Why Local SEO Matters for Metaphysical and Spiritual Shops in Your City

It’s a special gift to turn your passion into your livelihood. Most metaphysical stores reject mainstream consumerism and consciously choose to focus on small, ethical, community-based retail or sustainable online shopping communities. 

If this describes your business, then you might find marketing a bit of a puzzle. How can you reach customers who share your values without resorting to pushy sales tactics that make you feel overly commercialized? 

Local search engine optimization is about helping the right people find you at the right time. It focuses your marketing efforts on people who are already searching for what you offer in a local market.

Local SEO Works for Alternative Communities

Local SEO is an ideal marketing strategy for independent shops that prioritize personal connection and local presence, including:

• Crystal shops
• Spirituality shops
• Wiccan or magic suppliers 
• Incense and candle stores 
• Healing practices with on-site sales 
• Ritual or ancestral supply stores
• Herbalists
• Taoist, Buddhist, or Hindu suppliers

Even if your business doesn’t fit neatly into a single category, effective local SEO tools can help your people find you. Below are three key ways you can use mainstream advertising methods to build your local community — without compromising your values or resorting to high-pressure sales! 

Bing Places for Metaphysical Shops

Listing your metaphysical store on Bing and other online sites is key to bringing foot traffic to your store.

Interest in alternative healing and spirituality is growing at an astonishing rate. The U.S. market for healing crystals alone is expected to keep growing 8% per year over the next decade. Since inquisitive people turn to the internet to learn more about their chosen practice and purchase the supplies they need, creating a consistent online presence is an ideal way to let locals know where to find you. 

Establish a Bing Presence

Bing hosts a free business directory where you can add your business name, description, photos, and reviews. The more complete your profile is, the more likely it is to rank highly for searches that match what you offer. 

Over 43% of Bing searches have local intent, meaning they include a signifier like “near me.” Creating a public profile for your business on Bing means that your shop is more likely to be found by people searching for terms like:

• “Crystal shop near me”
• “Metaphysical shop near me”
• “Holi supplies in city_name”
• “Where to buy incense” 

Include Clear Product & Store Photos

Humans are visual creatures! In fact, 53% of online shoppers report that engaging online photos motivated them to purchase something. 

Make sure that the photos you add are clear and properly sized to display on Bing. Include photos of your storefront to make it easier for people to find you when they visit in person. Don’t forget to include clear shots of some of your most popular products, either as flatlays or in use — a photo of a tarot card reading could really show off the quality of your cards, for example! 

Google Business Profile Optimization for Crystal Shops

Like the phone book of the good old days, Google hosts a free public directory of businesses and their basic information. When generating results for someone’s search query – like “metaphysical shop near me” — this is one of the first places Google’s web crawlers look.

Google Business Profile optimization is all about fine-tuning your public listing so you’re more likely to rank highly for searches that match what you sell. 

Claim and Complete Your GBP

First of all, you need to claim your listing. Sometimes your business might already exist on Google Maps, so you need to request ownership of the page. If it doesn’t already exist, then you can create one. 

Make sure everything is updated and complete, including:

• Business name 
• Hours of operation
• Address
• Phone number 
• Web address 
• Type of services or products offered (i.e., if you offer classes along with products) 

Optimize for Local Search

This is where Google Business Profile optimization really shines for metaphysical and spirituality suppliers. You can include keywords that match the programs and products you offer to make it more likely that Google will direct local searchers to your store — and this boosts the foot traffic you receive. 

Build Trust With Reviews and Photos

In your field, it’s absolutely essential that customers build a connection with you. With many mass-market suppliers selling knock-offs of spirituality aids — or even traditional cultural purification supplies — it’s crucial that you show your authenticity, safety, and quality from the get-go.

Asking previous customers to leave reviews is a great way to cement trust with your local community. And of course, adding plenty of photos of the quality of your store shows first-time visitors what to expect. 

Google Local Service Ads for Crystal Stores

Both Bing Places and Google Business Profile optimization rely on organic traffic, meaning the natural match between what your business offers and what your audience is searching for.

Crystal stores, metaphysical suppliers, candle and incense manufacturers, and spirituality suppliers can also benefit from paid traffic. Don’t worry, this is still an ethical marketing practice. Local Service Ads use small “bids” for certain keywords that already indicate a high intent to purchase. Basically, you’re paying for a slight bump to the traffic your community is already generating organically. 

Choose Your Bid and Keywords

For metaphysical stores, local service ads are a great way to promote new offerings or raise awareness about products that your community didn’t know you offered. 

First, choose a set of keywords or phrases that you want to bid on. You can research trending terms on your own or hire a professional team to handle it for you. Then, you determine how much you want to pay per click to that ad. This makes local service ads a cost-effective way for small business owners to market their shops, because you only pay per qualified click, rather than a large up-front sum.

It’s important to track how many clicks particular campaigns receive so you can continue to refine and improve your marketing strategy over time. Remember, ads are a complement to your existing web presence and your overall shop environment. 

Reassure First-Time Customers With Verification

First-time customers might be uncertain about your offerings. It’s important to reassure them about the safety and authenticity of your products. As part of signing up for Google Local Service Ads, you’ll go through a screening and verification process. Google’s verification leads you through specific steps to prove that your business is trustworthy and that you, the business owner, are the one operating its online face. This protects you from false representation in the future, too. 

FAQ: How to Help Your Metaphysical Store Get Discovered

Local SEO for small businesses relies on trust and accessibility. How easily can your ideal customers find you? Will they feel disappointed when they step through the doors, or say, “This is exactly what I was looking for?”

Effectively using local SEO tools is all about creating that ideal match between your metaphysical store and the people in your town who are searching for what you have to offer. Whether that’s herbs, crystals, or health supplements, local SEO can bring your presence to more people.

When you’re ready to create your personalized digital marketing strategy, give us a call. In the meantime, take a look at some of the most common questions our digital marketing experts receive about local SEO for small businesses and how you can apply it to the metaphysical supplies space. 

How do people search for spiritual and metaphysical shops locally?

Most people prioritize discovery and exploration when they search for a metaphysical or spiritual store. They want to find a physical shop locally that they can visit to browse certain categories of products and get guidance. Accessibility and proximity are the keys here, not urgency. 

Why is local SEO important for brick-and-mortar spiritual shops?

Most people turn to search engines to find basic details about brick-and-mortar stores near them. Optimizing your shop’s presence for local searches makes it more likely that interested customers will stop in and visit your store in person, since they can easily find information about your location, hours, and products before they go. 

How does Google Maps visibility affect spiritual shops?

Google Maps offers searchers a “top three” listing of the most relevant stores for a particular local query. This is usually called the “Map Pack” or the “3-Pack.” Appearing in this list makes it far more likely that customers will see your business as highly recommended and trustworthy, and stop in to visit your store. 

Can local SEO help spiritual shops attract aligned customers, not just more traffic?

Yes! Local SEO is all about matching what you offer to what customers are looking for. The more specific and educational you can be with your online information, the more likely you are to attract aligned customers. 

How is local SEO for spiritual shops different from other retail businesses?

Spiritual shops face the added challenges of building trust with communities and overcoming hesitancy from people new to a particular practice. When optimizing your spiritual shop’s online presence, it’s crucial to be respectful and sensitive to cultural practices and newcomers alike. Remember, while you provide the supplies that people need to carry out their practice, it’s important to honor their beliefs and ways through clear, thoughtful communication. 

Is your shop being discovered locally? Check now with a free comprehensive local SEO analysis.