What is local listing optimization?
Local listings are a big part of Google’s current business plans. In 2007 the search engine announced that 73% of all searches were for local businesses or activities and since then it has focussed on bringing this type of result to searchers, even for generic terms. Searches for general terms such as ‘estate agent’ or ‘pizza’ now bring up details of those businesses close to your location, so making the most of local listing optimization can be hugely beneficial. Checking which of your services or products brings up a list of local businesses can be a good way to decide what to focus your attention on to increase your visibility.
Being sure to have a full address on your website can make a huge difference. It’s not unusual to see a business listed highly for ‘[city] restaurant’ but not show up at all for ‘[suburb] restaurant’, because their focus was just on one listing.
If your business has more than one physical address – not including PO boxes – you can add all these to your website, but it’s best to have as much detail as possible, a page for each location works well, rather than a footer that has a list of all the places your business operates as this can look spammy to both users and search engines.
With the increase of smart phones, on the go searches for nearby businesses, restaurants and other amenities, all based around the location of the user’s phone, are on the increase meaning local business listings are going to continue to grow as a way of pushing traffic.
Benefits
Filling in a local business listing fully and honestly, without keyword stuffing, can prove hugely beneficial. Make sure you complete each section – the ‘categories’ section is often missed out to huge detriment of the offending business – and take time to research each answer. Including a valid phone number helps Google verify your physical location.
Local listings often appear in universal search results, even when the searcher doesn’t specify a location. Google can work out their location and offer what it thinks are useful local services for their needs. These results generally appear above the organic search results, so even if your on page SEO is perfect, local business listings can easily leapfrog your organisation and all your hard work.
Local business does not necessarily equal small business. While local listings can give a huge boost to one-store, family-owned businesses, it can also help multi-national companies with locations across the globe.
All major search engines offer their own version of local listings with different features. Signing up for all three is recommended and, depending on the search engine, you can add videos, coupons and photos with your listing.
Risks
Google has very strict quality guidelines for local listings, so be sure to follow these closely lest you end up banned from search results. For example, services should not list every location they work in and businesses should not include keywords in their addresses or company name (unless they’re actually a part of the the registered name).
Rating websites, such as Qype and TripAdvisor, are beginning to shape listings as Google takes note of how users are rating companies, so if you’re offering a poor service (even just on Twitter), people can grade you down which will have an adverse effect on your rankings.
As with any form of SEO, local listings need constant attention, otherwise it’s likely you can drop from them or be replaced by more involved companies. Being active and regularly adding coupons or photos can help with this. Citations – other sites listing your company and address – also help power your ranking.
Black hat companies may offer to get your listing at or near the top in a very short time span and some even deliver on this promise. However, many of them get blacklisted from Google and this can have permanent damage to your company and address.
If your address isn’t properly configured your business headquarters or shop location can show up incorrectly on Google Maps, which can confuse and irritate customers who are trying to find your building. Having this implemented properly can be hugely successful according to research which shows many users research online and buy on the street.
Tools
Some SEO companies offer a service to show what terms your company shows up for in the local listings, rates how well your listings are optimized and what you might want to do to improve your rankings.