Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that ranking factors for local search engines are vastly different from normal organic ranking factors. Like natural search, there are so many factors that go into how a listing will rank.

Unlike natural search engines, local search engines place emphasis on totally different areas. While the basic fundamentals are still the same, if you don’t place your cookies in the right jar you’ll have little hope of doing well in the local search engines.

So what are the factors? Before, it was hard to say and many SEO’s could only speculate. Lucky…

Have you signed into your Google Local Business Center account lately. If so, then you’ve likely been introduced to their new reporting features! These new reports provide valuable feedback on the performance on your local business listing, and really goes to show how much value is out in the local market.

Google has really been pushing local search lately, with the 10-pack update which shows the google 10-pack listings within the natural search area for search terms without service area identifyers to this. It is clear that Google doesn’t just want big powerhouse websites to rank,…

In my last article, “The Importance of Local Search,” I discussed just how vital it is for brick-and-mortar businesses as well as retail chains to control and manage their local listings in such places as Google Maps, Yahoo Local, etc. Many business owners overlook this avenue when considering the allocation of their time and resources as regards to search engine marketing.

On the other hand, many biz owners do a great job of making sure that they have control over their local search listings. In fact, many business listings are well constructed and really…

The rise of local search and the integration into search results (Google especially) in the past few years has created an increasingly vital avenue for small businesses and retail chains to promote awareness about their businesses and gain additional traffic.

This has created a need for Local Search Optimization, as many business-owners simply aren’t aware of the impact that their local listings can have on their site’s traffic. In fact, most have no clue or no time to actively manage their listings in such places as