Targeting Local Market through SEO and PPC

If your business provides products or services targeted for local consumers and customers, the best way to increase the reach of your business online is by implementing search engine optimization and paid advertising like pay per click which are geared towards the local market. Local SEO and PPC are two effective ways a business can target the local customers.

In majority cases, increased sales is always guaranteed if your site garnered a higher page ranking in search engine results for local products and services. Therefore, your website should be optimized such that the local market is targeted effectively and efficiently. Website owners should make sure that their websites contain the essential elements that would direct local consumers and customers to your site with their search queries. Following are some local SEO tips which reinforce your local marketing efforts:

• Register with Local Directories. Local consumers look up for businesses in the local directories or commercial directories that cater to local markets. You may take advantage of free local listings like Google+ Local or Yahoo! Local. Most of the customers use the more popular local online search engines when they look up for products and services.
• Create a Sub-Domain to Build Trust. It takes a while to generate trust with the major search engines. You may opt to capitalize on the domain trust of established businesses by creating a subdomain with them to gain exposure. Linking your main site in the external domains, you can increase traffic to the site which will eventually help it gain trust with major search engines.
• Make Your Address Visible. By listing your business address prominently on your main home page or landing page, and all the other pages of your site for customers to see and remember easily.  
• Multiple Markets. If your business caters to multiple local markets, make sure you have a landing page for each of the towns you are marketing. A local customer would not be interested in reading through information about other towns on the same page his town is displayed. A more localized landing page is preferred.

Like local SEO, PPC relies on the principle that targeting a specific geographical area in a marketing campaign will bring in more positive results for a local business. Pay per click (PPC) ad campaigns are inexpensive and do significantly increase traffic even for a specified timeframe only. Learning how to make local PPC work will get your site ahead of the competitors. It all boils down to the effective research of proper and relevant keywords and put them to work.

There are three ways to target a local audience through PPC:

• Local Keyword Campaign. By using a combination of local geographical modifier and core keywords, a local product or service is advertised within the specified geographic location.
• Geographic Targeted Campaign. This is the most frequently used campaign to target local market. The search marketer shall simply select the local audience for which the ads need to be displayed – state, city or customer defined area.
• Ads on local business listings and maps. This option requires setting up an account at the Google+ Local or the Google Local Business Center, and text ads may appear on a Google area map after a local search is made.

These are the benefits of local search engine optimization and local pay per click advertising campaign. These two online marketing strategies will help your business grow and get local presence if properly done. SEO companies in the Philippines can help you obtain local presence and brand recognition.