3 Steps to Rank Better Locally

Are you a business that would like more business from your immediate surrounding area? A local shop, bakery, hairdresser or even a wanting-more-local clients consultant or freelancer? This guide is for you – a beginner’s guide to getting more LOCAL eyeballs on your website.

1 – Use Your Head(er)

Do you have a physical address? A local phone number? These two items are pretty big cues to Google that your website belongs in the local search results for your industry. Put them in the header or footer of your site for best results (ends up on every page).  And NO you can’t put this in an image – make sure it’s text that Google can crawl.

Note: Be INCREDIBLY consistent. With your name, your address, and phone number – across your site and across all listings on the web. Use exactly the same wording, punctuation, etc. for your business name and your address (i.e., abbreviate St. or spell it out – but pick ONE and stick to it. Exact match on address is how Google will know your business is relevant in local search.

2 – Get Your Fans to Shout It From the Rooftops

Getting props on review sites like Yelp not only gives you search ranking points, but those reviews help your 3rd-party-endorsement factor. Look to Yelp, Bing Local, Citysearch and other local reviews to claim your listing. These sites are great because they display the exact information that matters in local search optimization – your business name and address.

Invite your best customers to review you on the sites – having high star ratings show up next to your listing in search results will also increase your click-through-rate. Looking for advice on how to get the most out of these profiles? Check out John Jantsch’s post for help.

Looking for one to start with? Check out Google Places.

3 – Get Listed Online – Locally

Check out other sites that might list your business along with its address. Think directories – both hyper-local ones and national sites. Sites like your local business journal often have free listings. Superpages is another free one.

Try googling “your city” + “business directory” for other ideas. Here’s another list from Whole SEO that might help.

Remember to be INCREDIBLY consistent with the business name and address information you provide on your site and to each of these sites. Consistency is key to get the most out of your search optimization efforts.

Alternatively (or additionally)…you could go the local paid search route and get a Google Adwords campaign and limit it to your specific city.

What sites have you listed your physical business address with? Did you find this post helpful? Let me know in the comments!

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} via photo pin cc

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