If you are feeling hungry and you go online to find somewhere to eat, chances are you are looking for a local restaurant or bar to fill that need (pizza anyone?). Same goes for landscaping services, plumbers, tax prep, etc. If you don’t think local search is important to your small business here are some facts and figures:

21% of the US population used a search engine to find something yesterday – that’s up from 9% in 2004.

46% of daily searches are for product and services.

20% of Google searches are for local businesses. In the scheme of things 20% doesn’t seem that high but because the numbers of searches that Google handles everyday is so huge, that 20% actually adds up to 600 million searches per day for local products and services!

Getting your piece of this incredible pie is easier than you think:

• First, you obviously need a website!
• Second the website needs your name and address, in text so that it can be read by the search engine. Google will check that you are where you say you are!
• Third, your website needs a very clear description of what you sell.
• Fourth, you should start posting reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers (if you don’t have these you should start collecting them NOW!)

All these help Google identify you as a local business with a service that people are looking for. If you have a small business the time to rule the local search is now – before your competitor does it!