Local search is necessary when geographic identifiers are an important part to your overall search engine optimization strategy. Therefore, SteadyRain's Online Marketing team gathered some useful data into an excellent infographic for further consideration when deciding on whether or not you should integrate local into your next campaign.

Some of the numbers may be surprising!

Google Analytics provides users the opportunity to customize reporting content for your online marketing efforts, drilling down to the exact information that is required. Whether you are looking to capture visitor data from an A/B test, measuring conversion types, or locating something completely unique to your campaign, Google Analytics’ Advanced Segments is a great jumping off point to help locate that specific information.

Creating segments is quick and can be immediately applied to the specified date range of your online marketing campaign...

As Valentine’s Day approached, I started to remember the ways we celebrated this day in grade school. I remember I was a fan – we would come to school dressed in pink, red, and white, have our usual classes in the morning, and finally, around 1pm we would start our all-school Valentine’s party! Sugar was consumed in mass quantities, cards were dropped into our handmade boxes, and teachers didn’t mind that we chatted with our friends until the school day was over.

When I think back on all the preparation that went into making the day memorable for all those involved, I started to find comparisons between how we celebrated the day then and how the sentiment that was previously involved should be carried over into today. And these sentiments can not only work in your day-to-day life but also serve as smart and thoughtful marketing strategies that will make you stand out from the competition.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be an overwhelming task, however there are several tactics every business can do to increase their search engine presence. One way is to prepare a local search engine optimization strategy, which optimizes local profiles to increase organic rankings within major search engines and local directories.

According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses on Google, which is why it is so critical for businesses to ensure they are represented on a local level. Here are a few tips that every business can implement to improve local SEO performance.