Local Search Engine Optimization
You would be surprised to find out how many businesses have not yet claimed their Google Local account. But you would be even more surprised if you realized how weak local search algos are at this point in the game. The search engines still have a difficult time providing good local search results. They still rely on databases owned by the major print yellow page firms to populate their indexes. That and the fact that many small business owners are not too hip to the game yet combines for some questionable results at times.
Local search engine optimization is still a wild west of sorts. There are small things that you can do to enhance yor local listings like adding your local keyword before your company name and getting people to write reviews. But even then there is no telling how well you will place. Local seems to be a big part of the future of search and Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land recently did a fantastic post on the future of local search that pretty much sums it all up! Despite all of the fun and useful things in store for local search, the search engines need to come up with a better way for small, un-Internet savvy, business owners to list their businesses and they need to get the algo dialed in better.
