Check the logs of any well traveled website and you’ll likely find that 40% or more of all searches include the name of a city in the search term or phrase used. That’s quite a large percentage of the total so what does it mean? It means that almost half of all people that use Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines have figured out that by including the name of the municipality in which they’re hoping to find whatever it is they’re looking for, the serps returned will include a higher proportion of local choices. And it works.

On the flip-side of that argument, does the content you’re offering the public on your website include sufficient references to the locale in which it’s set? Will the search engines be able to determine where your business is located in order to serve you up to searchers trying to find you?

Try it yourself and see what happens. Do a search for your favorite type of restaurant then do it again and include the city you live in the second time. You’ll get a completely different set of search results and you won’t have to drive cross-country for Italian food!

Related Posts:

• Local Directories and Why You Need Them!
• A Basic Traffic Strategy For Your Website
• What is Page Rank?

Phillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of MarketingMeasure located at 2414 Arbuckle Court Dallas, TX 75229, and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He and his two sons,Tyler and Preston, also own a Sir Speedy Printing franchise and employ those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com.