I\u2019ve been watching what we now call the \u201clocal online market\u201d or \u201clocal search market\u201d for about a decade. And finally in the past year we\u2019ve seen an explosion of interest in \u201clocal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strangely, the mobile handset arms race and growth of the mobile Internet this year have made the concept of local more accessible to people. It\u2019s always been empirically clear that people use the Internet for research but mostly buy offline. I always say, \u201cLocal is where the money changes hands.\u201d But mobile is now providing a more transparent connection between the digital and the real worlds that helps illustrate the power of place for people.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a ton of great writing about local SEO and search marketing, as well as the future direction of the local market. Much of it happens on Mike\u2019s blog. He brings a kind of passion and near-relentless attention to a host of practical issues that are critical for small businesses and local search marketers to understand.<\/p>\n
Mike asked me to collect my favorite or \u201ctop posts\u201d pertaining to local this year. That\u2019s very hard to do. Instead, I\u2019ve selected several articles and posts that capture what I think are important issues or developments in the local space from the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t present them in order of importance; this is more like stream of consciousness:<\/p>\n
Local Listing Ads<\/strong>: A New, Simplified Ad Unit For Local Business<\/p>\n Google has tried for a long time to find a way to sell directly into the small business market. In the recent past it has relied on a reseller strategy. Now it\u2019s making a bigger direct push with Local Listing Ads and Place Pages. These flat-fee, no keyword ads could be a breakthrough product for Google with SMBs. We don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n Link: Google creates a new simplified ad unit for local business<\/a><\/p>\n Local Results without a Geo-Modifier<\/strong><\/p>\n In March, 2009 Google started showing local results (map + 10, then) in categories where there was no geographic modifier. This move was a reflection of what Google had been observing for several years: consumers often don\u2019t include a geo-modifier in a query when they have a \u201clocal intent.\u201d Yahoo later followed suit.<\/p>\n Link: Google Maps now showing local 10 pack on broad non geo phrase searches\/<\/a><\/p>\n Location Everywhere: the Twitter GeoAPI<\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter released deeper support for geo in August with an API that will enable developers to associate any Tweet with a lat-long. Twitter later bought MixerLabs, which had its own GeoAPI. Facebook has also been working on something more elaborate with location around status updates. It may also be preparing to release its own location API. The larger point is that most content and almost all user-generated content will soon be associated with location, unlocking many interesting possibilities for the PC and, more specifically, mobile users.<\/p>\n Link: Location Location Location<\/a><\/p>\n Local Search Ranking Factors Part II<\/strong><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t participate in this survey but many of the best local SEO folks did, including Mike. The David Mihm coordinated project is a must read guide for any practitioner trying to figure out how to get maximum exposure in Google local results.<\/p>\n Another important post from David Mihm, which led to an extensive debate on a couple of blogs was his Be Wary Of Call Tracking Numbers In Local Search<\/p>\n Link: Local search ranking factors<\/a><\/p>\n Link:\u00a0Be wary of call tracking numbers in local search<\/a><\/p>\n TeleAtlas Gets the Boot; Google Goes It Alone<\/strong><\/p>\n Deciding that mapping was so strategic that it wanted to own the entire value chain, Google fired its mapping data provider TeleAtlas and now uses its own internal resources for Maps data. This is a big, if obscure, story and Mike wrote a good post about it last year.<\/p>\n Link: Google replaces TeleAtlas data in US with Google data<\/a><\/p>\n RX for the Yellow Pages<\/p>\n Chris Silver Smith wrote two significant posts about the yellow pages. One discussed how yellow pages directories and other local publishers were getting squeezed off the first page of Google SERPs because of the greater frequency of the Map\u2019s appearance. He also offered 10 prescriptions to \u201csave the yellow pages.\u201d<\/p>\n Link: Brave new world for Yellow Pages – Google nabs marketshare & strangles local directories<\/a><\/p>\n Link: What can save Yellow Pages industry<\/a><\/p>\n SMBs and the \u2018New Local Product Suite\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n Marchex unveiled a powerful reputation management tool for SMBs this year (the first of more to come), reflecting the growing importance of social media and the challenges of dealing with it at the local\/SMB level. Related to reputation management is a broader portfolio of tools and services that address the cluster of local business needs in the local space. I called this the \u201cnew local product suite.\u201d<\/p>\n Link:\u00a0Marchex releases powerful SMB reputation management tool with search inside<\/a><\/p>\n Link: The local product suite now in focus<\/a><\/p>\n Mobile & Local <\/strong><\/p>\n I end as I began with mobile. Any number of posts and articles could go in this category. Mobile is an absolutely huge story, only getting bigger. And local is central to the entire mobile user experience. Google has been remarkable is adapting to the changing marketplace and the advent of the smartphone camera as a search tool. Google Goggles and \u201caugmented reality\u201d are examples of new ways that \u201clocal search\u201d on mobile devices is evolving away from the PC model.<\/p>\n Link: Google visual search – Augemented Reality 1.5 and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n Link: Augmented reality is also a form of search<\/a><\/p>\n Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker got everyone\u2019s attention late last year when she proclaimed (as others had before her) that the mobile Internet would be at least 2X the PC Internet. Since that time Gartner has said that the mobile Internet will be larger than the PC Internet, on a global basis, by as soon as 2013.<\/p>\n Link: Morgan: Mobile Internet to Be 2X the PC Internet<\/a><\/p>\n