If your business is of the bricks and mortar type, particularly those in a profession, then Google’s Local Search has become your number one priority. Why? In the past, when a user typed in a search term, Google would oblige with the top ranked web sites. Now it seems Google is including in the results a map and a ‘ten pack’ of businesses found in Local Search.

This is new and an interesting development. The Local Search results are not at number one, they appear at position three or four in the search results. So far I have noticed geographically targeted results from Local Search in the US, Canada, India, Australia, The Netherlands and in Britain including here in Scotland.

The ramifications of this development could be huge when it comes to general SEO. As we know, searchers will rarely go beyond the first page when looking at results. With ten results and a map appearing at third or fourth spot in the results, how many will look at fifth spot on?

Having Local Search results appear in the primary search area is a big change. Having your business in Local Search has become a must. If your web site is in a field that may compete with local businesses, particularly in professional or trade areas, then you will either have to ensure your SEO is very tight, or you consider competing on keywords other than the basic.

If there is one upside for SEO in Scotland, the Local Search component seems to be included only if a professional or trade is used as the search term, eg, doctor, plumber and so on. If the user enters a long tail then normal results are shown. So a search for plumber will return the local search results for plumbers whilst a search for ‘fix my plumbing’ will only return the standard search results. For SEO, that is where you will need to focus your efforts if you are not a local business.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 5:31 am and is filed under Local Search, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.