Local Search Tips – Do I Need a Website?

There are millions of websites on the internet today. Some represent large companies and many of them represent small companies. It’s a literal plethora of places that you can visit all across the web. But as amazing as it may seem not every small business has a web site. And with local search accounting for nearly 20% of all searches taking place each day the question is, does your small business need a website to benefit from local search? Of the many local search tips you might see this is an important one. Because the answer is no. You do not need a website to benefit from local search? Is it better to have a website. Yes of course it is but it isn’t necessary.

If you’re wondering how you can benefit even if you don’t have a website you need to understand the nature of local search. Local search starts first and foremost with geography. If someone in Los Angeles for example wants to find a local auto repair shop and they do a search through Google or another major search engine they’re going to get a map when the search results appear. That map will display results that show businesses near them. It won’t show results from auto repair shops located in New York. And the results shown are based on business location and how close they are to the person conducting the search.

The key though is for the search engines to know you exist. A website helps but of more importance is claiming your listing in the major search engines and directories on the internet. With Google you can claim your Google Places listing. That means submitting business information such as the name you operate under, a description and most importantly a physical address and phone number. Not a P.O. Box. An actual location where people can come see you. It’s the address that will help Google, Yahoo, or Bing determine whether your business might be relevant to the search being done.

If you don’t have a website local search can still help you. But you have to tell the search engines and business directories who and where you are. Because without a website as a starting point they don’t know you even exist. If you don’t have a website though you should consider putting at least a basic one up. Consider a website like an online billboard for your business. You can put down your location, services or products offered, hours of operation, contact information, and payment methods accepted at the very least. The more you can tell people about yourself the more likely they are to visit you. And with all the different website templates available and cheap hosting services it can be a very inexpensive thing to do.

So your local search tip for today is no you do not need a website to benefit from local search. But it would be better for your business to have one.

If you would like to learn more about Search Engine Optimization please check out our entire SEO Articles section and our regular SEO Blog. 

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