While at a play date, a mom and I began discussing our weekend and the adventures of being a “supermom”. She mentioned that she had a girl’s night out weekend with some old friends and a few of the women participating were not from the area. They wanted to try something fun that everyone would enjoy. They decided they wanted to participate in a fun and flirty strength training and cardio class that can be found in select fitness studios across the country. They heard by word of mouth that there was a class like this in the area, but were unsure of the exact studio locations and availability. She expressed that they had the hardest time finding the studio online. They typed in several search queries but they couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for.  They ultimately found one, but it took longer than expected.  Her story made me think how this exclusive studio almost missed out on a potential sale because it failed to utilize Local Search for their marketing campaign efforts.

Local search is where a geographic search query is paired against a database of local business listings. According to the August 2007 edition of eMarketer, over 70% of US households use the internet for local information.  It is also believed that with the increasing usage of mobile search, this percentage could incrementally increase over the next several years. Local search has become popular because most queries not only give you what you’re searching for, but also the location information for the business.  Campaigns can be set up to filter by Continent, Country, DMA, City, State, and Zip code. Local search can be beneficial, but not limited to, all clients that have a physical location.  Depending on the engine, businesses can be seen in Map view. Here are a few easy pointers to start advertising in local search:

• If there is a national search campaign implemented, it may be beneficial to create a separate campaign for local. This will give the flexibility to choose the geo-targeted areas and to control the budget separately
• When building terms for your campaign, remember to include Geo-modifiers (Ex: Missouri Restaurants)
• Capitalize on Paid & Organic Search opportunities (Tip: Organic search includes generated ratings and reviews)
• Make sure to utilize free business resources (Ex: Google Local Business Center)
• Verify that the business contact information is updated and accurate

Local search is a great way to maximize your marketing dollar. Businesses have the option to include/exclude geographical areas for advertising. Local search will also show advertisers which markets are responding well to their advertisements.  For consumers, local search will give detailed information about the business that they are looking for and is ultimately a great searching experience!