St. Petersburg, FL (PRUunderground) July 14, 2022
Forget which brand has the best coffee. Which one has rather the best local search visibility? Both companies want to sell more coffee and keep expanding, but to win new customers, they need to win local search. In other words, when people whip their phones out and ask for phrases like “coffee near me” – if you’re a coffee shop and not in the top 3 results, you might as well be invisible. Because you are.
First, companies need to drop their egos. Only 20% of local searches are for specific brands. This means at the moment that 80% of people looking for coffee do not write in Starbucks or Dunkin ‘. There are nearly 100 million searches for “coffee shop” in the United States each year – and that’s just one of many phrases they might use.
They ask Google or Siri or Alexa about cafes, lattes, espresso and cappuccinos. And unlike funny cat videos, people who search for coffee nearby do not do so for the sake of entertainment. They will buy and buy now. It is actually the most perfect time to acquire new customers because they are searching on purpose. You have what they want. But can they find you?
While both companies spend a lot of money on their site SEO when people search for coffee, sites like Google and Yelp will favor local SEO data, which is a whole other game. And a game that both companies are underplaying.
For example, when I ask Google for “coffee”, it assumes I want local providers, and it therefore earns 3 recommendations here in St. Louis. Petersburg, FL. The first, Bandit Coffee, is 2.3 km away. The next is Bravado Coffee at 2.6 miles. And finally Bula, at 0.07 miles. Note that the results are not based on distance. If that were the case, then the Dunkin ‘on the other side of the street (400 feet) would have survived. And the nearest Starbuck? .08 miles away.
The same scenario unfolds every minute of the day in every corner of the country. And in this case, neither Starbuck nor Dunkin ‘scored a win, place or show.
There are many factors that affect local search ranking. These include reputation (star rating); answer reviews and Q&A; social signals; photos; accurate business information; local sites; local competitors; keyword strategy and more. Clearly, both companies manage some of these, but not all. A change in tactics would help them rank higher and attract more new customers.
Chatmeter’s platform helps businesses continuously assess all the local search data that is unique to each location and recommends exactly what needs to be done to improve. If you are interested in a deeper dive into how your locations are doing, send me a note: [email protected] We provide a free audit. I will also buy you a cup of coffee from those Google recommends in your area. I’m not sure who it will be … but let’s call them the “winner”.
