Top 45 Local SEO Statistics Every Local Business Needs to Know

If you run a business that depends on local customers, how you show up online matters more than ever. Customers aren’t just typing into Google for fun. They’re searching with intent. 

In fact, they’re checking reviews, hours, and directions, and making snap decisions based on what they find. Thus, we’ll break down the most relevant local SEO statistics covering how people search, where they click, and what influences their decisions.

45 Key Local SEO Statistics That Show What Drives Growth

These local SEO stats will help you to understand how people think, what they trust, and what makes them click or walk away.

1. Consumer Behavior in Local Search

These local search statistics reveal habits, decision-making patterns, and expectations that influence local SEO ranking factors. 

1. Almost all U.S. consumers, about 98%, search online when looking for local businesses. In fact, 32% do this several times each week. (Statista)
2. 80% of people in the U.S. look for local businesses once a week and 32% search for them daily. (Consumer Behavior Index (CBI), 2024)
3. If details like hours or addresses are wrong, 62% of people say they would avoid that business. (BrightLocal, 2023)
4. If a store is closed when someone expected it to be open, 47% would likely search for another option nearby instead. (soci, 2025)
5. More than half of consumers use Google Search and Google Maps to find local business information. (SOCi)

6. About 40% of people say they look up local businesses online a few times each month just to check their opening hours. (BrightLocal, 2023)
7. 71% of customers say they usually skip over brands that have less than a 3-star average rating. (BrightLocal, 2025)
8. Data from 2022 shows that 67% of users who searched for local retail stores online were likely to purchase within 3 days. (RIO SEO, 2022)

9. About 60% of people using smartphones reach out to a business straight from the local search results. (Think with Google, 2019)

10. 83% of consumers turn to Google when they want to read reviews about local businesses. (BrightLocal, 2025)
11. 42% of millennials usually end up visiting a business after doing a local search. (Reviewtrackers, 2021)

2. Trends in “Near Me” and Mobile Searches

The rise in near me searches statistics reflects a shift toward mobile-first, intent-driven behavior. Let’s look at the numbers —

1. About 46% of all searches on Google are focused on finding something nearby. (Search Engine Roundtable, 2018)
2. When people look up terms like “near me,” 76% of them end up visiting a business within 24 hours. (Think with Google, 2016)
3. In the past two years, there’s been a 200% increase in mobile searches related to finding nearby car dealerships. (Think with Google, 2017)
4. Mobile searches that include phrases like “near me today” or “near me tonight” have jumped by over 900% during the same period. (Think with Google, 2017)
5. Searches combining “where to buy” and “near me” went up by over 200% in just two years. (Think with Google, 2019)
6. By 2022, Think With Google noted in its Retail Marketing Guide that searches like “open now near me” had jumped by 400%. (Think With Google, 2022)
7. Each year, the number of people searching for ‘shopping near me’ on Google Maps has more than doubled globally. (Think With Google, 2022)
8. 88% of people who search for local businesses on their smartphones end up visiting a store linked to that search within seven days. (Think With Google, 2022)
9. 80% of mobile searches with local intent lead to a conversion. (Search Engine Watch, 2014)

3. Platform Preferences and Discovery Channels

These local SEO stats highlight the platforms that dominate the discovery process, informing strategies for visibility and trust-building in 2025.

1. Among 18–24 year olds, 67% use Instagram for local searches, 62% use TikTok, and 61% use Google Search. (SOCI’s Consumer Behavior Index, 2025)
2. For local business info, 66% of consumers trust Google, 45% trust Google Maps, 36% trust business websites, and 32% trust Facebook and Yelp. (BrightLocal, 2023)

3. Most people, about 4 out of 5, turn to search engines when they want details about nearby businesses. (Think with Google, 2014)
4. When it comes to trust, Google is the top choice for 89% of users. Meanwhile, 48% rely on Facebook, and 32% prefer Yelp. (BrightLocal, 2021)
5. In the U.S., 31% of consumers check Instagram for local business reviews. Additionally, 1 in 5 people use TikTok as another source for these reviews. (BrightLocal, 2021)

4. SEO Strategy, Adoption, and Effectiveness

Businesses investing in local SEO ranking factors 2025 tend to outperform their competitors. The following local SEO stats offer how often businesses use it, whether they find it helpful, and how much value it brings.

1. 46% of local partners were using SEO, and 79% believed it worked well for them. (Brandmuscle, 2020)
2. Meanwhile, 94% of top-performing brands had a clear local marketing plan in place, compared to just 60% of brands that performed at an average level. (BrightLocal, 2024)
3. Moz reported that 4 in 10 small businesses hire others to handle some or all of their local SEO tasks. (Moz, 2020)
4. Even so, only 35% of businesses consider local SEO to be a priority. (Moz, 2020)
5. Even now, 58% of businesses aren’t giving local SEO the attention it deserves. (Brandmuscle, 2022)
6. 79% of marketers say local SEO works really well for them. (Brandmuscle, 2022)
7. 40% of local SEO campaigns deliver a return of 500% or higher, showing just how effective it can be. (FinanceOnline, 2025)
8. 18% of marketers say building local backlinks is their top priority when it comes to SEO. (Moz, 2020)
9. People are 70% more inclined to visit a business if its Google Business Profile is set up and updated properly. (Google Business Profile)

5. Search Result Composition and Review Influence

These insights help guide practical and strategic choices to improve rankings, increase visibility, and build trust, key parts of local SEO success.

1. When people search for information with local intent, about 37% of the organic results come from business directories. (BrightLocal, 2024)
2. Google’s top 10 search results for local queries usually include different types of sources: 47% are business websites, 31% are directories, 16% are business mentions, and 7% come from forums or discussion boards. (BrightLocal, 2024)

3. ChatGPT search results show that 58% come from business websites. Business mentions make up 27%, while online directories account for the remaining 15%. (BrightLocal, 2024)
4. Responding to reviews with a simple “thank you” can increase new reviews by about 12%. (Harvard Business Review, 2018)
5. Semrush’s 2020 study on voice search revealed that Yelp listings with ratings under 4.5 stars are less likely to appear in Siri’s voice search results. (Semrush, 2020)
6. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of people using voice search grew by 146%, rising from 3.25 billion to 8 billion users. (Semrush, 2023)
7. Businesses that upload photos to their Google Business Profile typically see 42% more direction requests on Google Maps. They also get 35% more clicks to their websites than those without images. (Google Business Profile)
8. Most customers prefer using Google to search for and review local businesses.  (Google Business Profile)
9. Simply responding to local reviews can lead to a 12% increase in new reviews. (Harvard Business Review, 2018)

Final Words

If you’re a local shop owner, check your business hours and ratings; small fixes matter. For marketers, these local SEO statistics prove that mobile searches and platform trust shape conversions. 

And if you’re managing SEO, focus on reviews, directory presence, and that Google Business Profile. Looking ahead, search behavior is only getting more real-time and local. 

Stay visible, stay updated, and stay chosen. That’s what these stats are saying.