Local search in 2023: key trends & techniques
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 3:36 am
Benu Aggarwal, founder of Milestone, has shared her insights into local search trends in 2023. A guide that will undoubtedly be of great use to you in confirming or denying your strategies…
We all agree that what consumers are looking for today is a personalized, omnichannel experience. In his guide published on Search Engine Land , Benu Aggarwal goes a little further by providing his vision for local search in 2023.
For non-English speakers or those who don't cambodia mobile database time to read the full guide, here are the key points of the guide:
Buying online…but locally
Although online shopping is popular among consumers, 49% of them prefer to buy from local businesses. A revival of local commerce , but in a digital version...
To help consumers make the purchase, the need for useful content (chat, real-time reviews, videos, etc.) is more relevant than ever.
A more complex customer journey
If a few years ago, the customer journey could be summed up as “Information / Comparison / Decision / Loyalty”, this is absolutely no longer the case today. It is no longer so linear!
Source: Search Engine Land
With the goal of creating the best customer experience, you need to work on every possible touchpoint with your business.
A more visual local search
Google considers TikTok a competitor because local search is increasingly done via video, especially among younger people. Google and Maps are no longer enough for your local strategy; you also need to be on TikTok and Instagram .
Forget royalty-free visuals, prefer original images and videos for your products on your Google Business Profile. You can validate the relevance of your images via Google's Vision API .
No review gating
Whether on Google or Maps, reviews and ratings play a vital role in purchasing decisions. Nothing new under the sun!
The problem is Review Gating , a practice that involves soliciting reviews and then filtering out negative ones so that only good ones are posted on Google. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission decided to end this practice to preserve the integrity of reviews.
Benu Aggarwal's recommendation is therefore to avoid review gating and to be more cautious in your requests for opinions.
Recent and relevant content
Deployed since August 2022, the HCU ( Helpful Content Update ) algorithm prioritizes useful and original content, written by real people, for real people.
Fresh, relevant, and accessible content is essential for local businesses to be featured on Google. Vary the types of content: PDFs, FAQs, videos, images, expert advice, etc.
The specificity of multi-site companies
Content creation is more challenging for multi-location businesses . It's recommended to use your customer journeys to connect the different touchpoints.
Source: Search Engine Land
Personalize your content according to your target audience and how they are looking for an answer. It must then be visible across all your channels. Don't create the same content multiple times for your different sites. Instead, you can create local landing pages from your website.
The use of AI
While AI and ChatGPT can help you automate tasks, human review is still necessary to improve your content or build a thorough local strategy.
Local search in 2023
There are no major surprises in the 2023 local search trends; the various points covered are logical and therefore fairly reliable. Content remains key to standing out from the competition and being featured on search engines, while respecting the HCU. Text content is no longer the panacea; consider visuals and videos, especially on social media, which are playing an increasingly important role in local search. And be careful when using artificial intelligence in your content strategy!
We all agree that what consumers are looking for today is a personalized, omnichannel experience. In his guide published on Search Engine Land , Benu Aggarwal goes a little further by providing his vision for local search in 2023.
For non-English speakers or those who don't cambodia mobile database time to read the full guide, here are the key points of the guide:
Buying online…but locally
Although online shopping is popular among consumers, 49% of them prefer to buy from local businesses. A revival of local commerce , but in a digital version...
To help consumers make the purchase, the need for useful content (chat, real-time reviews, videos, etc.) is more relevant than ever.
A more complex customer journey
If a few years ago, the customer journey could be summed up as “Information / Comparison / Decision / Loyalty”, this is absolutely no longer the case today. It is no longer so linear!
Source: Search Engine Land
With the goal of creating the best customer experience, you need to work on every possible touchpoint with your business.
A more visual local search
Google considers TikTok a competitor because local search is increasingly done via video, especially among younger people. Google and Maps are no longer enough for your local strategy; you also need to be on TikTok and Instagram .
Forget royalty-free visuals, prefer original images and videos for your products on your Google Business Profile. You can validate the relevance of your images via Google's Vision API .
No review gating
Whether on Google or Maps, reviews and ratings play a vital role in purchasing decisions. Nothing new under the sun!
The problem is Review Gating , a practice that involves soliciting reviews and then filtering out negative ones so that only good ones are posted on Google. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission decided to end this practice to preserve the integrity of reviews.
Benu Aggarwal's recommendation is therefore to avoid review gating and to be more cautious in your requests for opinions.
Recent and relevant content
Deployed since August 2022, the HCU ( Helpful Content Update ) algorithm prioritizes useful and original content, written by real people, for real people.
Fresh, relevant, and accessible content is essential for local businesses to be featured on Google. Vary the types of content: PDFs, FAQs, videos, images, expert advice, etc.
The specificity of multi-site companies
Content creation is more challenging for multi-location businesses . It's recommended to use your customer journeys to connect the different touchpoints.
Source: Search Engine Land
Personalize your content according to your target audience and how they are looking for an answer. It must then be visible across all your channels. Don't create the same content multiple times for your different sites. Instead, you can create local landing pages from your website.
The use of AI
While AI and ChatGPT can help you automate tasks, human review is still necessary to improve your content or build a thorough local strategy.
Local search in 2023
There are no major surprises in the 2023 local search trends; the various points covered are logical and therefore fairly reliable. Content remains key to standing out from the competition and being featured on search engines, while respecting the HCU. Text content is no longer the panacea; consider visuals and videos, especially on social media, which are playing an increasingly important role in local search. And be careful when using artificial intelligence in your content strategy!