In a nutshell, local search is the Internet's version of the phone book. The difference is that this "phone book" is faster, more dynamic, and far more responsive. For example, suppose you're in Boston staying at the Boston Harbor Hotel and in need of a haircut? No problem. Just search Google Maps for address of the hotel you're staying at followed by the word haircut, and you'll instantly find about a dozen barbers within walking distance of your hotel, with customer reviews.

Pick the one you like, click Get directions, and Google instantly gives you a map with detailed directions by foot, car (seen below) or public transit...

In a short span of 30 seconds, local search gives you what you wanted and more! In fact, you're probably addicted to local search after only a single dose! It's unlikely that you could have the same experience using that antique called a phone book! The phone book is best served as a door stop or maybe as kindling for your fireplace. Either way, you know what they say, "Once you go on the Local Search track, there's no way, no how, of you ever goin' back!" (Ok, ok, yeah, I just made that up!)

Simply put, local search — which includes local search on mobile devices— will soon dominate the brick-n-mortar world of marketing. Ready or not, Local Search is here and getting stronger as we speak! ...we suggest you get ready now, before it starts costing you a fortune to navigate the learning curve. So, get those phone books recycled, in your fireplace or get 'em propped in front of your door on a hot summer day, because that's pretty much all they're good for these days!

First of all, you will probably find your business is already listed in most local search engines. That's because most search engines get a significant portion of their local business listings from just two companies:

• infoUSA
• Acxiom

...or else from Internet Yellow Pages sites which also derive their listings from these two companies. infoUSA is by far the dominant player, but both companies have compiled enormous databases containing detailed information on most of the businesses and consumer households in the US and Canada. And much of their data is pulled from your basic print Yellow Page and Business White Page directories (aka, the cheesy doorstops we just mentioned).

So, ironically, even though local search is making the phone book Yellow Pages obsolete, one of the best ways to get listed in local search is still to have a phone book listing. infoUSA and Acxiom will pull your data from that source, and the search engines in turn will get it from infoUSA and Acxiom (there's a few smaller data providers as well, but those two have the greatest reach).

That means if your business has a listing in your local Yellow Pages, then you may already be listed in local search. Be sure to get a Yellow Pages listing for your business, then this will provide search engines with one more avenue to find your business. Don't worry about taking out a big colorful or expensive ad, as that doesn't offer any advantage in local search rankings. Any Yellow Pages listing at all will get you included in most local search engines just fine.

However, there's an even faster way to get listed in local search—go straight to the search engines themselves. Most search engines give you the power to add your site, claim your site if it's already listed, and edit and update your existing information.

What's especially nice about the search engines offering this feature is that you can update your listings as often as you like, unlike the cheesy doorstop version which can only be updated once or twice a year. Let's cover the details of managing your business's profile in each local search engine.

Most Google searches that include a region or city in the search (or even searches that are likely to be looking for local business, such as a search for plumber or pizza) will display a list of 10 local listings, along with a map. This display is often referred to as the Local Onebox, with the 10-result version known as the Local 10-pack.

If there aren't enough local businesses to generate a 10-pack, then Google will often go with the local 3-pack instead...

In some cases you can even see just a single listing in the local one-box...

Another benefit of listing your business in Google Maps is that Google will often generate map links for your site embedded right in the search results. Here's an example you'll see when searching for Dallas Hotels:

Clicking that little plus sign next to the listing above will open a map right in the search results.

Google continues to build on their local service by constantly adding more information and features. It's clear that the convergence of maps, business information and search is very important to Google.

You can submit your business directly to Google Maps using the Google Local Business Center. This will get you a listing even without a website, although submitting your website URL if you have one is highly recommended.

For more details on submitting a business, see Google's Information for Business Owners. If you operate a chain of businesses, you can also submit in bulk using a Google Base Upload.

One very good reason to submit to Google Local Business Center and verify your listing is to prevent your business from being listed incorrectly, which unfortunately will happen at times. As mentioned, Google will often use data from your phone book Yellow Pages listing, which can be out of date or inaccurate.

Google does provide the ability for searchers to report inaccurate listings by using a report incorrect data link. However, they can be slow to respond to these requests. This makes claiming your listing of paramount importance.

