A geographically restricted business is one that is limited to a town, city or state. A classic example of this would be a doctor of some sort. Typically, a physician is only licensed to practice medicine in one state. Even more restricting is the fact that most patients are not going to travel far to see a doctor.

With such a business, does a website make sense? Yes, for a couple of reasons. If nothing else, the site can be used as a resource for patients to find directions to the doctor's office and other information such as the doctor's background. The real value of having such a site, however, is found in search engine optimization.

Optimizing a site for a business that is geographically restricted is always easier than doing the same for a site trying to gain global interest. The number of sites competing for listings under local keyword phrases are almost always limited in number. Simply put, this means you have less competition for top rankings and that competition usually doesn't know what it is doing when it comes to optimization.

Common sense tells you this is true. Which keyword phrase do you think it would be harder to get top three rankings for on Google? A Sacramento real estate site focused on Sacramento listings or a general real estate site trying to get top rankings for the keyword phrase ?real estate.? The answer is obvious.

If you have a geographically restricted site, don't rush off to launch an optimization campaign. Doing so is unwise unless you take one step first ? keyword research. Keyword research is simply the task of finding out if people are searching for your service or products. You need to research your business focus in combination with your area. For instance, a plastic surgeon in Reno would want to see if anyone is searching for ?Reno plastic surgeon? or variations such as ?nose job Reno?. If you there are searches in your area, go ahead and optimize your site. If the research reveals people are not searching in your area for the services or products you offer, don't waste time on SEO.

Many people view geographically restricted sites as a disadvantage in the online world. In truth, they can make a lot of money. Although the potential audience is restricted, so is the competition for that audience. A big fish in a small pond can still eat well on the web.