Why Use Geographically Targeted SEO?
     United Kingdom, Jan 31 (2007)

Searchers are changing the way they search for information to find relevant results for specified location. Many sites which are currently indexed don’t have relevant information to help search engines in finding them 'relevant' to the location term, often because they don't have their targeted geographic location for marketing mentioned on their site.

By including the targeted geographic location in the keywords used with an SEO campaign and the on page optimization done on a site, it is possible to have a dramatic and positive increase in top results, traffic, and sales.

It is very simple to include geographically-targeted terms and phrases with the keyphrases used for search engine optimisation and this will go a long way in increasing the revenue a website can generate.

Possible Disadvantages?

Alienation of future customers is always possible. If a searcher in the US is searching for simply "Search Engine Marketing" and your website happened to show up with "Search Engine Marketing UK" in its title, it is more than likely that the user will skip the website because it is targeting the UK.

This can also be seen as a positive point, as it actually helps in qualifying your traffic even more. It stopped a user visiting your website that would have found out that your services are UK specific and that they could not order their requirements from your website anyway.

Of course this could also be a negative aspect. If you 'mainly' target the UK but also want to offer your services to overseas clients, this may result in the loss of a potential sale.

Should geographical-targeting be used?

The answer depends only on the target audience or geographical location of the products or services offered.

Should you offer your products or services to a specific area or country, or you intend to only deal with local audience then yes, you should certainly be geographically-targeting your search engine optimization campaigns to increase traffic and sales.

The second situation can be that some of your products or services are available to many areas while others are not. In this instance simply use selective geographical-targeted optimization with each of the products or services sections.

And, if your target audience is not bounded by geographical regions, such as online services or products that have worldwide delivery, then more than likely geographical targeted optimization is not appropriate.

The key is that geographically-targeted SEO campaign can make a huge difference to a websites success. It is up to you to decide if it is an appropriate option for the products and services your website offers.