If you own a website that targets people close to where you're located, chances are that you will need to engage in some kind of local SEO marketing to help get your site noticed in the search results. Naturally the fastest results come from pay per click - the modern form of crossing Google's palm with silver - but that can get expensive unless you hire in an expert. Getting found in the regular results takes longer but can be more effective over time.
1. Claim your Places/map page
These are the lettered results that often appear in the search results for different search terms. Somewhere in the listing will be a link that says "Places page". Click on that and if it says that the listing is unverified then it's time to log in to your Google account and stake your claim. Typically Google will want to send you a one-time PIN as part of this verification and you may well have to wait for it to arrive in the post.
Once you've verified that you are indeed who you say you are, it's time to complete the listing. Do this as though you are a journalist writing an editorial feature. Keep the fluff out. Complete as much of the listing as possible - Google has some videos that will talk you through the process and they're well worth watching and acting on.
2. Get listed in local directories
Unless you're in the smallest hamlet, there will almost certainly be a number of locally based directories that will happily feature your local website. They will often do this free of charge as they're typically hoping to entice you into spending money on an enhanced listing. Start with the free listing and monitor how much traffic it sends you - you can use programs such as Google Analytics or the logs in your hosting control panel to do this. If the site is sending you traffic for free, check where you're featured and take a view as to whether it's worth paying more. Usually that will mean you appear higher on the page which should result in more traffic.
3. Place some classified ads
Not in your local paper unless you're feeling really flush. Instead, put some small ads on the various classified advert websites. Craigslist gets mentioned a lot but outside the really big cities it doesn't feature too much in the UK. Instead check out our variants such as Gumtree and Vivastreet. Just because it's a classified ad doesn't mean you have to use abbreviations or keep the ad short. Electrons are cheap so the old rules don't apply. And, unlike a Places listing, feel free to sell your company and its services.
4. Write content for your site
Regularly.
It doesn't have to be fantastic content but it should be relevant to your target market and should be interesting to read. Which means it can be chatty and it can break the kind of rules that your old English teacher would fret about. But do proof read it for typos - they stick out like a sore thumb on line just as much as they do on paper.
Add in some interesting photos and ideally the occasional video.
Then wait.
You'll need to get used to this with your SEO work. Just because Google is a computer doesn't mean that it can react as fast as the one on your desktop. It has billions upon billions of pages to process and yours are only a tiny fraction. Be patient and you will begin to see results
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