Never Overlook Local Search
When trying to obtain your piece of search engine marketing, don’t overlook local search.
Local search advertising is one of the biggest and fastest-growing sectors of online advertising and search engine optimization. Too many times, businesses overlook the local market and set their sights on bigger fish.
Think about your products and services and how people might search for them on Google and in other search engines.
Let’s say you own a restaurant in Dallas, Texas. A visitor, from Minneapolis is in town looking for eatery choices. What keywords will he search for?
* Restaurants? Nope. Too broad.
* Dallas restaurants? Yes.
By the way, there are 54 daily searches in Google for the term “Dallas restaurants”. What restaurant in Dallas doesn’t want a piece of that action?
You don’t need to be a genius to figure out local businesses such as restaurants, lawn care, car repair, etc., should be targeting local search. Still, many businesses total ignore the local search concept.
Consider:
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Are you spending more or less for Yellow Page advertising (you know, the book thing)? Do you even use the book thing anymore?
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Are you spending more or less for print advertising?
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Are you spending more or less for direct mail?
Last year, Nielsen/NetRatings conducted a survey and found that 70% use the Internet when searching for goods and services. On top of that, 40% use the Internet to search for local goods and services.
Are you ignoring local search?
Now, before we get too hung up on local pizza restaurants, local coffee shops and local bookstores, there is always a market for local search – even if your company is targeting national clients.
Let’s say you can sell your product or service to anyone in the United States. You might be an online store that can ship software, books or music. Or, perhaps, you can write code or design websites no matter where the business is located.
Nevertheless, do not ignore local search. Some local firms will only do business with other local firms. If they can’t find you in search engines, you’re missing out.
While you can target “geo” keywords with local search, such as Cincinnati pizza, Dallas restaurants, etc., there are many other local search advertising options:
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Google Maps
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Yahoo! Local
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MSN Local
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Pay-Per-Click advertising
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Local ad listings
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Ads on local maps
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Online coupons
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Online newspapers and publications
Don’t think for a minute that local search is only limited to local businesses and is small potatoes. Franchises and bigger companies are moving in and grabbing a share of the local search market. Go ahead…search for the name of any city plus the word “coffee” (ex: Cincinnati coffee, Indianapolis coffee, Louisville coffee, etc.) and you’ll find at least one listing – if not more – for Starbucks in Google Map and/or other search results.
