Online Local Listings

Most anyone would agree that visibility on the web is one of the key elements to getting traffic to your website. Something as simple as taking the time to add your website to the local listings for the major search engines could earn you a significant amount of qualified visitors to your website.

Here are some important items to consider before attempting setting up a listing:

• Make sure you have a brief description prepared about your company that is 250 characters or less.
• Make sure you have easy access to pictures or logos that can be uploaded to the listing. Any images must be for web and not be larger than 2Mb. Also it must be .jpg, .gif, or .png.
• Make sure you have details about your company ready such as the year established, associations or business related memberships, awards and recognition, etc.
• If you have a video about your company have that ready.
• Have a clear idea of what categories your business should go under
• Make sure you are authorized to add/edit business information about your company

What is distinct about local search today is that users no longer have to put a city name as part of a search string. For example if you are searching for “pet stores” and live in Sacramento, CA then a local list will show up in the local results automatically since local search algorithms figure out where you live from your IP address. You would get the same results if you searched for “pet stores sacramento”. This is an important aspect of local search since not everyone remembers to add a city name after their search. Yahoo, unfortunately, currently does not support this feature.

Obviously, with the shear number of users of Google Search, it is important that Google is a top priority. Google has at least a 70% market share of all search engines. Google's Local Business Center provides a way to add multiple listings easily (for those that have franchises or other office locations). They also allow up to 5 categories to be added to the listing so use them all.

Bing, who was originally MSN/Live, has become very Googlesque. They virtually copy exactly the way Google has their listings and local search as well as the font and style. The results may be different but overall the look and feel is almost the same. The one nice added feature that Bing has over Google or Ask is that it has an easy link for directions to your office. This, however, may be problematic if you are a home-based business and/or use a PO Box for your address. Bing allows for 6 categories for their listings and finally now has the ability to verify the listing by phone.

Ask is owned by and gets their listings from Citysearch, which is part of InfoUSA.com, a local listing directory company. Once you have your listing set up through them, Ask will automatically add your business to their local search results. As of September 30th, 2009 Citysearch will be offering listings for non-paying businesses.

Yahoo provides only about 2 or 3 results at a time for local listings and does so only if you have added a city name after the search term. Although it is important to add yourself to the Local Listing, the results are minimal. It is important to note that Bing will soon be providing the search results for Yahoo.

Secret: The most important thing to remember about local listings is to fill out as much information as possible. The more information you have available in the listing, the more likely you will be at the top of the local listings.