Best javascript editor debugger     Freeware editor 
↑


Main Page

226

Local Search

In Chapter 2, “Customize Your Approach,” we talked a little bit about the wonders of

local search. Been waiting in line for coffee too long? Pull out your wireless PDA and

search for another cafe in the vicinity. Sitting at home on a Saturday night? Order pizza

and a video directly through the Web (and while you’re there, join a social networking

site!). What’s good for the searcher is even better for the search-savvy local business

owner. If your organization has a brick-and-mortar component and you’d like to use

the search engines to gain walk-in customers, begin tackling local search today.

Local search, such as local.google.com and local.yahoo.com, to name two, is

changing fast as additional searchers and businesses flock to it. So keep a sharp eye out

for new products and procedures. As a general rule, you will want to approach local

search optimization from two angles:

• Finding out which sites are feeding into the local search engine of your choice

and submitting to them

• Creating your own local listing

Here’s how to get started:

Who’s feeding whom?

Local search listings are usually compiled from a variety of

sources, some of which you have control over and some of which you don’t. Some

local searches are fed by partner sites that focus on local listings, such as

www.city-

search.com

and

www.insiderpages.com

. There are a couple of ways you can check to

see which sites are feeding into a search engine’s local listings. First, you can check out

the local search engine’s frequently asked questions (FAQs) or review the Webmaster or

Business Owner information that many of these services publish on their sites. You can

also search for your competitors and see which sites are listed: Your competitor’s actual

site? A review from a content partner? See Figure 8.3 for an example.

Once you know which sources are included in the local search engine of your

choice, you can go to them directly and attempt to get or improve a listing.

Make your own listing

Last we looked, Yahoo! and Google provided easy-to-find links

for business owners to submit their own company data to local search. It’s free or

cheap (“enhanced” fee-based options are available)…and worth it at almost any price,

in our opinion. If local search is important to you, you should make it a priority to cre-

ate your own listing because if the information doesn’t come from you, it will probably

come from someone else who doesn’t have a personal stake in the listing’s accuracy or

success. They may not make it easy—yet—but it

is

possible for you to exert a little

control over your local listing.

Check

www.yourseoplan.com

for submittal pages.

c08. 8:08 226

Best javascript editor debugger     Freeware editor 
→