The State of Local SEO Industry Report 2020

My company/clients care most about:

Take a moment and celebrate this one, because it has big implications for our industry. SEOs have successfully shifted from a rankings-first approach to one that centers on the end goals: conversions and revenue. Numbers have remained consistent on this point for the past two years — a good sign.

If you have yet to make the leap, it’s time to recognize that Google’s rankings have become fluid and highly customized to searcher location. It’s no longer useful to conceptualize the SERPs from a “#1 ranking” mindset. Now, agencies can zoom in on the two constants for business owners: the never-ending need for engagement and revenue.

My company/clients care most about:

Larger brands and agencies have been the most successful in moving away from a rankings-first mindset, with about 70% of their emphasis placed on high-value business goals.

Smaller brands may require the most help to accurately track and evaluate conversions and revenue.

In my day-to-day work, the one service my local business clients or company request the most help with right now is:

This data reveals three narratives:

• The top three and bottom five local marketing priorities have been identical YoY, indicating consistency of approach

• On-site optimization wins the day, emphasizing the ongoing importance of organic SEO

• The variety of responses demonstrates just how many skills are required for a full local SEO campaign

Marketers are clearly confident in how they promote local businesses, but a lower priority on needle-moving tactics like link building could indicate a need for better resources, given that it’s still a widely practiced strategy among our respondents.

When it comes to building local links, the strategy that has the best ROI for me right now is:

More respondents this year said they have a local link building strategy, but 29% are overlooking it as a powerful local SEO tactic. Ignoring the work of building links and unstructured citations means ceding priceless SERP territory to your competitors.

There were a few concerning tactics listed in the “Other” category (such as buying local links, which could result in a Google penalty), but, happily, the vast majority of local marketers are investing in content development to earn links naturally.

What SERP feature do you care the most about?

Featured snippets have been in the spotlight this year, and that’s reflected in the survey: They beat out local packs as the #1 SERP feature local marketers care about. And in a win for modern SEO, only 9% of respondents reported having no SERP feature strategy at all.

Zero-click SERPs aren’t as new and strange to local SEOs as they are to the greater marketing community. The increase in the number and types of snippets means it’s time to take advantage of engagement options on third-party interfaces like Google. Don’t rely on websites alone for conversions.