Local search engine marketing is an advertising model that is gaining popularity
on the Internet. The main advantage of launching a local search campaign is that
a business need only fight for ad space against local competition.
Local search is a relatively new technology that allows advertisers to promote
location-based products and services to potential customers worldwide. Some
search engines provide detailed "Yellow Pages" type entries (fig 1.1), while
others display your business information on graphical maps (fig 1.2).
fig 1.1
Local Search describes a component of search engine traffic that refers to a
search for information that has ties to a particular geographic location. Fig 1.1
displays Google search results for the phrase "Lawyers Scranton". As
demonstrated, several local firms appear in what is called the "local search
component" of the result window. In this instance, Google provides a phonebook-
style listing containing the business phone number, physical address and web
address information (where appropriate). If a consumer were to select one of
these entries, they would be presented with an enhanced map pinpointing their
location (fig 1.2).
fig 1.2
This form of advertising delivers a wide variety of interactive information, more so
than most traditional methods are capable of providing. The benefit that this type
of advertising has above traditional print media is that you can deliver targeted
advertisements to those users specifically searching for your services. Here are
some key points:
- Control costs by targeting only consumers who are searching for your
service
- Drive 'searchers' to a physical location
- Eliminate false leads, or people not searching for your services or
location
Two methods are commonly used when creating local search engine marketing
campaigns: address driven local search engine marketing and keyword
driven local search engine marketing. Next, we will examine each of these
in greater detail to demonstrate the merit in each.
