We recently published a new article on understanding and maximizing local search, which is critical for the success of your business, whether you have a website or not. Steps include registering your business and/or website on Google’s Local Business Center, Yahoo Local, and Bing’s Local Listing Center. These 3 sites are becoming increasingly important as the search engines continue to make updates, and utilizing location in displaying search results. They can recognize you IP address automatically and display local results. The widespread growth of smart-phones means people will search for businesses on the go and nearest to them.
By now you shouldn’t have any excuse not to register your business through these main listing centers. But if you haven’t done so yet, and want another reason to do so, this one is pretty cool. Yesterday, Google announced improvements to their Street View feature used in Google Maps, which makes it easier to view Local Business Listings in Street View. In the old version, when you search for a business on Google Maps and clicked on a result, a bubble would appear with more details. One option would be to see the “Street View”. All that would appear was the Street View image of that business, but without the bubble of information. In the new version, it takes that bubble of information (the local business listing information), and displays it in Street View. You can move around the street and still see the 3D marker and bring up the information whenever you want.
Google also shows in a video on their blog post that if someone finds a cafe in Street View, they can use the new feature to search for nearby pizza instead and easily learn the route to the nearest spot. So you may not be a user’s initial search, but you could be the nearest place if they want what you have. So be sure to keep your listings up-to-date and accurate. Local listings are one of the easiest things an owner can do to increase business.
