Newsletter Article

March 2004

Local Web Search Made Easy

D. Graham Tweedy, DGT Internet Marketing

Great strides are being made in the online search world to improve local search, the ability to find local services, on the Web. Yahoo introduced SmartView the first week of March 2004 and a week plus later Google graduated their local search from beta to launch Google Local

SmartView by Yahoo

SmartView creates more choice than you previously received from Yahoo maps. Further, the concept will allow for more specific local advertising. Obviously the big players will participate but it looks like there will be opportunities for the smaller local advertiser as well. Yahoo draws most of its local search information from BellSouth yellow pages and InfoUSA. Currently the search works for the US but give Yahoo time and they will include Canada and the rest of the world.

Here is how it works. You have a problem! You plan a visit to relatives in St Louis and you wish to find a local restaurant near the residence but do not wish to alert your visitors that you plan to treat them.

Problem solved!

• Go to Yahoo, select maps and you are ready to experience the new SmartView.
• Put your relatives address in the appropriate fields and up will come the local map.
• In the column to the right will be choices such as Shopping, Recreation, etc.
• Select “Food and Dining” and then
• Select the type of food you prefer and voila, the locations of appropriate restaurants come up on the map.
• You can check each one out by clicking on the location. You will learn as much as you wish, even testimonials from happy customers. You can even check out their website, if they have one, for more detail.
• You may wish to check out a couple of night spots to visit after dinner and then the local golf course to visit the next day to work off the big night on the town.

Google Local by Google

Google Local uses their own search results plus Yellow Pages to deliver local information. Visit the site using the address above. You may prefer the way Google presents its data over SmartView. It looks more “telephone book like”. If you want to add your business listing to the Yellow Pages you can send an Email to them.

What should we do?

As web marketers what do we learn from this?

• Make sure you have a website which would add immeasurably to the information that a searcher would learn about you.
• If you already have a website make sure you have local references in your text.
• Make sure you are listed in the source documents that both Yahoo and Google use.

You may not be the type of enterprise that would appear in a local search as discussed above as these searches focus primarily on retail services. Maybe you are a local supplier of paint or you are an attorney or CPA. Take a look at your website.

• Does it include local information to make clear where you are located and what you are about?
• This information must be presented on the homepage.
• Now, of course you have worked on keywords, developed Meta tags plus the rest of essential internet marketing techniques.

Now, go to Google, not local Google, just regular Google, and place in the search box the best key phrase that describes your site and then place +Stockton at the end. Please do not include the italics. Can you find your site?

Try this. Go to Google as described above. Place in the search box the following:

• Internet marketing+Stockton. Please do not include the italics. Guess what site comes up close to the top!

For a more complete discussion of how the emphasis on local search by the search engines is changing and how you might take advantage of this, give us a call.