It's not uncommon for businesses to have their local search listings hijacked by competitors or spammers, who then fraudently change those listings to include inaccurate or even damaging information. And, if they gain control of YOUR listing, you may have a very difficult time getting it back.

One method spammers (actually thieves who operate as 'affiliates') have zeroed in on to hijack the listings of businesses in Google Maps is to do the following...

1. They start by scanning the top listings for popular keywords.
2. They find the unclaimed listings within these top listings.
3. Then they use the associated Edit link to change names, addresses, phone numbers and URLs. In some cases they even add user reviews which include the "new" business name.

This process preserves the ranking positions at or near the top of the local search being targeted—along with the now stolen user reviews. BUT all of YOUR traffic is now directed to THEIR affiliate site and the thief begins earning commissions from YOUR Google Maps listing. Isn't THAT special!

And, you'll never be alerted by phone because the thief has changed "your" phone number to one of their own. In fact, there's a good chance you will not learn about the hijacking at all, unless you happen to notice the "incorrect" information in the organic search results some time much later. Oh, it gets worse...

If, or when, you do happen to notice, then you can expect to endure the exasperating experience of having to prove who you are without the benefit of being able to validate your business association, either by phone or by mail, since both of these contact details have been changed.

In any case, prevention is simple. CLAIM YOUR LISTING! ...doing so will prevent it from being hijacked for fun and profit. Sure, there's always new ways people will find to spam and subvert the system, but claiming your listing will make it much less likely it will happen to you.

Fortunately, claiming your business's listing in Google Maps is pretty easy. Just use this form. It doesn't matter whether you're already in Google Maps or not. Simply enter your company's information. If you're already in, Google will find your existing listing and give you the opportunity to claim it.

Next step: Verify that you really do represent the business by either...

• Having Google call you with a special PIN number.
• Having Google send a postcard to your business with that PIN number.

Once you've received the PIN, enter it into your Local Business Center to claim your listing. If you're verifying by phone, be sure that you have access to the same phone number that's in your Google Maps listing. This process takes only a few minutes, is actually pretty easy and can save you a mountain of trouble by preventing the bad people from messin' with your livelihood.

Claim your listing—NOW! and keep that listing current! ...or don't say we didn't warn you.

By the way, if you've already fallen victim to such chicanery, then we suggest you try reversing the process in the exact opposite order in which it was hijacked. For example, if it was changed over a 3 step process, then change it back using 3 steps. To find the timeline of changes, click the company name, click Edit in the pop-up window, then select View History.

Although Google Mobile Search is a separate product from Google Maps and Local Search, the two overlap quite a bit. That's because, when people are out and about with their mobile phones, most of the Internet searches they're conducting are locally-related. And Google Mobile's Search with My Location feature is designed to cater to users' local search needs.

Search with My Location uses Google's network of cell phone towers to triangulate your exact location at the moment you conduct your search (similar to the way GPS works, though slightly less precise). This enables Google to instantly know exactly where you are. That means they can provide you with local search results that are relevant to your exact location.

Yes, we agree that it sounds a bit creepy to have Google tracking your location. However, they are going to great lengths to assure us your location is never associated with any personally identifiable information—even if you're logged into our Google account.

To use Google Search with My Location, use your cell phone to access Google.com and then click the My Location link located under the search box.

Here's a list of devices that My Location is currently available for. At present, your cell phone must have Google Gears installed to use this feature.

So why is My Location important for search marketers? Consider this: Mobile phone users can now enter, say, pizza into their phone and instantly see every pizza shop in the vicinity. Obviously, whatever you're selling locally, you'll want to ensure that Google doesn't send your customers looking down some blind alley a few blocks away from where you really are.

That's why it's critical that businesses servicing local markets have a Google Maps listing that is claimed and kept current (as we've described above). And your business's location marker must be 100% accurate. If not, be sure to fix it right away.

Also bear in mind that Google Street View for Google Mobile makes it even easier for customers to find your business—provided you have the location listed correctly.

Like Google, Yahoo also features local listings right in their organic search results, along with a map. While they don't have a 10-box, they do use a 3-box. Here's a screenshot from a search for personal injury lawyers Boston...

