Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Using Local SEO for Targeted Traffic

By Pamelia Enslinger


If you own a local business with a website, you really want people to be able to find you through the search engines. Given below are a few local SEO tips that will help you on your way to higher rankings.

One of the simplest things you can do to make the most out of local searches is to focus on getting listed with the big boys of the industry. Of course this means Google Maps and Yahoo! Local. These two happen to be the most influential in this area, which is why you should try to get listed with them first, and then get on with the other things. The reason is that if you list with these sites, the search engines and human searchers will always know where to find you and your job will be simple.

It's a good idea to take advantage of services such as Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo! Local, and claiming your profile is your first step on these sites. When you get into these sites, you'll notice that there is an option to claim your profile by going through a few verification steps that includes a simple phone call to know if your address is yours and verify it.

Not only that, but you can get approved quickly, unlike Google which takes forever. Whatever you do, just make sure you don't ignore this simple tip because it will take you a long way in your goal to reach out to the local audience. Most of the local websites that you target are completely okay with you asking your customers to leave a review for you, except for the site Yelp. Since this is an allowable practice and your local SEO can benefit from it why not start doing it? Be sure to mention these things in your e-mail signatures, on your invoices, your contact forms and any place else you can. You can say something as simple as "Hi it would be great if you can take out time to review our business on XYZ Local." Obviously you cannot control these reviews' content but, whether they are good or bad, the reviews can add credibility and reliability to your company's profile (which is nice for the new customers). Even if you are trying other things as well, make sure to integrate this tip because doing so can help your business exponentially.

Another tip is to ensure that your address is typed on every page on your website. This is one simple factor that can play a major role in convincing the search engines to rank you better. What should you put on there? Every page your site has should include your business's address, phone number as well as zip code. This tells the search engines that you're focused on local searches.

In summary, what we've seen above are simple local SEO tips that you can apply to your current business and get more traffic..




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