subject: Best Techniques To Generate Local Traffic From The Search Engines [print this page] One of the simplest things you can do to make the most out of local searches is to focus on getting listed with the big boys of the industry. This means, of course, Google Maps and Yahoo! Local. These are the two biggest in the industry, so listing with them should be your first priority before you move on to the next step. The idea is that, by listing with these names, you'll get more traffic from the search engines than you'll know what to do with. If you think that listing with Google Maps is hard, think again.
You simply fill out a tiny form and then they'll either use your phone or email to have you verify your identity. As soon as you get verified, it will take up to 4 to 6 weeks to find yourself in the local listings part of the search results. You should expect to find the same with Yahoo!, except you don't have to verify anything with them. Yahoo! allows you to fully customize your listing any way you wish.
While Google takes a long time to approve you, Yahoo! approves applicants quickly. Don't forget to do this or else you'll find getting targeted traffic quite difficult. A local SEO technique that many marketers forget about is mentioning all of the other locations that your business operates within. This means that you should let the search engines know about all of the cities, counties and states that you serve with your products and services.
How will you do this well? You will get more attention from the search engines if you include the locations within the content of your ad than if you simply compose a list of bulleted places. This is because search engines like having as much data as possible to analyze about the businesses and websites that are on the internet. This plays some role in helping you with your local SEO efforts. It is important that you understand that while these tips might seem inconsequential, when used together they actually do quite a lot for the end results of your local SEO campaigns.
Another thing to always remember is to put your address on every webpage of your website. This is one simple factor that can play a major role in convincing the search engines to rank you better. What should you put in your address? You should have your business address, phone number and last but not the least, your zip code listed on all the pages of your site. This will reveal that you're going after local search and that's when your job becomes simple.
All in all, you can go far if you use these SEO techniques, but you must do them correctly if you hope for them to work.
