Local Search Profile Optimization
Not only are local listings gaining valuable real estate on the search results pages, locally focused websites are appearing with more frequency for nonspecific search phrases as well, thanks in part to Google Instant and the real-time nature of today’s Web. So what can you do to leverage this growth?
Hopefully you have already
1) claimed your business listing and/or submitted your website to online services like Google Places and Yelp, among the many others,
2) promoted your website and brand on social destinations like Facebook and Twitter, and
3) become involved with location-aware applications like Foursquare and Gowalla.
All of these channels present excellent ways of getting local search traffic to your website. But often overlooked are the factors that influence how profile pages from these Web services are returned to users. Actively optimizing local search profiles improves search engine rankings and the chances that your website will appear in the first few positions on local query results.
About Profile Optimization
While not technically a page on your website, claiming and validating local listings on Google, Bing and Yahoo! can drive high-quality, targeted traffic and help your site rank higher within local search results. While unclaimed local listings can sometimes outrank claimed local listings, it is still vital to claim your profiles as it gives you complete control of what is displayed to users and prevents someone else from claiming your listings (and reputation).
Here are the major ranking factors to consider when building your local search engine pages:
Location (Address): Does your business address need to be in the actual city of the search query to rank? For the most part, yes, particularly if you are located in a large city. There are some exceptions for smaller towns — if there are not enough matches then the search engine may take results from neighboring towns. But your business’ physical location is a major ranking factor when it comes to local search. Make sure to include as much information as possible, including longitudinal and latitudinal data.
Business Category: Make sure your business is categorized correctly — if secondary category choices are available, select a few over time to see which ones positively influence your position and traffic.
Business Name: Consider your business name the "title" Tag of your local profile listing. When you have a keyword(s) in your business name it will help improve ranking, but it is not necessary (or advised) to saturate the listings with keywords. For example, if you own a hamburger restaurant named Chuck’s and your local listing displays only “Chuck’s”, consider changing the listing to “Chuck’s Hamburger Restaurant”. Many people will use the keywords “hamburger restaurant” to search for your business.
Citations: Citations are when your business is mentioned (but not necessarily linked to) elsewhere on the Web. Citations are like links, in that the more you have the better. Citations build trust with the search engines and give you a boost when it comes to ranking, especially with Google Maps. You can see your citations on your Google Places page under “What people are saying about”. Check out the competition and make sure you make an attempt to get citations from the same or related sources.
Reviews and Ratings: Not only will good reviews and ratings have a positive effect on your local listing ranking, it will also help the click-through rate of your listing. Encourage existing clientele to submit reviews and ratings and reward them when they do.
Complete Profiles: Take time to fill out your local business profile pages completely. Add business hours, payment options and craft a well-written description of your business. Even add pictures and videos if you have them. Also, be sure that the information on your local listing pages is consistent across all directories.
Remember to claim and submit your website to the primary local providers and test different profile information combinations to see what influences return list position and website traffic. While often tedious to complete and validate (and for some, to create unique landing pages for each business location), these efforts will more than pay for themselves in the form of quality local traffic.
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Credits
Dante A. Monteverde
http://www.spiderbait.com
http://www.websitemagazine.com
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LINKBUILDING TIPS
Sidenote: When you submit to post directory's and blogs I recommend you write a good 500+ word article yourself or even if your not a excellent writer, same like me, then you can buy one online for $5 up and obtain yourself a good spinner to spin all of them a 100 times.
