Improving your business’ ranking for local internet searches has therefore become very important.  In a previous post on boosting your local search rankings, I pointed out that at a minimum, business owners should create a listing on Google’s Local Business Center.  This is easy to set up and the service is free.  You can sign up for it here.

In addition to creating a Google Local listing, you should also set up a business listing at Yahoo Local. The process is very similar and its also free.

Microsoft also has its Bing local search engine, so consider creating a listing there as well.

Having multiple listings and additional citations should give your local search rankings a definite boost.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of fine-tuning different aspects of your website with the goal of getting it ranked well.  The SEO world is filled with myths and misinformation due to the search engines’ secrecy with respect to the precise algorithms that they use for ranking.

For business owners, finding reliable information about SEO can feel like navigating a complex maze. For those who would like to learn more about the basics of SEO and what the search engines look for, this beginners guide to SEO (from SEOmoz) is a good resource.

This comprehensive report covers:

1. What is SEO
2. How Search Engines Operate
3. How to conduct Keyword Research
4. Critical components of Optimizing a site
5. Building a Traffic Worthy Site
6. Growing a Site’s Popularity
7. Crafting an SEO strategy

While some of the tools are dated (e.g. Overture no longer exists), the basic concepts remain relevant. Overall, the report provides a holistic picture of SEO and what it entails.

With so much competition on the web, it is no longer possible to throw up a web site and expect to be found by potential customers.  Business owners with web sites can no longer keep their sites a ’secret’ – they need their sites to get found by showing up in search engine results.

In today’s online space, Google is the 800 pound gorilla that confers ranking and determines the authority of web sites. A web site’s search ranking has become critically important given that 80% of online searchers do not actually go beyond the first page of Google’s search results. So if you are not ranking on the first page, the chances of getting potential customers to visit your site is dramatically reduced.

In addition, with increasingly sophisticated web users, online search behavior has also changed. Results from the ‘Think Eyetracking’ study shown here highlight these differences. Unlike search behavior in 2005, online searchers in 2008 focused primarily on the top 5 results on the first page, with the most clicks going to the top 3 ranking sites.  These findings are supported by a Cornell University study which found that the top 3 Google results get 79% of all clicks.

What this all means for business owners is that their web site not only needs to be found, but it needs to show up in the top 5 positions on the first page of Google to really matter.

Putting together a well thought out and concerted effort to get to the top of Google’s rankings is more important now than ever before.

Business owners typically face some big challenges when it comes to search engine optimization:

• Often, Google doesn’t even know their sites exist (this is VERY common)
• Even if Google knows about their site, it never shows up in search engine listings
• Even if their site does show up in some kind of search, it’s hardly ever the “keyword phrase” that the owner would like
• Even if the owner could dictate to Google what keywords to show the site for, most business owners don’t know which words or phrases are the money makers!

In shopping for Search Engine Marketing services, business owners should also bear in midn that aggressive ranking efforts done the wrong way can even get your site de-indexed, which means that it will be removed from Google’s index and will not show up at all in any search results.

Therefore, when working with a Search Engine Marketing consultant, make sure that they are being totally transparent about their methods; showing you exactly what they will do, and why it helps to propel you to the top of Google.