Internet Search Engines – Used Like Telephone White Pages

For some businesses, a significant number of online searches are for the company’s name. Basically, these searchers use Internet search engines like the white pages of the phone book. Search marketers call these “recovery” searches (as opposed to “discovery” or “functional” searches where potential customers search for features or benefits of a product or service). For well-established local companies, we’ve seen recovery searches run as high as 20% or more of the total monthly phone calls or online inquiries.

Example from a Local Search Company

A few weeks ago, while doing research for an upcoming new client of ours, we noticed a tactic being used by a company we’ll describe as “a major provider of local search”. To clarify this example, we’ll call the local search company the “provider” and their client the “advertiser”. As part of the advertising program, the provider set up a profile type web page for one of the advertiser’s well-established locations. (Each city’s location of this advertiser had different names that reflect local home services companies they had acquired).

The provider optimized the advertiser’s profile page to be found for the advertiser’s specific location name in natural search results. The result: the provider’s web page came in above the advertiser’s own corporate website in natural search results. The provider also used the company’s name as keywords to trigger text ads. We find this situation to be significant for the following reasons:

• If the provider’s profile page had not been there, any potential customer would have found the advertiser’s own page in natural results anyway. The company name was unique with no common keywords in it.
• The provider’s directory page did not get first page results for functional searches like it did for recovery searches in natural results. (If it had, its presence would have been easier to understand or justify.)
• In their reporting of results, the provider co-mingled the results (phone calls or online leads) from their profile page in natural results with those from ad traffic.
• The provider does not supply the advertiser with a breakdown of how many leads (from either ads or natural results) come from correctly spelled recovery searches of the advertiser’s name vs. actual new clients acquired from discovery or functional searches.
• The example above involves advertisers paying for traffic, but a similar situation occurs when a company is paying by the lead. If you hire a lead generation company to provide customer leads, you should set guidelines and specify reports that clarify if or how much you are paying for leads gathered on your company name.

If you have more examples of useful and not-so-good tactics in this topic, please post them. If you need more clarification, post your question or give us a call.

With the hope that this post will stimulate scholarly or scientifically valid behavioral research as to the reasons why searchers do not include geodescriptors in their queries, we’re going to have a little fun and go out on a limb with TopSide Media’s Five Categories of Online Local Search Behavior.

TopSide’s Five Categories of Online Local Search Behavior

1. Location Centric
   This searcher type knows that through his/her internet service provider (ISP) and IP address, the search engines, and even some web sites, know where he/she is located. So, why should anyone have to type a city or zip code in the search box?
   To see an example of a web site that recognizes your location, go to www.radiator.com. On their home page, just under the header graphics, you will see your city’s name in bold. Disclosure: I purchased a radiator from these guys recently; and no, they are not a TopSide Media client.
2. Product or Service Centric
   A second type is the searcher who is not aware of how search engines work. They are focused on the features of the product or service they are interested in–not about how the latest search algorithm works with or without city names included. I once had a boss named Bud who regularly reminded me that “customers want what they want, when they want it”. Bud’s advice did not include anything about where, so his description certainly applies to this type of searcher.
3. Swamped
   These searchers are busy and want to type the fewest words necessary. Less typing = faster info. On to the next item…fast
4. Handheld Choppers
   The choppers type on a PDA or cell phone keypad most of the time and always use shortcuts when typing. Even on ther desktp
5. The Search Gamer
   This searcher knows a lot about how search engines work but likes to play Stump the Chump. That way, they get to see the latest tweaks in the search engine settings and do business with the most web savvy local companies without having to type much to start with, or reload the page with more a detailed search. Rather than starting with a highly specific multi-word query and working out to broader ones (like an engineer or other left brainer would), the Search Gamer types in vague, one or two-word searches to see which webmasters or search engine advertisers have anticipated his or her sporting query and can serve up the most relevant results to it.

Why this matters to web site owners

From the perspective of marketing/advertising cost and reaching the customers you want to target (while excluding those you do not wish to reach) this topic matters a lot.

Example: If you provide a product or service that gets implemented locally, such as muffler replacement or a dentist office, you only want questions or requests for appointments within your service area, right? Unless you are selling ad space, reaching web searchers outside that area only wastes your time and money. Consider this: if your city has a population of 1 million and you somehow (magically; in reality this would not happen) could have 100% of the U.S. traffic for the key phrase muffler replacement, receiving 99+% of the search traffic from geographical areas other than the area around your muffler shop would do you no good at all.

The example above explains why effective integrated online marketing includes an optimum mix of optimization for local natural search (SEO) and search engine ads such as the Sponsored Links in Google AdWords. To get the web traffic you want when you want it, you need the right tactics in the right proportions and at the right time.

Like It or Not

Now that you’ve read this, we would like to tip our Stetsons to Click and Clack, the CarTalk guys for this tongue-in-cheek line of thinking.

We enjoy their show weekly, and listening to them on National Public Radio inspired the profiles above as well as the automotive example. If you found this post useful and/or entertaining, please leave a comment and pass it along to a friend or colleague. If you don’t care for it, write the reason(s) for your dissatisfaction into the memo section of a generous check payable to us, which we will use to hire a full-time copywriter for our blog