If you’re using Foursquare to search for local offers and deals, you may soon find a lot more of them — especially if you live outside of major cities.

Foursquare announced yesterday that it’s going to expand the reach of deals/offers in rural areas:

The current location range for offers “nearby” is approximately 200 yards, but will, in the future, be variable based on the user’s location. In more densely populated areas, 200 yards will provide adequate variability. In areas outside of cities, we’re going to increase that range to provide better results for users in less densely populated areas.

As a Foursquare user who lives in a smaller town but has used the service both locally and in bigger cities, this is a welcome change. Foursquare is a totally different experience in less populated areas — dare I say, it’s almost useless from a commerce perspective because adoption is so far behind the bigger metro areas. This change will be good for the (few) small-town businesses and consumers who are already using Foursquare.

Foursquare didn’t say exactly when the expanded range will take effect, nor what the wider range will be.

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Foursquare | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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