Comments on: Why Local Search is Like Raking Leaves

By: Matt Howard

Matt Howard — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:04:40 +0000

Thanks for the comment. Vertical search is a part of my thinking here — but i prefer to think more in terms of long tail search. Tiny bits of data at the very edge of the world’s information regardless of the vertical.

By: Tauya

Tauya — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:07:09 +0000

This is a very good analogue, at you got it spot on here mate.

Is your post endorsing Vertical search?

By: Matt Howard

Matt Howard — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:32:09 +0000

100% agree that education is a critical component of helping SMBs (small leaves) get better at local search.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult (impossible) to educate 15 million SMBs — most of whom are incredibly busy/distracted people.

The key in my opinion is to create platform services that deliver “built in” SEO value which is immune to SMB indifference or ignorance.

Undoubtedly, such services will fall short of what a professional SEO expert could deliver — but there is a ton of “long tail” and local search value that can be created by simply capturing “small leaf” content in clever and efficient ways.

By: Net Magellan

Net Magellan — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:17:46 +0000

Small business owners (and all website owners, for that matter) need to build their websites according to search-friendly principles. A good SEO service will make such a recommendation, but it would be great if this detail was already in place – I haven’t even mentioned keyphrases or links yet.

Next, they need to understand how their customers might use a search engine. A new business owner, say, a tax accountant, might assume that customers looking for this service will type “tax accountant” into Google.

This is what they might ask their SEO to optimise as their primary keyphrase. While some users might type this in their first G search, they’ll realise they need a local, bricks-and-mortar business and it would be better to add a suburb or city to the search term.

The typical new SME doesn’t have the SEO budget to rank for a generic, non-geographical phrase. True story: I once had a call from a small cheese manufacturer with a 5-page website who wanted to rank #1 globally for “cheese”.

Education about search behavious is the key.

By: Matt Buchanan

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:09:15 +0000

Is the point being made that convincing small businesses that SEO is in their long-term interests is difficult to do or that actually obtaining organic placement for local businesses is difficult?

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:01:28 +0000

Excellent analogy…HUGE opportunity!

By: Matt Howard

Matt Howard — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:33:33 +0000

Will makes a very good point about the behavior of big leaves in certain areas — but i still think it fits within the analogy. In other words, big leaves understand that it’s better to be raked by Google than go it alone — and they will do whatever is necessary to make into Mr. Google’s bag.

By: Will - Arena Flowers

Will - Arena Flowers — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:35:17 +0000

True but don’t forget that in the most lucrative areas (gambling and finance and the adult sector) there is so much money to be made that the big leaves sometimes behave very badly indeed and do all kinds of crazy stuff that little leaves would never have the resources to engage in…there are examples of this, erm, littered across the web…eg insurance companies buying domains, spamming them to the top to get a surge of sales, then starting again once that site’s been binned..

By: Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:43:41 +0000

I’m a small leaf. Small leaves are what the web is all about. Mr Google (and the under-gardeners) need to understand why small leaves are the way forward. ;o)

By: James Sherrett

James Sherrett — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:21:46 +0000

Also, don’t underestimate that the rake was designed for big leaves, not small leaves. For small leaves, a different tool, built for a different purpose, with different biases, works much better. A vacuum, for instance, works much better for small leaves.