One of the best ways for local businesses to promote themselves is by getting local search engine traffic. The following are some effective local search engine optimization methods that will help you to rank better.
Having quality content on your site is the first requirement if you want to rank well. Why do you want to optimize your site with the search engines? In order to generate quality traffic to your website. For visitors to find your site interesting enough to explore it and purchase something, you have to give them useful content. Most of the people who will visit your site won't be reading all of your content on the website, but they will simply go through it or scan it. Make any especially important content stand out to your readers by using devices such as highlighting or a bulleted list. A picture can also be used as a way to make a certain section stand out. One thing to watch out for is overusing keywords, as this can work against you for SEO purposes.
Don't forget to target the local site listing services run by the search engines, such as Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local, and these sites all allow you to "claim your profile," which is something worth doing. All it takes to claim your profile on these sites is to verify your basic information with a phone call. This is a relatively fast and easy process that gives you an advantage over the many other businesses who neglected to do it. By including photos of yourself or your business on these local site listings, you enhance your reputation, as people feel more positive and trusting when they see an image. It really helps if you post a few good pictures from your site so your prospects get a look at your business. You want to portray your business as impressively as possible, so you should use quality pictures, though they don't have to be perfect.
If you can get significant local websites to link to your site, this will help you rank well in your area with the search engines. The most beneficial sites to get links from are those that are popular and well respected, such as the local BBB (Better Business Bureau) or Chamber of Commerce in your area. Try several searches using the name of your city and/or county/region in addition to "business directory" or a similar keyword, and you'll get a list of such organizations. This should give you enough websites to target and get listed with. This is another simple task that you can get a lot of benefit from.
So if you want to improve your search engine rank and get more traffic, remember to apply these local SEO techniques.
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