Yahoo offers a free basic listing at http://listings.local.yahoo.com/. If you do a search for your business name in Yahoo Local and you don't come up, then be sure to go to that page and add your listing. And, even if you do come up, you can still go to that page and edit, update, and otherwise improve your listing.

Many consider the version of Yahoo Local's ranking algorithm as a much simpler version compared to Google's algorithm, but that impression is changing. One thing to consider is that Yahoo Local generally provides more user-friendly options with their local listings.

Make sure your meta data is correct, that you claimed and updated your listing, and that all pertinent information related to your location is on your web site. Reviews do count in Google, but carry even more weight in Yahoo Local. Thus, one of your best bets to ranking well with Yahoo Local is to get some reviews. Yahoo also doesn't prevent you from, ...uh, helping your cause by creating a Yahoo account under one of your favorite pen-names and then writing that glowing review you know you deserve under that assumed moniker.

Yahoo Local even allows users to sort by reviews, so if you have the best reviews in your area and industry you're going to rank higher for those queries that are sorted by reviews.

Justin Ziegler is an attorney who's site is a great example of how to properly optimize for Yahoo Local. The site is large and well optimized, with an updated and fully utilized Yahoo Local listing and a large list of great reviews. If you want a website to rank well in Yahoo Local, then do what this site has done.

Yahoo also offers Enhanced Local Listings for $9.95 a month. These include a company tagline, a business description, two links to offers on your web site, and up to ten photos. This seems like a reasonable price to pay for two authoritative and trusted links along with greatly expanded control over how your site is presented in Yahoo's local listings.

Having the ability to upload pictures is also something that shouldn't be overlooked — particularly for companies that specialize in visually orientated products and services. A construction company might wish to post pictures of their completed projects. A restaurant might find it effective to show photos of their most delectable entrees. The update feature is also nice for retailers who want to target special events like holiday sales and other limited-time offerings.

You can also pay for a Featured Listing, which includes everything offered with an Enhanced Listing, plus...

• Guaranteed placement on the 1st or 2nd search results page in Yahoo Local
• Premium placement at the top or bottom of the page
• Broader exposure because your listing is shown across larger geography

Prices for featured listings vary depending on your region and the type of business you want to list. You can get an idea of what the cost will be using Yahoo's rate card.

Live Search Maps, the local arm of Microsoft's Live search engine, also shows local listings and a map for most local searches. Here's a search for plumber Chicago...

If you have a business that you want to include in Live Search Maps results, you can add your listing using Live Search Local Listing Center. Their help files contain detailed guidelines on how to add and edit your listing.

While the local ranking factors for Google and Yahoo are straightforward, Microsoft Live Local Listings does not have clear optimization guidelines.

Distance from the central point of a geographic area (usually a post office or town hall) does appear to be an important factor. Adding text such as 2 miles from city-center to your pages may help in some cases, but your actual physical address is key to determining distance from this central location.

Also important to note is that Microsoft's local search market share is still quite small, so start with Yahoo and Google if your time is limited.

One way to improve your rankings in the major local search engines is by making sure your site is listed in the top Internet Yellow Pages.

The table on the right lists many of the top Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs). Most of these IYPs provide a free business submission process. In addition to getting listed, it's also important that your business information remains consistent throughout all of the IYP sites and matches the information in the search engines local listing centers. Information consistency across all these sites is crucial to the process of getting your business listed quickly and accurately in the major local search engines.

Deciding which IYP's (Internet Yellow Pages) service to list your business with is a three step process:

1. First, do a search for the keywords your business is targeting. Ask yourself: Do any of these Internet Yellow Pages come up in the main (not local) search results? If so, then listing your site with them will help get your business indexed on a site that is already doing well in the organic (i.e. non-paid) search results. In essence, you are piggy-backing off a site which already doing well in order to achieve top rankings.
2. Second, determine how many other businesses are already advertising in your target category on that IYP's service. If there's just a few, then you can probably get a prominent listing without having to compete very hard for attention. However, if there are already so many advertisers that your business won't show up until the second or third page, then the effectiveness of your listing is greatly diminished. You might want to look elsewhere.
3. Finally, determine which of the IYPs is likely to be the dominant provider in your region. Users in your area will tend to focus on the IYPs that cater to their part of the country. You can usually tell who targets your region by finding out who produces your local phone book — that's probably the dominant phone company in your area. For instance, YellowPages.com is put out by AT&T, while SuperPages.com is put out by Verizon. Determine which phone company has a lot of users in your area, then find which IYP site(s) they own.

