Mar

Local-Search Upgrades Affect Traditional Local Businesses

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Affect, Businesses., Local, LocalSearch, Traditional, Upgrades

Have you used Yahoo!’s new local-search function? If you
haven’t, you owe it to yourself to check it out. They’ve
upgraded it with fantastic features geared to make searching for
local businesses and services a breeze. Some of these features
include user recommendations and reviews of businesses,
real-time updates on local event information, and the ability to
search for businesses, events, and more within specific
neighborhoods rather than forcing the user to wade through the
search results for an entire city. In addition, the search
engine company has also upgraded its mapping capabilities.

Users also have the option to receive updated search information
via RSS – Rich Site Summary, otherwise known as Really Simple
Syndication – feeds. This particular feature has, arguably,
impacted the scope of the heavy-hitting search engines in
Internet users’ lives the most. The race between Yahoo!, Google,
MSN, and AOL for market share is never-ending, and each has
added its own brand of improvements. The major search engines’
new local-search features are all fantastic for the end user,
but what do they mean for local businesses?

In the history of local search, there has been a lot invested in
the form of user-friendly improvements by search-engine
companies, but these improvements haven’t yielded a noticeable
return-on-investment (ROI) for the companies. You might recall
search trailblazers Citysearch and MSN Sidewalk – these two
engines were an early example of the race to improve search
functionality – then again, you might not remember them at all.
It wasn’t until Google’s explosion onto the search scene in
recent years that the general public really became aware of the
power of search on the web. Now “Googling” is a verb.

Much of the public awareness of Internet search comes from
Google’s innovations in technology, but until recently, local
search wasn’t really a consideration for most Internet users or
the businesses featured in search results. However, the
improvements that the major search engines are adding are
changing that, and if you’re an owner of a traditional local
business, you should be paying attention.

More functionality for users means more accountability for
business owners. Now that patrons can voice their opinions about
the establishments that they frequent, potential customers have
an all-access pass to virtually unlimited information about a
business before they ever step foot inside the door. The days of
businesses relying on a fancy façade and some good ol’ TV ads
are quickly fading. Now businesses have to be accountable for
just about every step they take, no matter how large or small
they are. If a patron of a restaurant or theatre or dentist or
landscaper has a bad experience, they have the ability to tell a
lot of people all about it quickly and easily.

The prospect of being scrutinized at every turn might seem like
a frightening one at best, but there is a definite upside. Just
as negative views can spread like wildfire, so can positive
perspectives. If you’re putting a concerted effort into your
customer service and integrity is integral to the way that you
conduct business, you’re bound to get good feedback. And, now
more than ever, good feedback with go further than it ever has
before.

Perhaps more importantly, though, it’s up to traditional local
businesses to make sure that they have online presences. I live
in a mid-sized community, and I was surprised to find as many
reviews about local eateries, mechanics, and events as I did.
It’s not just businesses located in large cities that need to
take heed. The proliferation of the Internet – and local search
capabilities – is affecting communities far and wide. Since more
and more people are utilizing the web to find the goods and
services that they want, it only stands to reason that you
should ensure your business is in front of them. These folks are
your potential customers, after all.

There are a lot of ways that you can improve your online
presence, but the first step of putting yourself in a position
to grow your traditional local business is being aware that the
Internet will affect your business one way or another,
negatively or positively. It’s up to you to take control of
which way you want things to go. Take some time to surf the web.
Use the new features that the search engines are rolling out.
Pay attention to what customers are saying about traditional
local businesses. Accessing that information now will be
invaluable to your success later.

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