Local Search Is More Important Than Ever

Almost 60 percent of Internet users searched for a local business online in 2006 which is almost double the amount of 2005. As a result, business owners must establish their virtual presence and that’s beyond just building a Web site. Otherwise they risk losing this rapidly transitioning market, a panel of online search experts said Monday in San Francisco at the inaugural Web 2.0 Expo, a conference organized by Sebastopol tech publisher O’Reilly Media. About 25 percent of all Web searches are local in design. That number will continue to grow rapidly. But, positioning a business to be found online is not as simple as placing a single ad in the Yellow Pages.

Today, there are a host of places on the Internet that consumers use to find local businesses, ranging from Google and Yahoo to a new generation of search engines. Consumers spend about 80 percent of their income within 50 miles of their home, according to a Kelsey Group study. And now they are using the Internet to decide which local businesses get that money.

Some options for owners to attract local online searchers are free. Both Google and Yahoo allow businesses to create online profiles that include business addresses and phone numbers. In fact, the amount of marketing dollars spent on optimizing a business for local Web searches is expected to triple in the next five years, from $922 million in 2006 to $2.6 billion in 2011, according to the Kelsey Group.

The upcoming splurge is expected to further fragment the local search market as new Web sites come online offering local search tools. Like other sites, Local.com allows businesses to post information for free but also charges for premium features. For $39 a month, Local.com publishes a business’s information to other local search engines such as Google and Yahoo. These companies have transitioned their strong local sales force to offer similar online services to customers.