Friday, February 5, 2010

Improve Your Local Search

If you have brick and mortar locations, or operate a local business, its important that your customers can find you - in the right place, at the right time. And as more and more people turn to mobile phones, local search engine optimization is especially important. Just take a look at the information below, published from WiredWebMarketing.com:

A very large percentage of all searches now have a local intent, so much so, Google is displaying a (7-Box) Google Maps listing in the search engine results on many searched broad keyword terms. Look at some these local search statistics:

  • 82% of local searchers follow up via a in-store visit, phone call, or purchase (TMP / comScore)
  • 73% of online activity is related to local content (Google)
  • 54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search for phone books (comScore)
  • 35% of all searches are local (DM News)
  • 32% of people with smart phones conduct local search (Google)
If you're ready to improve your local search engine optimization strategy, The Professional SEO's Blueprint to Local Search Optimization by Planet Ocean is a great place to start. At only $49for SearchEngineNews.com members, it's a steal. The ebook features updated best practices for local search strategies, and provides a step-by-step guide on how to setup and claim your local listings fast, as well as:
  • How to avoid getting hit by Google's infamous penalty stick.
  • How to deal with bad reviews...or no reviews.
  • What to do when things go wrong.
  • And much, much more!