SEO Ranking Factors for Local Search
I came across an interesting article in one of the SEO information sites I monitor (search engine land) and I wanted to put the info on the blog. This is of direct interest to local businesses (who make up a large portion of our customers) and provides some good tips as to what they need to do to rank well in the search engines for local searches.
One of the great strengths of the World Wide Web — which led in my opinion to its rapid and overwhelming adoption planet-wide — is that fact that it’s global in nature. If one publishes a Web page anyone on the planet with Internet access and a browser can see it.
Furthermore, the geographic location of the person publishing the information is obscured by Internet technologies. In most cases one can only be backtracked to the physical location of the server on which their published pages resides.
For example, if I live in Sydney, Australia, but the Web server on which I publish my pages is located in London, as far as the Internet is concerned my “location” is London, England.
This is why it is inherently difficult for search engines to identify a Web site as being located in one specific geographic area
Search Engine Optimization to The Rescue
Businesses operating a Web site for promotional purposes whose target audience is limited to people living in proximity to their location must use SEO techniques to “localize” their Web site. The article published by search engine land consulted 27 marketers who specialize in local search.
From this they complied a list of the top five factors that provide the most significant, positive effect on local rankings. These are:
- Having your Google/Yahoo local business listing with the address in the city being searched
- Having citations from major data providers, such as infoUSA, Localeze, and Internet yellow pages providers
- Associating your local business listing in the proper categories
- Having a claimed, verified local business listing with Google/Yahoo
- Having your product/service keywords (i.e., “hair salon,” “attorney”) in the title of your local business listing
You can read the whole article here.
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