Organic Search… Getting Tougher by The Day

Organic Search… Getting Tougher by The Day

Feb 02

It was clear 12 months ago that Google is favouring localising their search engine as much as possible – a move that hurts online retailers and information marketers who’s success depends on their global reach.

Localisation makes no sense on the World Wide Web.

I would suggest segmenting search: having a dedicated local search engine to cater for genuine searchers of local providers, thus protecting the larger portion of searchers who are not interested in local sources.

If I search for a carpet online, I don’t need the provider to be a local seller. On the contrary, I expect to have the choice of the best carpet sellers on the globe. And why wouldn’t I? If I’m using the World Wide Web, I expect to have access to whoever wants me to discover them.

Localising search engine results is crazy. If the first three pages of my search returns local carpet sellers… how much choice can I possibly have?

An to add a twist of irony, my local carpet dealers may be sourcing the carpets from Asia.

This is not about the middleman (most e-tailers are middlemen and women) but rather about having to pay inflated costs to cover my local carpet sellers brick and mortar costs (rent, storage, light, wages etc) when I could be buying from an e-tailer anywhere in the world (even next door to me, but without a physical local shop) who does not have these extra costs to pass on to me.

There is nothing wrong with the local market – we need that as much as a the virtual market – but if I want something from my local carpet seller, I’ll be visiting him (or her) in person.

Giving me a bunch of local results every time I search for something takes away from my experience (Google are big on user experience, are they not…) and makes it much harder for me to reach anybody I want when and where I want.

Related posts:

1. Google's new border around search results