Local search optimization puts a business on the map … literally. As a small business that caters to a local community a #1 ranking on the search engines is not only very difficult man times it is almost pointless unless locals are finding you. As searches increase and the search engines place more emphasis on the local search, the opportunity and ease of rankings increases. ‘s local search and personalized have leveled out the playing field per se. As a small local business the competition online is centralized to your area but yet in certain industries is steep. Achieving a higher ranking locally has intensified as more companies are online and optimizing locally. What sets a business apart is many times so minor changes and tweeks that are outlined below:
5 Ways to Improve Local Search Rankings
1. Search Engine Local Business Centers. These are great tools to optimize your site with specific location keywords. For example with , you create your business profile with the name, address, phone, hours, etc but the main value here is the categories. The first category they somewhat designate but the next 4, you can type in a custom category. Ex: carpet & upholstery cleaner – this is a common industry in each city. To gain a higher ranking, create custom categories that are localized: X City/township carpet cleaner, X City/Township grout cleaner, X City Upholestry cleaner, X City/Township carpet stain remover. Identify terms that are searched by consumers and incorporate them into your categories. Be sure to include a listing on as well as Bing Local Listing Center (except those on Chrome, it does not support this)
2. On page. Search engines love new content so any event that you wish to promote locally or a cause, etc. For static information, it is advantageous to have your address on each page (generally footer is best but for some sites this is not attainable so the solution is to place at the very bottom of the page), the location contained within the content naturally and not repeated over and over. Good rule: read the content out loud. If you hear the city name too many times or hesitate before saying it again, then it is repeated too many times.
3. Socialize. Be aware of what is being said about you online, especially if your target market is there. If you see that people are “checking-in” from their Foursquare, monitor local trends in your city, etc. These do not have that big of an impact on local search at first thought however if it is a topic that is trending people will search for it on Google to see what the fuss is all about. Ease of finding =ease of click.
4. Local Directories. This has been covered before and at times cannot be stressed enough. A FREE listing in the local directory with the proper keywords in the business description will increase your ranking. Be smart here as too many listings pushes your domain page down in rankings. Do your homework and see which competitors are there, what categories they have selected and see where you can differentiate based upon search terms. Categories are great so long as they contain the terms people are using to find you/industry.
5. Video. Video optimization is a bit more involved but the uncrowded optimization that the search engines love to put first! Creating the video and prominently featuring it on your site is the first two steps. The last step is to optimize for search engines and submit it. As best explained by Steve Strauss (read full article):
“First, you must optimize the video for search engines. That means key words and phrases must be used in the file name, in the captions, etc. Second, once posted on your site, you must then submit the video itself using XML tools to Google and the other search engines.
I know that last part may sound a little intimidating, but it need not be. There are some great online services that will submit the videos for you. For example, one I like a lot is Fliqz.com. Fliqz will, easily and affordably, index your pages and video, and properly submit them to the various search engines.”
These 5 steps are pretty simple (except for #5 as this is requires first a video and then the optimization of same) but do require some research into search terms. An industry standard term may not be the consumer term. Knowing and optimizing for search terms is what will help improve your local rankings.
What have you done locally to improve your rankings?
photo credit: DannySullivan