Local Small Business SEO – 3 Reasons Why You Need To

Whether you are a small business locally found in Phoenix, Arizona, Denver, CO, or Las Vegas, NV Internet marketing through search engine optimization (SEO) has the ability to deliver a wealth of new customers.  Local small businesses are the last group joining the party as it relates to Online marketing.  It was obvious from the start that large national or global companies would benefit from SEO consulting though there was a question if local doctor offices, lawyers, dry cleaners, dentists, and more would achieve the same rewards.

Google now uses GEO Targeting which determines the Online searcher’s physical location through their IP address

There are three reasons why local businesses can be successful with SEO and Internet marketing.  They are GEO targeting, local search, and search engines are the new Yellow Pages.

3 Reason Why Local Small Business SEO

GEO targeting is the term associated with using your IP address to determine what city and state you are in.  Your IP address doesn’t show your exact location unless you are hosting your own servers.  It shows where your local host server is located.  My IP address shows that I am located in downtown Phoenix, AZ while I am actually located in one of suburbs.

• The reason GEO targeting is important is that Google has upgraded its search protocal to include GEO targeting so search results for local business for you will show up higher than they do nationally.  This new aspect of Google search is what gives local small businesses an opportunity to compete online for important keywords for their business.

Local Search is a program by the search engines to list local small buinesses into their search rankings.  If you have typed  your keyword with location qualifiers like Phoenix with your keyword phrase you may have seen the Google local results at the top.  The search engines want local small business to get involved with SEO and are creating ways for them to be successful.

• Local search has a lot of features you want to take advantage of from descriptions, hour of operation, phone number, videos, photos, and more.  You want to take your time to get all the information in correctly, and it is important to understand they keywords that people are searching for your business for as those are going to be entered into your local search profile.

The new Yellow Pages is now the search engines in general.  For most people that means Google.  If you want to find a local store, service, or consulting firm people use Google search.  Yahoo is the second major player as it relates to search and combined Google and Yahoo are 90% of all search traffic.

• To be effective with organic rankings in search engines you have to optimize your website for how people are searching for your website.  This aspect is where I feel most local small business miss.  Most business owners think of keywords as how they would search for their business.  The problem is you are an expert in your field.  Your consumer most likely is not and will not use the same phrases when searching for your products and services.

The search engines are now giving you as a local small business owner avenues to generate search engine traffic that will convert to sales.  The question is now will you take advantage of this opportunity.