Local Search includes services such as Google Places, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Yelp, and many other.  This websites give users the listing information for businesses in a very defined region, such as your neighborhood or city.  Optimizing for local search is becoming more and more important as all of the major search engines begin to adopt “universal search” which brings other content (News, Images, Local Listings) to page one of the search engine results page.

Optimizing for local search is still a very rough science but here are some things that can get you on your way to moving up the local listings:

1.) Register and verify your listing.  By simply verifying that you are the business owner of a location on a map the search engines will put more trust in your listing than the other unverified businesses.  Here are  the links for verifying your business: Google , Bing , and Yahoo.

2.) Fill out your listing as completely as possible.  The more information you are able to place in your listing the better.  Make sure that you list your business in as many different categories as possible (Usually 5-6) because this is an important factor in triggering your business to show in the results.  Also add features such as your logo or a photo of the outside of your building, all of these features make your listing look more complete than the other around you.

3.) Get reviews.  Reviews are key to getting your local listing to move into  the top 5.  Encourage customers to review you on Google, Yahoo, and Bing by putting a reminder on email blasts, putting it on cards, and personally telling them when you see them.  Also don’t get too worried about negative reviews.  Make sure to look for completely false claims and to respond to negative remarks but negative reviews will not hurt your listing, they actually will help.  So handle negative reviews online like you would handle a negative customer anywhere, address their concerns and speak to them directly about the problem.