Thursday, May 21, 2009

Ranking in Google Local Search

Dominating Google’s Local Search
First off, for those who don’t know what Local Search is lets explain it. Local Search allows users to find products or services in their defined geographical area. You’ve probably seen in on Google before if you’ve searched for anything in your town, for example “Salt Lake City Dog Walkers” shows a map of about 10 true local listings. It also has the normal advertising listings and organic search below the local search.
First thing to start ranking on Local Search make sure all of your business data is correct. Visit: https://www.google.com/local/add/ to add or edit your business listing.
After that here are my suggestions for your profile:
• Make sure to use your business name in the name section, this is what people see but I have yet to see any major change in keyword loading the company name.
• Load your description with your keywords
• Add photos like your logo, business building, and products, anything you can. The more content you have the more Google seems to like this.
• Have your customers write real reviews of your product. You can then take those reviews and copy them to your website or whatever you may need those for.
• Create a couple coupons. They probably won’t ever be used but Google seems to like them.
I added my business to local search a few months ago and I was getting a lot of business from it. The main keywords for Web Design are pretty tough to crack. But through local search I’m able to “out rank” these long time businesses and web directories. At first I was ranking really well and then suddenly I disappeared off the listings and my business also disappeared--which is a good point to not rely on one source of traffic!
I went in and added a bunch of examples of websites we’ve done, along with adding a few coupons and having a couple reviews written for the company. As of now we are ranking again but now in the top 1-3 spots for local listings.
I’ll keep you updated on what I do to keep my ranking in local search.

2 comments:

  1. There is a lot more you can do with Local SEO than merely submitting to Google Maps (aka Google Local Business Center). I like that you've encouraged business owners to get reviews and work toward profile completeness. I'm not sure if I'd agree about keyword stuffing the business description.

    Two of the main factors that help push ranking for local business profiles are the categories selected (and in what sequence) and what we call Web References (other websites mentioning and/or linking to the business's target website).

    This has two benefits: better overall Internet visibility (traffic and SEO links) and increase in ranking from improved credibility.

    There are more resources available on our site LocalSplash.com and some videos we started working on at LocalSplash.tv.

    Thanks for sharing the great tips!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice content, I am going to want a bit of time to think over the points!!
    Website Design Company India

    ReplyDelete