As Google continues to be a more dominant force in search, they’ve further and further expanded their abilities to make this worldwide search be very local. Did you know that, right now, you can actually go to Google and type in the type of service that you’re looking for right where you live?
Maybe you need a car repair. You can type in “car repair” and the zip code that you live in, and Google will return to you businesses on the Google map that are within that zip code. So, just for fun, you ought to type in something you’re looking to buy, and put in the zip code of the area you’d like it to be in. Now, it’s not a perfect search, but it certainly does help.
Another way that you can do it is that instead of going to www.google.com and typing in a zip code and the service you want, you can go to local.google.com. Perhaps, you are looking for a restaurant or a pizza parlor. You can put in “restaurant near San Antonio,” and Google Local Search will actually go and look for restaurants that have San Antonio nearby. Or, just the opposite, Google goes and looks in San Antonio for restaurants that are nearby.
The COOLEST PART? The business does not need to have a website to be listed in Google Local on the Google Maps. (While I want everyone to have a website, this bears repeating) NO WEBSITE REQUIRED.
I’m continually amazed at the level of localness that you can get by searching the World Wide Web. Many of us still think that because it’s the World Wide Web that it doesn’t have a local flair, but that’s not true at all. So, the next time you’re looking for something that may just be around the corner, just head into your office, or open up your computer, and type in Google, your zip code and the service you’re looking for, and find out who in your area offers what you’re looking for. You may be surprised at how close they are, and how many things that you want are just outside your door, and you can find them by looking on the World Wide Web.
So, that also means that customers are looking for what you sell, and where you are in a Global way, to find you around the corner. Have you responded to the call? As of the time this blog post was written, Google Local inclusion on the Google Maps is still a free service.