In this day and age local search engine optimization has become even more important as more people turn to the web to search for products and services in their local area. A smaller sized business in these modern times can see huge benefits from having a strong presence in their local search results, although Seo for local searches can differ greatly in comparison to a global search. The greatest challenge is working out what challenges to consider in a local Seo campaign. It is also important to focus on the keywords and search phrases that are going to bring you the targeted traffic you are looking for. Even more important is what is there for them to do once they are on your site. Without the proper “Calls to Action” your site will not get the results that you are after. More on that in a future post, for now lets talk about what to pay attention when looking to rank well locally. When Google and other search engines analyze this data they look at the total number of local search results and compare it to the amount of user queries on that particular search term. Here are a few factors for you to consider:

• The Size of the area defined by the keyword search
• Google’s level of trust that there is a business at the listed web address doing what it says
• How Google defines the region’s center, either by keyword or map parameters

It is important to point out that you need to take into account how your own local users and potential customers define their locality and use this for your targeted keywords. Whether by neighbourhood or by geographical landmarks such as beaches, lakes, mountains, etc. Some tips for localized Seo for small businesses; firstly, be sure that you provide unique, quality content that is relevant to each search term that you target; Secondly, optimize your title tags and url slugs to reflect the targeted search term for that particular page; Thirdly, make sure to look for as many link building opportunities in your own local market as possible; Forth, continue to update your site on a regular basis(at least every 3 days) with fresh, new and never-seen-before content that remains relevant to your company and services; Fifth, encourage your current clients or customers to leave reviews online, either through Google(you can now leave comments or reviews next to a search result), Google Maps listing or other consumer websites. Remember – the more online content(providing that it is quality content) that is relevant to your business, the better. And finally, pay close attention that your business gets listed in the proper categories when adding yourself to Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and MSN Maps(most local businesses forget about the last two giving you an upper hand by listing your company with them as over 35% of internet users use them).

After some time you will realize that optimizing a websites Seo performance for local searches is very similar to standard Seo practice, just more niche market related. Often local search results are given higher precedence – but your site may not be ranking on those variables at all. Doing well in local search engine results pages means much more than simply having a listing in Google maps. Local search Seo is a competitive and increasingly critical space of the web that local businesses need to take very seriously. After all, in a couple of years your competitors could be dominating your local web making it harder and harder for you to catch up to them! Don’t put yourself in this predicament, go ahead and get busy with YOUR local search strategy before someone else does.

What have you experienced with your local search market when trying to top the search results? Are there any good Seo techniques that I forgot to mention in this post?

Related Posts

• January 2, 2010 -- Optimize ur Twitter Profile (28)
• September 17, 2009 -- Domain Keyword Recognition in 301 Redirects (19)

blog comments powered by Disqus