Website Enhancement For Local Search

You do not need a website to dominate your Local Market on Local Search, but it helps. Here are a few things you can do to optimize your website or blog for local search.

Domain Name

Use your primary keywords and geographic information in your domain name.

SappingtonPainters for example includes the town and the primary keyword people use when looking for a house painter

Footer

Put your business citation in the footer of every page on your website and link it back to your Google Place Page.  Here’s an example

Sappington Painters / 28 Grantwood Lane / St. Louis, MO 63123 / 314-467-0603

HTML Version – Just substitute your information for the information in orange.
<p><a href=”http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=2820118493767708795“>Sappington Painters</a> / 28 Grantwood Lane / St. Louis, MO 63123 / 314-467-0603</p>

HTML Header Geo-Tag

If your business is located near the city center, you should consider adding this geo-meta tag to the header in your website. It will help Google and the other mapping software know exactly where you’re located.

Here’s the meta-tag for the Internet Marketing Association of Hawaii

<meta name=”DC.title” content=”Internet Marketing Association of Hawaii” />
<meta name=”geo.region” content=”US-HI” />
<meta name=”geo.placename” content=”Kihei” />
<meta name=”geo.position” content=”20.695947;-156.421773″ />
<meta name=”ICBM” content=”20.695947, -156.421773″ />

Geo Tag Creator

hCard Creator

hCard Generator

Now… considering your site is already optimized for the search engines with the normal on-page SEO strategies (e.g. title tags, meta tags, H1 tags, alt tags, etc.), whether you optimized it yourself or hired a Search Engine Marketing firm, here are a few quick fixes that will supercharge your site for local search.

  • Use abbreviations and full address in text or heading to further assist humans and search engine spiders.
  • Include a local phone number, even when a toll-free number is available. This helps search engines and directories identify you as a local company.
  • Make sure you put your address and phone number on “Contact Us” page. This may sound elementary, but is often overlooked.
  • At least once place your address in a “H1 Tag” to further boost local relevance.
  • Provide information on the areas you serve. Also, if you have a physical location where you meet with clients or customers, then provide driving directions.
  • Download a KML file and upload it too your domain’s root directory. This will allow Google Earth to locate your site based on latitude and longitude, and it’s another clever trick for telling the search engine spiders you’re optimized for local search.
  • Use the “Geographic Targeting” option in Google Webmaster Tools, and by the way, it’s free to sign up.
  • Place your address in home page title, if possible, and description. This opens the playing field and allows your information to show up in the search results.
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