However, most of the IYPs listed above are all used nationally, so you can submit to these sites without worrying too much about regional targeting.

A good place to start is by filling out the free business profiles at SuperPages.com and YellowPages.com. Those sites have the broadest reach and many other IYPs syndicate their content, so listing with them will get you a lot of exposure across numerous sites. Then pursue listings with two or three other IYPs chosen according to the three criteria mentioned above.

Since nearly all local search engines use Internet Yellow Pages to provide or enhance their results, these steps will greatly improve your chances of getting listed with and ranking well in the major local search engines. From there it's just a matter of keeping your listing accurate and up-to-date with these IYPs. Doing so will help to ensure that the major local search players have your latest info, and that there's no conflict between the information they're pulling from the various IYPs.

Don't worry about purchasing an expensive listing in the IYPs. If they don't offer a free listing, just buy the cheapest one available. That will be enough to make sure your site is picked up and ranked well by all the major local search engines.

Of course, the more expensive listings won't hurt your site, and they do allow you more control over the way your business appears on that IYP site. If your marketing budget is fat, then you might consider purchasing a more full-featured listing. However, a limited and controlled test is suggested if you or your clients choose to buy these more expensive listings. It's possible to blow hundreds and even thousands of dollars on these listings with little to show for it.

Also remember that many IYPs will try to sell what they call search marketing services. In general, their sales people are stumped by the simplest SEO questions, so avoid these services, as the return is rarely worth the investment.

Besides data providers like infoUSA, Acxiom and the IYPs discussed here, local search engines also get data from directory sites focused on niche topics and regions, such as...

• RestaurantRow.com
• Nola.com
• SearchMaryland.com

Getting listed with these directories focused on niche topics and regions relevant to your business is another important step in improving your local search rankings.

Let's start by stating the obvious. If the complaints are legitimate, then be sure to fix them in your business first. No amount of local search review optimization is going to compensate for poor products or service. Always start by using the negative feedback to help identify problems and correct them.

On the other hand, if the reviews really are malicious or inaccurate, your best strategy is to bury them. In other words, see to it that enough positive reviews get entered so that the bad ones are greatly outnumbered and, hopefully, pushed to the bottom of the stack.

Search engines tend to take a hands-off approach to the reviews they post. Google states their policy on inappropriate review content simply...

For example, in the hotel and corporate housing category, Google routinely augments their own local reviews with reviews from other Internet hotel and travel review sites, as well as reviews from other local sites, including:

• Yelp.com
  
• TripAdvisor.com
  
• JudysBook.com
  
• Kudzu.com
  
• ApartmentRatings.com
  
• Destinia.com
  
• HotelGuide.com
  
• Yahoo Travel
  

In other words, if you are seeing negative reviews from users at any of these sites or other sites specific to your industry you should visit the sites directly to respond. Most of these sites provide you the ability to either comment on the review or rate it as helpful or not. Some even provide you the ability to respond.

However, in the case of reviews left directly by Google users through Google Maps, Google goes one step further by allowing users to flag inappropriate reviews and then submit a report for a manual review. Be aware however that if the review was flagged just because it expressed a negative opinion, you shouldn't expect it to be removed from the system. This mechanism is really only for overtly inappropriate or harmful language that has no place in the review system at all.

Remember that anyone can write a review for your business. You might consider using this fact to your advantage by applying a little, uh ...social engineering to systematically manage your company's buzz rather than leaving the process solely to chance.

In that case, if you're going to be reviewing your own business (or have friends or employees do it), be sure to make your review believable. Don't make your review so glowing and filled with compliments that it's obvious it wasn't written by an actual customer. Instead of a 10 out of 10, give it an 8 out of 10, and maybe even recommend some (minor) thing that can be improved. Customers have a knack for spotting and ignoring fake reviews.

Optimizing your site for higher rankings in the local search engines involves two aspects: The Offsite Ranking Factors and the Onsite Ranking Factors.

Offsite Ranking Factors include things like the edits you make to your listing in each of the search engines' local listing centers, the Internet Yellow Pages you're listed with, and the reviews and inbound links you have.

