Local SEO in the Time of COVID-19

Local businesses already had their hands full competing against online giants like Amazon when the global pandemic emerged, impacting communities and commerce in unforeseen ways.

Anyone marketing local brands in the time of COVID-19 will readily acknowledge that the struggle to succeed became so much harder in 2020, and business analysts have been quick to assert that the public health emergency rapidly accelerated consumer reliance on digital commerce. Yet, it’s important to avoid oversimplification of how the pandemic has changed consumer behavior, because deeper analysis actually uncovers real rays of hope for local businesses and the agencies marketing them.

As Sterling advocated in a recent Moz webinar on the ROI of local presence management, local brands that “get their digital house in order” can benefit from the massive rise in “near me” searches that Google has been tracking, and the 70% rise in “in-stock” searches that illustrates how shoppers are using the web to fulfill their needs at local stores.

In this special section of our guide, we’ll cover how to get a local business’s digital house in order to continue serving communities as effectively as possible during this time of unprecedented change.

1) Establish a clear COVID-19 policy

Any person involved in the marketing of the business should have access to a clear and detailed policy on all public safety adaptations that have been put in place. This should include all sanitation procedures, social distancing requirements, special hours for at-risk groups, altered hours of operation, and new methods of purchasing and delivery, such as buy-online-pickup-in-store, curbside pickup, home delivery, and telemeetings.

Further, if the business has contracted with a third party delivery service, the written COVID-19 policy should include the safety measures the partner has implemented, as these will directly impact the health and safety of the local business, its staff, and its customers.

2) Update and improve the website

Once policy has been set, it’s imperative that you communicate COVID-19 adaptation information as clearly as possible on the homepage of the website, contact us page, and location landing pages (where applicable). Be sure hours of operation are accurate anywhere they’re posted on the website, and that contact information for help and complaints is especially visible. Consider creating a special COVID-19 FAQ page based on the questions staff members have to answer most often.

To improve the business’s chances of remaining viable through and beyond the pandemic, every possible new avenue for serving customers should be explored. While truly small, independent local businesses may be managing with a hybrid of orders taken via phone or email for curbside pickup and home delivery, larger companies should strongly consider investing in full digital shopping functionality on their websites.

Careful handling of product availability has become especially critical in 2020. Any e-commerce solution being considered should also be evaluated for the ease with which inventory can be labeled in-stock or out-of-stock, in order to avoid customer frustration and reputation damage.

Finally, be sure the website is communicating any extra efforts the brand is making to help communities survive during this difficult time. Charitable and philanthropic initiatives let customers know that local businesses don’t just sell — they care. Being a good neighbor is an extra reason for the public to choose your company instead of shopping with online competitors.

3) Make full use of Google Business Profile listings and citations

Google has spent most of 2020 quickly rolling out new features that can help local businesses use their listings to communicate key information to the public. In particular, they’ve introduced a long list of attributes you can select from the “Info” tab of the Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) dashboard, to show what types of fulfillment a business offers (curbside, delivery, etc.) and what types of health measures are in place (mask required, staff gets temperature checks, etc.). Be sure you’re using all applicable attributes.

Google has also debuted a special COVID-19 post type that can help you share information on temporary closures, special hours, and safety information. These are text-only posts that Google has been showing higher up in the Google Business Profile than other post types.

Also be sure your hours are accurate across all local business listing platforms. If some of your citations have less robust features than your Google Business Profile, use the description field to communicate COVID-19 policy.

If a business has to close temporarily, read Google’s tutorial on this topic.

4) Carefully manage reviews and Q&A for COVID-related issues

Reputation management during the time of COVID falls into three categories:

1. Analyze reviews as a source of quality control data pertaining to customer satisfaction with public safety measures and inventory. Make improvements wherever necessary.

2. Respond to all complaints and questions as quickly as possible, whether they occur within a traditional review or within a feature like Google Questions & Answers.

3. If the business receives complaints from customers who don’t want to adhere to public safety protocols, such as wearing masks, these can be reported to Google for containing prohibited political rants.

5) Sync up with social to promote policy and engage the community

Be sure that your COVID policy is available on all social media sites that your customers use, and that you’re responding to questions and contributing to local discussions on these channels. In some cases, all that’s possible is simple responsiveness when your brand is mentioned, but monitoring social media in the communities the business serves can also turn up opportunities.

A McKinsey survey found that 73% of customers have changed the way they shop, and are trying new brands and stores in 2020. If people in a city are complaining on social media that it’s become hard to find a particular good or service and your business can fulfill that need, this takes responsiveness to a whole new level, potentially earning new loyal customers.

Complement local social listening with use of Google Trends and Google Rising Retail Categories to see the bigger picture of evolving demand. When you fulfill a popular necessity, be sure you’re publicizing availability on social media, and engaging with the public as much as you can.

6) Expanding product and service visibility online

Implementing digital shopping and telemeetings via local business websites and accompanying software will be the two biggest moves most brands can make to adapt to the time of COVID-19. But don’t stop there. The more places customers are able to encounter your offerings online, the better.

Find your opportunities in this list:

• You can now list your products for free on Google Shopping.

• Google has ramped up the “nearby” filter in Google Shopping as of September 2020 to help shoppers discover local inventory.

• Google’s 2020 purchase of Pointy enables paying customers to integrate their point of sales system into a platform that auto-builds online product listings.

• Within the Google Business Profile dashboard, use the service menu options to list both services and products for excellent visibility on Google Business Profiles.

• Qualifying businesses (based on Google Business Profile categories) can use Google Products for further visibility of inventory.

• Enabling Google Messaging opens up another avenue for customers to quickly contact you with inventory and appointment questions.

• Google’s Local Service Ads continue to roll out to more categories and countries. This program is a mixed bag of costs and opportunities, but where budget exists for advertising, it should be explored as a lead generation option.

7) Center caring as a competitive difference-maker during COVID

In Chapter 2 of this guide, you took the time to map out the essential goods, services, and resources specific communities need to sustain themselves in times of emergency. You evaluated whether your business falls within one of these essential categories, or needs to adapt its inventory, model, or operations to remain relevant in both good times and bad.

Growing awareness is doubtless playing a role in 2020 survey findings such as 83% of customers saying they’d rather support a local business than a large corporation, and the same percentage stating they’re fine with spending a bit more money to shop locally. Meanwhile, a different survey found that 72% of consumers believe they will frequent neighboring businesses more after the crisis is over. Multiple polls show that citizens of countries like the United States strongly desire to shop where they live.

Local shopping continues to have the upper hand in terms of convenience for many goods and services, but as large corporations become better at fast delivery, small businesses need to make the most of the asset big competitors are least-able to replicate: human relationships.

Moz highly recommends reading this trio of articles to further explore how local brands can be of the greatest help during COVID-19 and beyond:

• Operating During COVID-19: Helpful Tips for Local Businesses

• How Your Local Business Can Be a Helper

• Kindness as Currency: How Good Deeds Can Benefit Your Local Business

The above articles will enable you to take inspiration from the real-world examples of local business pivots made during the pandemic, and study how acts of empathy build local reputations that can create present and future success.

There’s no gainsaying that the global pandemic has significantly added to the challenges local businesses were already facing in the form of corporate competitors. It helps to know that the majority of people are eager to be served by their own neighbors. When marketing a local business, tap into this positive reality by making human kindness your key competitive difference-maker.

And with that, it's been quite the journey through the world of local SEO strategy! We hope you feel better equipped to navigate the ups and downs of local SEO marketing, and are able to set your business up for success with the new processes and tools outlined in this guide.