More and more people are using the search engines to find what they are looking for, even their local services. For that reason local search is becoming more and more important to your advertising campaign. The aim of this article is to explain what local search is and how you can use it to your benefit.

What is Local Search?

For the purposes of this article we will consider Google but most of the search engines have a similar system to Google. When you search for anything using a location in your keywords you will find Google will display a map at the top with links to 10 local results, then the usual organic results will be displayed. In fact Google has made some changes to its algorithm recently so that when you search for anything Google will display local results fourth in the list. It does this by reading your IP address and detecting where you are based. The aim of this is to give people the most relevant results and helping them to find a local business.

How can Local Search Help your Business?

Well as you will already know it is really important to appear as high up in the search engine results as possible. As the local results are now appearing high up for the majority of searches you can get added benefits by submitting your site to the local results.

You also need to think about the fact that many people will want to deal with a local company. If you are nowhere for local results then you could miss out on valuable customers. At this stage I do not think local search has the same power as the standard organic results. However as Google puts more importance on it so will searchers which will make it more and more important to be featured in the local results for your area.

How to Get Listed in Local Search?

In order to appear in the local search you will need to have an account set up with Google. You will need to give them your postal address, telephone number, URL and a brief description. Once these details are verified it will probably take 24-38 hours for your site to be listed for your selected areas. It should only take a few minutes to get everything set up once you have an account. When it is this easy it is absolutely vital that you use this service if you work locally and will be looking to get local businesses.

Other tips for local businesses

If you are looking for customers that are based locally you should also consider placing your business in local directories. Probably the most important one is Yell. The reason for this is that most people know and are aware of the Yellow Pages and so are happy to use it online. As everyone uses the internet more and more your will find that more people will use the internet to find the service they need rather than any other type of medium.

Considering the reasons above it is absolutely vital that you consider local search. Many of our clients come through local search and without we would be missing out on many opportunities. Can you afford to miss out on a host of potential customers?