These tips will help you rank well for local search results in the global search databases, such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
With local SEO you do all the same stuff you would do with global SEO, like:
* Do keyword research
* Ensure your site is crawl-able
*Ensure each page has useful unique content
*Submit to a few decent general directories
*Build other related links
Listing in local directories and advertising on local portals can be a cheap marketing spend that provides a solid ROI. It will take a bit of research to analyze the value, but if pages are ranking well in relevant search results on Google then they are great places to be listed.
You can think of relevant web communities in terms of location or topic. If a site is relevant for broader queries about your field or broader queries about your location it may be a great link buy.
If you local chamber of commerce has a site that provides listings don’t forget to submit there. You may also want to consider submitting your business to sites like your local Better Business Bureau.
Why Getting At Least a Few Links is Important:
It is important to build at least a small amount of editorial linkage data pointing at your site (through directory listings and other related link building activities), because if you chose to list in business directories like Verizon Superpages some business directories charge you by the click.
If your site does not outrank them then it is worthless being forced to pay a recurring click cost anytime someone is already searching for your brand name.
Yahoo! also offers a paid inclusion program which charges you by the click to be listed in their regular search results. I generally do not recommend paying for inclusion as getting a few links is typically far cheaper than paying for every time someone searches for your name. Plus if nobody links at your site it is hard for search engines to gauge how much they should trust your website.
As compared to Yahoo!’s paid inclusion Google offers a program called Google Sitemaps, which is a free program that makes it easy to see what traffic you are getting from Google. It will also show top search terms that you ranked for and if Google had any crawl issues with your site.