Onsite Ranking Factors include the actual keywords you have in your page titles and content, as well as how you link your pages together and how easy it is to find your address on your site.

Let's cover both separately...

• Claimed listings in each of the major local search engines — This is the most important thing you can do, and it's also one of the easiest. Simply claim your account in the local listing centers for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft live, then make sure your content is accurate and stays updated.

• Listings with the top Internet Yellow Pages and data providers — After you've claimed your listing with the search engines, make sure you're listed with the IYPs we mentioned in this report, and that your information is accurate with them as well.

  The more independent sources of information local search engines can find on a business, the more likely they are to trust that information. For example, if five websites list the business in the same location it helps verify the accuracy of the listing.

• Category you're listed under in the search engines' local listing centers and IYPs — This is perhaps the most effective way to tell the local search engines what your site is about. If you're a pet groomer, you better make darn sure every site you're listed in has you in their pet grooming category and not somewhere else. Miscategorized listings make it very hard to rank for your target keywords.

  If your business fits under multiple categories, most local search listing centers have custom fields where you can list those additional categories. So list yourself under the primary category your business is relevant to, then list the other services your business provides in the custom fields. Only include services you actually provide, however, and don't use these fields for keyword stuffing.

• Keywords in the title/link of your listing — For example, if you have a pet grooming business it's better to list it as Harry and Lloyd's Aspen Pet Grooming instead of Mutt Cutts. Make sure the keywords you want to rank for are in your business title, but don't get carried away and pack excessive numbers of keywords in there or you could get hit for spamming.

• Keywords in the description of your listing — Also important, but not nearly as important as having them in your listing title.

• Business address and proximity to city center — First of all, local search engines expect you to be located in the city or area you serve. If you're a plumber and your business office is physically located in Sommerville, MA but you actually service Boston, you're going to have a very hard time ranking for searches like Boston plumber in local search.

  That said, if there was only one plumber in Boston (of course there isn't) then local search engines will begin pulling listings from surrounding towns. And local search engines do know that some types of businesses accommodate wider areas and modify their rankings algorithms accordingly. But, in general, being located in the area you service is very important.

  Also, when you do a local search for a city, zip code, or region the local search engine tends to focus on what it believes to be the geographic center of that area. The closer a business is to the center of that region, the more likely it is to rank in the top positions. If you have a hotel located on the outskirts of a large town, for example, it's not likely to show up in the top results for that town.

• Reviews — Local search engines will often lists reviews from multiple sources, such as CitySearch.com, Yelp.com, JudysBook.com, TripAdvisor.com, InsiderPages.com and Yahoo travel. Those reviews and their ratings do influence rankings, and the presence of positive reviews for a listing does help to increase click-through rates.

• Photographs — Local search engines want to build as complete a business profile as they can. To that extent, providing relevant photos of your business, products, etc... will create a more complete profile that local search engines will rank better. By the same token, any additional information you can add about your business is going to help your local search rankings.

• Links from other sites in the same geographic area — Local search engines assign more authority to sites that have a local presence. Links from other local businesses, chamber of commerce websites, local directories, and newspaper sites are all important. DMOZ and Yahoo directory links also impact your rankings for local queries when your site is listed in the directory's regional categories. And if these links have anchor text containing the keywords you want to rank for, even better!

  Consider what kind of websites someone looking for your web site might also be looking for. For an attorney, they may need insurance or information on a particular municipal code or tax law in your area. Getting links from and linking to sites that provide this information gives your local presence and information more weight. When link building, be sure to always include businesses local to your area in your search.

• Quantity and quality of links — Here's one area where the off-page factors are essentially the same for local terms as non-local search terms: Links! links! links! The more (and the more authoritative) the better.

• Domain registrant address information — The registrant location should match up with the physical business address. If you are targeting a town name (say Dallas, Texas) your domain registration information should list Dallas, Texas, your address on your page should be from Dallas, Texas, and ideally, you should have a lot of high quality inbound links from other sites that — you guessed it, are in Dallas, Texas.

You actually don't even need a website to rank in local search. If you've added your business via the search engines' local listing centers and you're listed in the Internet Yellow Pages, that's often enough to achieve high local search rankings.

