McDonalds. Aren’t they serving hundreds of thousands of people each day around the world?
247 billion is the actual number. Impressive, isn’t it? Since there are only around 7 billion people in the world, this means that on average, every person eats at McDonald’s about 35 times. Of course, not everyone does, so of the customers who do regularly eat at McDonald’s, the number is likely higher than 35 visits.
The point is, McDonald’s doesn’t really need to attract new customers. So, why go local?
- They know their market
Most of the customers of McDonald’s aren’t looking forward to their next trip there, planning weeks in advance and making reservations. It’s an impulse trip for most. Impulse buys the actual need to be in the customer’s eyes, even more so than other types of purchases. Local exposure is the best way to happen online. Do you know your market? What kind of decision process do your customers go through prior to buying your products or getting your services? McDonald’s knows, and so should you. To them, it is all about local seo in multiple locations.
- The Internet has changed a lot
The Internet is constantly changing, but one of the most significant (and smartest on their part) changes that search engines like Google have made is to place more relevance on the geographic area a person is making their search from, putting local results first. So while McDonald’s is a top result in a search for fast food anywhere in the world, local restaurants aggressively investing in SEO have been ousting them in different areas.
- The way people search is different
People are getting smarter about how to search for things online without getting so that they find what they really need. While they once simply typed in what they wanted, now 58% of them type what they want and where they want it.
- Local searches have a higher conversion rate
Looking at the points above, this is quite reasonable. Some consulting and data tracking sources have put specific geographic markets at around 50% higher in conversion.
- The rise of mobile Internet
People are using their smartphones to find what they need more than ever before, and local SEO tends to be even more potent when designed for these devices in conjunction with the traditional home computer.
