by Andrew Jacobsen

Whether you are an small business owner or search engine optimization specialist Google local is an important factor in getting targeted visitors to a website. Competitive markets like “landscaping” can have many pages of results. It is vitally important to be near the top.

Do a local search from your computer and you will see why high rankings in Google local results are so important. In competitive markets the local results are the only thing shown on the first half of the page. As an SEO specialist I see the crucial need for my clients to be near the top of these results.

So the question is fairly plain to see. Is there a way to push a business higher in the Google local listings? Lets see if I can help with this question.

With traditional SEO we are left guessing at what Google’s algorithm is looking for to improve rankings, so we test different methods and gauge their success. Recently a patent was given to Google for local search, so we must use this method of testing as well. Some of this testing has shown positive results and I will share some of them with you below.

The most important factor is making sure all of your information on the major data providers is accurate and as identical as possible. The goal is to make it easy for Google to verify and understand exactly what your business is about. This will make you more relevant to people searching for your services and that is exactly what Google likes. The three data providers that are crucial to be listed in are: Localeze, InfoUsa and Acxiom.

Updating and creating profiles for your business on local directories is the next important step in this process. Be sure the information matches as close as possible on directories like Superpages and Local.com. This will again make it easier for Google to understand where your business belongs in local search.

Finally, you should have some positive user ratings on the Google local listings. These are less important than the first two suggestions, but has shown some benefits in some cases. It is definitely worth having some stars in your favor.

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Redding Search MarketingUncategorized23 Jul, 2009