Once you have optimized your Google Places page for your business you can start to look at offsite ways to increase your Local Search rankings. By building valuable links, you will start to notice your rankings move up and you should start seeing more impressions in your Google Places account.
The first and easiest way to improve your Local Search rankings is to submit to directories to increase your inbound links. After researching and using many directories over time, we have created a rating system to rate the quality of directories. The two main things that we are looking for with directories are do we get our own page on their site and more importantly does that page include a citation. Citations are defined as ‘mentions’ of your company name and address on other webpages even when there may be no link to your website. Usually these directories, especially ones that have citations, require some sort of onetime payment ranging from $10 for the very basic ones up to roughly $300 such as the Yahoo Directory. Building these directory links to your site is definitely a good spot to start helping your Local Search rankings.
The next place to start building links is from other geo-related websites. These could be any type of site ranging from blogs, forums, informative sites, etc. There is no standard submission process like the directories from above. Here usually you would need to contact the company to create some sort of unique ad or business relation. For example, if we had a travel related website we may want to contact a site like Greatcanadatravel.com because that would be a great geo-related link for Canada and travel.
Whether using the directories or the geo-related websites to increase your inbound links, the next question is ‘what URLs do I use and how?’ Well, we like to use the most relevant link on the site, but have noticed that some sites and scenarios allow more than one URL to be linked. We have started to add other URLs such as the Google Places place page, any geo-related page that is applicable, and even the contact us form which includes our address and Google map information.
These are some of the steps that we take when improving the rankings for our Local Search clients here at StepForth Marketing. Please take some time to contact us today to learn how we can help you get found locally today.