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The Top 43 Local SEO Statistics, Updated 2023

1. The State of Local SEO

If you don’t already know, local SEO is a set of strategies and tactics used to compete well in local search and to improve your rankings and visibility in local search results.

Over the years, consumers are searching locally for businesses more frequently. In 2022, 87% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses — up from 81% in 2021. 

Many search engines, like Google, understand this trend and are increasingly delivering local search results. Below are a few statistics showcasing the continued importance of a local SEO strategy and the need to rank well in relevant local search results. 

1. Using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, we found that in the U.S., there are more than 5 million keywords related to “near me” and 800 million searches per month that contain some variation of “near me” (Semrush).

2. Forty-six percent of all Google searches have local intent (SEO Tribunal).

3. Over the past decade, searches containing “near me” have risen dramatically. For now, “near me” searches hit their peak in July 2021, with an interest over time (IOT) score of 100 — the highest possible score on Google’s 0-100 interest over time scale.

At the time of this piece, they remain relatively high, with an interest score of 75 (Google Trends).

4. For local queries, 42% of searchers click on on a result inside the local pack or Google 3-pack (Backlinko).

5. On average, the top search results in Google receives 27.6% of all clicks (Backlinko).

2. Google Maps and Search Statistics
 

6. Google currently owns 93% search engine market share worldwide across all desktop, tablet, and mobile platforms (Statcounter).

7. Similarly, in 2022, Google Maps was the most popular mapping app by downloads throughout the U.S. (Statista).

As you can see, ranking on Google Search and Maps is essential due to Google’s commanding popularity with consumers.

Before getting into more Google and local SEO statistics, we must explain how Google Search displays two types of results: local pack/finder and local organic.

When you conduct a local search on a browser-based interface like Google Chrome or Google Maps, you’ll get a list of three Google Business Profiles (GBPs). This trio of businesses is called the local pack or Google 3-pack. Then, if you’re on a browser and want more results, you can click “More places,” which will bring you to the local finder or the remaining seventeen or so GBPs.

Depending on the search query, local organic results often appear below the local pack/finder. Local organic results often contain articles, local directories, and other web pages.


According to WhiteSpark’s 2023 Local Search Ranking Factors report, these are the top ranking factors for the local pack/finder and local organic search.

Now, let’s get into some of the data.

8. Multi-location brands achieve an average of 33.4% Google 3-pack or local pack presence for their most competitive keywords, compared to 23.8% in 2022 (SOCi).

That said, those fully optimizing their visibility in search see even greater results!

9. Multi-location enterprises who are fully optimizing their visibility in search — which includes filling out all available fields in their GBPs and maintaining a high level of accurate information on their local listings and local pages —  achieved nearly double the visibility in the 3-pack at 65.7%, compared to 61.6% in 2022. (SOCi).

10. Businesses in the Google 3-pack or local pack receive 126% more traffic and 93% more actions (calls, website clicks, and driving directions) than businesses ranked 4-10 (SOCi).

The line graph below shows the impact local search rankings have on GBP actions.
 

11. The search engine results page (SERP) features local marketers care most about are featured snippets (25.6%) and local packs (24.7%) (Moz).

Complete GBPs also impact’s consumer’s decisions.

12. Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete GBP on Google Search and Maps (Google).

13. Customers are 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing from businesses with a complete Business Profile (Google).

14. Photos are another important GBP ranking factor. Forty-four percent of all local results contain a featured photo in the summary listings (SOCi).

3. Local Online Reputation Management Statistics

GBP ratings and reviews impact your ability to appear high in the local finder and to be included in the coveted local pack.

15. According to local SEO experts, “High Numerical Google Ratings (e.g., 4-5)” is the sixth most influential local pack/finder ranking factor, and “Quantity of Native Google Reviews (w/ text)” is the eighth highest.

Not only do ratings and reviews impact local search rankings, but they also influence conversions. These online reputation management (ORM) statistics help reveal the relationship between ORM, local search rankings, and conversions.

Ignoring Customers Costs Local Businesses Money

Data from our 2023 Local Visibility Index (LVI), formerly known as our Localized Marketing Benchmark Report, found that multi-location brands struggle to keep up with consumers’ online expectations for engagements. This lack of response and reputation management ultimately results in ghosting consumers.

20. Using data from our 2023 LVI, we developed The High Cost of Invisibility for Multi-Location Enterprises white paper. We found that ghosting customers costs the U.S. retail industry an estimated $2.4 billion annually.

21. Multi-location businesses ignore 92% of customer questions, such as, “Are you open late on Christmas Eve?” or “Do you sell golf equipment?” on their GBPs (SOCi).

22. An astounding 54% of reviews on Google remain unanswered. Worse, negative reviews have an even lower response rate of 35% (SOCi).

As you can see, ignoring customer engagements such as reviews or simple questions costs your local business.

For more information and data on what the top multi-location enterprises are doing in local search, social, and ORM, download The High Cost of Invisibility for Multi-Location Enterprises white paper.

How GBP Ratings and Reviews Impact Conversions

Next, we’ll show the positive impact of responding to reviews and engagements, and how responding to reviews can boost your conversion rate.

Here’s a visual of how reviews cyclically impact your local search rankings and conversions:

23. Conversions on GBPs — measured by the percentage of consumers who take conversion-oriented actions, such as calls, website clicks, or requests for direction — improve by 44% when a business increases its average star rating by one full star (SOCi).

24. Consumers are more likely to choose a business with a greater number of reviews. For every ten new reviews earned, the conversion of GBPs improves by 2.8% (SOCi).

