2012 was an Interesting Year for Local Search
In 2012 we saw the introduction of Google+ local and its slow but interesting development. Hopefully we will continue to see the development and integration of places and plus. As of right now there is still many elements that could be improved in an effort to make the transition a smooth and more cohesive experience between Google Places and Google+ Local.
The past year we also saw local result displaying on the SERPS change over the course of the year with blended results. One of the primary factors that become more important was the need for local businesses and services to not just focus on one but both the organic website rankings and there local search rankings. The website elements have continued to become more tied to local results. We expect this trend to continue on the same path in 2013.
Expectations for what 2013 holds for local search.
The broadest expectation/prediction follows suit with all online marketing in 2013 and that is the continued integration of social media and interaction in search results. Facebook. Twitter Pinterest, Google, and Linkedin are all important channels to be involved. We understand it takes a considerable amount of time to maintain all theses channels but at the very least you should take the time to create a basic profile for your business on these channels. Even having a basic presence on these channels is beneficial to both your local and organic rankings, even more so with local. The more results that generate when a user is looking for your business directly, the better. This gives the user more opportunities to see you and lessens the chances of the search engines providing other directories or companies similar to your industry. The search engines are only trying to provide the bests results so you need to help them see your business is the best result.
Overall, 2013 looks to be another exciting year for local search and we could see some very dramatic changes.
Let us know if you have any questions or predictions of your own by commenting below.
