The ground
Bars work in Billings
Billings is the largest city in Montana and the trade centre for a wide stretch of the state, so a bar here draws from more than its own neighbourhood. Demand splits between downtown drinkers, west end and Heights residents who stay close to home, and visitors in town for events at MetraPark or the Billings Chamber gatherings. The searches are local and they are specific: people look for a bar near their hotel, a place open late on a Saturday, a spot with a patio in July, or somewhere to watch a game. Owner operators run most of the bars in the city, and the ones who show up in search for those specific searches take the call. Paid search in this trade is worth real money in Billings because a bar's margin lives on weekend covers, and the businesses bidding on those terms are the ones treating search as a channel rather than an afterthought.
