Local search has been one of the fastest growing areas of search marketing in the last few years. A local search engine listing gives small businesses the chance to “play with the big boys” by having their listing appear towards the top of most search results pages without the need for expensive PPC advertising.

Besides the listing itself, there are additional steps that webmasters can take to ensure that their website is optimized for local search.

The folks over at Search Engine Journal have compiled an easy guide for SEO for local search, so I have outlined some of the main areas below:

• Display full business contact details clearly on your site. This includes:
  - Title of the page (especially for the contact page)
  - Meta description of the contact page and “About Us” page (to be displayed in SERPs)
  - Bottom of each page throughout the site (this is the most common place for visitors to look for your contact details)
• Contact and About Us pages contain business location and phone number including local area code. (Local area codes are sometimes associated with the local search ranking factors)
• Make sure your business domain WHOIS information lists your business mail address and contact information
• List your business in the regional sections of popular directories like BOTW and Business.com
• Create business profiles on major social networks and include your address

The full guide is available here.

If you still need to get a local search listing for your business, then our Google Local Business Listings can get you on the first page of Google to target local customers, find out more here.

What other SEO steps would you suggest to get your business even more exposure in local search? Feel free to share them below.