How to optimise your local listings [Infographic]

Get found by your potential customers by making the most of local listings

Your potential customers are on the internet- and you are too. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that these customers are able to find you. In order to get the full benefits from your local listings, you need to optimize your business’ listing on each platform. Kendall College has put together a useful guide and graphic that describes best practices for doing so.

Across platforms, your first step is to claim your business and add your complete address, filling in all available information fields as you go. Although you should be writing for people (and not search engines), use your target keywords when it’s appropriate. Perhaps most importantly, your page needs to have high-quality photos. On average, people spend 2.5 times as long looking at Yelp listings with photos than those without photos- after all, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Next, make sure you’re following the best practices for each specific platform you’re on. On Yelp, for example, respond to both good and bad reviews to show your engagement with customers. On Google, follow Google’s Business Quality Guidelines, and choose the right categories when setting up your business listing (Google uses these categories to decide both what to show and how high to show). Finally, on Facebook, complete your profile, especially the “about” section, which accounts for 60-80% of search results, and optimize your tabs based on what’s important to your business. This will become more important with Facebook's latest change to the way business pages display on mobile.

You may not realize the importance that customer reviews have on your online listings, but 88% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. You can encourage your customers to leave reviews by requesting them via email after your customer has made a purchase. In the case of negative reviews, address the customer directly and attempt to remedy the problem offline, whether it’s through emails or phone calls with the customer.

By optimizing your business’ local listings, you can capitalize on low-hanging fruit by showing up when customers are searching for your products or services. Claiming your business, optimizing your listings, and encouraging reviews will get your customers’ foot in the door.

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