If your business takes place online only, then you don’t need Local Search. For everyone else, it’s a must. Even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar store, or you don’t see clients at your location, people who are looking for your service are learning to search by location. Local Search helps your business to come up when a geographic location is entered with other search terms.
Search, for example, on “gastroenterologist Philadelphia” on Google. You will see a small map of the area, small red dots and larger labeled red balloons designating the locations of the ranking websites. Click on the map to enlarge it, then negotiate around the map to see other local results. Use the wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out. Or go to your location (eg., 08035) on Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/), and enter keywords (eg., gastroenterologist) for the type of business you are looking for.
Local Search isn’t new, and it is evolving, particularly as mobile devices become more sophisticated. There are many flavors of Local Search, including Superpages.com and Citysearch, where you will need to pay for a listing. Others, like Google and Yahoo!, are currently free.
Google:
Google is constantly changing their applications. It’s possible that you will see a different modality when you try to add your business to their local search index. At the time of this writing, it’s called Google Places.
1. You will need a Google Account. If you don’t have one, you can get one at
https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?continue=http://www.google.com/&hl=en
2. Once you have a Google Account, sign in. Then go to their Places page – http://www.google.com/places/. Now click on Google Places, on the left near the bottom. (You may need to enter your password again.)
3. Click the Get Started button and follow the prompts.
4. Make your listing as complete as possible.
5. Be sure to follow Google’s guidelines! They will suspend your account if you don’t.
You can get other local search listings as well. Not all are free, but not only can they channel more focused traffic to your website, they also provide additional inbound links. And we all know how important it is to continue to accumulate those links!
