Local SEO Techniques to Grow Your Business - Search Engines - SE Optimization

If you own a local business and want to get more targeted traffic in the local listings, you should try local SEO. Given below are a few simple local SEO tips that you can use to get ranked better.

One of the simplest methods you can use for local SEO is writing optimized classified ads. This is one of the easiest ways to take advantage of the searches in your local area because those searches get picked up a lot more often by the major search engines and using them often is one of the best ways to send direct traffic to your website. Start out by listing your business on Craigslist because, out of all of the classified portals out there, it is the most popular. As a business owner you need to be sure that you are posting optimized ads on Craigslist on a regular basis. Your ads need to be targeted specifically for your market. Ensure that it is simple and not too loud. Focus first on the title of your ads because this is what will get people to check you out. Use the keyword phrase and your city and state in your title. Often the search engines will rank a Craigslist ad higher than the website listed in the ad so you might think about treating your Craigslist ad like a landing page. A good strategy for Craigslist is to use it as a channel for funneling traffic to your website, which is your main goal. Apart from that, you can use USFreeAds, which doesn't work as well as Craigslist, but nevertheless it can give you a good response since it is a well ranked classified oriented site. What you need to do is send traffic specifically to your best offer through these classifieds sites (though piggy backing off of those sites traffic is also an option).

If you've been into search engine optimization even for a while now, you'll know the value of the title tag. Many new internet marketers ignore the title tag, and then wonder why they don't rank as well. When going after local SEO, title tags are very important. One great part about going after local searches is that the competition is much scarcer than if you were to use keywords that were more broad.

That's why title tags need to be developed so that they always use the keywords you've decided upon and they must also include what city and state you're trying to focus on. This will tell the search engines exactly where to rank you. This is a very important technique to use if you hope to become good with SEO. Finally, only use a few keywords as too much is too much.

Another way to get ranked well locally is to get backlinks from well established local websites, which the search engines consider important. You can start off by getting listed in the Better Business Bureau, local chamber of commerce website or find some more similar websites that offer big benefits. 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 process will supply you with a number of websites that it would be very useful to get a listing from. This is another simple task that you can get a lot of benefit from. Local SEO is the best way of getting you the exposure you want; there's no denying that.