Image of the U. S. broadband map

Many people assume that in the richest nation in the world, that high speed broadband is everywhere. In fact, the white areas on the map (pictured) is where no high speed Internet is available.

And if this isn’t bad enough, the U. S. is number 28 in the world in the speed of broadband connections with countries like South Korea, Japan, Sweden and The Netherlands leading the way. Fiber optic to home connections are standard in Japan and South Korea.

In the U. S. rural areas and remote locations suffer the most when it comes to lack of high speed connections. But, if we truly did have nationwide universal broadband, then doctors could make virtual home calls, students everywhere could go online for distance learning and emergency workers could exchange real-time video.

And astounding one-third of the adults in the U. S. do not use the Internet, which is mostly the older generation and mostly because they do not own a computer. Low income households only play a significant role here as well.

But the good news is that the U. S. Department of Commerce has decided to give grants to four states including California, Indiana, North Carolina and Vermont to start mapping exactly where broadband is needed. All states have applied for grant money and others should be receiving government money soon.

Of special note is that local online advertising, according to JupiterResearch will grow at 13-percent per year over the next 5 years, making it the fastest sector of advertising growth. For SEO companies, this will mean that part of the services they offer will need to be geared towards the local market.

Also, local search opens up a new area for search engine optimization as more Mom and Pop shops and other small businesses hit the Internet. While an impending recession may have an impact on the economy, it may not affect all areas of the economy equally and local search is positioned well in the event of an overall market downturn.