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Years ago, small Indianapolis businesses had no way to match the booming advertisements of the bigger chains. Internet marketing, however, has revolutionized and significantly leveled the playing field. Search engines, such as Google, are now focusing on providing their users more localized search results, which is great news if you are serving a particular neighborhood, town, county or state.

 

 

 

According to Search Engine Journal, when geography is considered, there is generally smaller big brand presence in search results. This provides smaller businesses, which focus on areas with lesser competition, a chance to gain stronger organic search visibility. How it works? Type in your product/service and the location your business is serving (e.g. cars for sale/law firm/ hotel accommodations in Indianapolis). Where is it in the rankings? 1st? 2nd? First page, second page…? Now imagine a user entirely new to the area or searching for alternate options, who do you think is he likely to pick first? That’s the position you’d want for your business.

 

 

People visit business websites for different purposes. Some who use broader search terms are often merely after general information while others are looking to buy and compare their options. Experts agree that the longer and more specific the keywords used (long-tail), the greater the odds that a person is actually searching for someone to do business with and is already deep into the buying stage.  Consider the keyword “top Indianapolis catering services”. Will you specify a location if you don’t intend to learn more about the options you have in the area?

 

 

There are many ways you can boost your business’s rankings in the local listings. The basics include properly optimizing business information and using location-based keywords on your website, and ensuring a well-maintained business profile in popular local directories like the Yellow Pages, Yelp and Google Local. Positive customer reviews, both onsite and offsite, can significantly strengthen your site’s local presence as well.  Overall, the more visible you are in local listings and the more people talk about you, the higher your ranking goes and the more traffic you attract, and vice versa.

 

 

With local SEO, you can work on improving your business’s search engine presence even with a limited budget. However, it requires time, patience and technical know-how. Consider leaving the task to professionals from Indianapolis digital marketing firms, like MyNetWire, and be free to reserve your energy for other important aspects of running your business.