Search Engine Marketing – How Often Do You Use Local Search?

How Often Do You Use Local Search?
January 31, 2006

How often do people use local search? Local search is still relatively new to many people, but looking at some of the new features that are offered from Google, it's easy to see how local search will continue to grow in 2006. Have you used Google Local Search lately? There are some great features of local search that are worth mentioning. From the basics such as using local search for finding detailed directions, to using movable maps and satellite imagery to give you a visual of your desired location, local search continues to improve.

Google recently launched Local for Mobile phones where you can now use your mobile phone to find your way around. Not only can you find detailed directions, but you can use movable maps to help you find your destination with ease. This is pretty cool stuff.

Can you imagine where local search is going in the future? How about using local search on your mobile phone to get the latest traffic reports in your city? Local Search could be used to map out the quickest route to get to your destination. Imagine if you needed to get to the hospital in a timely manner? You could map out the quickest route from your current location to the hospital. That would be pretty beneficial. The engines will continue to determine what’s the best way to serve results. There have been great improvements made at determining when someone might want a local result or a generic result.

Already it appears that the "relevancy factor" is creeping into the local search results. From a site owner's point of view, local search is a great way for users to find your business. Google has integrated search results into their local search queries so contact information, maps and business addresses all appear in one place.

Recently I was looking through local search results in Google for a number of key phrases for a client. I noticed something interesting. With some of the results returned there was a not only a listing for my client but there was also a secondary link to a specific page on my client's site that was tied directly to my query using local search. Ah relevancy, how great is that?

Local search was long overdue. How often do people use local search? Well you can bet in 2006 and beyond, that number will increase greatly.

Jody Nimetz
Search Marketing Strategist
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing
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