An Introduction to Local Search

The practice of search engine optimization (SEO) can assist a franchise in reaching their goals by optimizing their web presence to increase traffic from search engines and referring websites. Comprehensive SEO strategies for franchises and small to mid-size businesses (SMBs) also take into account the growing importance of the local search space. Lastly, an SEO strategy will optimize the usability of an organization’s website to increase both online conversions and offline store visits and sales.

An effective SEO strategy will increase search engine and referring traffic through exceptional traffic/visitor analysis, keyword analysis and targeting, linkbuilding campaigns, and social media marketing. Traffic and visitor data analysis identifies current trends, areas for improvement, and areas of opportunity. Keyword analysis and targeting identifies the most relevant keywords for your business that have the greatest potential for higher rankings. Linkbuilding campaigns aim to increase the amount of inbound links to your site from high quality websites. Linkbuilding increases the popularity and trust of your website in the eyes of the search engines, as well as drives visitor traffic from referring sites. Social media marketing is an excellent way to grow and develop your brand online through compelling content and interaction with individual consumers.

Local search is a critical component of search engine and referral traffic. Local search has grown dramatically in recent years as more and more consumers are turning to the internet to find local businesses. A recent entry on SearchEngineLand reported on a survey conducted by WebVisible and Nielsen/NetRatings, noting that “80% of respondents say they have researched a product or service online and then made their purchase offline from a local business.” This growing trend is of prime importance to franchises. A SEO strategy tailored to a franchise takes this consumer trend into account by focusing on the local search space. The SEO strategy would include submission of accurate business information to: search engines’ local search databases, internet yellow pages, local directories, and relevant niche sites. The strategy would also focus on keeping business information up to date, as well as ongoing analysis of traffic and visitor trends from local search sites.

The rapid growth of local search has created a fragmented and competitive local search marketplace. Each local search site and directory has a unique approach to delivering local content and data to consumers. These websites and directories present a great opportunity for franchises to increase high quality traffic to their website and physical locations. Marchex, a local online advertising company, recently released a report, Unlocking the Potential of the Local Internet. In the report, Marchex provides the following overview of local search destinations:

• Search Engines – Major search engines account for about 75 percent of local searches. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask have each built up local search tools, with comprehensive listings and advanced mapping features.

• IYPs and Directories – Internet Yellow Pages and directories, like Yellowpages.com and Superpages.com, get the next-highest amount of traffic after search. Their strength is efficient look-up, and many provide city guides and some user-generated content.

• Local Guides – Sites like Citysearch and Yelp provide deep local content across many categories. Most local guides bring in community elements, such as reviews and ratings.

• Online Newspapers – The companies that have provided best-in-class local editorial content are attempting to find success online by incorporating more social features and multimedia to retain their reader base and attract new readers online.

• Local Niche – Specialty sites like kudzu.com target specific geographic areas and try to provide rich content and some community elements to those areas.

Finally, a comprehensive SEO strategy will address the usability of an organization’s website. This area of the strategy focuses on how easy it is for a user to navigate through the website and how easy it is to understand the information presented. The usability of a website is critical to its success. If the website is difficult to use and navigate, a potential client will usually go back to the search results and visit another local business’s website. On the other hand, an easy to use website will encourage a potential client to take the next steps in the process, whether that is contacting the business, visiting its location, etc.

SEO Komodo takes a comprehensive approach to search engine optimization with franchises and small businesses in mind. We focus on general optimization methods such as keyword analysis, linkbuilding, and social media marketing, as well as local search and website usability. Our goal is to develop a unique strategy to grow and develop your organization’s presence on the web.