Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Marketing Coordinator

Your pizza search just got easier. Thanks to new local search results from Google, you no longer have to type in the name of your city when looking for a local pizza joint or other local business results. Google now shows local results for generic keywords based on IP address even when the location is not specified in the query.

What does this mean for small local shops? The potential for generating business from generic keywords (and SEO) has gone through the roof! First-page results are attainable for even your most basic keywords if the search originated in your region. The local search results are displayed in the center of the search results page instead of at the top of the page when there is no location specified, but a first page listing is still far more valuable than no top 30 result at all.

There is some search engine optimization to be done, however, if you want to fully capitalize on Google’s new local search. An accurate, up-to-date Google Local listing is a must! If you haven’t already, visit http://www.google.com/local/add, and add or update your listing. Pay special attention to having the correct phone number listed, especially if you have multiple store locations, since it appears directly on the search page.  Also, be sure to tell search engines exactly where you are located. This is as simple as putting your street address and phone number in text format on every page of your site. Encouraging customer reviews may also help, considering the fact that businesses listed in local search results tend to have several reviews.