Back in 2010, you could “accidentally” find your business listed on the first page of a search for your business – even if you didn’t have a website. The image below shows how a local search looked back in 2010.
This is an example of the early days of local search.
Back then, some small business owners were surprised to see that even though they hadn’t even launched their own website, their business was listed in local search results.
That was then and this is now.
The same keyword search looks very different today than it did back in 2010. Today, very few business owners are going to find themselves “accidentally” listed in local search results. The old-style “Google 7-pack” looks positively antiquated when compared with the current display of local listings.
Today local search results are dominated by businesses who recognize the importance of putting their business in front of consumers who are now accessing the internet via their smartphone.
Getting Found in Local Search Results
Whether it’s finding a good restaurant or the nearest barber, consumers are turning to their smartphones to access the internet for information. Unfortunately, a multitude of small business owners have yet to take the first step towards being found online: establish a search engine friendly web presence.
Once you have your search engine friendly website, then you can focus upon claiming the dozens of local listings that populate the internet. It’s important that you not only CLAIM these local business listings for your business but also that you actively MAINTAIN your local business listing on the high-profile local directory listing sites.
If you’re a reasonably intelligent small business owner who has more time than money, you can save thousands of dollars by simply claiming and maintaining these listings yourself.
Be sure to check out our Local Business Search Listings to discover the most important online business listing sites where you should claim your business listing.