25. For every 25% of reviews responded to, the conversion of GBPs improves by 4.1% (SOCi).

26. The average multi-location brand now responds to 46.3% of its reviews on Google, compared to 36.2% in 2022 (SOCi).

27. Multi-location businesses are responding to reviews much faster on Google, Yelp, and Facebook than in 2022 (SOCi).

This increased review response rate and average response time marks an improvement for multi-location enterprises. However, there’s still room to respond more often and faster.

Remember, these are benchmarks, and your local stores should aim to surpass them.

4. Local Social Statistics

First, we must acknowledge that social media doesn’t directly influence SEO. The same goes for local social and local SEO.

However, local social can indirectly influence local SEO by enhancing your content distribution, bringing more qualified traffic to your website, and increasing your brand awareness and reputation.

Facebook is essential for reaching and engaging with local audiences. SOCi’s The Secrets of Facebook Post Engagement research report found the following:

28. On Facebook, posts with videos have twice the correlation with engagement as posts with photos.

 
29. Boosted posts on Facebook see 35x the reach and 40x more impressions than non-boosted posts.

30. Boosted posts on Facebook earn 10x as many clicks as non-boosted posts.

31. Furthermore, previous SOCi research found that Facebook Boost can lead to a 2,000% increase in reach and a 500% increase in comments versus organic posts (SOCi).

Social media often influences consumers to purchase items as well.

32. 76% of consumers have purchased a product they saw in a brand’s social media post. However, that conversion is not always instantaneous, as 65% of these people purchased the product at a later date. And 20% of them bought in-store, meaning social sends foot traffic to local stores (Social Media Today).

33. In 2021, 50% of Gen Z and 58% of millennials in the U.S. stated that social media advertising influenced their purchasing decisions (Statista).


34. Check-ins on local Facebook pages have declined to 213.1 per location in 2023, compared to 529.1 in 2022 (SOCi). This decline signals that this social currency is not as relevant for consumers today.

Waterfall posts on Facebook are on the rise, which are when brands use Facebook tools to copy posts from a corporate profile so that they appear on local profiles.

35. In 2023, 43.3% of multi-location brands employed waterfall posts at least some of the time  (SOCi).

Note that waterfall posts fail to create engagement at the local level because every reaction, comment, and share generated gets attributed to the brand-wide total versus attributed to individual local social pages. Creating social content at the local level is important.

36. Under a multi-location enterprise, the average local store posts 8.9 times per month on Facebook, compared to 7.3 in 2022 (SOCi).

5. Local Mobile Statistics

Due to the advancements in smartphone technology, consumers often turn to their smartphones to research and find local businesses.

Below are a few mobile statistics showing the importance that your website and web pages, such as your local landing pages, are optimized for mobile use.

 37. According to Go-Globe, nearly 9 in 10 people search for a local business using their phone at least once a week.
 

38. In 2019, 56% of online consumers in the U.S. had searched for local businesses via a mobile browser (Statista).

39. More than 3 in 4 people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a physical place within 24 hours. Moreover, 28% of those searches result in a purchase (Think with Google).

40. Seventy-six percent of U.S. adults buy products online using a smartphone (Pew Research).

41. Nearly one-third of Americans purchase something from their smartphones weekly (Pew Research).

42. Three in four smartphone owners turn to search first to address their immediate needs (Think with Google).

43. According to a 2019 survey, 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly using the search results, e.g., the “click to call” option (Think with Google).

Improve Your Local SEO Today!

As you can tell from these local SEO statistics, your local businesses must appear at the top of relevant local search results.

If you’re a multi-location enterprise and need help managing your local listings, local pages, and website, download The Top 10 Things You Should Be Doing in Local SEO Now.

Furthermore, to amplify your local SEO, you need a unified local SEO, local social media, and online reputation management strategy in place.

You can also use SOCi to implement all your different local SEO and localized marketing strategies.

SOCi is the CoMarketing Cloud for multi-location enterprises. Our local listings, local pages, local social media, and online reviews solutions work in a unified manner to help refine your local SEO and localized marketing efforts.

Request a demo today to learn how SOCi can help enhance your local SEO strategy across all of your locations!

Today, all businesses — multi-location enterprises, local franchisees, and small businesses alike — need a local SEO strategy. Consumers search locally for products and services. If you aren’t appearing in relevant local search results, you’re missing out on potential customers.

If you aren’t convinced, we’ve compiled a list of local SEO statistics proving the need to invest in local SEO. We’ll also examine local SEO's relationship with online reputation management and local social media.

Let’s get into it! Here are the top 43 local SEO statistics of 2023… 

The Current State of GBP Ratings and Reviews

Across all GBPs, review counts are down in 2023, but the average star rating is exceptionally high.

16. The average multi-location brand has 178.8 Google reviews in 2023, down from 223.9 in 2022 (SOCi).

We perceive this decline is partially due to Google’s strenuous review moderation activities in 2022, which removed illegitimate or fake reviews but potentially removed legitimate ones.

17. The average star rating across all rank positions from 1 through 20 in Google’s local finder hovers around 4.11 stars (SOCi).

18. Google star ratings have become inflated over time. In 2015, the average business had a rating of 3.74 stars, whereas the current average is 4.11 stars (SOCi).
 
Google reviews with a star rating but no text have also become more common.

19. In 2015, 76.2% of Google reviews included text; in July 2022, the percentage was just 54%. That said, reviews with text are slightly up in 2021-2022 compared to 2019-2020 (SOCi).

The image below depicts the historical trends from in average new reviews, average review responses, and average star rating for GBPs.