Local Search is an emerging aspect of organic search engine marketing and has been developed to provide additional relevancy to people searching the Internet. Local Search is a bridge between what is considered a traditional offline aspect of marketing (example – phone books & yellow pages) and online marketing. Search engines are working to provide the most relevant results to their users.
Basically, Google, Yahoo and MSN are all integrating geographic identifiers to search results when it lends value and relevancy to the search results.
How does local search affect relevancy?
More people are using the Internet as a research tool for offline products and services. Because of this trend, it is more important than ever to make sure that your Web site is properly optimized for not only the products or services that you offer, but also for your retail, branch, office, and sales locations where conversions can take place.
Here are some examples of regular search and local search results:
GOOGLE – “Orlando Hotels”
MSN – “New York Hotels”
MSN – “Cleveland McDonalds”
YAHOO – “Las Vegas Hotels”
YAHOO – “McDonalds”
One of the main reasons that this is very valuable to marketing online is the fact that each of these examples has a listing that appears at the top of the search engine results page, above the organic, or natural, results.
Other new developments that prove that Google is paying attention to local search are:
Google – “Hampton Inn” (searched on May 8, 2008)
This is an example of a new Google algorithm test, which was verified for three search queries:
- Hampton Inn (shown above)
- McDonalds
- Restaurant
This is not a widespread test and was only seen for search terms that have a high relevancy for an additional geographical descriptor.
Set Geographic Target
Google Webmaster Tools is a free service offered by Google to give webmasters insight into performance with their Web sites. Setting up this account is a standard Brulant practice for clients’ Web sites. Aside from giving webmasters insight into their performance in Google search, it also offers Web site owners the opportunity to identify geographic targets for a Web site.
Google states that it will “help” them determine how your site appears in location-specific search results; however, this is not the only determining factor in location-specific search results.
As in years past, it is becoming more valuable to ensure that you are “where” and “when” your potential customers are looking for your products or services. Unlike paid search results, organic results, including local search, are always visible regardless of your budget!
