Recently, Pierre Zarokian of Submit Express sat down with DealCrunch writer Sean Garrity to look at some of the big trends coming to Internet marketing in 2017. Since 1998, Submit Express has helped thousands of businesses improve their reputation and search engine rankings online.

In this brief guide, you’ll learn which trends will bring the biggest impact to your efforts throughout the new year.

Reviews

The importance of reviews cannot be understated. Reviews directly affect your search engine standing, and have a huge impact on what potential customers think about you before they come to your store. Restaurants and retailers stand to gain the most from having a positive review score in Google, but really anyone benefits.

Zarokian’s approach is twofold: monitor reviews, looking for (and addressing) negatives and promoting positives, while creating your own feedback loop. This way, you control the flow of information on your Yelp page, and you’re better equipped to handle challenges as they occur. Customers will think it’s better to use your system since the feedback goes directly to you.

Search Marketing

Submit Express also utilizes SEO, but it doesn’t just mean search anymore. Zarokian’s team performs a full site audit, updates your content and then performs offsite work to help improve your site’s standing in search. This can include pitching to unique blogs to host content about you, or working on social media to improve your follower count.

Mobile optimization is another important component to 2017, as more and more of your customers switch to mobile devices to find stores in their local area.

Final Thoughts

Local search, and local businesses, can gain a lot in 2017. If you’re savvy, and you can stay on top of Google’s changes, you can improve your ranking and get better reviews.