Local SEO is about being found online in your geographical location.
Local Search and the internet are quickly replacing the Yellow Pages industry. In fact experts recommend that businesses start spending about 50% of their Yellow Page budget in online advertising. Let’s say you own a landscaping business in Jacksonville, Fl. Now lets do a search for “landscaping Jacksonville Florida” in Google. The following screenshot is what you see.
This probably looks familiar to you if you have ever searched on Google for a local business. What’s important is to make sure your business is represented here. This is easy enough to do but time consuming. To make sure you reserve this valuable piece of online real estate you will need to go to Google Places and take ownership of your business or input a new business. It’s important to add key content such as pictures and services offered to give Google enough information about your business and filling out the categories to be listed under. Reviews can be a good way to standout among your competitors when people search a category so you will want to ask for reviews from your clients. Preferably ones that will leave a good review.
This is a good starting point however, there are many more places to make sure you are listed and listed correctly. Most search engines have their own version of local search such as Yahoo Local and Bing Business Portal. There are other sites that are important as well such as Yelp.com, LocalEzE, citysearch, merchantcircle, and a shameless plug for my friends at CityCliq.com located in Jacksonville, FL. Here is a graphic explaining the relationship of information and how it is shared from all of these sources.
Infographic Provided by Getlisted.org. Click to learn more
Why are all these sites important to Local SEO?
- Citations – The more information listings that Google sees about your business with the same information across multiple sites validates your business and helps lift your business in the Places rankings. It is common place for “general listings” to be out of date or have misinformation about Name, address, and phone. If Google sees different information across multiple sites your Places ranking might take a hit. Just as links are important to websites for PageRank these citations are validation links for your information. The more you have the better you rank.
- Reviews - The more reveiws you receive from your customers the more relevant and “fresh” your Places listing will appear to Google. Google aggregates reviews from sites such as Yelp.com, Amazon.com, Citycliq.com, Angieslist.com and many more. So making sure you are setup with these websites is important for validation purposes as well. The side benefit is some of these listings allow you to link to your website which helps to generate organic traffic to your home page.
- Pictures – It’s unclear at this time that this plays any part in local search ranking other than it a great way to engage your users. Lets face it being found is the first step. Having a well setup local site that helps visitors engage with your business can compel them to contact you. Restaurants can put pictures of their dining room or favorite dish. Landscapers can take pictures of the work they have done. Having pictures adds a personal touch to your listing that can set you apart from your competitors. Often times this can result in your business getting the call instead of your competitors.
- Geo Tagging - Setting up Geo Meta Tags on your website is also important for people to find your business. Setting up the Latitude and Longitude of your business location will help Search Engines know exactly how to pinpoint your business on the map. Geo tags also play a big role in mobile maps as well as GPS finders which provide driving directions to your establishment.
Local Search Engine Optimization is the new “Yellow Pages”.
People that continue to spend increasing amounts of money on their Yellow Pages add which has a declining distribution rate are spending more money than they need to. Most of these websites I have mentioned are free. Think about what you have paid or would pay for a color ad in the Local Yellow Pages. Taking the time or paying someone to setup your Local Search Engine Optimization Campaign is the best bang for your buck you can spend online. If you would like my help leveraging Local SEO to leap over you competitions then fill out our contact form or call and I will meet with you in person. In most cases I will save you money by helping you reduce your Yellow Page cost.
