An article by AdAge reports on a test that Google is running in the US for local search advertisers. In an attempt to attract more local advertisers to buy search ads, Google is experimenting with a new type of search advert and pricing system in the San Francisco and San Diego markets.

Google is offering local advertisers (or non-advertisers) a search ad for a flat fee. The fee is set by Google and based on the average that similar businesses are paying for a given keyword in that market. As the article states, the goal is to simplify search advertising for local businesses that may not want to bid on keywords or to set up and optimize a search campaign.

This is a more familiar model for local businesses, such as plumbers, electricians or restaurants, or any local business that has advertised in the Yellow Pages. However, Google is offering an additional option to link the advert to a Google voice number so that advertisers will know which calls are being referred from the search ad. This is something they have tested before and allows small businesses that don't have a website to test search advertising and track the performance of their ad.

These local advert tests come at a time when Google is nearing the end of an extensive review of its search advertising system which has taken place over the last 6 months (and known internally as AdWords 3.0, according to this article).

As part of this revamp, Google is trying to give more relevant results for local searches, which plays into its local strategy. A user who searches for a restaurant, for example, no longer has to specify where they are as this can be determined by their IP address or browser, and relevant local results are returned, along with a map. Although not a perfect model, it could enable Google to vastly expand its search offering to a much wider market.

Labels: google adwords, local search

An article by Advertising Age focuses on the potential use of Twitter as a local marketing tool. It uses several examples of companies in the US that have been using this 'micro-blogging' tool successfully to target their local market and to drive new business through specific promotions.

Twitter's real-time messaging service can be used to attract local 'followers' for a business and then to harness that potential customer base with short term promotions or announcements. The other key advantage is the low barrier to entry, as Twitter is free and quick to set up. It just needs the right stratgey and application to make the time spent on developing the tool worthwhile.

The article concludes with 5 tips for local businesses using Twitter - namely, track every sale; recognise the difference between the immediacy of Twitter and the use of other social networking tools, such as Facebook; create a conversation and avoid too much heavy promotion; use it tactically for short term promotions; and alert followers to any special events or activities.

Labels: local search, social networks, twitter

Google has made a number of notable changes to their search results. The first, as described by Search Engine Land, has increased the frequency of local business listings being displayed within the first page of results. Whereas previously the small map and 10 business listings only appeared for popular search terms combined with a location in the search query, Google has now started to include these results for these common terms even if the user has not included a location in the query.

This is being done when Google recognises a term that has local search intent and combines this with the identification of a user's location by their IP address. The mapped results are not shown at the top of the search listings - which happens if a search is made with a locational term - but the inclusion within the results aims to improve the local search focus for users.

It's by no means a perfect solution for searchers and much will depend on the IP address of a user's ISP (Internet Service Provider), but this change will have a big impact for local businesses who will now get a further opportunity to appear within the search results list for a potential customer and highlights the importance of getting an optimised local business listing set up with Google.

The second recent change to the ranking results has been reported by the Google Webmaster Blog and concerns the 'sitelinks' that are often displayed under a large or popular website's listing so that users have more opportunities to click directly into a prominent section of the website. Until now, sitelinks have only ever appeared on the first search result, and so at most one site could have sitelinks per query.

Google has now introduced an expansion of these sitelinks into a single row of links which will be displayed for results that didn't show sitelinks before, even for results that aren't in the first position. This means multiple results on one query can now have sitelinks and up to 4 sitelinks can show up right above the page URL, instead of the usual two columns below the URL of the first result.

This will help to show users some relevant sub-pages in the site and give an idea of what the site is about. Comparing the sitelinks that appear for each result can even illustrate the difference between the sites. Google says that, just like regular sitelinks, the new one-line sitelinks are generated algorithmically and the decisions on when to show them and which links to display are entirely based on the expected benefit to users.

For webmasters, this new feature means it's possible that their site will start showing sitelinks for a number of queries where it previously didn't and although site owners can't tell Google which links to include, the can block links they may not want to show, through access to the Google Webmasters Console. However, in most cases this change will probably increase the visibility of, and traffic to, a website, whilst also improving the experience of users, so it's another change that can support the search marketing for websites.

Labels: google, local search, webmaster tools

A story by AdWeek reports on some latest research from the US into local business search behaviour. The survey by Knowledge Networks says that 77% of Americans turn to the print Yellow Pages and 48% said this is the source they use most often. Search engines were the runner-up, with 49% saying they use them to seek out a business or service, including 21% who use this source most often.

The only other resources to register in double digits in the survey were Internet Yellow Pages (36% / 13% most often), free or fee-based 411 services (30%, 8% most often) and newspapers (19%, 2% most often). However, for all the talk about people roaming the streets with mobile devices in hand as they seek stores and restaurants, just 5% of respondents included "mobile search" among their sources, including 1% who said it's the source they use most often.

Labels: local search, research