Local Search Tool Shows Snapshot of Online Presence

How well is your local business doing online? How much more traffic could you bring your way? Are there things you could do to improve your visibility?

Thousands of local businesses are coming around to the fact that the internet is no longer just for global or online businesses. By now, people are more likely to discover a business online than in the phone book, and this makes Internet marketing one of the most relevant strategies available. You can use techniques like Google Places optimization and local directory submissions to help improve your site's visibility.

Unfortunately, the Internet is awash with a storm of conflicting information on the subject. It can be difficult to determine what strategies you should be working, and which aren't doing it for you. This is where the Local Search Tool can be especially helpful. It points out exactly how well your presence is being optimized, and what changes need to be made in order to improve success.

To begin, the tool checks Google Places, Bing Local, and Yahoo! Local in order to determine how well your local pages are optimized. It critiques the sites based on factors that the firm has consistently measured to be important for ranking. It then gives you a score.

The next thing the tool checks for is citations, which are very important for local search rankings. The tool checks the most popular local directories in order to determine whether or not your page has been cited in each of them. The tool also checks these citations to see if they have been optimized with images, descriptions, and other important factors.

To help you improve your strategy, the tool also returns some information about your competitors. It collects information about who your competitors are, and then searches for important ranking factors such as citations. It then tells you where your competitors are listed so that you can seek citations in the same places.

SEO is being heavily influenced by the growing importance of social media, and the local search tool retrieves information from these sources as well. It checks to determine whether you have profiles on the most important social media sites, and how well optimized these profiles are. Be sure to stay active on your social media accounts, since these are meant to be communities, not just listings. It is also a good idea to make a video about your business and submit it to YouTube.

Your rank is also influenced by the number of reviews you receive. The tool checks for number of reviews and how positive the reviews are. Higher ratings encourage customers to take advantage of your business.