Underestimating the Power of Local Search

Optimizing your website for local search is paramount if you want to be found in Google’s search results within a specific geographical area. Once a user searches for your company and adds geographical criteria, the search then becomes “local” and Google’s geographical algorithm – which of course is a secret – will have a dominating effect on where your website will rank within the specific geographical search results. You can improve your chances of getting a higher ranking in local searches by:

• Making sure your specific geographical area is part of your title tag and meta description tag noted on each page of your web site

• Ensuring your address and phone number are on each page of your web site

• Embedding a Google map on your home page
 One key point that most other advertising agencies don’t know about: Local search places a heavy emphasis on links from directory listings – Google+ Local, Yahoo Local, Chamber of Commerce, MapQuest, White Pages, Yelp, or City Search, for example – rather than on links from other websites or blogs.