A local search program refers to the process of optimizing your online visibility to ensure that your business or medical practice is easily discoverable by individuals looking for your services in specific geographical areas. It involves various strategies such as creating accurate online citations or listings across different platforms on the internet.

Online citations or listings are essentially references or mentions of your business or medical practice information (such as name, address, phone number, website) on various websites or directories. This information is crucial for local searches as search engines use it to verify and validate your business’s existence and location. Consistent and accurate online citations across multiple platforms can improve your business’s visibility in local search results.

Having a robust local search program also helps you stay ahead of your competitors. By actively managing and optimizing your online citations or listings, you can outshine your competitors who may have incomplete or inconsistent information across platforms. This ensures that your business appears trustworthy, reliable, and easily accessible to your prospects.

How Does a Local Search Program Compare to Other Search Marketing Tactics?

Online searches are a major way today’s buyers find and select companies and providers. There are three types of listings on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs):

Google Ads aka Pay-per-click Ads
Local Search Results
Organic Search Results

Example: Here are SERPs for a local podiatry practice, using the search “Dallas foot doctor”

Google Ads aka Pay-Per-Click advertising is very effective. However, small businesses sometimes struggle with the costs, which vary from $1,500 at minimum to over $5,000-10,000 per month.

Organic Search rankings typically require a dedicated website with many pages of relevant content, keyword research and implementation of these on the website, continual updated content, quality backlinks from outside websites, as well as ongoing hours spent in technical, on-page and off-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics.

For these reasons, small businesses frequently start with a Local Search program to build up their Search Engine Marketing (SEM) online citations or internet listings.

Local Search is often the best option for small businesses to start with in their digital marketing because:

Google only shows local results, so no competing with companies nationally.
There are no charges when users click on the company’s listing.
It does not require extensive website SEO work.

5 Components of A Local Search Program

There are a few challenges in obtaining a first page listing in Google’s Local Search results. These include:

Limited Space – There is a limited number of listings shown on the first page.
Google Reviews – The business must request and obtain Google reviews. Reviews are very important to achieve a first page listing. Using the example for Google results on page one above, the first two results have 338 and 534 Google reviews respectfully. Companies must be competitive with the number of reviews. (See our blog about asking customers for reviews to learn more!)
Consistent NAP – The company must submit data to major online directories and search engines. This information—such as name, address, and phone (NAP)—must be consistent from one listing site to another.
Detailed Data – The listing pages require a good amount of detail. The more robust the listing page, the better. Data to include: types of products and services, company description, open hours, business categories, attributes allowed by Google, photos and more.
Relevant Content – Google Business Profiles (GBP) listings now allow ongoing posts and content, much like social media networks. Keeping fresh content published, infused with keywords, helps prospects find you.

If you want to learn more about Local Search, here are some informative articles to read.

By leveraging local search programs, you can enhance your prospects’ ability to find you through effective online citations or listings. When individuals search for services relevant to your business—or conditions and treatments relevant to your medical practice—in a particular area, search engines like Google use online citations to determine the relevance and legitimacy of your business. If your business has consistent, accurate, and up-to-date online citations across platforms, it becomes more likely to appear in local search results, increasing your chances of being discovered by potential customers in your target area.

Ready to check out how your company ranks in Local Search? Use our handy—and free—online visibility widget.

Get Found Online

If you are interested in a Local Search Program for your company or medical practice, D Media can help. Please contact us for more information on how we can help your business improve its online visibility.