Archive for yahoo local search
Enhance Your Website for Local Search Success
Posted by: | CommentsWhile you don’t need a website to have a local search listing it sure helps. Nothing fancy mind you, a short WordPress blog or a couple page “brochure” site. Potential customers expect it now and the cost of entry and maintenance is so low it’s absurd to say no. Your web site will also help your local business listing ranking. Not by a lot, but as always when it comes to optimization on the web every little bit helps. According to David Mihm, an expert on local search in Portland OR about 15% of the success of a local search listing can be credited to your own website. So while you can get ranked well without a site that extra 15% will be very helpful. If your niche is fairly competitive then you’ll definitely want to consider the tweaks to your site (or having one).
Some areas to consider improving on your site listed below. You will notice right off the bat the nearly common sense nature of these suggestions. Use the product or service and city name you want to rank for frequently. As Homer Simpson might say, Doh!
As an added bonus the work you do on your website to help strengthen your local search listing will help your site rank well in organic search. In fact, in smaller niches it is quite possible to rank at the top of local search as well as in organic search. A double bonus to be sure.
- Full Address and Phone Number on a Contact Page- Every site should have a contact page. On the contact page be sure your contact information matches your local business listing.
- Inclusion of City and State in Title Tags- The meta title tags on a web page still remain an important element of on page optimization factors for the page. Having your city and state name match that of what you want to rank well for in local search can help. If you want to rank for “chicago CPA” then have Chicago in your title tags. I use these city and state contact tags on all of my pages, at the minimum have them on your contact page.
- Product Service Keywords in Titles- That same “Chicago CPA” ought to have the term CPA in his titles (and other meta tags such as description and keyword) to ensure strengthening his own site’s SEO value.
- Location Keywords in URL- If you are are creating a new domain name (URL) for a business then be sure to utilize your product or service and your location. A domain such as www.chicagocpa.com is very helpful in both site SEO and your local search listing. If you already have a domain name then add folder names with your information. As an example www.hastingsaccounting.com could have a contact page call www.hastingsaccounting.com/contactchicagocpa.html.
This is one of five articles covering the key factors in creating an effective local business listing for Google, Yahoo and Bing. Stay tuned for all of them.
Yahoo! Updates UI on Local Search Results
Posted by: | CommentsYahoo! has made some UI changes to their local search results. The update is centralized around the idea of reducing clicks.
When you’re viewing a result, the links to Yahoo! Shortcut information (reviews, photos, etc.) now load the content directly on the page you’re viewing.
Additionally, when you do a category local search on Yahoo!’s main search, a local section will pop up, enabling the Yahoo! Shortcut content to be accessed in the results page.
Raleigh must be in some kind of vortex, though, because I couldn’t get this feature to work for my hometown. But I can get it to work for other cities of varying populations.
What do you think of Yahoo!’s local search updates? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 31, 2009 1:00 AM
Introduction to Local Search Engine Listings
Posted by: | CommentsRanking well within the search engines can mean the difference of having a extremely fast growing business and one that is struggling to stay a float. Just look at this following chart that I found on SEOSearcher.com.
If the first two links of the page get about 70% of the clicks what would having a first page listing at the top of page for your main GEO targeted keyword phrases mean to your business?
How to get to Page 1 Fast!
One of the fastest ways to get to Page 1 at the top of the page in the major search engines is by taking advantage of Local Search Listings. The search engines offer free local listings to any small business (regardless of whether you have a website or not). With very little SEO efforts your business can quickly rank for your major GEO keyword phrase on the 1st Page of the major search engines.
Now with blended search or sometimes referred to as ‘universal search’, where the local listings are appearing on the first search engine results page (SERP) for even broad term keywords this has become a standard SEO strategy.
However, do not be fooled by some companies who want to charge you a monthly on-gong fee to submit you to these FREE local listings. It’s totally not necessary to pay that kind of dough for that service when you can do it yourself in about 10 minutes.
Below are a series of videos that will teach you everything you need to know about submitting to these local directories.
Google Local Business Center
Be sure to check to see if your business is already listed with Google Local Business Center before registering a new one. This will prevent you from having a double listing. Now a ton of business’s will discover that there is a listing in Google’s LBC for them already (due to the fact that Google does pull data from some of the phone companies).
