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Local Businesses Getting a Leg Up on Google
Posted 8th April 2009 at 09:52 AM by IowaGal
Tags google, google local, seo
This past Monday it was discovered that more local listings were starting to show up in Google for more competitive keywords.
This is great news for local businesses who previously have only been displayed in Google in the event someone typed in a specific location.
For example, if I type in the one word of “spa” within Google, I now get local listings of all the spas located in my area. See below.
Google will show you local listings relevant to the search you just performed based upon your IP address.
hy this is so great for local businesses is because now, it appears that regardless of what keyword you place in the search box, you’re likely to get local listings instead of depending upon the user making a reference to their location.
Just consider the possibilities for local businesses here for a moment. Previously if I wanted to locate a spa in my location of Des Moines, IA, I would have had to tell Google that I was looking for a spa in my city. So I’d submit a query such as “spa des moines, ia”.
Now, all someone has to do is enter in a generic term (which is near to impossible to rank well for on a quick basis) and if your local business has set up a listing with Google and you’ve included keywords relevant to that listing, then your business would show up regardless of whether or not you specified a location.
If you have not yet set up a local listing for your business, I highly suggest that you do so by visiting Google Local and specifying your local business details. It’s completely free but you do need a Google account in order to do so.
On the flip side of these new listings showing up, you might wonder where the rest of the listings are heading.
The good news is, that even with the local listings showing up for more competitive terms, there are still the typical 10 web page listings on the initial page. The local listings (and any news listings or videos), are only placed within the actual search results as an “addition” not as a “replacement to” the current listings.
That being said, it’s interesting to note that even though some local listings might be more relevant to me as someone who is searching for a spa, I receive a couple of web page listings first and then receive my local listings. However, the map for the local listings certainly draws the eye which may tend to make someone overlook a single blue link on the page.
The moral of the story is that if you do have a local business and you want to get it appearing in search results for those within your location, get that listing up on Google Local as soon as possible.
This is great news for local businesses who previously have only been displayed in Google in the event someone typed in a specific location.
For example, if I type in the one word of “spa” within Google, I now get local listings of all the spas located in my area. See below.
Google will show you local listings relevant to the search you just performed based upon your IP address.
hy this is so great for local businesses is because now, it appears that regardless of what keyword you place in the search box, you’re likely to get local listings instead of depending upon the user making a reference to their location.
Just consider the possibilities for local businesses here for a moment. Previously if I wanted to locate a spa in my location of Des Moines, IA, I would have had to tell Google that I was looking for a spa in my city. So I’d submit a query such as “spa des moines, ia”.
Now, all someone has to do is enter in a generic term (which is near to impossible to rank well for on a quick basis) and if your local business has set up a listing with Google and you’ve included keywords relevant to that listing, then your business would show up regardless of whether or not you specified a location.
If you have not yet set up a local listing for your business, I highly suggest that you do so by visiting Google Local and specifying your local business details. It’s completely free but you do need a Google account in order to do so.
On the flip side of these new listings showing up, you might wonder where the rest of the listings are heading.
The good news is, that even with the local listings showing up for more competitive terms, there are still the typical 10 web page listings on the initial page. The local listings (and any news listings or videos), are only placed within the actual search results as an “addition” not as a “replacement to” the current listings.
That being said, it’s interesting to note that even though some local listings might be more relevant to me as someone who is searching for a spa, I receive a couple of web page listings first and then receive my local listings. However, the map for the local listings certainly draws the eye which may tend to make someone overlook a single blue link on the page.
The moral of the story is that if you do have a local business and you want to get it appearing in search results for those within your location, get that listing up on Google Local as soon as possible.
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