However, if you do have a website, then there's a lot you can do to optimize that site to help improve your rankings in local search. The most important factor is having information on your website that relates to the geographic area you want to be identified with. The key information you need on your pages in regular, indexable text (not images) needs to consist of:

• Your physical address and local phone number in text format on every page of your site — You can do this in the footer of the page. Here's an effective example that even includes some simple GPS coordinates...

  

  Avoid having multiple addresses on your site, as that can confuse the search engines. Having multiple locations listed on your Contact Us page is an especially bad idea. You want the location information on your site to match up as closely as possible with the information the search engine finds elsewhere on the web, including in their local listing center and in the IYPs.

  Here's the details on what you should list on your pages...

  • Address — Include your street, city, state/province and zip/postal code. You'll often have better results if you don't abbreviate your state/province name. Using a PO Box for your location currently works fine, although spammers using PO boxes to list their business near the city center could change that. Do not list multiple businesses with the same address—you could get banned for spamming.

  • Phone Number — List your local business phone number including area code on all your pages. Listing an additional 1-800 number is also fine, but make sure that your local phone number is there as well. If you have multiple business locations, make sure they all have their own phone number. Listing the same phone number for different business addresses is a proven way to kill local search rankings.

  • Business Hours — This doesn't have to be on every page, but you should list this information somewhere on your site, as users and search engines both look for it.

• Page title — Page titles are very important. At the very least, have your business name, city and state or province in the page title of your homepage, your Contact Us page and your About Us page. Including that information in your other landing page titles is also very helpful, since it can help your pages rank for geo-targeted keywords like Atlanta caterers or Brighton party planners.

• Internal linking — Just as in regular SEO, you should link to your pages using the keyword anchor text you want those pages to rank for. The impact of internal linking is not as pronounced as it is with regular search, but it does help local search rankings.

It's necessary to tell local search engines what the business is, where it is and what's nearby so they can find it, index it and provide an enhanced user experience to the searchers performing queries for those targeted terms.

You will really need to carefully describe the products, services and operations of your business on your web site. The business is not just...

Instead, the true description of the business is...

See the difference? We're now telling the search engines exactly...

• What the web site provides (a personal injury attorney),
• Where their service area is (Santa Barbara county)
• What's nearby (Southern coastal California).

Describing the site with text, links and addresses in very minute detail allows the search engines and local search platforms to be very sure of your intention and market. This helps them decide which results to show for a query.

When someone searches for personal injury Santa Barbara, local search engines can be very confident that your web site provides a positive user experience and they're matching the user with a site that does exactly what they're looking for. The user doesn't want a site that does contract law in San Francisco—and the site owner in our example doesn't want clicks that are from users looking for contract law in San Francisco.

It's really as simple as putting your street address and local phone number on every page of your web site, in text that's easy for search engine spiders to read. You can also use descriptive keywords in your page titles, site meta data and in the text on your site.

Also, think about how you perform queries online when looking for local-related products and services. You'll often include a city, state, zip code or feature such as beach or mountain. Then work these kinds of keywords into your body text so that your pages will rank well for these types of searches.

And, if you have the capability, add the hCard microformat to your site. This is basically a coded business card for your web site. Yahoo Local has stated they definitely use the information in their process, and Google Maps claims they can use it but don't always.

It's fairly simple to use, particularly if you use the automated hCard Creator. Very likely most sites will use this format in the near future to deliver a standard set of location information to any engine that can use it.

KML is another important tool for better local rankings in Google. KML is a file format used to display geographic data in Earth browsers such as Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile. Most sites attempting to rank in local search aren't using this format yet, but those sites we've seen employ it have experienced very positive results. Learn more about KML in the official Google documentation and tutorial.

Local Search implies looking for something nearby (also known as Nearcasting). Although Nearcasting is an important form of local search, we can't forget about Farcasting either.

Farcasting is search performed with local intent but for a location that's not local. Travel searches are a great example of this. If you live in Colorado but you're headed to Tampa for vacation, before you leave you might search for Tampa Bay Family Restaurants to see where the best dinner places are in the area.

That's a local search but the query was not local—it's for an area far from where you actually live. That's Farcasting. Depending on your business, you may need to take both Nearcasting and Farcasting into account when optimizing your listings.

