What is local search?

Local search is simply searching for an item with a geographic qualifier. E.G. “Bristol Seo Company”
That is, search term, “Seo Company”, + geographic qualifier, “Bristol”.

Most of us have some YP tomes cached away under the stairs or at the back of some drawers somewhere, so the idea of local search is not that revolutionary. It just seems like the search engines have taken a while to get up to speed. Anyhow, local search is now firmly entrenched and here to stay, and just in case you are in any doubt, here are some statistics:

Local searches comprise over 30% of all internet traffic, and there are around 2 and half billion of them made every month.

There got that out of the way.

Localized Markets Can Be Critical To The Success Of SMEs

All the major search engines have platforms devoted to this kind of search, with Bing having just launched its Business listings portal, (still in Beta), and Google having merged its Google Maps and Google Local under one banner, now Google Places.

The present iteration of their local search involves geo-listings interspersed amongst normal search results. Here is one such example:

Bristol Seo

What this example shows, at the time of posting, (06.05.11), is regular search results mingled with geo-specific results, (Google Places), which are denoted by the red marker.

I post this example to show you how important local search has become, and how Google, (and Bing also), have honed in on the local platform, and are experimenting with and revise it constantly.

Another new feature Google has rolled out is a localizer in its search tool, enabling the searcher to specify where he or she is searching from, so that Google can serve you bespoke local results. I.E. you set your default as Bristol, and then only need to search for “Seo Services”. (Obviously Google has had geo-specificity in its search results prior to this, but this new feature makes the localization of search more apparent and user-friendly.) Clearly, getting your site in front of local searchers searching for local services makes sound common sense.

In addition to these new search tools, Facebook, (it is hard really to say social media without meaning Facebook), have integrated geo-tagging into their platform, alongside the vastly improved iframe fanpages, all of which means a great opportunity to create a powerful local social media presence.

So How Exactly Do We Maximize Our Local Presence?

The specific tactics involved in maximising your presence with Bing, Facebook, and Google are all different, obviously.

Some general pointers that apply are:

Take every opportunity to geo-tag your information. Whether it is a website, video, images, etc, geotagging points everything back to your physical business HQ. One example of geo-tagging would be meta-tagging your website with your physical map co-ordinates. All these details matter to the search engines
Replicate the same information at all times, in all places, regarding your business. Keep the minutiae of your business consistent
Provide as much information as possible. The search engines like information rich listings
REVIEWS. Encourage reviews of your business as much as possible. Google can collate reviews from around the web, and these serve to enrich the value of the citations you receive. Google loves good quality information, as simple as that
Think carefully about your mobile presence – how is your site optimised for mobile devices? When people look for something on the hoof, it is much more likely to be a local search. (For instance you are driving and you need a cafe = mobile phone search for local cafe)
Think carefully about your video presence – video offers a great opportunity to enrich your listings, and get better local coverage

These are just a few pointers. If you are looking for an optimised local campaign, our Bristol SEO services may be of interest to you