Performing Better in Local Search Results

Hi, I'm Tom Lustina, the SEO Director at Straight North. Today I'd like to talk about local search. How can you better position your site to perform for local search? There are three very basic steps. The first is to create your local business listing. Do a search for "google local" and you'll arrive at the Google local search interface. Create an account and then create your local listing. The second is optimizing your site for your location. You have quite a few opportunities on your site to optimize for that location. You can include your location in page titles, page URLs, page content, and then also in your footer. You can include your phone number and address, which should emphasize your location. The third is to add local links. Local links could include directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo. But then also local sites that are willing to link to your site. In those three ways, you will better position yourself and your site to perform for local searches. I'm Tom Lustina. If you would like to talk more about local search, please contact me at Straight North. Thank you very much for your time.