The search game is all about getting your listing in the local 10-pack or 3-pack. Here's a tip that could potentially get you listed in those top listings overnight—so pay attention.

With Google, when the location is specified in the query, users in different locations see the exact same local results for identical queries. Here's a screenshot for a query that was performed in Myrtle Beach, SC (click image for larger view)...

Here's how the same 10-pack looks when someone in Denver, Colorado performs the search...

As you can see, they're exactly the same. Which is why the Google 10-pack is so important—everyone sees the same thing, so sites listed there get massive exposure. Any vacationer from anywhere in the US looking for lodging in Myrtle Beach is going to see the same results. If you're targeting local search and Google is showing a 10-pack for your keywords, then you absolutely need to be there.

Note: Keep in mind, of course, that if the user does a local search but doesn't include the location, they'll see listings tailored to their local area. Try searching just for lodging and you'll get results tailored to your region.

Let's discuss how to compete for those spaces. First, research the sites showing up in that 10-pack for the local keywords you want to rank for. What exactly are they doing that you're not doing? Likely it's a combination of items.

Here are the 4 main questions that you need to get answers to:

• What page of their site is optimized for that keyword? Pages with more incoming links are more likely to rank for competitive keywords.
  
• Do they have a street address and local phone number on almost every page of their site? More than likely they do. How is it formatted?
  
• Have they claimed their Google Maps Listing? Look at the listing in Google Maps and see if they've added categories, images, videos etc. If they've claimed & updated it then they're ahead of you and you need to catch up.
  
• Do they have a large number of reviews? Just about every site with a 10-Box listing will have several reviews. Our research shows this is a big factor in getting listed.

By observing what the top ranking sites are doing right you should be able to emulate many of their techniques to achieve those top rankings for yourself. Then use the strategies outlined in this report to take things a step further.

Here's a list of the most important steps to take when optimizing for local search. As an added bonus, focusing on many of these factors will actually help you rank higher in both local searches and in the regular search results.

• Do keyword research to be sure you're targeting terms that get decent traffic. Incorporate those keywords into your landing pages, and build more landing pages if you discover more keywords you want to target. Our keyword tools report will show you the most effective strategies to use.

• Do competitive research. Outranking competitors often means doing what they're doing, only better. Research your competitors and see what they're doing on their pages and with their link building. Use the Site Strength Indicator (SSI) tool to research your competitor's incoming links.

• Optimize your pages for geo-targeted search. Use the keywords mentioned in step one in your page title, meta description, H1 tag and in links pointing to that page. Make sure you use the keywords on the page a few times and mix it up a bit. Use synonyms.

  For example, Personal Injury Attorney could also be written as Attorney for Personal Injury, Personal Injury Lawyer, Accident Injury Lawyer and so on. Also use those keywords in your listing title and description in the search engines' local listing centers and with the IYPs.

• Login and claim your listings in Yahoo Local and Google Maps. We also suggest spending some time updating your listings at Live Search Maps and some of the Internet Yellow Pages once you've optimized your Google and Yahoo listings.

• Put your physical address and local phone number in text format on every page of your site. You can do this in the footer of the page.

• Get local links. Find business partners, suppliers and professional organizations and ask them to link to you. Don't be afraid to link back either (when it makes sense), as that will help integrate you into the neighborhood of relevant local sites. As always, the best types of links are in a paragraph of text embedded in the content of the page, not just as a list of links.

• Utilize reviews. Reviews have quite a bit of pull in most local platforms. Yahoo Local allows sorting by highest review, and other platforms do as well. The top local results in Google also tend to have quite a few reviews.

• Accommodate Nearcasting and Farcasting by using regional colloquialisms in your text. Someone who is looking for a plumber on the Outer Banks of North Carolina might search for OBX plumber instead of Outer Banks plumber. This is an example of nearcasting with regional colloquialisms, since locals will be more likely looking for a plumber.

  Someone from out of town looking for a hotel in the Outer Banks area may not have any clue what OBX means, so if you're farcasting then you'd want to avoid that term. The different neighborhoods and boroughs of New York are another prime example. We have no idea where Tribecca is, but the locals can tell you from what street to what street is considered Tribecca. They'll use these regional terms when searching for help.