If I told you there was a free, easy way to get listed in Google above most of your competitors, right on the first page within a couple days . . . would you believe me?

(You’ve probably heard it all before from the 20-thousand SEO spam companies that fill your company’s contact form every day, right?)

This isn’t snake-oil or a magic wand. It’s not going to make you famous overnight. But if you do what I’m about to tell you, your business will often outrank even top-performing national companies when someone is searching for your keywords. In most cases, you’ll show up around the 4th spot on Google’s first page of search results. Most businesses would be willing to pay for that position!

I’m simply talking about claiming your business on Google maps, through the Google Local Business Center. You’d be surprised how easy it is and how many small businesses overlook this awesome tool.

For instance, you’ll see when I search for “elevator interiors” from downtown St. Petersburg (Google recognizes my geo-location and tailors my results based on where I’m located), I see the following results:

The top three results are long-standing websites that have worked hard honing their keywords to claim that spot; but look who’s number 4? One of my clients, who just launched his website last summer and who claimed his Google Local map listing just this past October. (Don’t get me wrong – we’re working toward those top spots, but SEO takes time. This is a quick solution.)

Add Your Listing

Your business might already be listed on Google maps; in that case, you only need to claim it and update any erroneous information. If not, it’s really easy to add it at the Local Business Center. You can add your address and phone number, talk a little bit about what you do or sell, your hours of operation, and even upload a logo and some photos.

After you’ve set it all up, you’ll have to verify that you actually own the business, either by accepting an automated phone call or receiving a snail-mail postcard. Both options offer a PIN that you’ll enter at the Local Business Center that tells Google you’re really there. It’s quick and painless, and if you’re able to answer the phone, takes all of five minutes.

Once you’re verified, you’ll start seeing your listing show up in both Google maps and web searches whenever Google thinks it’s appropriate.

Adding Reviews

If you really want to harness the power of social media, start telling your customers and clients to leave you reviews on your Google maps listing.

If you already have some testimonials from your customers, ask them if they could write them on your Google Maps listing. Send them a link to your listing to make it easier. If you don’t already have testimonials from your customers, start asking for them. Ask them to put them directly onto your Google Maps listing, then you can cut and paste them onto your own website or other publications if you wish.

It’s easier to copy them from your Google Maps listing than to copy them to your listing.

Google Maps listings with at least one review tend to rank higher than those without any reviews. And of course, the reviews that you get should also help to turn those visitors into customers.

Additional Resources

Get to it! Go claim your listing or add your business to Google maps now.

• Google Local Business Center
• Local Business Center Users’ Guide

Long tailed keywords are those phrases that are 3, 4 or 5 words long that are very, very specific.   They’re generally used by people late in the buying cycle who know exactly what they are looking for – and are going to buy  it when they find it.   Such highly specific searches are far more likely to convert to sales than general broad-term searches that are usually indicative of consumer research in the early stages of making a purchase decision.

Most websites are likely to receive most of their search engine visitors through a variety of low-volume search queries (long-tailed keyphrases) instead of a handful of major keywords.

Let’s look at an example using one of our clients, a caterer in north Tampa.  Now, conventional SEO optimization would call for writing the website and paying for keywords like ‘catering’ and ‘caterer’ – which might work but will mean they’ll be competing in a sea of other caterers in the Tampa Bay area.   Not only that, but they’ll face direct competition from national chains and really, any other caterer in the world that has optimized for that term.

But, more importantly, people searching for ‘caterers’ or ‘catering’ are generally starting to explore their options;  seeing what’s out there; starting to plan.  They are probably not to the point of thinking . . .

“I’m looking for an affordable local caterer to serve a seated dinner with cocktails at my company’s holiday party in Brandon, Florida in December.”

See where we’re going with this?

When someone is ready to book a caterer for their holiday party (or wedding, or other event), their search terms become much more specific.  This is where optimizing for keyword phrases that are specific to what you’re selling becomes vital — these are the keywords that you can start ranking for and generating traffic and sales right away.

Some ideas for our catering company might include:

• corporate caterers in Brandon
• wedding catering Tampa
• formal corporate catering Tampa
• fine event catering Brandon

There is far less competition for these phrases (easier to get high rankings) and people using these terms are far more likely to actually make a purchase should they find one that meets their needs.

How do you optimize for long tailed keywords?  Content!  (Did you think I’d say anything else?)  Google love content – pages and pages of content.  So, adding pages that are optimized for your long-tailed phrases makes sense.   These pages don’t need to be completely unique – they can be variations on your main content pages with different H1 tags, titles, meta descriptions, and the content altered to fit your specific long-tailed niche.

Instead of focusing on just two or three highly competitive broad keywords, target the dozens or even hundreds of easy-to-rank-for long tail keywords.

Focusing too much on the long tail keywords can result in dried up traffic though – so beware.  Your site needs balance between less targeted pages for the high number of ‘browsers’ who are just starting their search and then a larger number of pages optimized for your long tail keywords that bring in the buyers.

Consider this:  would you rather be ranked for your one general keyword that brings 100 visitors a day searching for your general industry, or rank for 100 different keyphrases, half of which bring you 1 buyer a day who was searching specifically for you?

So how do you find your long-tailed keywords and then start developing the content for them?  It all begins with research – and that’s where we can help.

Read more about long-tailed keywords:

• How to Find and Target Long-Tailed Keywords for More Search Engine Traffic (Dosh Dosh)
• Keyword Research in the Long, Invisible Tail (SEOmoz)