Local Search for Small Businesses

Many small local business owners think they can’t compete online. They believe their budget is too small or that the big brands have a grasp on the search results. They have this David vs Goliath attitude. Fortunately, this is simply not the case. As Google/Yahoo and Bing all continue to work towards returning personalized/geo-targeted/location-based results, the opportunity for small businesses offering a local product or service to rank well, increases. 

Let me give you an example. About a year ago, I found myself needing a contractor. I typed in “contractor” into Google and I was presented with national contractor websites and directories. So, I narrowed my search down a bit more and tried searching for “NH contractor”, only to get the same type of results. I wanted a local contractor, someone nearby. So, I narrowed my search down even more and searched for “CityName, NH Contractor”, the results were a little bit better, but for the most part I was still getting the giant lead collection and directory type sites that only ranked for my query because they had a large budget and just happened to build a page for every single city, state and zip code. This is no longer the case. Conducting the same exact searches today, even the most basic “contractor” search I started with, brings up exactly the types of sites I was looking for: Small Local Contractors that Service My Area! Here, look for yourself:

Amazing, isn’t it? All I searched for was a generic keyword(in this case: contractor) and low and behold, all sorts of local businesses show up in my results. Go ahead, try it. Search for a service you might use in your city, take a look at the results. Small businesses, all NH internet businesses with a fighting chance to go head to head with the big dogs with big budgets.

My point is, you can compete. Search marketing at the local level evens the playing field and this is just one example of how it can work for you. To read more about how local search works and find out why your business needs local search engine marketing, visit my Local Listing Service page.