Local Search Optimization - What You Should Do and What To Avoid

by Drew Barnes
TurnUp Local

Local Search has truly arrived in the year. We've seen Google re-brand their Local Business Center as Google Places and begin to show search results for Locally-related results for nonspecific phrases. Yelp continues to be an increasingly important search engine for business owners to pay attention to. Facebook is showing signs that they're about to get involved in Local. The number of local based applications and like Foursquare and Gowalla continues to grow.

Even for the Local SEO experts it's hard to keep up with all the developments in local search. We all feel for the small business owners out there who are not only trying to use local search optimization to market their business, but also to run the business too.

Google Places, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local remain the big 3 for search visibility. With the local search space becoming so complex it's even more important to get it right. Improving a businesses ranking in the Google, Bing, and Yahoo's local search space is something that should not taken lightly.The methods listed below will explain what to do and what not to do on your listings.

Local Search Optimization to do list for listings:

1. Claim your listing and make sure the address in the city of search.

2. Associate page/local listing with proper categories.

3. Put product or service keyword in the title of possible

4. Complete your profile as much as possible

5. Give an accurate description of your business and put in keywords in the description

6. Put in photos if possible

7. Put in videos if possible

8. Make sure the area code of the phone number matches the search area

9. Include coupons in your listing

10. Get citations from IYP and other Local directories

11. Ask customers to leave you reviews - even bad ones.a

Do not to this:

1. Have multiple place pages with same phone number.

2. Hide the address on your place page.

3. Have multiple place pages with the same address.

4. Have multiple place pages with same business title.

5. Associate a (800) number as your primary number.

6. Include keywords in place page categories.

7. Get negative ratings

In the next blog post we will discuss what to do on your website to go with these practices.

That's it for now so get out there claim your business and start getting more customers or contact us at www.turnuplocal.com

Article submitted Thursday, October 14, 2010 & read 46 times.

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