I recently did a search for the term “Harrisburg Web Design” on Google. Here were the top results – all paid advertising:
Not a one of them in the Harrisburg area. At least Gladwyne is in Montgomery county. But the rest are not here.
You don’t get to the real search results until after the first scroll. After the first scroll, you will find legitimate Harrisburg-based websites.
This is actually an issue you see in many business sectors, the ability to buy your way into a geographical term search on Google. It has been going on for a long long time. The more competition for a type of business keyword, the more likely you see the geographical term purchasing. Web design is competitive, because our marketplace is on the web. But your marketplace may not be, which, depending on if you can service the area, could be advantageous.