Affordable SEO – What is Local Search?
You can think of search engine optimization as split up into two categories. Global search and Local search, or what I like to call affordable seo. Global search is required by businesses that sell products or services to a global audience as opposed to local businesses whose customer base is within a “local” geographical location.
Google Local Business Listing
For example, a hair dresser, pizza shop, restaurant or dog groomer just to name a few, would fall under the local search or small business seo category. Local businesses normally have less competition from an SEO perspective than global businesses because they do local marketing. There are some local markets that are more competitive than others, but the fact that Google will list your business for free next to the small map on the first page, gives the local business owner an extra advantage their global counter parts don’t have.
A local business can have up to three listings on the first page of Google when taking into account the map listing, while a global company can only hope for two. The icing on the cake for local businesses is that the map listing is a free listing that shows up at the very top of the search results page. This listing alone is responsible for a third of the traffic for most local searches.
The three listings local businesses enjoy are;
- The Local Business Listing (the 10 listings to the right of the map.)
- A Google Adwords listing (assuming you choose to advertise on Adwords.)
- The Organic listing (the normal search results that appear on the left side of the SERPs (search engine results pages) which are only achieved through SEO.
As a rule of thumb, local businesses get more bang for their SEO buck. Business owners and entrepreneurs doing business in a local area enjoy affordable SEO that is highly effective in generating qualified leads day in and day out. If you do business at a local level, creating a local business listing is important for increased website traffic, but don’t forget that converting visitors to clients is still the key to your online success.
NOTE: I hate spam too. I will never share, show, rent, or sell your e-mail address or information to any unauthorized third party EVER.
About Frank Prieto - Frank is an SEO expert and marketing strategist helping business owners and entrepreneurs grow their business using search engine optimization and pay per click advertising.
