IT Admin

All 3 major search engines have local search results, these local results are mixed into the normal ranking pages. These local search can be a major benefit if you know how to use it. However, if your not using this guide you loosing traffic.

When does a search engine show a local result?
Typically, Google, Yahoo! and Live will show a local result if a region name is in a keyword search, like ‘Camas feed stores’, and if it’s clearly a locally-focused business. The search engines may also check the users IP address. But the search engines won’t say for sure.

Register with the search engine
Google, Yahoo and Live all have webmaster logins. If you don’t have an account, you’ll need to register with each one first.
On Google, go to Google.com/Accounts.
On Yahoo, go to Yahoo.com and set up a ‘my Yahoo’ account. On Live, go to Webmaster.Live.Com
Fill out all the required information. That gets you an account so that you can add or edit local listings.

Add/edit your listing
On Google, go to Google.com/local/add .
On Yahoo, go to listings.local.yahoo.com/account .
On Live, go to llc.local.live.com .
Follow the instructions there. Make sure your address is correct!

Hit the directories
You also need to get your site listed and indexed in the third-party directories the major search engines use to inform their local search rankings.
Those directories include Yelp.com , SuperPages, YellowPages.com, and a host of others.
Click Here for the full list.

Don’t forget plain old optimization.
It’s still a search engine! Make sure your address appears in at least a few places on your site, as crawlable text. Also make sure your city name shows up in key places like title tags and headings here and there, and that you’ve got a good, crawlable contact us page with all your information on it.

Good Luck…