Google Targeting $10 Billion Local Market

At an investor Q&A in New York, Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vp of Global Online Sales & Operations, discussed the company's latest push to target the $10 billion annually spent by local businesses on advertising. Sandberg pointed out how Google's local search product is vastly improved over what it was four years ago. Between Google Maps and Google Local results integrated into the Web search page, you can often get good local results for local queries. Advertisers are starting to use these services, too, buying placements on Google Maps that contain things like coupons. Sandberg notes that local ad dollars still represent a largely untapped opportunity. "When you think about what people are looking for when they look for local information, it is almost always commercial in nature. You're looking for a local product or service most of the time," she said. Google is now letting advertisers target by geographic location, so a New York-area advertiser knows its ad will only show up in front of someone looking for information in New York City. Offerings like this are a good step forward, but the main issue remains--getting tech-averse local advertisers to use Google's self-service AdWords system. "In that area, we think the market is widely under-penetrated," Sandberg said. "It sounds surprising to a lot of us, but even in the United States, arguably the most developed market in the world for ecommerce, less than 50 percent of businesses even have a Web site, or let alone advertisers." ( Read the whole story... ZDNet)