Paring Knives




The Quest Is Finished - Google Local Pages Is The End



A major change took place in the later part of 2010 in how Google handles local searches.

For several years it had realized that one in five of the lookups people did on their search engine were locally driven. While individuals required specific information about a huge number of different topics, a strong minority were seeking local information, often in the form of finding their local butcher shop, baker and candlestick makers.

Google has always been testing its mapping capabilities and Gps system combined with its superior access to the universe of data online. Today, Google can identify the physical location of your computer whenever you perform a search. It also is aware of the physical locations of all the businesses in its data base. Subsequently, it can plot their relative proximity to you when you (or a potential customer) do a search.

Google has made its way into the behemoth it is by stressing one specific goal: providing the searcher with the most relevant information possible in response to their search. Google Local Places is only one more major step they have taken to control the search market, by providing its users the appropriate information they want.

This has been an evolving functionality. Until recently, if somebody searched for a "chiropractor" on Google, or any of the other search engines, they would get millions of possible results. Page one of results might display a national chiropractor institute, or possibly individual firms in New York or Los Angeles. Rarely would the searcher see a result from their immediate area. This caused the individual searching to change their search to something like, "chiropractor, Minneapolis." When they did that, the results were much better. Websites would be shown which incorporated both terms, and therefore more relevant to the Minneapolitan who was looking for a chiropractor.

The entire industry had sprung up called Search Engine Optimization or "SEO" to help organizations win the battle to appear on that first page of Google results. I and other SEO experts encouraged businesses to get their web sites to show up for local terms utilizing, 'long tail geographical keywords.' This is why I named my consulting business, Minneapolis Internet Marketing Consultant and picked a url for my web site of MinneapolisInternetMarketingConsultant dot com.

It did wonders for me and for many organisations. Now those of us in the industry know a variety of additional steps which a business can take to get their web site rated at the top of the search engine results. These fit in two general categories, on page and off page factors. These still matter when a business chooses to get itself or a product line rated in the organic results on Google and the other search engines. (Organic results are the natural search results which Google finds for any given search as opposed to the paid advertisements.)

They remain particularly relevant to non local companies, national brands, etc which cannot take advantage of the local internet search gambit discussed here. These are beyond the scope of this report. For the most part, local businesses could get on the first page of Google results just by paying attention to the important points I will be outlining in the coming pages. They still remain powerful and essential in highly competitive fields and markets. For the majority of "main street businesses, mastering Google local places will be enough to help you get the lion's share of the available visibility in your marketplace.

Now the question is how to get on Google maps. That's another story in this ongoing series.

The Quest Is Finished - Google Local Pages Is The End
Google Local Places is just one more major step they have taken to dominate the search market, by giving its users the relevant information they want.

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