In today’s digital age, many aspects of society that have classically been offline functions are now finding ways to go online. The Internet has developed into an incredible tool to help organize information and make it more widely and readily available to those who need to find it. One of these societal functions is advertising. Once a paper and ink industry, advertising is now moving to the World Wide Web, with dozens of creative ways to reach and target audiences.

The idea of advertising and marketing online, however, has a magnified effect due to the sheer traffic volume that websites can accrue in an extremely short period of time. It is a cyclic relationship that truly closely follows the natural cycle with extremely little deviation: the better and more present the advertising, the more people will see it, and the more people see it the more web space and exposure time the advertisement will receive.

This idea plays into a new feature that only the Internet has made possible. It is the concept of local searches and local search optimization. The incidence of a company’s advertisements can help attract searchers and browser’s to the local business. This is the mechanism of local search optimization. There are even organizations and sites such as localsearchoptimizers.com that helps small businesses get on the map, literally. Through this mechanism local, small businesses can have a better chance at being discovered when their services are needed.

First, it is necessary to understand what a local search is. In fact, it has become such an integral part of daily society and the internet’s function that nearly everyone has performed a local search once if not many times. Some may even be locally searching on multiple occasions in one day. This local search tool takes advantage of specially designed search engines to locate a geographical point of interest. The search engine compares the submitted keywords against an organized database of local business listings. The location of interest may be stated explicitly in the search query or the search keywords may simply indicate a typical local destination such as "pharmacy" or "shopping mall."

The search engine then uses geographic coordinates to identify all local business that match the search query. The objective of most, smaller, community businesses is to find ways for these local search engines to find and list their business when a relevant search is initiated. This is done, largely in part, by local search optimization. Typically, this is driven by the number of advertisements pertaining to the company that are available on the Internet. However, new developments are allowing local businesses to be listed when a local search query is submitted.

In general, the term optimization with respect to the Internet refers to the practice of maximizing the traffic volume and quality to a particular website of interest. This is done by manipulating search engines through algorithmic methods rather than through monetary incentives, which is presently, much the case with advertising. In theory, the earlier a site appears, within the search results list, the more individuals will see it. Based on this theory, it is desirable to have one’s site be a top hit, for a given search query. This is now done in a number of ways through optimization efforts by editing web content to be more relevant and include an increased number of key words that would signal to a search engine that that site is relevant. Local search optimization is this process applied specifically to local searches and the benefit of small, local business.

Oftentimes, optimization may be viewed as unethical, or skewing the information available on the Internet to misdirect users when searching. However, local search optimization is designed to benefit everyone, both the business owners and consumers. By collecting, organizing and presenting the data in a way that local search engines can understand, these businesses are gaining greater exposure and drawing more business from local clientele. It is an excellent tool that effectively orders data and ensures that businesses gain exposure.

Local search optimization is paving the way for small businesses that may not have the means to afford extravagant online advertising. This service allows these businesses to still gain exposure and encourage local activity and community involvement. Without local search optimization, a number of smaller businesses may not get the attention that they deserve.

For more information please contact:

Local Search Optimizers

5737 Kanan Rd. #247

Agoura Hills, CA 91301

P: (877) 627-6366

www.localsearchoptimizers.com