ionadas local Puts Small Businesses on the Map
SEO company sees a big future for Google Maps in 2010
Austin, TX, January 11, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Brian Combs wants to help companies hit it big in 2010 by tapping into a profitable new online market—their own back yard.
Combs’ company, ionadas local, specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) for Google Maps, the online search giant’s feature that allows a company to display its location in geographically-specific Web searches.
Combs, who worked in online marketing for nearly 17 years before founding ionadas local in 2009, has seen the impact of Google Maps on web search visibility. “A couple of years ago,” he recalls, “I worked with a team trying to figure out why a travel company's Google traffic had dropped by 20% and its sales from Google had dropped by 25%. All their tools indicated that everything was fine because they still ranked third on this keyword and fourth on that search term, and so on.”
The investigation revealed that for many of the company’s keywords, Google returned results dominated by a map and associated text listings at the top of the page. “That third-place organic ranking for the company had been pushed so far down on the page, people had to scroll down just to see it. This, to me, was an object lesson in just how powerful this map was. It’s really the biggest change we’ve seen in the online search universe since people first started putting PPC ads on there a decade ago.”
Smaller businesses face sobering competition from big companies when using traditional web search strategies. “The real estate industry is a good example,” says Combs. “The real estate scene in major cities tends to be dominated by the national players such as Realtor.com and Rent.com. These companies are search result aggregators who collect your contact information and sell it to realtors. In the financial world, Lending Tree may re-sell that information four times to various mortgage companies. That gives them a huge advantage over local firms when it comes to organic search.”
Google Maps changes the game by emphasizing physical location as a search criterion, according to Combs. “That physical presence is much harder for the big national aggregators to establish, allowing small, local companies to compete effectively with the big guys on the Web playing field. The outstanding majority of brick-and-mortar companies, no matter how small, can use their keyword information to score well on Google Maps.”
ionadas local helps businesses nationwide to devise optimization strategies to get the best possible local search results on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. According to client Krisstina Wise, Principal at The Goodlife Team, “ionadas local helped us evaluate and implement a strategy for visibility in the local real estate market. With Google changing the game in local search constantly, it's essential for us to work with a skilled professional to make sure we show up where buyers are looking.”
Combs predicts the appearance of even more precise search techniques in 2010. “I think we’re going to move from local marketing to hyper-local marketing. For instance, when you search for ‘Austin coffee shop,’ instead of getting results for coffee houses all over Austin, I believe that Google will determine what part of town you’re in and deliver targeted results for that location.” Combs notes that searches conducted by smartphone will allow Google to determine the searcher’s precise location.
“Even now, if you’re in Austin and you just Google ‘coffee shop,’ Google will return results for Austin coffee shops because it assumes you want a localized result,” says Combs. “The near future will hold even more opportunity for businesses to compete using super-precise online marketing.”
About ionadas local
ionadas local of Austin, Texas was founded in May 2009 to help marketers of local products and services. Working with companies in all industries nationwide, ionadas local provides optimization of Google Maps business listings to increase phone calls, foot traffic and website visitors from targeted prospects. For more information about ionadas local, please visit the company’s website at www.ionadas.com or call (512) 501-1875.
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Combs’ company, ionadas local, specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) for Google Maps, the online search giant’s feature that allows a company to display its location in geographically-specific Web searches.
Combs, who worked in online marketing for nearly 17 years before founding ionadas local in 2009, has seen the impact of Google Maps on web search visibility. “A couple of years ago,” he recalls, “I worked with a team trying to figure out why a travel company's Google traffic had dropped by 20% and its sales from Google had dropped by 25%. All their tools indicated that everything was fine because they still ranked third on this keyword and fourth on that search term, and so on.”
The investigation revealed that for many of the company’s keywords, Google returned results dominated by a map and associated text listings at the top of the page. “That third-place organic ranking for the company had been pushed so far down on the page, people had to scroll down just to see it. This, to me, was an object lesson in just how powerful this map was. It’s really the biggest change we’ve seen in the online search universe since people first started putting PPC ads on there a decade ago.”
Smaller businesses face sobering competition from big companies when using traditional web search strategies. “The real estate industry is a good example,” says Combs. “The real estate scene in major cities tends to be dominated by the national players such as Realtor.com and Rent.com. These companies are search result aggregators who collect your contact information and sell it to realtors. In the financial world, Lending Tree may re-sell that information four times to various mortgage companies. That gives them a huge advantage over local firms when it comes to organic search.”
Google Maps changes the game by emphasizing physical location as a search criterion, according to Combs. “That physical presence is much harder for the big national aggregators to establish, allowing small, local companies to compete effectively with the big guys on the Web playing field. The outstanding majority of brick-and-mortar companies, no matter how small, can use their keyword information to score well on Google Maps.”
ionadas local helps businesses nationwide to devise optimization strategies to get the best possible local search results on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. According to client Krisstina Wise, Principal at The Goodlife Team, “ionadas local helped us evaluate and implement a strategy for visibility in the local real estate market. With Google changing the game in local search constantly, it's essential for us to work with a skilled professional to make sure we show up where buyers are looking.”
Combs predicts the appearance of even more precise search techniques in 2010. “I think we’re going to move from local marketing to hyper-local marketing. For instance, when you search for ‘Austin coffee shop,’ instead of getting results for coffee houses all over Austin, I believe that Google will determine what part of town you’re in and deliver targeted results for that location.” Combs notes that searches conducted by smartphone will allow Google to determine the searcher’s precise location.
“Even now, if you’re in Austin and you just Google ‘coffee shop,’ Google will return results for Austin coffee shops because it assumes you want a localized result,” says Combs. “The near future will hold even more opportunity for businesses to compete using super-precise online marketing.”
About ionadas local
ionadas local of Austin, Texas was founded in May 2009 to help marketers of local products and services. Working with companies in all industries nationwide, ionadas local provides optimization of Google Maps business listings to increase phone calls, foot traffic and website visitors from targeted prospects. For more information about ionadas local, please visit the company’s website at www.ionadas.com or call (512) 501-1875.
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ionadas local
Brian Combs
512-501-1875
www.ionadas.com
Brian Combs
512-501-1875
www.ionadas.com
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