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Ever rising fuel prices along with an increasingly congested transport network means that doing business locally is now faster, often returns a healthier profit margin and is good news for the environment.
Below are 10 top tips to help your business rank higher in local online searches.

1. Submit to Local Search Engines

Make sure that your site has been submitted to local search engines including Google Local Business, Yahoo Local Merchant and Ask Business Search.

2. Get listed in local directories

Touch Local, Yell.com and other classified directories usually rank highly in the results pages of local searches. Make sure that your business has an up to date listing in those that are popular in your area and include as much detail and information as they will allow you.

3. Make the most of your Index title tag

Feature your local town or area in the title tag of your index page along with some descriptive keywords that help to link your business, service and location. For example our index page title tag reads "Web Design in Tunbridge Wells, Graphic Design Agency, Holman Design Associates"

4. Give prominence to your location details.

Feature your address clearly on your home page. Also make it easy for people to contact you with an email link (preferably with obfuscated, scrambled HTML) and a local area phone number. These all help to reassure searching web users that you are a bona fide local business.

5. Include a Google site map on your contact page

Make it easy for people to locate you and then get to you and remember to include any handy tips with regards to landmarks, local transport and parking information.

6. Make sure your WHOIS information is up to date

Is your domain name registered with your current business address? Google allegedly takes this into account when ranking sites for local searches, so it’s worth checking through your domain registration account to ensure that they match.

7. Encourage positive reviews

Google includes reviews on businesses in it's places listings along with favorable comments from happy customers. If your clients are pleased with your service then asking them to endorse you can make a big difference to how your business is perceived at the local level.

8. Make your domains work for you

if you use a .com but also own the .co.uk version make sure that the latter points to the former with a url redirection. the same goes for the front end of your domain. Make sure that Google knows that www.yourdomain.com is the same place as yourdomain.com. These can both be accommodated within the same redirection notice.

9. Get involved in your local (online) community

Inbound links from local forums, blogs and websites can also help to show Google the relevance of your business within the local community. Make sure that you make a real contribution to these groups however and don't simply spam them hoping for links back to your site as this could well work to your detriment rather than benefit.

10. Get involved locally offline

By helping a local charity or participating in local community campaigns you can directly improve the area you live in and hopefully gain some local press or blog coverage at the same time. If this includes a mention of your business local search engines will make the connection and subsequently rank your business higher in local searches.