The State of Local Search 2023
The State of Local Search 2023 by BrightLocal
We just got done watching a great podcast from BrightLocal Hosted by Claire Carlise, a Local SEO Expert on-staff.
Joined by her guests they held The State of Local Search 2023
- Joy Hawkins from Sterling Sky
- Ben Fisher from Steady Demand
- Amanda Jordan from RicketyRoo
The panel provided some very insightful takes on the Local SEO marketplace heading into 2023 and looking back at 2022.
The opening question was:
Wild predictions for 2023 and the guests quick takes?
One of the hot topics in the digital marketing world and growing into the general population is AI and content creation. There's a popular platform called ChatGPT3 right now many people are experimenting with and implementing that into their processes or workflows.
The general thread from all the guests was around this new AI and how it will likely be abused and how it can actually be useful as well. They go through different use cases of this AI tool and other AI tools throughout the podcast. Both cases it can come in handy and those places you want to avoid AI.
We felt it was a fun introduction and an accurate perspective for what we see in the Local SEO marketplace going into 2023.
The next question was around 2022 and what the guests saw had the biggest impact in Local Search in 2022.
The guests discuss several things one of the highlights I feel joy brought to the table was dating back to the very end of 2021 pushing into 2022 the vicinity update how important that was and really the impacts that had on a business really shrinking their radius the business performs well in, within the local search results.
Amanda saw that in 2022 Google business profile seemed to experience a lot of breakage over seemingly unimportant factors as a user might change one small thing and the whole listing gets suspended. She gets further into that through this discussion.
Ben’s perspective was renewed emphasis on quality citations. As funny as that may sound, by getting back to the basics and making sure the foundation was solid he saw great success within many industries in 2022. Ben had several big impactful areas to discuss from the name change of Google My Business to Google Business Profile. Also, the new user interface which is an in-search experience. Along with the emergence of video in the SERPS and the importance of having good video content.
The next topic was what change did they make in their processes, and their agencies that had the most impact in 2022?
Joy, with Sterling Sky, had great insights into her process finding a huge impact in creating specific playbooks per industry. As different factors affect different industries and don’t seem to influence other. These playbooks can differentiate the important elements per industry allowing her to more efficiently serve her clients.
Amanda with RicketyRoo, felt really diving into the architecture of her site and the internal linking gave her big wins in 2022.
Ben seems to have a wealth of knowledge and experience around Local Search AD’s and listed that as an impactful factor for his clients in 2022.
Claire went on to ask the guests what surprised them the most in 2022.
Ben, to the amusement of the guests, brought back citations and how he has seen impact from not only local citations, but the big citation sources as well. He went on to clarify his citation process happens at the beginning giving his campaign a bit of a boost and we think that's exactly how it should work.
Joy has been busy, doing a lot of research and testing around links. The effects of links on the organic search results v.s. the local Google algorithm, and showing up in the map listings. She mentioned she was going to release a finding on this, possibly later this year. It sounded very interesting, and we are eagerly waiting for that to come out.
Amanda, brought up technical SEO and the importance of that from a Local SEO perspective And has some great resources available on the technical side, technical SEO is how she got started and we look forward to checking her information out also.
Then the group talks tips and tricks of managing the new Google Business Profile user interface.
the In-Search editing features came seemingly overnight to many business owners and agencies alike. The general consensus around the new user interface is not positive, but they all agree it's not going away, so we better get used to it.
Ben's number one tip for the new UI is do not hit the remove this profile button, it will permanently delete the profile from all users.
Joy brought up a positive with the new insights tab which has improved. also the appointment URL's moved over to the bookings section and where you can go at this point anyhow to manage photos your photo library within Google My Business.
The Future of Local SEO in 2023.
Not surprisingly content AI has taken over the discussion, it's huge in the industry right now. A thread among the guests was how AI might work well with SEO, will it replace different aspects of SEO.
Furthermore, the impact on other industries as AI grows technology improves. I agree with the consensus of this group. Artificial intelligence written content is not going to replace good quality content. Content written for the user from a unique perspective and from an authoritative figure in that subject. it can help create fantastic content, but that content needs to be shepherded along the path to completion.
Claire's question to the group was, how much can we seriously see this AI technology impact local SEO and their workflows?
Ben answered this question with the classic SEO response, “it depends”, lol. He continues to say, tread carefully, try to look into the future predicting what Google will do with the type of content you're producing. Rather than is the content is AI generated or human generated.
