Local Search
Local SEO Services & Local Search Engine Optimization
Can Your Customers Find You via Google Maps, iPhone, or GPS devices? Local Search Gets you More Phone Calls.
Today, Google announced that it has changed the name of the Google Business Center to Google Places. While the announcement itself may not have raised many eyebrows, the statistics that Google included with the press release certainly have.
According to Google, 20 percent of all searches are related to location. Since comScore reports that 14.3 billion searches were conducted through Google in March, this means nearly 3 billion Google search queries contained local terms.
The Google announcement also contained the following statistics:
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More than 4 million business listings on Google have been claimed by business owners (using the Local Business Center, now Google Places)
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Nearly 2 million listings have been claimed in the United States
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Google has nearly 50 million Place Pages covering all types of places ranging from businesses to parks
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Google Place Pages are viewed millions of times each day
These statistics only reiterate what we’ve known for years - local search optimization is a crucial part of any SEO campaign. If 20 percent of all searches come with local qualifiers, you could possibly be missing out on up to 20 percent of your potential traffic by neglecting to optimize for local search terms.
Your business model should be to work within industry standard for Local Search Ranking Factors that are verified by Google and designing Local SEO Landing Pages. We’re proud to offer our clients unparalleled local search results and positioning on Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and Bing Local.
Google Will Help Local Search Businesses
To help local businesses further develop their local search strategies, Google also announced today that a number of new features have been added to Google Places. These features include:
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Service areas – Businesses that serve clients throughout a geographic area can now mark the areas they serve.
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Tags – Tags cost $25 a month and can be attached to Google Places profiles to promote business features or specials. Tags are only available in certain areas, which Google expanded today to include three new cities – Austin, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
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Free Business Photo Shoots – Google can send photographers to businesses in select cities for free photo shoots of their interiors. Let Google know if you’re interested in a photo shoot, and a photographer may come take pictures of your business.
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Customizable QR Codes – Businesses can now create their own QR code to place on marketing material like business cards. These codes can be scanned by smartphones and send users directly to the business’s Google Place Page.
Google is investing more time into local search, shouldn’t you? Start optimizing for local search and improve your Google Places listing.
Moving Your Local Search Plan Forward
How to move forward
If your business serves local customers or gets local search traffic, a top local search or map ranking will result in a steady stream of new leads and customers via phone leads and in-store visits, but most don’t realize 
Local Search Optimization is different from natural SEO because the major search engines including Google, utilize a completely different algorithm for ranking local map results. Most large businesses do not realize this difference exists, and this allows businesses optimizing for local search as a separate subset of their internet marketing strategy to ‘get ahead’ of larger competitors who dedicate large budgets to paid search marketing and banner advertising.
Local Search is replacing the use of traditional Yellow Pages. In fact, the internet is now the primary source of local business information. Google maps has become the Yellow Pages of the future. According to a study conducted by TMP Directional Media, more users utilize online search engines to find local business information than the number of users actually using a print yellow pages directory. In fact, 20% of all searches conducted on Google have local intent.
Google’s Proof Local Listings Work
Need proof that the average local search converts into dollars and cents in the form of sales for your business? A very high percentage of local searchers go on to take some sort of subsequent action.
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The following chart reflects 2008 responses to the question: ”Which of the following activities did you do as a result of this online local business search?”
Isn’t it time you powered your business with local search optimization? Call us today or request a free quote to get started.