It is very important that you claim your listing because if you don’t it says “is this you..? claim your listing” and when it says that, it promotes an element of miss-trust. Once you claim your listing that goes away. Another reason to claim your listing is then you have control over the information being displayed which can be very powerful in gaining better rankings and instrumental in turning internet surfers into offline buyers.
8 Additional Google Local Listing Tips:
- Address: Make sure your address listed is closest to the core of the city you want your listing to show. If you are a contractor or work out of your home and your home address is not in that city then you may want to get a P.O. Box that has address and ZIP/Postal Code that correlates to the city core, otherwise you may find your listing not ranking as well as you’d like. NOTE: Make sure your contact address is consistent across all the web. Don’t have different sources showing different address for your business.
- Category: Make sure you choose the most relevant category for you business in the ‘choose category’ section. Getting this wrong can cause your local listing not show for the GEO keyword terms you would like.
- Title/Business Name: Make sure your major keyword product/service is in the title (which is the business name section) however, I heed a WARNING: Do Not go too far with this because you don’t want to look like a spammer. Make it look nature and make it make sense for humans who are ultimately your true audience.
- Business Description: Make sure you have your product and/or service keywords listed in your business description. Now this is not as important as the Title, but it too is important. It is the equivalent of a website’s “meta description”.
- Reviews: Get reviews! Right now it doesn’t seem to matter whether the reviews are positive or negative, just having more reviews can get your local listings to rank better. Encourage your clients/customers to writer reviews. Offer something in return for reviews.
- Content/Media: Add rich media to your local listings. Add photos & video, etc. I not sure if it improves rankings in the local listings, but it can only help turn online browsers to offline buyers.
- Coupons: Use them. This can be what differentiates your business from other competition found in the local listings. Not offering a Google coupon is risking losing business to those businesses that are. It also gives you a great way to track your sales generated from your local listing on Google. NOTE: If you have coupons listed on other local listings make sure you make them different so you can track properly.
- Double Listings: Don’t do it and make sure you only have one. Currently spammers have not be banned from this, but it will hopefully happen one day soon and when it does you don’t want to lose your listing over something so ridiculous.
Yahoo Local Listings
MSN Local Listing
SEO & Additional Local Listing Tips
Did You Enjoy This Free Local Search Course?
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http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/locallistings/
Local Search SEO versus Online Visability for Small Businesses
Posted by: | CommentsAs more people head to the internet to find information on businesses in their area, local companies need to use SEO and social media to improve their local search results.
Writing the Small is Beautiful column for Search Engine Land, Hanan Lifshitz says small businesses need to do their best to make sure they are part of the first page of results when a consumer searches for a business in their area.
Lifshitz says that making sure a business pops up within the list of the top businesses in their class and area is an accomplishment small businesses should endeavor for.
“Being ‘among’ the 10-pack is often considered a great achievement, not to mention having your website or profile page appear in the first search results page (i.e. along 9 other links),” he writes. “In other words, in every category within a given market, there are usually a handful of winners who enjoy a good deal of online visibility.”
Earlier this year, changes from Google actually helped local businesses in search results without users needing to type in their location. In April, Google made local searches the default setting for results, which expert Mike Blumenthal said would likely be of particular benefit to small businesses.
According to Rich Brooks President of Flyte New Media, a company that specializes in search and social media marketing, “For small businesses looking to increase their online visibility, combining search engine optimization (SEO) with social media marketing can create a powerful mix that will help grow your business.”
Most business owners realize that SEO is a required tool for marketing a company; companies that rank well at the search engines have a competitive advantage to those that don’t. Although social media is newer, its explosive growth shows that it’s ripe with opportunity for those businesses willing to embrace its chaotic nature.
If you coordinate your search and social media campaigns you’ll get more bang for your buck out of both of them. How? Read on.
How SEO Can Improve Your Social Media Campaigns
According to Brooks, “A cornerstone of SEO is keyword analysis. Through this powerful marketing research tool, you’ll uncover what your prospects are actually searching for. Once you discover these phrases you’ll be in a better position to improve your social media campaigns.”
You can use these keywords in your LinkedIn profile, your tweets, and in the titles and descriptions of your YouTube videos and your Flickr photos, just to name a few examples.
Using tools like Google Insights you’ll be able to track trending topics, which provide great fodder for your social media activities and are great for status updates.
How Social Media Can Improve Your Search Engine Visibility
You may have noticed that videos from YouTube and other sites are appearing on the first page of Google’s search results. Those could be your videos.
