Local Search Action Plan

It’s a digital world out there and instead of pulling out the old Yellow Pages, savvy consumers are taking to the Internet before they visit local businesses in their area. This means you need to be visible online when people are searching for businesses like yours.

This step-by-step Action Plan will help you create more visibility for your business

When your local customers are searching, you want them to be able to find you:

For your business name. This seems simple enough, but there are so many local small businesses that miss out on a tremendous opportunity when their potential customer cannot find them online.

For your type of business in your local area. For example, if you are a hairdresser in Boston, Massachusetts, you want to be found when they search for “hairdresser Boston” or "hairdresser Boston Massachusetts".

For your product or services in your local area. Building on the previous point, you also want your potential customer to be able to find you for your individual services. For example, “children’s haircuts Boston”.

Local Search Engine Optimization

Now, how do you make sure this happens for your business? It’s all part of the search engine optimization (SEO) process. The “Local Search Action Plan” will walk you through the things you need to do to improve your visibility in the local search results.

Most of the business listings you see in a search engine are free and businesses do not pay to be listed. Search engines use a complex algorithm to determine which pages are relevant for each search its users make. For example, if a user searches for “kids clothing boutique Cambridge, MA” and you happen to own a kid’s clothing boutique in that city, you’re more likely to be found, provided that your website is descriptive and includes those keyword phrases.

What’s Inside This Action Plan:

Part One: Your Website - Includes specific information on the elements you need to include on your website to rank well in local searches.

Part Two: Listing Your Website - Includes step-by-step information that will guide you through the process of listing your business in the “local” search engines powered by Google, Bing & Yahoo.

Part Three: Gaining Visibility - Includes suggestions regarding a variety of other places where you can list your local business online.