Each year, David Mihm puts together an incredibly useful report on ranking factors that may or may not be important in local search that is certainly a not-to-be-missed item for anyone involved in or interested in local search. The two previous editions of the report, from 2008 and 2009, are still available for perusal if you would like to see how opinions have changed over the years as to what is important in terms of...
Articles in Local Search
More Customers Through Your Front Door: Using Google AdWords to Advertise Locally
Rick runs a fitness center in Des Moines, Iowa. He has been using pay-per-click advertising from Google AdWords to get people in the door for over a year now, and it is working like magic. His ad shows on Google any time a person types in “fitness center” (or any of a hundred other relevant terms). It is clear from his ad that he is local, and folks are taken to a page that gives...
Could Local SEO Work For You?
Local or regional search engine optimization (SEO) is often overlooked in the planning stages of a new website optimization campaign but in reality, is probably more appropriate for some businesses than an all-encompassing online marketing blast. So what is local or regional SEO? While general search engine optimization will look at the position of certain keywords on the main search engines, it may lack focus on keywords that include a local or regional marker, for...
A Place To Hang My Hat … Where Do I Go, Google?
If you run a business that sells products or services out of a physical location and don’t have your Google Local Business Center listing by now, you’re out of luck. No more Local Business Center. But, never fear, it’s just been renamed, not removed. I bet that got your attention, but it was a mean joke, so I’m sorry for using such a cheap trick. The fact remains, though, that if you haven’t yet secured...
Google Is Still On Top But Has Local Passed The Tipping Point?
Two studies released this week combine to really bring to light a couple of aspects of the search market in 2010. One, Google is still on top. comScore’s February 2010 U.S. Search Engine Rankings report shows that, once again, Google holds top spot for the share of searches, with 65.5%. Yahoo! Sites is a relatively distant second at 16.8%, and Microsoft Sites third at 11.5%. The percentage change over January was minimal, with Google gaining...
Optimized Local PPC Targeting
Local advertisers rely heavily on geo-targeting when it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The groundwork of their marketing campaign is built on attaining local customers, but are they getting the most out of their efforts to maintain a strong local presence? To ensure you are reaching the entire local audience you are targeting, you must have at least two PPC campaigns set up — one targeted to the geographic area by IP address and another...
Did You Know That SMBs Don't Get Local Search?
How many times can one person come across a relatively successful small business and find, once again, that they have not even claimed their local business listing in the Google Local Business Center? Enough for me to lose count, that’s how many. If you are a search marketer and you deal with any business of any size, you know that one of first things you should do is gain control of this valuable online asset....
Google Print Local Finally Ready for Launch! Local Advertising Will Never Be the Same
After several years of low-key alpha testing and on and off again rumors of launch, it appears that Google Print Local will finally go live as a public beta in the next few weeks. Though I am often critical of new Google launches (see for example, my critique of Google Sky and Google Print, amongst others), from everything I have heard about Google Print Local, this one seems like it could really have legs. For...
SES Update: Local Search Marketing Tactics
In the last session of the day, Gregg Stewart with TMP Directional Marketing (a $450M subsidiary search marketing group within TMP) tag-teamed with Steve Espinosa with eLocal Listing to discuss all aspects of local search. In 2008, $4.6B will be spend on local advertising (which is a 58 percent increase over 2007) according to Stewart. There is still a large gap between media investment vs. consumer time spent on each media outlet (only 4 percent...