ARTICLE DIRECTORYS
2 links
1 to your Website
1 to your Article
Suite101.com - PR 7
EzineAricles.com - PR 6
Buzzle.com - PR 6
Isnare.com - PR 6
Americanchronicle.com - PR 6
Selfgrowth.com - PR 6
Webpronews.com - PR 6
articlebase.com - PR 6
Helium.com - PR 6
Searchwarp.com - PR 5
Articlecity.com - PR 5
Ideamarketers.com - PR 5
Articlesnatch.com - PR 5
Site-reference.com - PR 5
ArticleAlley.com - PR 5
Web-sorce.net - PR 5
Thewhir.com - PR 5
Articledashboard.com - PR 5
Goarticles.com - PR 4
Submityourarticle.com - PR 4
ArticlesFactory.com - PR 4
ArticleSet.com - PR 3
BLOG SITES
2 links
1 to your Website
1 to your Article in Article Directory
Knol.Google.com – PR 10
facebook.com - PR 10
wordpress.com - PR 9
Squidoo.com – PR 8
Webs.com – PR 8
Friendster.com – PR 8
Plurk.com – PR 8
Ning.com – PR 8
blogs.myspace.com - PR 8
Vox.com – PR 8
LiveJournal.com – PR 8
Blogger.com – PR 7
Quizilla.com – PR 7
Tripod.Lycos.com – PR 7
Blogpulse.com - PR 7
Zoho.com – PR 7
Multiply.com – PR 7
Hi5.com – PR 7
Bebo.com – PR 7
Jimdo.com – PR 7
Xanga.com - PR 7
Zimbio.com – PR 6
HubPages.com – PR 6
SOCIAL BOOKMARK SITES
1 link to your website
(might be a good idea to ping them)
digg.com - PR 8
buzz.yahoo.com - PR 8
twitter.com - PR 8
del.icio.us - PR 8
slashdot.org - PR 8
excite.com - PR 8
mixx.com - PR 8
stumbleupon.com - PR 8
newsvine.com - PR 8
mister-wong.com - PR 8
fark.com - PR 8
yigg.de - PR 7
ma.gnolia.com/ - PR 7
blinklist.com - PR 7
de.lirio.us - PR 7
diigo.com - PR 7
bibsonomy.org - PR 7
reddit.com - PR 7
delicious.com - PR 7
simpy.com - PR 6
blogmemes.net - PR 6
oneview.com - PR 6
Gather.com – PR 6
tweetmeme.com - PR 6
netvouz.com - PR 6
clipmarks.com - PR 5
backflip.com - PR 5
blogmarks.net - PR 5
a1-webmarks.com - PR 5
weblinkr.com - PR 5
fwisp.com - PR 5
sitejot.com - PR 5
unalog.com - PR 5
Enjoy it!
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Benefits of Business Blogging
Businesses are now conducted both on-line and offline; but, a lot of and additional businesses have on-line sites thus that they will reach the way corners of the world. Several online businesses became successful and profitable and one secret's through web blogging.
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If you’re thinking to put up an online based business, you must first find out how to blog. Web blogging isn't that difficult. You'll notice your required blogging resources online by conducting a bit of research. Once you’ve gathered all of your needed data, you'll begin posting blogs.
Your website should conjointly be easy to use. Clients and readers must be able to manipulate with no hassles within the pages in your blog page. This means, more internet users will go to your website repeatedly and they will even advocate your business’ website to different individuals they know.
For a successful and profitable on-line company, strive business blogging. The advantages are endless, thus why not attempt web blogging?
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Health Benefits of Maple Syrup
So how healthy can maple syrup produce? rightful is rich significance vitamins, particularly vitamin B12 which is also known as riboflavin. Aside from its sugar content, it is the vitamin B12 that makes the maple syrup an excellent prelude of vivacity. It enhances our body’s metabolism, boss to more efficient again faster radiant of energy. Maple syrup besides has zinc, which greatly aids mastery speeding up the remedial process especially cache wounds. factual is also delightful in the mineral, manganese, which is a fit antioxidant. This makes maple syrup an full play booster and helps the body fight off the nasty liberate radicals that can exterminate havoc to our cells. These and many more other properties contribute to the fact that maple syrup is a very vigorous also current food. set about it a daily habit to eat maple sugar and to alternate it with using regular embrace every once in a while.
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