Google local is part of Google’s wider agenda of personalisation and relevance. Google’s reputation depends on their willingness to refine and develop their ability to bring search engine users results that really do reflect and answer their questions. For very good reason, Google local has not made public, exactly how they evaluate search results. Whether it be the local or the global search arena, people like myself who work in SEO would simply leverage that information mercilessly. Small and medium-sized businesses really need to concentrate their efforts on Google local search results, to get more customers from Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Because Google gets its information from every corner of the Internet, it knows that someone wanting a restaurant in Carlisle,doesn’t really want to be shown pigeon lofts in Vancouver. In previous years keyword spamming of the Meta data on WebPages was able to outfox the Google algorithm and present you with such inappropriate results. Fast forward to today and we find that the Google bot is a far smarter machine and the spiders far more inquisitive creatures than ever. Google local has made its mission to bring you results that it thinks are relevant to you. In recent months I have seen Google local and global results dance and change almost daily as the big G constantly adjusts and refines the algorithm which processes the data that bot and spider bring back to Google headquarters.
Google local search tools contain an item for setting your location
The maps that we have become used to seeing in search results pages on Google, Yahoo, Bing (to name just the three biggest) are the response of search engine software engineers catering to the growing appetite for local information from buyers who now grab a laptop or Smartphone and demand quick results. Google local includes the well-known pin markers that highlight local businesses on maps produced by the search engines as well as the often misunderstood Google Places Page. An integral part of the Google local search system, is Google’s ability to locate you somewhere in the world. One of the many functions of search tools that you find on the results page is a menu item which allows you to set a custom location. This is just one of the signals that Google and the others use to work out where you are.
Understanding how to present your website content and how to edit the information on the places page and business listings, the way Google local wants, is vital for success. Only when you get on the first page in Google’s local results can you expect to compete successfully for sophisticated modern customers in your particular market niche. If your company competes globally, ranking for a prime keyword such as “make money online” is going to be very difficult without enormous search engine optimisation experience and knowledge as well as a significant budget. For the local business, competing for a prime keyword such as restaurant, while still difficult, is not impossible in Google local for the simple reason that the competition is still relatively low. That situation is not going to last forever.
The key ingredient for success in Google local search is: understanding the actual keywords that people are searching with. These define the questions that they are actually asking and are the words and phrases which have been used by real people. It is these particular phrases that small businesses need to respond to quite specifically. If the basic building block, of appropriate keywords is established, then your website has a very good chance of ranking well and getting you more customers when Google local is invoked.
Consulting Cumbria Ltd can identify the keywords that are actually being used by your ideal customer and then provide very specific advice about the content of your website. Once the on page factors have been attended to it is then appropriate to begin the process of building links, citations and all the other off page promotional tactics that will elevate the authority of your business online and make you more visible in Google local search results.
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