If you want to begin optimizing your web presence for Local Search, here are the most important things you can do and the order in which I recommend doing them:

  • Check your business information at the big three data aggregator websites: Info USA, Acxiom and Amacai. Most other directories get basic information about your from one of these sources. Verifying the facts about you early in the pipeline, may spread them more quickly.
  • Verify-or create-your Local Business Listing in Google Maps. This gives Google a higher level of trust in the information they have about you, which may help in the rankings. You’re given the opportunity to provide photos, store hours, brands, products and more. Give as much information as you can.
  • Verify or create your Yahoo Local listing, which is very similar to Google Maps.
  • Create or verify your Windows Live listing, again very similar to Google Maps and Yahoo Local.
  • Make certain your street address, including the zip code appears in text form on  your web pages. This validates your physical location and adds another level of trust.
  • If it’s not already there, add your location to the title tags of your pages.

Taking the time to accomplish these very do-able tasks will provide great Local Search exposure with a reasonable amount of effort.