One of the greatest resources I believe in for local SEO is the online directory. Local search testing has been done and it supports the fact that the more geo citations you have, the more trust search engines will have in your site for local search results.

But with so many local directories and search engines, where do you start? And how do you prevent yourself from becoming spammy? Well, fortunately these directories, from Google Places (formerly Google Local) to Super Pages, all pull their data from a few business listing databases. Now, don’t get confused. The bigger sites like Google and Yahoo still maintain their own database, but they also utilize the sites below to round out their index. And luckily for all of us, the big databases like Super Media and Express Update USA allow you to update and add your submission FOR FREE. Can’t beat that.

Now, I’ve taken the liberty of doing all the research and condensing the data of “who shares what with whom” into the flowchart below.  Take a gander and save yourself some time!

And to make things even easier, here are links to the “Add Listing” pages for the above directories:

• Super Media
• Express Update USA
• Bing
• Dex
• Google
• City Grid Media
• Localeze
• Acxiom

Special thanks to localtype.com and Bruce Clay in creating this post.

I seem to be on a location kick lately since two out of three of my last posts have been about location. Although it’s a hot topic in the social media world, we can’t forget the importance of local search results. A simple search for a business or product on any major search engine will usually cause a few top results in your area to show up within the regular listing. See example below:

Google

Bing

Yahoo

More local listings are available but the coveted spot and most valuable real estate are those top few listings on the first page. How do you get there? Here are a few tips.

• Submit your business listing on Google, Yahoo, and Bing if it doesn’t already show up in search. For multiple listings, make sure your information is complete and consistent. Double check business name, keywords and description before submitting. Be sure to include all possible contact information and feel free to submit photos of your locations.
• Your site should be search engine friendly. Search engines need to easily crawl your site and find relevant keywords. Your business name and address should be clear text and not hidden within an image or table. Listing the business address more than once and including your location in the title tag can also help crawlers deem your site more relevant than others.
• Don’t underestimate the power of reviews. Ask your customers to submit reviews. Reviews add more information and keywords to your listings building your site’s credibility.
• Find local web listings and request that they link to your site. You can also request local Chambers of Commerce to link to your site.
• Create different pages for different cities/regions if your business has multiple locations. Be sure to use unique and relevant content and do not duplicate information.

There are other ways to get found by search engines and customers. How many more can you think of?