It’s that time of the year when every marketer, content creator, and small business owner is searching and exploring the SEO updates for the upcoming year. It’s no secret that consumer behavior changes every single year and it’s even more evident that knowing how consumers behave and the newest local search tools at their disposal can put marketers and businesses one step ahead of the competition. In this article, we will explore what to take from 2021 and what to tweak in our local SEO strategies for 2022.
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Google Business Profile Facilitated Local SEO for Businesses
As we discussed in our previous article, Google My Business has become a Google Business profile. With the name changing, many services and functionalities followed; Google used the occasion to introduce new features.
One of the most remarkable features of Google Business Profile is that it now allows business owners to change and modify their listings without getting buried in menus and options. Now, they can easily correct and add their listing’s details directly from Google Search and Google Maps. Even the verification process has become that simple allowing businesses to get the most out of Google Business Profile easily.
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Local News is Now More Accessible than Ever
“News near me” has multiplied over and over again as a searched phrase. Thus, Google has enriched local SERPs to make local information and news simpler to find. In this context, Google initiated two projects to assist searchers and journalists in reaching local data and information:
- Census Mapper Project: it groups and analyzes all local data worked on by The Associated Press.
- Common Knowledge Project: it contains infographics and data on all geographical levels (from country to town).
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New Attributes for every Owner
Google has been releasing new attributes every now and then and that’s for a very relevant reason. These attributes provide further information to answer some of the frequent questions potential customers ask about a given business. On their end, Google does this to allow businesses and their owners to be more visible among the competition.
Now, Google Business Profile will indicate if a business is black-owned or woman-owned for example to give searchers the information they need to support business-owners with whom they share values or have things in common. Attributes are not limited to the business owners; businesses can also share attributes related to their appointments, safety protocols, covid-protocols…etc
The 3 points we’ve just explored are important in shaping your 2022 local SEO strategy but keep in mind that there are many more points and details to keep an eye on. If you’re just starting on Google Business Profile, keep in mind that you need to cover the basics of Local Search Engine Optimization. In this context, we recommend reading our Google My Business articles. While the name of the platform changed, the basics are still as relevant now as they had been with Google My Business.
