Geo-Targeting in Search Engine Optimisation

Geo-Targeting - What's that?

Something every local business operator should know!

More and more people nowadays are using Web search engines to find and compare local shops and businesses for their goods and services, and those local small businesses which are unaware of or ignore this fact are suffering an ever-increasing disadvantage. Most people see little or no application for a local or regional business to have a Web site to promote their goods or services. After all, the Internet is a global thing, right? Wrong! There are more than a dozen ways to promote a Web site locally or regionally, so that it brings in a disproportionately large volume of local traffic. Any business owner not using a Web site to promote a local or regional business is making a huge mistake, and ultimately leaving money on the table.	Excerpts from an article "Increasing Results through Geo-Targeted SEO" (Read the complete article here) "All the factors now encompassed in the world of search engine optimisation are both varied and simple. Time and time again, however, web site owners fail to see some of the most recent 'common sense principles' behind an effective and successful Search Engine Optimisation strategy. This article brings to light the most recent change in SEO: GEO-Targeting..." The increase in on-line purchasing generally has led to more consumers using the Web to look for goods and services in their local area. For many obvious reasons they prefer to deal with a local business than one far away. If customers are looking to buy jewellery, and they are located in Essex, it is very common for them to append "Essex" to their search, or even "Southend". So, instead of looking simply for "jewellery" they will search for "jewellery Essex" or a similar variation of this.

"Local Search — using Internet search engines and on-line business directories to find local traders — is growing at an extraordinary pace. Figures in the US, comparable to the UK, show that 63% of all on-line users performed a local search in July this year (2006). This is a 43% increase year on year. And on-line local searches lead to customer action. The same study showed 50% of all local searchers visited a local merchant as a result of their search behaviour, while 41% made contact off-line." (Source: comScore networks\marketwire.com) When it comes to consumers making a purchase, local search has more of an impact than national search. John Myers of Latitude said that users are 30 percent more likely to purchase a product or service when it is related to local search. Speaker Grant Muckle from Touch Local said that 40 percent of all on-line searches are local in the UK.	Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo — London 2007 In 2006 there were over 8 billion Web searches done world-wide, and 43% were looking for a local merchant. According to The Kelsey Group 54% of search users have substituted the Web for the phone book.

You must be local somewhere, but do you want to be local in all ? Entire ? Anywhere in the world?

It's not as daft as it sounds. Imagine that you were a mail-order business, and you could say to visitors to your Web site: "We deliver to your door in ." Wouldn't they feel more confident buying from you than from someone at the other end of the country?

You see, we have the technology to know where your visitors are, and display their location on your Web pages automatically! Impressed? You should be. For example, we know that you're reading this in , at longitude , latitude . The Internet address of your computer is , and your eyes are wide open in amazement. Spooky!

(Your geographic location is determined by your Internet address. Occasional errors may occur, usually due to rerouting by your service provider.)

Another day's delay could mean another customer lost to your competitor. Make the sensible decision, and do it now!

E-mail info@localshoppers.co.uk, or call 0871 226 2297 for a chat, if you want more info.

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