Ever type in a search into the address bar or the iconic Google search box and wonder how it knows where to look? Why does it seem like everything just happens to be nearby when there is a whole world out there that it could be pulling from? How does searching for things like “lumber yard near me” actually produce results for lumber yards that are actually nearby?
Searching for a “lumber yard near me” works by using geotargeting to determine where the search is coming from and to find lumber yards near that location. This is also known as location-based marketing and utilizes web crawlers to help index and find the searched for terms.
It’s actually pretty simple how geotargeting works and can be used by businesses to drag in their intended customers. Keep reading to learn more about it, and exactly what happens when making a search like this online.
How Does Google Search Work
Google uses web crawlers that look for pages on websites to index, which means essentially that they are constantly looking for pages to offer when people search something using their search engine. This is an automatic process that relies on finding out what is out there and retrieving it based on what a real human inserts into the search bar.
What is Geotargeting?
Geotargeting is marketing based on where people actually are. Therefore, it’s also often referred to as location-based marketing. This can either be where the intended audience is, or where the business itself is. Additionally, it can also be either widespread or very specific. For example, a company might only want to advertise in a specific country, region, state, city, or even neighborhood. This targeting of a specific area when marketing is geotargeting.
What is a Lumber Yard Called?
A lumber yard is a parcel of land or a sort of warehouse where building materials, primarily wood (lumber) is stored, offered, or kept for the purpose of selling. It is a term that is often used interchangeably with the term timber yard, as timber is synonymous with lumber. Often times, lumber yards will sell wholesale or with minimal markups due to the fact that they are just the most basic building blocks for a project which makes them popular choices for contractors. The exception tends to be big box stores.
What Happens When I Look for a “Lumber Yard Near Me”
What happens when someone searches for any type of business near them online is geotargeting at its finest. What it does is figure out where the person is exactly so that the web crawlers can find things within a radius around them. It then will pull up a list of what it deems is relevant based on location to offer to the person doing the search, typically sorted in most to least relevant.
Some companies can even work on making these extremely specific, only showing up in very particular searches to target very specific regions. That can get all the way down to the neighborhood! Other companies purchase ad space to try and get themselves higher and more relevant looking on these searches, which is why sometimes there will be sponsored ad links at the top of a search. That is just them trying hard to specifically target an area or search phrase in order to draw in customers that have a higher chance of clicking on those links and making a purchase.
Using services such as a VPN can mess up these crawlers, as it convinces them that the device making the search is in a different location, so if using one of these, be sure to specify the actual area that is being looked for. That could be searching things such as:
- Lumber yards in San Antonio
- Lumber yards in Texas
- Where are lumber yards in San Antionio Texas?
Search functions are getting more user-friendly as time goes on, so don’t worry about the proper way to google it. Just use normal phrasing and chances are it will be able to find it. There are billions of searches that happen every day, so the algorithm is getting pretty good at understanding how to pull up what someone needs without some specialized code.
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If there’s a need for lumber in the San Antonio area, look no further than AP Outdoor Living Supply. They have a professional team of over 20 years of experience providing quality materials at reasonable rates.
Here are some of the materials provided:
- Douglas Fir
- Cedar
- Treated Pine
- Hardware
- Other building materials
They have a clean and friendly environment with knowledgeable staff that are there to help get the job done right the first time. They are happy to assist when customers reach out to them, always responding professionally and in a timely manner.
Conclusion
When a new page is posted on the internet, eventually Google’s crawlers will get to it and index it so that when someone searches for relevant information, it shows up on the list. The higher it is, the more likely the algorithm considers it relevant to the search. Companies utilize this in their marketing strategies by trying to target specific areas in order to reach their target audience. There’s no point in advertising all over the country when services only appear in San Antonio, for example.
This process is known as geotargeting or location-based marketing. It’s beneficial when a company wants to draw in local, paying customers by letting those customers know that they are nearby. So when someone searches for something, for example “lumber yard near me,” the search engine will take into consideration where the search is coming from to pull up relevant lumber yards near that location. Read More on Buy Lumber from Lowes or a Lumber Yard to find cheaper deal.
If that happens to be in San Antonio, be sure to check out AP Outdoor Living Supply. They have many years of experience providing quality materials to the area to help get the job done right the first time.