Local Search
Erik Whaley is an account supervisor at Local Search Traffic (www.LocalSearchTraffic.com), a Denver-based local search marketing company. Whaley has worked in the search engine marketing industry for over three years, managing campaigns for clients across numerous verticals and helping to oversee the campaign management team. He can be contacted at ewhaley@localsearchtraffic.com.
Forget the Phonebook, Your Customers Already Have
Local search is rapidly becoming kingpin in the search engine realm. According to comScore Networks, 40 percent of all online searches relate to local information. Furthermore, a Kelsey Group research report indicates that about 54 percent of consumers have substituted Internet search in place of phonebooks. These are hard numbers to ignore for a business of any size. Whether it is a college student looking for a late night pizza order or a homeowner in need of an electrician, providing instant contact is paramount for both the success and credibility of your business.
The top local searches generate from Google, Yahoo! and MSN, as reported by comScore Networks. These rankings are not surprisingly similar to overall search volumes, but they illustrate the flow that the local landscape has taken. Although the major engines have a stronghold on the local space, there are several smaller sites including Citysearch, Local.com and Insider Pages, that are also relevant resources.
[insert image: Local search volume by site]
Plenty of engines and directories provide local business information, however, all data is not created equal. Every top tier and smaller local search avenue relies on information from one or more of the big commercial databases to create the local business listings, including Acxiom, InfoUSA and Amacai. These databases are built from telephone company records or phone directories. Recently, much criticism has come into play regarding the freshness and accuracy of this data. Commercial data providers do confirm the accuracy of the information through call center verification; however, even this can fail to correct all potential errors, new locations and other changes. The leading engines now award higher priority to local business listings, often displaying these results in the top three positions above organic listings; therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that these local listings are accurate as they receive more exposure and are highlighted with a map.
[insert image: Local listings on SERP]
The major engines also collect local information by crawling websites, information that may have been omitted from phone directories. This information is usually more accurate, but still yields flaws as the crawling recapitulates errors published elsewhere. Providing data directly is the only way to ensure your business information is accurate and up to date. Consider this reputation management as it is important to know what information these engines and directories are displaying about your business.
By providing information directly, you are not only defining the accuracy, but also supplying much more detailed information. Currently, commercial databases only service basic information such as business name, phone number and address. While this is important information, there remains availability to enhance your business information. By providing robust data directly, you can separate your business from the many that still rely on database providers and engine crawling. Additional information can include a business description, products and services, hours of operation, payment methods and several other custom attributes. This information will surely appear more attractive to a searcher rather than just a phone number and address.
In addition, many of these sites allow individuals to write reviews. Potential customers place a great deal of trust in the opinion of others, often more so than with the unbiased business description. An honest account of an actual experience with your business can be a powerful catalyst for inspiring new customers. It can also create a sense of credibility for your business in that customers are enjoying such superior service they feel obligated to inform others. Think of it as no-cost word of mouth advertising with a much larger audience.
Most engines have a self submit interface where a business owner can update their information. In addition to the previously mentioned enhanced features, these interfaces allow the option to categorize your business. If categorization is left to the data providers and engines, a business can be easily included in an undesired category. A recent local search for shoe stores in Denver returned a local listing for a barbeque restaurant. Obviously, the owner of the barbeque restaurant would want to appear for searchers pinpointing barbeque or restaurant, not footwear.
[insert image: Yahoo! Local Screenshot]
Updating a business listing can also place you in the organic rankings for geo-modified terms. Sites such as Citysearch or Insider Pages provide local information that is often indexed by the major engines. As a result, if someone searches for Chinese restaurants in San Diego, a business listing from Citysearch would appear in the organic rankings. Instead of directing through to your website, the link would go to that specific directory’s profile page, which makes having accurate and updated information on these listings all the more important.
You can visit every local search channel and update each of your company’s listings yourself; however, the task can become rather daunting if you are a large company with numerous establishments scattered around the country. Consider the major undertaking it would be for a national chain with upwards of a thousand local stores to enhance their listings on Citysearch. And that’s just for one site—there are several other channels that require the same time and effort.
A few companies are popping up that offer exclusive services for updating, enhancing and distributing data to numerous outlets. These companies leverage long-standing relationships with these outlets to provide wider distribution options, guaranteed 100 percent accuracy and properly enhanced data. Local search companies can prove to be one of the most cost-effective online marketing resources—packages are typically based on a one-time fee with multiple location discounts; each local search outlet is saturated with your complete business information; and your internal employees are free to concentrate on their specialties.
Whether you choose to utilize a local search company or update them yourself, online business listings are essential for any company with brick-and-mortar establishments. Search engines are beginning to recognize the significantly higher number of local searches by awarding priority to local listing. If your company cannot be found at the top of this list or if the information is incorrect, you might as well refer all potential customers directly to you competitors because that is where they will take their business.
