Local Search refers to the search engine products, directories and other tools servicing search queries that relate to locations, such as 'internet marketing Adelaide,' instead of simply 'internet marketing.
Products such as Google's Places and Maps provide significant benefits to consumers looking for businesses in their local area. Therefore it is important to get your business where the people are already looking for you... and your competitors.
Here are some tips to rank better in local searches:
- Ensure your address, phone number and any other contact details are easily found on your website. It's probably a good practice to have them on every page.
- Claim your Place Page/Listing in Google Places. Fill out the page with as much information as possible including photos and video.
- Associate your Place Page with the proper categories.
- Make sure your website content is relevant to the keywords you are trying to target.
- Submit your website to local business directories.
- Keep your website and place page content current and fresh and try and get both mentioned and linked to in blogs and news articles.
While researching for this article I also came across an interesting article on Search Engine Land about Foursquare. Foursquare is a social media game that is played on mobile devices and requires users to interact with the real world using the Geo location hardware in their devices. Could this be the future of local search?
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