Does your business primarily aim to serve a particular local area or region?

If so, you are in luck—optimizing your site to really stand out when a locally-defined search is done on your area of expertise is actually much simpler than trying to target visitors worldwide.  By adding a local spin to your site and optimizing accordingly, you’re effectively streamlining your niche (your area of expertise + your local area of service = a remarkably tight niche).  And if one thing holds ever true, it’s that search engines absolutely love niche-oriented sites!

How about a few pointers on how to optimize your website for search engines based on your business’s location?

Tip #1:  Follow The Search Engine Guidelines.

Each of the major search engines has their own specific submission process to get your site listed locally within their database.  Now, some swear by just optimizing your site and letting the search engines find it naturally—but why chance it?  When the search engines ask you to submit your site locally by providing step-by-step guidelines and a form to do it, this means they’re actively seeking your information…by all means share it with them!

Each search engine is a little bit different when it comes to submitting your site locally.  Here are the places to start:

• Google Local Business Center – http://www.google.com/local/add/
• Yahoo! Local – http://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php
• Bing Local Listing Center – https://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

Simply set aside a few minutes and follow the steps provided.  It’s that easy!

Tip #2:  Use Appropriate Keywords Throughout Your Website.

Using targeted keywords and keyword phrases naturally but consistently throughout your website’s written content is one of the essential ways to tell the search engines what you’re all about.  When optimizing for maximum local exposure, including keyword phrases with several variations of your local city or region, along with keywords that describe your type of business means using phrases like these throughout your site:

• “San Francisco Seafood Restaurant”
• “Santa Cruz Interior Design”
• “San Jose Coffee Shop”

Describing your locale along with your services via keywords helps search engines find your site and list it appropriately.  Just play nice and don’t use these keywords too often or in ways that don’t seem natural to readers.  It’s also a good idea to use your local keyword in your webpage’s title tags (ask your web designer if you’re not sure what this means).

Tip #3:  Include Your Physical Address On Your Contact Page And Beyond.

Seems obvious enough, but many end up neglecting this concept.  Search engines do take into account the address that is listed on your site.  Make sure it’s listed prevalently on your contact page at the very least.  Bonus points go to those that include their address in the footer portion of the site to be displayed concisely on each of its pages.

Tip #4:  Make Sure Your Domain Name Is Registered Under Your Address.

This tip has been debated extensively within the search engine community with no definitive conclusion reached—some say that using private domain registration is just fine in the eyes of the search engines, others swear that using your real address and contact information transparently to register your domain is a must for local optimization (meaning that the address and contact information you provide is displayed to those that conduct a “whois” lookup).

Bottom line?  It certainly doesn’t hurt to give this one the benefit of the doubt and use your business’s real address here.  We do know that search engines use domain registration information when listing and ranking sites, so why not take advantage of the opportunity presented?

Optimizing your website to stand out when a visitor performs a local search is actually much simpler than targeting visitors all the way around the globe.  And remember, even if you do serve customers nationwide or worldwide, it’s always worth optimizing locally too!