Description
Date: January 2022
Length: 13 Pages
Composition: Original data and analysis
Summary: There have always been companies that operate within a specific geographic area but do not have a physical business location in that zone. Or at least not one that the public can visit. Think of the HVAC repair pros who work out of their vans. Or the real estate agents pulling “open house” signs out of the trunks of their Mercedes. Those cases have been around for a while.
What many of these “location-less” businesses often fail to appreciate is that when they don’t have a store or an office per se, having a local online presence becomes even more critical to being found online. Local search results tend to favor the brick and mortar location. So it takes an extra effort for a location-less business to rank within the territory it’s targeted for food delivery, subscription services, home repair, or whatever.
The stakes for getting this right are high. After all, more than half of Google searches include a local intent. And 58 percent of consumers find brands via unbranded search queries. So not having a strong local presence, including using tools like local pages, is to risk missing out. If anything, local search is most critical for these local but locationless businesses.
This report explains why. And it also offers some ideas on how location-less businesses can create a strong local digital presence with unique localized content.
