Local Search Drills Down to What You Need

We want to reach consumers who not only want to see our advertisements but also are looking to interact with our web site, purchase our product or service, download information, comment or question, or otherwise engage with us to mutual benefit.

Search Innovation Spotlight, by Bob Heyma, Chief Search Officer at Mediasmith (Friday 22, 2006) is helpful to advertisers looking to focus their marketing efforts in a smaller sphere. Mr. Heyma writes of the expansion of local search and the opportunity this provides to advertisers to reach the buyers in your neighborhood.

• LocalLaunch, SEO/SEM firm has been acquired by RH Donnelly, the third largest U.S. yellow pages publisher.
• Yelp from the San Francisco Bay Area has established a presence in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle markets.
  
• Angie's List, using a Consumer Reports type format and business model, began in the Southeast about ten years ago.
  
• Yokel, which competes with NearbyNow, ShopLocal, Become, CNET and Froogle in the local shopping sector has expanded into the San Francisco Bay area.
  
• Backfence launched service for cities in Maryland and Virginia and the Silicon Valley.
  
• DexOnline, owned by RH Donnelly, in i14-state region. Generated 2x searches as the next closest competitor.

Now, if you are looking for local search in San Marcos, Texas (like me), you may not be able to use any of the above, right? Wrong! I recently had to shop online for a automobile after my son wrecked my car. I was amazed at how I was able to localize my findings by using distance from zip code.

If you know of a local search in your area, please leave a comment and a link.

Tags: Search Engine Spotlight, local search