The Internet is not just used for finding information or buying prducts directly from online. More users are searching for local products and services online in which to do business. It is becoming very important to keep geo-targeting in mind when optimizing for search engines. Your SEO strategy should include the geographic location in which you do business.



Hypothetically, let's say I own a business located in Philadelphia, PA. I am looking for a public relations firm in order to help market my business to consumers living in the Philadelphia area. As you would expect, one of the first ways I look for a public relations firm is to search online using a major search engine such as Google. Because I am a small or medium sized business located in Philadelphia, it makes sense for me to do business with a public relation firm located in the Philadelphia area.

So the question is, how do I find a public relations firm located in the Philadelphia area? I can search for "public relations companies" on a Google search and I will get a list of thousands of PR companies from all over the world. Since I want to hire a Philadelphia area public relations firm, the search does not give me what I am specifically looking for. Chances are, local companies are not found easily in this type of search. Internet users are becoming more savvy on how online searches are conducted and more and more users search using geographic locations. For our discussion, I would search using the keyword phrase "Philadelphia public relations firm," which gives me a better listing of local public relation firms for which I am looking to conduct business.

The concept is fairly simple and makes sense; however, many websites do not include this concept as part of their Internet strategy. As a company or organization conducting the majority of business with local companies, how do you take advantage of the concept spelled out above? The idea is to develop your search engine optimization strategy around the concept of geo-targeting in order to increase your search engine rankings when a potential client or customer is searching for your product or service locally.

There are two ways to get your website listed on search engines such as Google. The most popular is organic search optimization, also known as natural search optimization; it is a continuing process allowing a web site to gain free listings within the major search engines without incurring ongoing marketing costs. You should consider the following geo-targeted strategy if you target clients within your local area.

Include the following:

1) Full company address on the top of all your WebPages.

2) Areas where you do business throughout your website copy.

3) Geographic location in your title tags and Meta tags.

4) Your city in the link text when linking from other sites to your Website.

5) Register for local search with the major search engines.

The second way to get listed on search engines such as Google is through "pay per click" (PPC) campaigns. If you use PPC advertising, you pay each time one of your ads is clicked on a search engine. Google PPC marketing is called Google AdWords, which is located on the right side of a search page

How PPC (pay per click) works:

1) Register with a PPC system, provide credit card number and load your account.

2) Create one or more ads with title, body text and link to your appropriate WebPage.

3) Associate your important keywords with each ad.

4) Bid on each keyword, the more you bid the higher the listing.

Local organizations that employ pay per click should take advantage of geo-targeting. Employing Google AdWords, this will allow you to specify the geographic location in which you want your Google ad to appear. For example a business located in Dallas, Texas that targets consumers local to their business can set up their Pay Per Click campaign so that only consumers in their market will see the ad. This makes alot of sense because a Chicago based comapny does not want to be charged because a consumer from California click on the ad. By taking advantage of geo-targeting the searcher from Florida will not see the ad.