The 8 Most Crucial Local Marketing Statistics for SEO Resellers in 2013

Private label SEO resellers should be the first when it comes to marketing trends and statistics. That's because our clients rely on us for their online optimization needs. We need to be there, constantly soaking ourselves into timely information about search engine optimization, local marketing, and other areas "we" specialize in. And by "we" it means us and our backend service providers. Providers do most of the technical work for us yes, but that doesn't mean we should be slacking-at least in learning what's good for our clients.

And if you've been reading, you already know that local marketing is exploding this year. Customizing SEO campaigns to suit local, brick and mortar businesses, and creating a "buzz" to improve their online presence, these are all part of local marketing. But while we can leave everything to our providers, we can do our share by being more informed about the services we provide. That's why you need to read SEO tools maker BrightLocal's "Local Consumer Review Survey 2013".

The study is quite extensive so we here at Private Label SEO Org decided to pick the 8 most crucial local marketing statistics for SEO resellers in 2013. You can start with No. 1 below.

The 8 Most Crucial Local Marketing Statistics for SEO Resellers in 2013

1. Only 5% of consumers did NOT use the Internet to find a local business

2. 85% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses

3. 73% of consumers said positive reviews make them trust a business

4. 67% of consumers read fewer than 6 reviews before they trust a business

5. 65% are more likely to use a local business with positive online reviews

6. 79% online reviews as much as personal recommendations

7. 37% of consumers have recommended a business on Facebook

8. 67% search for restaurants while 61% their read online reviews

Local SEO or Just Live Under a Rock

It may not come as a surprise, but yes, people are using the Internet to look for local business. This just proves the popular saying among local marketers that "consumers search online but buy locally. Today, as BrightLocal found, only 5% of consumers did NOT use the Internet to find a local business over the past 12 months. This is an improvement from last year, when 15% did not use the Internet to look for local businesses.

As private label SEO resellers, this is an opportunity to ramp up sales of SEO and social media services. You can help local business owners be more visible online. Optimize their social network accounts. Help their website rank higher in search results.

Online Reviews Dominate Local Marketing

If there's anything you can get from the survey, it is this: if you want to succeed locally, you need to dominate online reviews. Therefore, your clients 1) need to be visible online and 2) they need online reviews to boost their brand and credibility.

Six reviews or less: that's what it takes to earn your customers' trust. (BrightLocal)

The percentage of consumers reading online reviews shot up to 85% this year from only 76% in 2012. What's more, 67% of today's consumers read 6 reviews or fewer before they trust a business. This percentage is up from 53% last year. However, they seem to be losing patience as the percentage reading seven or more reviews has steadily declined over the past three years. Moral of the story: You need to establish your credibility in six reviews of fewer, which brings us to the next point.

Get Positive Reviews

Your clients need positive reviews and these reviews need to be the first ones they find online. We already know customers search local businesses on the Internet and that they only need six or fewer reviews to trust a business. Let's say you have a total of 100 online reviews from various sites, 94 of which are positive and six are negative. What if the six negative reviews are all on the first page of Google while all positive reviews are in Page 2 and lower? 

This is an opportunity for you to offer private label Online Reputation Management to clients, assuming of course your provider has that under its service menu. One of the many techniques used by private label SEO reseller providers is called reverse SEO. This is basically "pushing down" pages or websites down on search rankings (as opposed to SEO, which is pushing up) so that users see more favorable pages first. This is an attractive service for local businesses especially because now, positive reviews make 73% of consumers trust a business and make 65% use a local business.

The 2 Other Big R's: Recommendations, Restaurants

Restaurant reviews are most read. (Source: BrightLocal)

Apart from Reviews, remember that local marketing has to do with Recommendations and Restaurants. Today, 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations! This percentage is up from only 72% in 2012. So again, you need online reviews. Do they have to be from review sites? Not necessarily. Some 37% of consumers have recommended a business on Facebook, up from only 32% in 2012.

Now, if you are an SEO reseller with local restaurants as clients, read carefully. The Local Consumer survey also found that 67% of consumers search for restaurants online. This is up from only 57% in 2012. Restaurants are the most searched local businesses followed by doctor/dentist (35%), general shop (35%), hotel/breakfast and bed/guest house (30%), and clothes shop (28%).

Restaurants are also worth noting because 61% their read online reviews about them. Restaurant reviews are the most read online reviews! And in line with the top two most-searched local businesses, reviews for doctor/dentist (32%) are also wide read. Hotel/breakfast and bed/guest house (27%), general shop (18%), and hair/beauty salon (17%) complete the top five.