Someone once said, “all search is local.” In most cases, whenever someone goes online to look for something, they are looking for a local service or product from a company that they (hopefully) recognize. To that end, Google has created the Local Business Directory. You’ve probably seen in action. Do a search for a service and add a geotag – the name of a city or a zip code – and you’ll see a little map show up with some listings next to it.
Google has recently made some changes to the interface of their local business directory that will allow you to take full advantage of local search. Let’s take a look at how you can make it work for you.
You’ve always been able to add yourself to the Local Business Directory by visiting http://www.google.com/local/add. Click on add new listing and you’ll get this screen.
Be sure to fill out every single field. Every little piece has an influence on whether you show up when people look for you. The description field should be filled with your products, services, and the areas you service. You get 200 characters, you should use them all.
On the next screen you’ll be given the option to claim an already existing listing. If one of those listings is you, make sure you claim that listing so you can update the info. If none of them are you, choose add listing.
On the next screen you get to add yourself to Google’s categories. Instead of being able to type in your categories, you have to pick from Google’s pre-determined categories. Try to fill all five spots, but don’t put yourself into categories that having nothing to do with your business. That’s spam and Google may penalize you in the rankings for cheating. Fill out the rest of the listings and make sure you add pictures and videos. The more you add, the better off you are. If you can add videos of you doing your work or talking about your work, even better. (extra hint: also post these videos on Youtube and your own website)
Now, after you’ve submitted, you have some more work to do (it’s worth it, I promise). After you hit submit you’ll get a screen that will show you the status of your listing. In some cases, your listing may be flagged for manual review by a Google employee. If that’s the case it may take a few extra days for your listing to appear. There’s nothing you can do to make it run faster, so just sit tight.
After your listing status says Active, you’ll start seeing activity like how many impressions (the number of times your local listing appeared in a search result) and actions (the number of times someone clicked on your listing, requested driving directions to your place, or clicked through to your website). You can view more detail by clicking on View Report.
Do More
- Make sure you have a strong website that contains lots of local information about your company and your surroundings, like driving directions to your business, local companies you’ve worked with, and local events where you can be found.
- Links to your website from local authority sites are awesome. Chamber of Commerce, college & university links, and other local sites can help your search rankings improve.
- Get reviewed. Ask your happy customers to review you on relevant review sites. For example, a Bed and Breakfast might ask customers to review them on CitySearch.com, TravelGuide.com, or other travel sites.
There can be a lot to finding your local search market. Let us know in the comments below what kind of questions you might have!
Cory Huff is the blogging & social media specialist for Netbiz.com, an internet marketing firm in Portland, Oregon and one of our very own Sparkplugging Interns! You can follow him on Twitter at @AGoodHusband
Get Your FREE 21-Page Internet Business Idea Guide
Enter your name and email below and we’ll send you our unique 21-page guide chock full of Internet business ideas – for free! Your information will be kept private, of course.
Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow). 
Easton Ellsworth is owner of 
Great post Cory – I just used your instructions and got my home based business listed on Google Business Directory – thanks!
Don’t forget to do a little keyword research before you begin in order to use relevant terms in your categories and description.
I just started a blog and am wondering if there is a way to customize this to me specifically? My company is already listed, but isn’t doing much to maximize the corporate sites ranking and exposure. I can’t “claim the existing listing” because I’m not an owner of the company. Any suggestions?
I hope I’m not out of line in asking for feedback on my first two postings?
http://www.jdavisfinance.com
John,
You need to get permission to do this from the powers that be. Claiming that listing is key to getting the right keywords in there. All you’ll need to do is be able answer the phone number that you leave in the listing when you verify the account.
The other option is if the company has multiple locations, you can create a new listing for any unlisted locations.
Something else I didn’t mention – you can add a Google Maps widget to your website. Some research has shown that Google likes you adding that widget to your page.
Google is going to do a free webcast about this (the promo code to get in free is bgg737). http://www.nfib.com/virtualsummit
Cory, since you are obviously interested in Local Search, another online directory that performs very well in this regard is http://www.brownbook.net – the global business directory that anyone can edit. When I search for “chiropractor” and “RH19″ (my local UK zipcode), the Brownbook listing for a chiropractor in the RH19 area shows up directly below Google’s map and directory results. That’s not bad!
I just updated our local business listing but was never given the opportunity to claim our previous business location. Is there any way to go back in and delete the old listing? We moved from one side of town to the other so it might be confusing for customers.