Integrated Marketing – Why Local Search Engine Marketing is Changing the Rules.
Wedged in between [[SEM - Search Engine Marketing]] Sponsored Links and [[SEO - Search Engine Optimization]] natural search results, is a new a powerful marketing opportunity, LSEM or Local Search Engine Marketing. These local search results linked to a map are triggered by search queries that include information about what the user is looking for, like a product or a service, and the users IP address, but are often also qualified by geographical constraints, such as a street address, city name, or postal code. Search engines are now serving up the top eight to ten local business results, with ads working like micro-sites, offering everything from driving directions to photos and videos.
For service based industries in particular, LSEM – Local Search Engine Marketing is becoming more important than the natural or organic search results, because of the explicit and implicit nature of the intent of the user. Someone looking for an emergency plumber in Toronto at 11pm on a Sunday is unlikely to hire a plumber from outside of their immediate neighbourhood, or spend much more than a few minutes searching for a suitable solution to their problem. The reason why the first listing in the phone directory was so important was because marketers realized that few people ventured past the first few listings on the first page to find a solution to their pressing problem. Hence the creation of company names like AAAAA1 Plumbing. That was “Yellow Pages Optimization.”
Just like the first position in SEO and SEM, the “A” position on a local search result can be a goldmine, garnering the lion’s share of the local search traffic and actually stealing share from the organic SEO listings and the paid SEM ads. And, just like SEO and SEM, specific algorithms are in place to serve up the most relevant local search results. Success in this space is also interdependent on your other optimization efforts. So, before you submit your ad to the local business center, talk to us. We take a holistic approach to search, to ensure all of your on page and off-page optimization efforts are aligned and fine tuned.