Local search growing and may present opportunity for pharma

Local search growing and may present opportunity for pharma

Local search may become increasingly important to pharma marketers, according to panelists at CBI's e-marketing conference this week. They said local search and geographical targeting could be used by pharma for clinical trials recruitment or reaching doctors in areas that don't have many sales reps. The local search trend seems to be catching on among advertisers, according to a new study from media strategy firm Borrell Associates. It predicts that the market for local paid search will approach $1 billion in 2006 and $1.7 billion in 2007. By 2010, Borrell predicts it will reach $4 billion and will make up 47% of local online advertising, reports MediaPost. The report also found that local advertisers were buying 36% of all text ads on Yahoo! and Google.