There are many parts to a search engine results page. If you own a business, one of the first things you should do is create a local search engine listing.

Local Search – What is it?

If you go to any of the major search engines, Google, Yahoo, Bing, or Ask.com, and type in a geographic specific search (i.e. contractors Geneva, IL) you will see the sponsored links (pay per click) at the top and right hand side, the map with several listings next to it underneath the pay per click, and then the organic or free listings below. The local search listings are the listings next to the map.

Most business owners I talk to think that the map and the organic listings are the same. They don’t realize that they have much more control over the local search and can usually show up in those listings much faster than the organic listings. In the time line of search engine marketing, I put local search as a mid-term strategy, pay per click as short term strategy, and organic as a long term strategy.

How do I get a listing?

Each search engine has its own local business center. Simply go to each one and create a business listing. You will need to open an account with each search engine, so you can log back in from time to time to update your listing.

How do I get my Listing to the top?

I put local search as a mid-term search engine marketing strategy because the results are not immediate. However, if you follow some simple steps, your listing can quickly climb in the rankings and reach the first page.

1. Have a complete listing. During the set up process you will be asked to fill out quite a bit of information about your business. Most of the fields are optional. Listings that provide more information rank better. Include a business description, email address, business hours, promotions, upload photos, and include a link to your website.
2. Choose your categories wisely. The categories that you pick to describe your services are the tags the search engines will use to show your listing. With the exception of Yahoo, as of this writing you can type in custom categories for your business. Do some keyword research. Find the keywords that are getting the most searches with the least amount of competition and list those as your categories.
3. Create listings in as many free yellow page directories as you can. Yellow page directories are crawled frequently by the search engines. The search engines will look at the information in these directories and compare that to the information in your local search listing. The more consistent your listings are, the more credibility they will be assigned. Credibility helps your listing rank higher. Always remember that the search engines primary goal is to serve its users the most relevant search results. The more confident the search engines are that your listing is accurate, the more comfortable they will be showing your listing on the first page.

Have you had good results with local search? Let us know by posting a comment below.