that valuable content and positive site-wide metrics should always benefit the site and brand in the long run.
-
Very fine suggestion, Chris!
-
I've engaged with local marketing companies who had big plans for bringing in nationwide leads and had little care for developing their firm's local relevance. Nor did they have an understanding of the difference in difficulty for a small marketing company to convert local leads into new business vs. converting geographically diverse leads (which they struggled to get anyway).
As a small marketing company, the sweet spot is definitely local business and no doubt, in Greenville NC, there is more business than you can handle. There are so many ways to develop content that will put your firm directly in view of local businesses that need you and that will pay for your services. It requires an embrace of your locality and a creative exuberance for content about it and forgoing thoughts of leads coming in from all corners of the country. If you do those things well first, leads will come from other places.
You say you write blog posts about industry topics and trends. As I'm sure you've noticed, so does almost everyone else, right? Why not get creative in combining marketing topics with the life and times of the typical Greenvillian? I guarantee you will enjoy the writing much more and your traffic will start coming in from closer to home.
-
Hi Brooks,
This is such a good topic. It's one I've encountered previously.
So, the issue is that your particular business model has national applicability. Digital marketing is a topic of national/international interest, vs. if you were creating content for something like your local farmer's market association or something along those lines.
Despite this, as you've realized, the national interest your content is earning (congratulations, by the way) is building your authority relative to its topic. In a RankBrain environment, this is definitely a good thing. Appearing as a result for national searches means you are also appearing as a result for your target clients in South Carolina when they do those same searches. Remember, too, that organic authority underpins local rankings. So, there is no negative here, if Google is more and more associating your domain with expertise on a set of topics.
Basically, you are in an enviable position here to turn a good thing into a better thing! The leads you are getting from non-local clients could actually be a wonderful opportunity for you to create some goodwill, both B2C and B2B. Hopefully, Brooks, as an active member of an industry, you've gotten to know some other good folks at quality agencies. Instead of just turning these leads away, why not refer them to people you trust? And, ask friendly colleagues that if they ever get leads from businesses in SC, they think of you, as your business thrives on serving these particular customers. I have found, over the years, that potential clients sincerely appreciate being referred to a trusted source. It's such a confusing world out there, sadly littered with scammers, and you can help out a business owner in an important way by doing more than just saying "no".
Hope these thoughts are helpful!
-
If the blog posts have good user metrics on them (time on site, pages per session, etc.), it should, in theory, help your website rankings over time. The agency I work for has run into this as well, where the website traffic will increase, but leads will remain constant or won't increase near as much.
I say there is a positive benefit as your blog posts could get increase brand awareness, and maybe get referenced and linked to, which helps your overall website authority, but it is definitely a long game, and the short-term benefit will be very little.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Changing Business Address on Google Profile & Citations
Hello, I'm looking to change a business address to a new one on a Google business profile (still in the same area but on a different street). So, I'll need to update all citations and website with the new address - Is it recommended to update the citations & website first, and then change the address on the Google business profile, or vice-versa? Looking to do this as safely as possible without negatively impacting the rankings much. I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information on this. Thanks in advance.
Local SEO | | UpLinkSEO0 -
National services provider and localized SEO (no physical stores)
Doing work for a telecom provider who operates in over 25 states. They are not trying to drive traffic to their brick-and-mortar stores. They want their marketing website to show products/services/pricing dynamically when a user enters their zip code. Previously, we could not show this until the shopper was already in the purchase flow that began with their serviceable address. They want to move these location-based details more forward in the shopping experience. They would likely have a "default" zip and set of services/pricing displaying until a user changes their location. My question is how does Google treat local SEO on a site where all location-targeted content is dynamic? Will the website suffer in localized search, when a shopper, say, in Colorado, wants to search for Internet providers? Is it better to have distinct landing pages for each territory with services/pricing?
Local SEO | | sprydigital0 -
Should local businesses focus exclusively on a local SEO strategy (and forget traditional SEO)?
Hello Friends! I work at a small, local company. We definitely want to rank high for local search , so we see the value of having a local SEO strategy. But does it make sense for us to also invest in a traditional SEO strategy? My understanding is that a traditional SEO strategy is focused on improving your site's visibility on a national or international scale. Does this make sense for my company if only local customers convert? If we had unlimited time and resources, I'd be all for a traditional SEO strategy. I understand that the more traffic, backlinks, etc. my site generates from producing relevant content, the higher my ranking. But my company has to be very strategic about where we spend our time since our resources are limited. So...How much can or does a traditional SEO strategy impact local search results? I'd hate to spend the time writing a beautiful SEO-optimized blog on dog grooming, for example, if that effort won't impact my SERP ranking when someone in my area searches for "dog grooming near me." I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Local SEO | | annav0520 -
Another local fence company used (stole) one of my images
We have a local fence business in Oklahoma City and one of the other local fence companies took the liberty of using one of our images that I took myself on their website...creating a similar page even. They took the our image from this page: http://www.a-better-fence-construction.com/metal-fence-post.html And used it on their page (2x they used it!): http://fenceokc.com/2016/07/13/all-about-fence-posts/ They didn't even bother renaming the file "metal-fence-post.jpg"! I'm not experienced in what I should do? (I did a google image search and lots of websites are using it...but one contractor locally in OKC is using it and one in Dallas area is also using it.) I just wonder what other people are doing to prevent images being used or if your not worrying about it. Brad metal-fence-post.jpg
Local SEO | | SuperNovi0 -
How to promote a local SEO/Web design company via a blog (mainly blogging) and social media?
Hello, What is possible as far as promoting a local SEO and Web Design Company with a blog? I'm offering simple web design, both informational and product based, as well as SEO for existing informational and product-based companies here in Boise, Idaho. At first it won't be face to face so there's no local SEO. I honestly don't like to sell. I've done it for years and I'd like to spend my time blogging (mainly blogging), doing social media, and volunteering. How can I use this approach to get a beginning agency off the ground? Please don't tell me to go push my services. I'd like to get my company off the ground through avenues that have integrity to me. How do I do this? Feel free to include articles and videos in your response if appropriate. Thank you.
Local SEO | | BobGW0 -
SEO: Directory Listing Help with Two business locations in different states
Hello! I am in the process of building my second location, and will be moving to Nashville TN. My first location is located in ohio, and I am changing my primary location to nashville, but still want to keep my clients in Ohio... At least for the first year. As for directory building, what is the best option? 1.) Should I create two separate directory listings for each location and then direct www.domain.com to Nashville directory, and then www.domain.com/ohio-wedding-photographer/ to the Ohio listing in the directory? Or do you create one directory and mention I have offices in both Ohio and nashville? Is it bad to have two listings for each location if they have different addresses and phone numbers? Thank you!
Local SEO | | jean78780 -
Moz Rank Tracker - Local Rankings?
My question is about local SEO rankings. How does the Moz Rank Tracker track local results, meaning I do not see a place to tell the tool what local market to show results for.If I have a dentist in Denver and I enter the keyword “dentist” into the tracker, is it looking for how my site ranks locally in Denver or how it ranks for “dentist” on a national level.Thanks in advance for the help!
Local SEO | | ifuseurbiz1