Wow! It’s been a hectic few years for those that sell things online. But for the most part, most of us were ready.
The pandemic put our dependence on electronic devices connected to the internet into overdrive. As we stayed home from work and stopped going on social activities (like sports games and movies) we realized just how important delivery drivers are. An army of personal and commercial delivery drivers delivered everything we ever needed to survive stay-at-home orders and then some.
Personal delivery drivers were in addition to the usual package delivery companies and, of course, those blue Amazon Prime trucks. Plenty of us received packages from these trucks with a golden smile. However, many more people received deliveries from private cars delivering goods that we ordered over the internet. These delivery drivers are the last link in what can arguably be termed a micro-delivery model, one that Amazon uses in grocery delivery.
Local Delivery Requires Searcher Intent
In the old days, you grabbed the Yellow Pages and looked up the local place you wanted to visit. Anything and everything for sale in your neighborhood was listed in the Yellow Pages in alphabetical order. This act of looking something up in a book gets the same results as searching online for something to buy or some needed service.
And, when we look for meals and anything perishable online, we are the first link. Tech lets these searched goods and services be delivered. Amazon understood this and created Amazon grocery delivery with 2-hour delivery windows. As an added perk, Prime members receive grocery delivery for free. All this is possible because we switched to online searching and leave “location services” on so apps and people can find you.
Enter Locations Services
Amazon has its own “location services” technology for making local deliveries. Consequently, Prime delivery drivers use the same GPS-driven map technology that private delivery drivers use. These drivers use smartphone apps and location services. For many of us non-Apple users, this technology is Google Chrome (the web browser), Google Maps, and “location services” used within these Google programs. This connection is crucial to delivering local search results based on searcher intent.
Given Google’s ownership of 92% of the web search market share, it’s a good bet that their search algorithms present accurate local search results. These algorithms use keywords and phrases and location to gain insight into what the searcher wants. Searching “taco delivery” produces results that deliver tacos locally using Google Maps.
The Birth of On-Demand Local Delivery
Looking back in retail history to the mail-order catalog days reveals that delivering non-perishable packaged goods is an option that is as old as retail stores. Today, companies like FedEx and UPS deliver packages on a global scale. Although it started years earlier, local on-demand delivery came into prominence during the darkest days of the Pandemic. Some local business owners were ready. Sadly, many were not.
Local Google + Local Search = Local Business Sucess
At the local level, insight into searcher intent can make or break a local business. How does a local business get this valuable insight? The business needs a way to monitor and manage visits to a website. This space can be social media, a web page, or anything attached to online access.
To tap into the local power that Google offers businesses, including valuable marketing information, call Web Rocket Media. As an online marketing agency, they’ll take steps to quickly get Google to work for you. This includes making necessary connections to:
Linking Your Business to Google
From a new business just starting out to a well-established business with a good local reputation, adding your business to Google is the first step in gaining insight into your local customers’ chances of visiting your webspace. Google asks that a business create a business profile. This business profile becomes the basis for your business’s unique local business profile.
Web Rocket Media’s skilled online marketers understand how to influence Google’s search algorithms to produce favorable local search results. A Google Business Profile is just the beginning. Like Amazon’s location services, Google has its own location services that are on par and arguably more powerful than Amazon’s.
Google Maps and Location Services
On the Google side, location services connect to Google Maps. In turn, Google Maps lists the basic business profile that you filled out above. Incidentally, location services are automatically on, even on personal devices. Location services can be turned off, notably because location services can also be used to find people, which can cause some pause. Nonetheless, you want people to find your business, so leave location service alone for now.
As a business owner, you can adjust how people see your business on Google Maps. However, this is only part of the capabilities presented by this link between your Google Business Profile and Google Maps. Tip: Find someone to log into their Google account and look for your business. Whatever shows up is how everyone else sees your business. You can take control over what people see with a My Google Business account.
Google Business Profile
Formerly known as Google My Business, Google Business Profile is an advanced advertising management tool tailor-made for use with Google’s other tools. A Google Business Profile helps businesses have an online presence in the “Google verse,” though not required. Google describes Google Business Profile as a way for people to find local businesses.
The key to making the Google verse work for your business is understanding the intent of your local searcher. Inevitably, local businesses rely on word of mouth and local advertising for customers. Web Rocket Media will help your local business develop local online advertising campaigns that utilize the Google verse to its maximum capacity. This includes SEO and social media advertising if needed.
Conclusion
There are no escaping Google and location services, especially if you want your business to be noticed online. To find out what the Google verse can do for your business, give Web Rocket Media a call.