I was doing some research for a Des Moines SEO case study and came across this nifty feature in Yelp. Finding and targeting local keywords is essential in a local internet marketing strategy. Yelp gives you a good insight into what people are searching for locally in your area.

To find these results you need to navigate to a city and scroll down to the bottom where the business listings are… Click on “Top Searches”

See what people are searching for in Des Moines, IA.

Do you have questions about using Yelp for local keyword research? Not sure what local keyword research is? Leave us a comment or jump into the forums!

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Are local listings part of your local internet marketing strategy?

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A recent report from Opera (a web browser company) called “State Of The Mobile Web” determined that Google Search accounts for more than 9% of all page views on mobiles in the United States.  Add Bing and Yahoo mobile search share into the mix and you have almost 15% of mobile internet traffic being search.

Can you guess what someone may be searching for on a mobile? Local search results come to mind…

By default on mobile devices Google drops local search right into the top of the results.

Is your business listed in local directories? If not – you should get started now!

If you have any questions on local listings, please ask us in the comments or jump into the forums…

And if you need help… we offer a google local listing service…

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If it hasn’t been obvious to you over the last couple of months we think local is the next big thing. There are many reasons for this – from Google adding location filters into search and advances with Google Local Listings…

Beyond your local listings, you can target local through Google AdWords as well. If your business operates in a geographic based market – a localized PPC campaign on AdWords is a great way to run a low cost and high click-thru online advertising campaign.

What does that mean? It’s easy to keep a low budget and have a highly effective campaign if you target local. Here are two ways to get started.

1. Target Keywords In A Geographically Targeted Area

When setting up a Google AdWords campaign you can target keywords based on a specific geographic region. For instance – let’s say you are a plumber in des moines…

If you were to bid on the keyword “plumber” and not set a location you will

• Pay a lot of money for clicks
• And you will have irrelevant traffic = waste of money

However in AdWords there is an option to target ads based on geography under “Settings -> Locations”. Here you can drill down to states or cities you wish to target. Now if you bid on the keyword “plumber” your ad will only show up for people searching from that geographic region – in this case we chose the state of Iowa.

2. Target Localized Keywords

In our plumber’s case he can target localized keywords in AdWords rather than generic keywords. For instance – instead of targeting the high priced keyword “plumber” they can target “des moines plumber”. Not only does that keyword cost much less per click – you know you are getting relevant clicks on your ad. This makes for a higher conversion rate, meaning more people that click on your ad will end up buying from you.

Do you have any questions on local PPC or AdWords targeting? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

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Google is taking another step in the local direction – once again making Google Local Listings even more important! They’ve just added a way to refine search results by location.

From Google’s press release…

Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you’re a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer’s market, location can be vital to helping you find the right information. Starting today, we’ve added the ability to refine your searches with the “Nearby” tool in the Search Options panel. One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords — so you don’t have to worry about adding “Minneapolis” to your query and missing webpages that only say “St. Paul” or “Twin Cities.” Check it out by doing a search, clicking on “show options” and selecting “Nearby.”

What’s this look like?

When you click on “Nearby” Google Filters Results Based On Your Location

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Here’s a quick video we extracted from a recent webinar – 5 Reasons You Need A Local Business Listing…

Want to learn more? Check out our Google Local Listing topic page!

Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

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Here are six things I would include in the foundation of a good local web strategy. You have a local internet marketing strategy – right?

Click To Enlarge

Targeted Advertising - You can set up geographically targeted advertising campaigns very easily and they are relatively inexpensive

Local Listing – An optimized Google Local listing could do wonders for your businesses. People search for local products and services they want to buy every day. If you aren’t showing up in those results you could be missing out. It’s free and easy to get started.

Location Services - Location is getting big. Services like FourSquare and others have force the big players into the game like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Google has already integrated Buzz into the mobile experience – making that Google Local Listing we mentioned above even more important.

Social - It’s free and easy to set up profiles on social websites. Set them up and use them as a content outposts while building relationships and having conversations – you know how that goes. The point is to be active on these networks and talk to people who are local – because when people need that plumber, for example, they know to contact you. (if you are a plumber, of course)

Monitor Local Opportunities – People on Twitter are talking about how they are going tile shopping and need their driveway cleared of snow. If you are listening – those become sales opportunities. Keep your ears to the ground where your customers live online. They’ll tell you what they want and when they want it.

Craigslist – I hired a guy of Craigslist to come plow my driveway during one of the many winter storms we have had in Iowa this year. He had a listing with an email address and a phone number. Oh – and he answered the email right away. That was a conversion from Craigslist for him. Sometimes during events like storms it’s a great place to be found for the casual browser or intent searcher.

Do you have any questions on our local web strategy sample? Is there something we should add that we missed? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

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Google Buzz has made having an local internet marketing strategy exponentially more important – as if it wasn’t already. As you can see in the screenshots below Google is making a significant push into the location based social game. If you log into Google Buzz Mobile and click the ‘Nearby’ tab you will see a similar interface to that of Foursquare and others.

In these screenshots you can see how Mike Templeton was able to check in to Jethros BBQ and leave a review… Look familiar? These checkins and reviews will soon be integrated into your Google Local Business Listings. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google integrate the coupon system that is built into Google Local Business Center into Buzz for immediate coupon delivery based on location.

We’ll be covering how Google Buzz affects your local internet marketing strategy in depth in future posts. For now, learn how to get started with local from our last webinar.

Here are some great posts on how Buzz will affect Local..

• What Google Buzz Means For Local Business
• Google Buzz: “Are You at Work? How About a $.99 Big Mac From McDonald’s, Three Blocks Away?”
• Local Implications Of Google Buzz
• Google Buzz For Local Marketing

Yesterday I buzzed (is that the correct term?) how Google Buzz Mobile was better for the consumer and business than FourSquare and other location platforms. I’m sticking with that. If you are going to use any of them in your business – this is where it’s at long term.

Do you have any questions on how Google Buzz will affect your local marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

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We are rapidly posting content over on the digest about Google Buzz. Don’t worry – a full analysis on how Buzz will affect your business is on the way!

Check out these posts from the digest…

• Google Buzz For Local Marketing
• Google Buzz For Business
• Google Buzz Video

Some great analysis from the web…

• Introducing Buzz
• Web Strategy Matrix: Google Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter
• Google Buzz: Google Takes On Twitter, Facebook, Even Foursquare
• Google’s Newest Mission: Organizing The Social Experience

Learn more about Google Buzz on our new topic page!

What do you think about Google Buzz so far? Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forum!

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