Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Get Your Business Found in Google Local Searches

Getting found in Google local search result is a crucial part of marketing a small business. Small business’ initial marketing goal is to get customers from their hometown. While it is always good to get customers from around the globe, having dominant presence in your hometown is most essential. Local search marketing can undoubtedly be beneficial to online businesses that need customers coming in off the streets.

Following are a few pointers to get your business found in local searches.

Use Local Keywords
You need to think about terms a local searcher would use to find your business. They’ll most likely use the city and state in their search, so you’ll want your site to be optimized for those as well as business-specific keywords.

For example, if you run a pizza parlor in Lakewood, Washington, you’ll want to optimize for phrases like “Pizza Parlor, Lakewood, Washington”, “Pizza Restaurant, Lakewood, WA”, “Pizza, Lakewood WA”, and so forth. If your business is located in a small town, you may also want to optimize for the nearest larger city.

Local OneBox AND Google Maps
These results come about from a single search box (one box) on the Google homepage, presenting you with options without having to search in any different manner than you’re accustomed to. Universal is technically onebox results. Think of it as opportunities to do something different to end up on the same first page of search results.

Google Local (also Google Maps) searches help you find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions. It is an aid to help you find businesses, addresses and places of interest.

Get Links
Links are important in any SEO campaign, but if you want to rank up there with the big players, you need quality ones. You may have to submit your site to business directories that can get you links.

In an interview with Michael Gray, SEOBook author Aaron Wall says,

“Before a local business spends money submitting to any of these business directories they should make sure they submit to the Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ, and get at least a few other links so they have enough link equity to outrank the general directories for their own brand specific searches, and hopefully some more general local ones as well.”

These are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a ton of information out there that can help you on your way to getting your local business found by people in your area. Just go on searching for other resources.

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