A small business owner these days also is required to know about effective local SEO tactics, in order to let Google know where your business is located and attract highly relevant visitors to his or her website. But many small business owners are confused as to what really is local SEO. This article will highlight some of the most effective local search engine optimization strategies that could be used by such small business owners.

1. Categorize Your Page – Optimizing a local page means detailing your hours of operation, listing all the services offered and uploading a fair amount of photos. You must categorize your business correctly to gain the best advantage when it comes to local search engine optimization. Most of the search engines offer you the ability to categorize your business into 2-6 categories. This will help your customer understand what your business does.

2. A Local Places Page – A local places page is vital when you decide to optimize your business for the search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing, all have a page to be filled with vital information of your business. “Google Places” is considered an essential part of your local SEO strategy and is free and easy to add your business details. You will need to enter the business details such as phone number, name, fax number, location and hours of business etc.

3. Online Reviews – Online reviews are the best option when it comes to ranking your local website on Google and other search engines. You can include a button on your website where a visitor can give his or her opinion about the product or service you offer. Entice people to leave a review once they have purchased your product or service. This will skyrocket your website’s rankings on the local search results page.

4. Upload Photos – Google Plus allows you to upload up to 10 photos when you open an account with them. Upload photos of your business premises (inside and outside), your products and your logo onto your Google Plus account, so that it will be visible on the search engines. This is a surefire way to skyrocket your local rankings on the search engines.

5. Optimize the Website – Use regional keywords when inserting content to your website. Connect with people through local forums etc. This will help them to visit your website, and sometimes link back to you.

The above local SEO tactics are a great way to get started with achieving higher rankings on the search engines. At Local Lead Marketing we use a combination of many local SEO strategies to achieve high rankings for local businesses and the best part is we do all of the work for you.