Amanda expressed caution on the usage of it for content. She stated it was a useful tool not a replacement for a quality content writer. That this tool should be one of many in the toolbox used to create the overall content piece.
Joy had a different underlying sentiment about AI. She cautiously believes, it's a very helpful tool in doing her job as an assistant. Definitely not a replacement and she sees that as its most effective use right now.
Claire pushed on with a question asking what AI should be used for in local search of 2023?
Joy quickly responded use it as a tool to get unstuck in your SEO process don't use it as a tool to drive your SEO process.
Amanda mentioned having a good it was great for a good jumping off point in your process. If you're sitting there pondering where to start, there are some good use cases around AI and generating creative ideas for you to build upon.
Ben was a little more cautious with his use of AI said he isn't implementing much with it at this point. But he has been doing a lot of testing. He goes through and shows some of his tests that he's done with AI generated content on different websites answering different questions etc.
The group then continues to discuss Local SEO, and a new platform Apple rolled out called Apple Business Connect, what this might mean for the local market.
The consensus is that it's Apples attempt of making a map directory or a business directory like that of Google My Business/Google Business Profile. However much like Bing it lacks a lot of functionality at this point. As well, it’s a new platform with low usage so there's not a big impact at this point. However, having your Apple Business Connect profile secure and verified was important. As they're already starting to see spammers engage in unsightly tactics.
The next question Claire posed was the biggest learning from 2022 to carry into this year 2023?
Amanda responded by saying don't just rely on the talking heads the industry leaders that you hear and their processes and what they say works. Get out there and test new things and see if those also drive an impact for you and your clients’ websites.
Joy mentioned one of the biggest learning lessons for her in 2022 which she's going to carry into this year is not to neglect the actual result pages from search. the layout of these pages consistently changes which could dramatically impact the conversion rates for you and/or your client. so it's important to maintain a current view and analyze the different elements Google is displaying for each industry.
Ben brought up a classic point look at SEO from the consumer perspective, back like they used to in 1995. I think he was referring to before SEO “Professionals” took over the industry and spammed the search results trying to trick the algorithms. Those tactics are built upon pleasing the algorithm rather than pleasing the consumer, and often end up in poor quality websites or content.
Google's ultimate goal is to serve the best quality content, specific to the user’s intent of their search. Mass AI content creation directly goes against the end goal of Google. While Google is not always quick, they are diligent in catching that type of content, eventually penalizing it and the site it sits on.
2023 Local Marketing Marketing Confidence
They took a quick halftime and brought out Sammy Paget from BrightLocal, to give us an overview of a inaugural Local Marketing Confidence Survey for 2023. This survey contains great information and is worth the read. Some of the key points in the survey
- 54% of local businesses plan on increasing marketing budgets in 2023.
- 76% of agencies slash freelancers plan on adding new services.
we thought those were interesting statistics there's many more within this survey that recap the landscape of local SEO and how both business owners and agencies are viewing the coming year
Question & Answers
After this fantastic recap by Sammy they dove into a Q&A session, where they explored numerous questions with fantastic insights some of those questions were given.
· Does putting your keyword in the name help improve your ranking position for your Google Business Profile
· As a service area business is it best practice to have one location listing or have multiple location listings across a greater metropolitan area
· Is there a good strategy for removing fake reviews? Unfortunately, the short answer to that is there's not a great strategy. There are things to try there is no guarantee, as is often the case with Google.
· one of the concluding questions however slightly funny being SEO's don't like to give out their secrets was the top five ranking factors for a website in 2023
We all know SEOs don't like to share their secrets, but here's a funny question to end the Q&A
what are the top five ranking factors for websites in 2023?
It's a great question, and one that's sure to spark some lively discussion.
Some of their answers included.
- Internal linking
- Proximity
- Category Selection
- On-Page SEO
- Links
- Reviews
- Business Name
Ben brought back up LSA or Local Search ADs and the impact he is seeing with them in 2023.
Wrapping it up
Overall, we thought this was a really great podcast produced by BrightLocal, The State of Local search 2023, gave a good overview of where the market's at, where it came from, and where we see it going.
Here at Breakthrough Local SEO we utilize several SEO tools one of important tool to us, from a local SEO perspective, is BrightLocal. It helps us manage our clients overall local SEO presence building a strong brand and helping them attract and convert more clients.
visit our website to learn more about what we do and contact us to find out how we can help you be successful in what you do.
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