“If you’ve got a company blog (and shame on you if you don’t), that’s showing up in the search results, too. Your (and your employees’) LinkedIn profiles, your company’s Facebook Fan Page, even your tweets can show up, pushing your competition off the first page in Google. You can also use social media publishing platforms like Hubpages, Squidoo or a wiki to target keyword phrases without jeopardizing your Web site’s current ranking,” says Brooks.
Also, your company blog and social publishing platforms that link to your Web site can pass it link juice, further pushing it up the search engine rankings.
Search engine visibility is quickly becoming an archaic term. “Online visibility” is what entrepreneurs should strive for to build their business on the Web. Whether your visitors come from Google or Digg, Yahoo or StumbleUpon doesn’t matter.
“Online visibility is not just about being listed in many places,” says Lifshitz. ”What is important is how many consumers see the business when searching online, or put slightly differently, how much traffic the different sites and directories have. However, general traffic figures are not enough. For SMBs, it is important to know which sites and directories are more suited for their prospective customers.”
In Conclusion
Richard Brooks concludes: “Search and social media are essential components of a Web marketing campaign for small business; mix in email marketing, a Web site that converts visitors into customers and analytics to measure your success and you’ve got an unbeatable marketing strategy that will help your business grow and thrive.”
http://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/ADMAX.MERCHANT.MEDIA.949-443-0096/2009/7/Local-Search-SEO-versus-Online-Visability-for-Small-Businesses/289288
Explode Your Brand With Local Search Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsLocal Search today is more than adding a Free Business Listing in local.Google.com. But don’t “poo-poo” it, as that can help you rank well in Google Maps and Google Searches. And, you have the option of adding a Google Coupon that appears alongside your Business Listing in Google Maps as well as YouTube video and images.
But, if you have only one site ranking on Google for your business, or personal brand it’s worth spending some time exploring and implementing a broader Local Search Marketing strategy.
Google is pushing Local Search. It knows where you live when you search and it is geo-targeting content.
So, take advantage of your internet presence on Google and apply a Local Search Marketing strategy.
http://www.shlady.com/2009/07/11/explode-your-brand-with-local-search-marketing.html
Whether you use a Local Search Marketing Expert or dive in by yourself, you can build upon a Business Listing. You can use Free tools to expand your Brand and generate Leads more effectively and inexpensively than Yellow Pages or online Directories.
Answering Customers’ Questions
Of course, Local Search does not take the place of a website, but by integrating it with your site a prospective customer can have their primary questions answered:
- Is your business trustworthy?
- Are your prices affordable?
- Is your business really an “authority” in the market?
- Do others recommend your business too?
A results-oriented Local Search Marketing campaign will solve the single biggest challenge for any business, especially in today’s economy:
- Bringing in NEW customers!
Successful Local Search Marketing does not require a Ph.d. But it does require time and commitment as it is a multi-faceted methodology and is ongoing. So it requires the assistance of an outside Local Search Marketing Expert; a new emerging expertise!
How Do I Begin?
Well, to start we must accept the reality that a website is far more valuable than offline advertising or a static presentation of your business.
In fact, the majority of small businesses in the U.S. still do not have their own website and domain, but Google, Yahoo and MSN now are giving them the best reason for doing so.
Assuming a website is in place, the 1st step, as always, is Keyword Research.
Keyword Research is equivalent to Market Research, only it’s in real time.
We can now enhance that with keyword research that is specific to “local”, meaning taking the keyword(s) that best describe the market and business you are in and adding a geo-specific word to the end of it e.g.” house painting San Diego.”
The best keyword research tool is the Google Keyword Tool, of course. And, with the addition of the Google Wonder Wheel inside of the Google search ranking page, you have a very in depth view on how people search in your market as well as the competition through Sponsored Links and Organic listings.
Anytime you add specific regional keywords to your web content, you make it much easier to rank higher in the search engines for your geography. “House Painting San Diego” gives a better Google rank than just “house painting” for anyone searching in or near San Diego.
Remember, Google is all about providing searchers with the best user experience possible and that is done through highly targeted, relevant content. If Google can deliver a San Diego resident searching for house painting local, relevant content, it will value that more highly because it is more accurate to the search and searcher.
So, start your Local Search Marketing campaign today. It is an excellent adjunct to your website promotion.
