What is Local Search?
A vast majority of searches conducted on the internet today have local intent (estimated 70%). In other words, if I’m searching for a restaurant, plumber, or a new TV, I probably don’t want to travel more than an hour to reach the business. I want to find these products or services or businesses in my local area. Google has recognized this and adjusted their results to better meet the needs of the searching public.
Whenever you enter a search on your desk top computer or your cell phone, Google knows where you are physically located. They try to adjust their search results to reflect your location.
Example:
Let’s say you search for restaurants
Google has a look at the address of your computer (IP address). They know you are located somewhere in Delta. It now looks for restaurant websites in your vicinity. Google has decided that this search has "local intent". They assume you don’t want to drive for 3 hours to eat at a restaurant. Due to Google’s assumptions, each person that searches for restaurants will not receive the same list of results. Each searcher will receive the results for their physical location.
However, if you search for restaurants in vancouver, bc
In this case, you have directed Google to find a restaurant in a specific location. This is still known as a Local search as there is a specific location given. Even if you searched for restaurants in toronto, ontario the search is still considered local as you are searching in a specific location.
In either case, Google scours their indexes of the billions of web pages they have read. They are looking for any indication of an address or location information on the pages. They are looking for specific location names (Vancouver) within the content of the web pages. They also look through their maps facility to see if there are any restaurants listed in Vancouver, BC.
As a business owner, you want Google to find your business in both places. You would like them to find your website within the Google index as well as find a listing for your business within Google Maps. Google needs content to do this. If your website is rich with content about your business, Google has a much better chance of finding you. The same is true for the Google Maps listing. You want to place as much content as possible within your Google Maps listing.
The official name of your Google Maps listing is a Google Place Page. These Place pages are a fantastic opportunity to showcase your business on the internet. You don’t even have to have a website to create a Place page about your business. Click here to see Netclimber's Place Page.
On a Place page you can enter all your contact information; business name, address, phone numbers, email, hours of operation, etc. You can also upload images and YouTube videos to this page. You can also add freeform content to describe the various services and products that your business provides.
Google will also embellish your Place page by adding reviews, citations and places near by. Google looks for reviews of your business on many internet sources including blogs. A citation is a mention of your business on another internet site. Google gathers these citations on to the bottom of your Place page. The more times that Google finds your business mentioned on the internet the more important they perceive your business to be. The more important you are, in Google’s eyes, the more often your business will appear in the search results.
On your Place page you want to:
- Enter & verify all your contact information (address, phone numbers, emails, etc.)
- Increase your business content
- Upload images and videos about your business
- Encourage your happy customers to submit reviews
- List your business on other internet sites
NetClimber has a full product offering to help you with this.
Local Search Services
An expert in the Local Search market will claim or create the Google Place page for your business as well as work with you to determine the best of your business information to showcase on the internet.
Attend the 3 hour workshop to learn three distinct strategies to increase your business’s presence on the internet. While at the same time participate in a hands-on session to optimize your business’s Google Place page. more details
NetClimber Web Design can provide you with two documents (Claiming the Google Place Page for your Business and Create Professionally Optimized Google Local Listings) to guide you through the claiming and optimizing of your Google Place page. These document contain over 30 pages of guidance and tips.
We will work with you to create a customized Review strategy for your business. Gathering your customers’ reviews increases your importance within Google Local. Google loves content but they love reviews even more!
The Internet Review Manager service will constantly scrutinize the internet to see what customers are saying about your business. We will notify you of any negative reviews or comments on the internet. We will also work with you to contact happy customers to review the services and products that you supply.
Our entry level video service will create a one minute video of your business. All you need to provide are digital images. We will work with you to determine the messages you want to convey in the video.
For further information contact Netclimber Web Design at 604-628-2403 or email localsearch@netclimber.com
Prices as at June 2010. Prices are subject to change without notice.
