Loco for Local

We’re Loco for Local!

Did you know that 4 of 5 consumers conduct local searches to help with their purchase decisions? As local search continues to rise in frequency, it is becoming more and more important to optimize your SEM campaigns accordingly. Don’t worry friends, I’ll show you how to optimize for local search; you’d be loco not to!

Give the People What They Want!

According to a study performed by Google, people expect that their search results will be customized to their city/zip code. What’s even more interesting, people also expect results to reflect their immediate surroundings. This is actually a really great opportunity, so long as you’re giving the people what they want. Locally optimized campaigns are designed to increase relevancy by fulfilling these expectations and also provide an easy channel for local prospects to find your business. It’s crazy how effective this can be.

Step One: Increase Relevance

Here are some great ways to increase relevance with your local campaigns:

Location Targeting – In Adwords, the geographic location targets can be as granular as a zip code. This allows you to tailor your message to a specific audience based on proximity to your business. Also, you can specify targets by radius of a specified location (i.e. 5km around Calgary). By using a combination of close proximity and larger Geo nets, there is a much better chance that your business will show up in local search.

Location Extensions – This extension displays your business address below your Adwords Search ad. This not only puts your location right into the search results, it makes it easier for the user to find you on Google maps as well.

Call Extensions – This extension displays your business telephone number below your Adwords Search ad, allowing potential customers to reach you that much faster. By adding this extension, consumers can contact you directly without even leaving the results page.

Local Ad Copy – Customize your ad copy using local context with dynamic keyword insertion. This new feature allows you to dynamically display the most relevant location based on the actual user’s location (this is HUGE). For example, if a user is in Calgary, then the ad copy will display “Calgary”, and if a user is in Edmonton, then the ad copy will display “Edmonton”. This tactic addresses the consumer expectations laid out in the Google study phenomenally!

Optimize for Mobile – Of the consumers that perform local search, 88% do so on their smartphones. This high frequency of mobile searches indicate that consumers are searching not only where, but when it is convenient to them. Users are typically looking for store location and hours, therefore, why not give the user what they want and make it as easy as possible for them to convert?

Still Loco!

The reason we’re so crazy about local search because it is so important to the customer journey. If you don’t optimize for local and for mobile, then you might be missing a big opportunity. Use the tactics I have laid out for you and you will begin to appear in many more local search results. So many, it’s loco!

Do you need advice on your local tactics and extensions? Get in touch, we’d love to help.