Using Localized Search to Your Advantage

A few weeks ago I talked about how search engines were going local - providing localized search results. Today, the search site Ask Jeeves debuted its new search technology Teoma 3.0 which includes localized search features. Users can now search for items such as "guitars in Chicago" and Ask Jeeves will return results for businesses selling guitars in Chicago. The search is powered through a partnership with Citysearch, a local search service.

Here are two ways online advertisers can take advantage of these developments in localized search.

Citysearch is a purely localized search engine. Users begin their search by entering the city name they are interested in finding results for. Results are displayed for that city, along with paid placements. What makes Citysearch useful for test marketing is that advertisers can contract for paid placements with specific city results. An excellent use of this is for test marketing ad campaigns, targeting certain cities for product introduction or revenue growth.

Because search engines with localized results are dependant on users entering city or zip codes, advertisers should include this information (zip codes and city names) in their site design and keyword selection in order to optimize their search engine marketing.


Check it out:
www.askjeeves.com
www.citysearch.com