As a local business you might ask - "what is local search engine marketing"?
Simply put, it is getting your company to appear at the top of the major engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN, AOL, Etc.) for the search terms describing your product or service that your potential customer may be typing. For example, a local Kitchen Cabinet Design company would want to appear at the top of the search engines for "Miami Kitchen Design" or even better all searchers within a 45 mile radius that searched for "Kitchen Design". Another example would be a local auto body shop would like to show up for "Miami Body Shop" or "Miami Collision Repair" for example. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) includes paying for sponsored listings or PPC and Search Engine Optimization or SEO. SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that you can show up in the search engines within the Natural or Organic listings.

Through SEM you can now position your company to appear in the "Sponsored Area" of the major search engines for any of the search terms you define.

With the advancements in internet marketing & online research tools you can now run reports to see exactly how many people are searching for the types of services you provide in your area on a monthly basis. Using the example above, by running a search one the Google AdWords Keyword Tool you can quickly see that there were over 2,950 searches for the keyword phrase "Miami Kitchen Design" during the month of May. You could also use Google Insights to get an idea for what words are gaining in search volume and which words are declining.
Local Search Engine Marketing is the process of identifying the words and phrases that are of significance to you and implementing strategies to ensure that you are showing up for them in your Geographic Service area whether that be through SEO or PPC.