If you've done any research into SEO, you probably have heard about "local SEO" or "local citations." When we speak about local SEO, we're talking about getting you listed in the cities for which you'd like to be seen. We're talking about signing up for Google Business and getting your business listed on local maps, so you can be found easily by local customers, whether they are searching their cell phone, iPad, or laptop.
When we talk about Local Citations, we are talking about your brick & mortar business getting listed on trusted, high-value pages, like YellowPages.com or the Better Business Bureau, with your business name, a link to your site, and your address and phone number.
Local citations send signals to Google & Bing and up-and-comers like DuckDuckGo that your business really exists, it really resides at that address and your telephone number actually works. From MOZ:
There are five main aggregators of location data that send information to U.S. local search engines: Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, Acxiom, Factual and Foursquare* and four main aggregators that send to U.K. local search engines: Factual, Central Index, ThompsonLocal and Foursquare*
When someone searches online for a local business, search engines and many mobile apps rely on location data from these data sources to provide search results.
If listing data is incorrect or inconsistent between all these data sources, your listing might not show up in the search results.
Sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn't have to be. If you're a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau, then you already have some citations in place. But if you're just starting out, you may want to have this managed for you. Well, what if I told you that you could get it done for $84 a year?
And what if I told you that you don't have to hire anyone to do it for you?
You'd be into it, right?
Sign up with Moz Local and with a little bit of work, you'll be listed in:
Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yellow Pages, Factual and Super Pages. You'll even have the option to sign up for a Four Square account if you want people to be able to "check in" to your business.
Better yet? This gives you 6 links to your site from reputable sites - further increasing the strength of your page.
So, whether you have a brand new site, or you just want to increase your traffic, try Moz Local! It's an easy way to both build high-authority links AND get noticed!