SEO Blog

If you’re still not trying to tap into local search, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Global searches are all well and good, particularly if you have worldwide aspirations, but achieving visibility within your key target areas is becoming increasingly important.

With the personalisation of search results and localisation of certain queries, securing every niche is essential. One of the key niches that any business will have is their physical locality. Geography and competition dictates that there can only be so many companies within a certain radius of one another. Therefore you should be able to secure decent visibility for searches in that region and attract traffic that is more likely to convert too.
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We’ve all heard of e-commerce, a term related to buying and selling products and services via the Internet, but what about mobile commerce? Well, in effect, this is the same process as above, although it’s conducted via a mobile device or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

Today we find ourselves using our mobile phones to connect to the Internet and carry out a number of activities; the Blackberry and the iPhone are some of the more common types on the market. Whether it’s to purchase tickets, look for news, access emails, shop, search, bank, or access media files, the mobile has become a growing platform which shows a significant change in user habits and how we use the Internet on a daily basis.

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Mobile search has become an increasing area of interest for many SEO companies and those looking to start targeting traffic through mobile campaigns and other platforms. After a recent blog post titled ‘How Is Mobile Search Different’ we have established that there are a number of clear distinctions between user behaviour when searching on a mobile device compared to on a home laptop or PC.

The developments made in mobile technology over recent years is remarkable considering that you can now access the Internet via a 3G network and surf the web on a small hand held device before purchasing goods.  All of this has changed the retail market and how we as consumer shop for our goods for the foreseeable future. So what exactly has changed and what will 2012 bring for this form of search?

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Mobile communication has increased over the last ten years and the ability to target specific SEO campaigns can now be applied to mobile search via the Internet. Therefore, any business should be taking advantage of this latest development. It’s the perfect time to capitalise on this form of SEO and failing to do so will only leave you with a harder, more time consuming task, further down the line.

Like many people you probably carry your mobile phone with you most, if not all of the time. They have become an important part of people’s lives because they keep us connected with friends, family, colleagues and the rest of the world. It’s because of this that people are more inclined to use their mobile device to search via the Internet when they are out and about. For example, if you’re visiting an unknown town in England, you might decide to search for ‘restaurants’ in that specific area. In addition, the mobile isn’t just being used for search either, as YouTube is predicting that mobile devices will be the most popular form of viewing videos in the UK by 2013.

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Even if global domination is the end goal, every business has to start somewhere. Whether you are entirely online or just have a single store with a basic website, most businesses have some kind of local base. This could be anything from a small village to a conurbation of a large city; wherever you set up business, this is where you should begin your marketing efforts.

If everybody in your neighbourhood is aware of your business, then they will help spread news to others within the wider vicinity and so the process continues until you reach the marketing equivalent of terminal velocity. But you can’t leave these things to chance. Engage with the community, sponsor events, get involved with local charities and generally make sure that people are aware of your name.
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There’s a lot be said for having a strong local search presence. In fact I’ve said a fair amount myself. But now, arguably more than ever, it is absolutely vital for any business with a physical location to have a Google Places profile.

As was announced yesterday, Google has introduced a series of shortcuts to its home page on all smartphones. Therefore if you are looking for a coffee store, a bar or a restaurant (these are currently the 3 default options) then you can simply click the icon and it will show you all local businesses providing said service. Therefore it doesn’t take a genius to realise that if you are a hotel, pub, bistro or bar, it is now essential to have a places profile.
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Optimising for your local region is a great way to attract targeted traffic. However, not all local search services are all that they appear.

This morning, State of Search revealed a new scam being perpetrated in the United States. Involving blackmail and subterfuge, it could easily be confused with a cold war era spy novel, however it is an altogether far simpler scam.

Essentially businesses have been busy signing up for some form of local search service. This has basically involved the creation of a Google Places profile and, one would assume, very little else. Unfortunately, as well as paying for a free profile, they have then had those accounts threatened with closure unless they can come up with some additional funds.
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Online marketing is made up of a huge variety of different disciplines. Whilst you might view the top two as Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click advertising, there are numerous sub-sections and other channels that can be explored.

Whilst variety may be the spice of life in some scenarios, it’s not quite the same when you’ve got limited resources and the success of your business is riding on making the right decision. Many online companies face the same dilemma. What should you target first, what can be ignored entirely, what needs to be include within a blended strategy? It’s not easy making these decisions.

Let’s take a look at one particular branch of SEO that is easy to overlook, but certainly shouldn’t be: local search.
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As you will no doubt have noticed, local results in Google look a little different these days [as covered in: Why Google Places Update Puts Emphasis on Local Search]. The search engine giant decided it was high time that local results had a bit of a shakeup and as a result Google Places were integrated into the SERPs. This was great for anyone who already had a decent position within Business Maps (as these were effectively transported over) and were a bit rubbish in organic rankings; of course not everybody can benefit.

So what do you do if you find your organic ranking has been relegated by half a dozen Places listings? Well you could get all hot and bothered, moaning that Google are ruining the Internet, or you could start to make some changes that will make a real difference.
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If you’ve used Google recently to find local services you will probably have noticed quite a significant change in the appearance of the results page. Rather than having local listings at the top beside a map of the area, the results are now integrated with organic listings.

This of course is great news if you already had a decent position within Google’s local business map and were nowhere to be found for organic listings. However, if the opposite is true, you could be about to love some valuable traffic.

So what’s the solution?
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