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SEO Tip: Get listed, get local, get business.

Guest post by: Sally Witzky

Article Overview: Having recently discovered that many small business owners often do not understand the importance of getting their business listed in the local search engine directories, like Google's Local Business Center, we've begun to ask questions about what small business owners know and what they need to learn. And what is the value of maximizing and managing their listings. This article is meant to be more thought-provoking than instructional about this subject and why a small business might make this an important and perhaps first priority aspect of managing their online brand.

SEO Tip: Get listed, get local, get business.

I've been on a rampage lately about businesses being listed on the online local business directories. It's such an overlooked piece of the SEO puzzle - and often the first piece that should be in place before any other - that I find myself trying to figure out why that is the case.

• Do business owners underestimate the importance of having their business found on Google, Yahoo and Bing?
• Is there a lack of both awareness and understanding about how powerful and critical a detailed business listing is to a business's overall success?
• Are businesses not cognizant of how consumers or other businesses find them through the search engines?
• Do businesses work with and adjust their keyword list as their business grows? Better yet, do they even have a keyword list?
• Do business owners know which listings are important and how to find them?
• Do business owners know that if they can't own certain competitive keywords with their local directory listing, they can more heavily focus on them by other means, such as their blog, and may still get on the first search page for those terms?

And then I have to ask myself, did I know about all this a year ago? Even just six months ago?? Well, the answer is emphatically "no." I was aware of the search engine local directories but I certainly didn't know exactly how they worked or what it meant to get in the 3-pack or 10-pack - or that Googleis changing their 10-pack to a 7-pack or anything like that. In fact, the questions asked above are derived out of my experience of working with several business listings over the period of many months, including now my own business, in order to even begin to ask questions like those. So I have to give business owners a break here.

I just recently worked with a company who has been in business for 8 years that had never claimed its Google Local Business Center directory listing. While the successful business had a general listing, it didn't appear at all if one was searching for any of the relevant keywords or phrases. Only their competitors showed up as well as a few other businesses that did not provide the same service. The only time their business listing appeared was if one searched on their full business name. And, frankly, that's the only time their website appeared in the organic searches as well, so their website was not optimized either. After claiming the listing and massaging it slightly in order to get it to appear more often on the prominent keyword searches, the business comes up on the "board" in all the main keywords except for one highly competitive one, and they often appear in the top 3 business listings. In a couple of cases, they are #1 and/or the ONLY business listed. I was thrilled beyond belief with my before and after results, even taking screen shots to remind myself of the major difference, by making changes that were relatively simple if you have a bit of experience with gaining SEO value.

Admittedly and openly, the business owner didn't share my enthusiasm. "I'm not sure I fully can appreciate what you just did for us," the client said. The business owner didn't know how to put a value on what was just accomplished. The business is primarily B2B, and not consumer-driven like some other businesses who would rely heavily on internet searches. Still, the business would only need to gain one new client from an internet search for it to be more than beneficial. Last time I checked, there are very few businesses in this economy that are doing so well that it would be okay for them to remain invisible on the internet. I mean, if it were okay to be invisible on the internet, then why have a website at all? Why have a social media presence? Why invest the time and cost? If the only people who are finding the business are the people who already are familiar enough with your service or product to search your business by name, then what's the point of using the internet for generating new business leads? Am I wrong in my thinking here?

Frankly, I don't know how to value what seems like such a simple change either:

• From a TIME standpoint, even with my experience, it took some hours to write a comprehensive listing, add logos and photos, verify and then test/edit the listings on Google, Bing and Yahoo. It would take some further time if I were addingvideo as Google allows. The client had a Google account, but the other accounts I had to create. It took additional hours to figure out the best keywords and key phrases (he didn't have a keyword list for his business), as well as to perform the before and after searches on the multiple search engines and save the screenshots and report the results in writing with a phone discussion. I would guesstimate 15 hours total. Sure, a business owner could pay someone with less experience to verify the listings but the effect would not be as pronounced, that's for sure. They wouldn't understand the strategy and tactics to get the same desired results.
• From a VALUE standpoint, I guess it would depend on what kind of business it was. A bricks-and-morter retailer would benefit greatly as would any kind of local professional service business. And larger businesses can benefit as well because of the sheer volume of people searching, as would most franchise owners. Perhaps a true B2B business like my client's, not so much. Although I feel like I could argue that point greatly in that maybe they're the ones that get the MOST value from an internet lead because the sale would be large in terms of dollars coming in over the length of the project and/or relationship, versus a retailer or service business that might get a one-time, small-dollar purchase from a lead. Internet sales based on local search and/or organic searches can range from the hundreds to thousands to perhaps even hundreds of thousands for some businesses - and some businesses would kill for that 3-pack listing, or even to be on the board somewhere in the 7-pack listing.

If you're a small business owner, I'm interested in knowing what you think about having a powerful Google Local Directory Listing. And while Google is still the behemoth of search engines, adding Yahoo and Bing would be all too important as well. What do you think having powerful local directory listings can do for your business? Is this something you already have mastered? Or do you feel you need more training on this subject?

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Article Tags: Google local business, local business center, local search, search engine directories, search engine optimization, search engines, SEO, small business owners



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