Perhaps because of the growing influence of social shares on search rankings, local SEOs are thinking of social media as an effective marketing channel for local businesses, according to the results of a poll conducted by BrightLocal and for the Which, more than 1400 SEOs have been interviewed.

More than 8 out of 10 respondents believe that social work works well for a certain type of business (57%) or is very powerful (25%), rising from 76% of last year’s study, while only 1% Every 10 are of the opinion that it is something exaggerated. But when it comes to generating new leads, SEO is more inclined to search, with 82% stating that “broad search” is one of the 3 most effective online channels.

Behind the general search is the local search, one of the three most important tools for 62% of the answers. Social media ranks fourth, with 26% of responses, behind the PPC (pay per click) with 53%, but ahead of local directories, mobile, video marketing, ad websites, display ads, And finally the daily offers and promotions.

Participants in the survey indicate that SEO services on-site are, in excess, the most requested service, followed by a set of second level services such as optimization for Google+, web page development, link building, PPC, desarroly And content creation, and social media marketing. As the creators of the study point out, demand tends to follow supply. Most of the participants offer both Google+ optimization services and on-site SEO services, while only a few offer mobile or video marketing.

The study also details that 14% of SEOs and agencies work in a single vertical.

Other data from the study are as follows:

• 4 of the 5 most effective SEO channels to attract new clients are offline: word of mouth (1st), local groups (3rd), workshops or meetings (4th), and outgoing calls (5th). SEO is the second most valued channel, although word of mouth is the clear leader, cited by 91%.
• The success rate of converting new leads into customers is 42%.
• The most tedious and time consuming tasks are link building, cited by 55% of the participants, with the elaboration of text content (15%) in a second place.
• 93% of SEO expect their activity to grow this year.