A big change occurred in the later part of 2010 in how Google deals with local searches.

For several years it had pointed out that one in five of the searches individuals did on their search engine were locally oriented. Whilst people required specific information regarding a huge number of different topics, a big minority were looking for local information, usually in the form of discovering their local butcher, baker and candlestick manufacturers.

Google has long been testing its mapping abilities and Gps system along with its superior access to the universe of data online. Today, Google is able to recognize the physical location of your computer when you browse. It also knows the physical locations of all the businesses in its data base. Subsequently, it can plot their relative proximity to you when you (or a potential customer) try a search.

Google has made its way into the behemoth it is by stressing one particular goal: providing the user with the most suitable information possible in response to their search. Google Local Places is just one more major step they have taken to take control of the search market, by giving its users the appropriate information they want.

This has been an evolving functionality. Until lately, if someone looked for a "chiropractor" on Google, or any of the other search engines, they would get millions of possible results. The first page of results might exhibit a national chiropractor institute, or perhaps individual firms in New York or Los Angeles. Rarely would the searcher see a result from their immediate area. This caused the individual seeking to modify their search to something like, "chiropractor, Minneapolis." When they did that, the outcomes were much better. Websites would be outlined that included both terms, and therefore more relevant to the Minneapolitan who was searching for a chiropractor.

The entire industry had popped up called Search Engine Optimization or "SEO" to help businesses win the battle to show up on that first page of Google results. I and other SEO experts advised businesses to get their web sites to appear for local terms using, 'long tail geographical keywords.' This is why I named my consulting business, Minneapolis Internet Marketing Consultant and picked a url for my web site of MinneapolisInternetMarketingConsultant dot com.

It did wonders for me and also for many businesses. Now those of us in the market know a variety of additional steps that a business could take to get their web site ranked at the top of the search engine results. These fit in two general categories, on page and off page factors. These still matter when a business chooses to get itself or a product range ranked in the organic results on Google as well as the other search engines. (Organic results are the natural search results that Google finds for any given search as opposed to the paid adverts.)

They remain particularly relevant to non local businesses, national brands, etc which cannot take advantage of the local internet search gambit discussed here. These are beyond the scope of this report. Generally, local businesses can get on the top page of Google results just by paying attention to the details I will be outlining in the next pages. They still remain powerful and important in highly competitive fields and markets. For the majority of "main street businesses, mastering Google local places will be enough to help you get the lion's share of the available visibility in your industry.

So now you may ask how to get on Google maps. That's another story in this ongoing series.




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