Can an organic local search optimization service replace a PPC ad campaign?

The answer to this question depends on a host a variables that must be considered for each specific business. Let's break it down.

Where is the market geographically?

Optimized Local Search Services are designed to put a local business on the first pages of organic search results with a maximum impact within the city limits where the business is. Broader geographic reach is typically only possible with highly specialized keyword searches. If the vast majority of the market for a particular business is within the city limits, then organic local search optimization can replace a PPC campaign and result in significant savings.

If a local business serves a larger metropolitan area, a PPC campaign may be necessary to complement organic local search optimization. For instance, a roofing company can benefit from an Optimized Local Search Service by increasing the number of customers they get within their city (which translates to higher profitability because of the logistics of working closer to your office). However, to expand the market to a larger geographic area it may be beneficial to also incorporate PPC advertising into the strategy.

How competitive is the local market?

Some industries are intrinsically more competitive online than others. A few examples would include law firms, landscape companies, real estate agencies, insurance agencies and auto repair facilities. When the online market is highly competitive obviously the impact of an Optimized Local Search Service can be limited. The service still works since it offers a broad-spectrum approach and optimizes a business for literally hundreds of keywords. Regardless, it can be challenging or even impossible to reach the first pages in organic search results for top-level keyword searches.

A carefully managed PPC campaign can be used to fill the gaps and purchase top placement for top level hyper-competitive keywords. Care should be taken to NOT pay for keywords that duplicate the the impact of the Optimized Local Search Service.

Scalability – How to increase exposure in local search

On average, an Optimized Local Search Service results in a business being seen by 50~75 people every day. These statistics vary a bit by industry and area, but are reliable after analyzing the statistics of over 500 services. It is virtually impossible to increase these numbers because the number of searches for a particular keyword set within a specific city can not be directly affected. Therefore, we could state that an Optimized Local Search Service is not scalable.

Within a specific geographic area, the same is true for PPC campaigns. However, there are two basic ways to increase exposure using PPC advertising. First, a local business can expand their geographic market. Second, a local business can increase their daily budget and / or maximum bid in order to show more times. For instance, if the daily budget is $27 and the maximum bid is $3 then after approximately 9 clicks the ad will no longer show that day. It is not uncommon for ads to stop running by mid-morning on a given day because the daily budget has been spent. Increasing the daily budget will result in more ads showing. Care should be taken to balance the benefits of increases in budget as related to increases in customers. On most pay-per-click campaigns there is a certain threshold beyond which the campaigns provides diminishing returns.