There are several ways to build links, an important part of local search engine optimization. Some are more effective than other for search engines, while other techniques are aimed more at bringing in traffic.

Blog comments: While a good way to catch the attention of bloggers who might write about your local business, this is not the best local search engine optimization method. However, you can certainly get traffic and this method should not be ruled out.

Press releases: Press releases are a good way to draw attention to your local business and to get plenty of incoming links, often from higher Page Rank websites, which can boost your Page Rank as well. This is one local search engine optimization technique that should not be ruled out.

Article directories: This is possibly one of the most used ways to build links in order to optimize your business site for local search engines. Basically, you write or hire someone to write a series of articles based on your area of expertise and submit them to dozens of directories. This is not likely to bring much traffic, but it can certainly build incoming links in a hurry.

There are many other methods of local search engine optimization via link building, but these are three of the most commonly used methods. Test them and see how they work for your local business.

Local search engine optimization is comprised of many factors, but keywords are a huge one. Keyword density is one of the most important techniques used to boost local search engine optimization, so it´s a good idea to learn as much as possible about it.

The first step to keyword optimization is to choose the keywords or phrases. Then you need to worry about how often to repeat that phrase on the website. Too many repeats and you will get nailed by Google for keyword stuffing, a practice used by those who are unconcerned with the quality of their content as long as it is ranked high for their keywords. Too few keyword repetitions and you won´t get ranked higher than other websites that have mastered local search engine optimization.

While opinions differ on exactly what is an ideal keyword density, it is generally agreed that between 3-5% is acceptable and high enough to get you ranked by the search engines. Some people, however, claim to have good results with 10% keyword density. However, repeating your keyword 3 to 5 times for every hundred words or so should give you a good balance of content and local search engine optimization.

AOL recently exposed their list of top search phrases in 2007 and local search engine optimized phrases were in the top 2! Apparently people search for local weather most often, but right behind that was local businesses, something that really applies to those reading this blog.

Number seven on AOL´s top 2007 searches was local maps. If your business isn´t already on Google Maps, you might want to consider putting it there, since this is in the top 10 searches of the year. Part of your local search engine optimization should include images and maps for the best visibility in the search engines.

Keeping an eye on the top searches is important if you want to know how to get into the top local search engine results. Knowing exactly what people are searching for makes it easier to pinpoint the right keyword phrases. With all the top search engines offering their top phrases, it is easy to see what the most popular local search engine searches are and optimize for them.

Local search engine optimization pays off, since people really are looking for information on businesses in their own town or area. By setting up your site to bring in those local searches, you will end up with a lot more traffic as more and more internet users look locally.

Any business that doesn´t have a blog is probably not ranking as high as they would like for their keywords. Local search engine optimization is far easier for blogs than for static websites and can be an excellent method of advertising your local business.

What do you write about on a business blog? That depends. Most businesses find that writing for both local search engine optimization and for readers is best. Obviously, readers don´t want to see review after review of your local business, but you can turn it into something useful that is also full of keywords.

For example, if you have an auto garage, you might write an auto maintenance blog. This could have posts on how to check your tires to see if they are low on air, clips from the news about auto safety, choosing the right mechanic, etc. Link the keywords back to your business site and you´ll be surprised what it does for your local search engine optimization.

Blogs need frequent fresh content, which makes them quite appealing both to search engines and to readers. The hard part is getting that content. You can hire a freelance writer to do some posts so that you don´t spend your life writing, or just outsource the entire blog to someone who knows what they are doing. You focus on your business and a company like Brick Marketing runs your blog for you, complete with links back to your site. It´s a way to get the best local search engine optimization without having to stress out over keywords and writing daily articles.

While there have been quite a few changes lately in the Google ranks, link building is still one of the most important local search engine optimization methods out there. As long as you aren´t buying links, but rather, building them naturally, your local business should do well.

The idea behind links in local search engine optimization is that the more websites linking to your business, the more useful your website. While you may not always have a choice, you want the anchor text in these incoming links to use the keywords that you are trying to rank for in the local search engines. For example, rather than have “this site” linked, you want “My Keywords” to be linked. This gives your local business more weight with the search engines like Google.

Building links, while a vital local search engine optimization method, takes a lot of time. So, you may find that it is best to hire this work out to a site like Brick Marketing. That way you can focus on the more interesting parts of your business and let someone else worry about local search engine optimization techniques like building links.

Local search engine optimization is very important for local advertising and it all starts with keyword phrases. With the right keyword phrase, you can be right at the top of the search engines when people look for your specialty. The trick is to select the right keywords.

One of my favorite tools for finding low competition keywords is Wordtracker. This is a very easy system to use. You just type in the word or phrase that you are thinking of and you will get a long list of similar words and phrases that are searched for on search engines.

In order to make this work for you, you will want to use your location as well as the keywords that describe your company. Let´s say, for example, that you have a shoe making business in Chicago. You would want to type in “Chicago” and “Shoe making” and see what comes up. Click on a search term and you´ll see another list pop up to the right that will tell you how often these terms are searched for.

Wordtracker is a very useful tool to help you find low competition keyword phrases that make local search engine optimization a piece of cake. Once you have selected all relevant keyword phrases, the system will go through them and tell you which phrases or words are most valuable for local search engine optimization.

The Yellow Pages Association has released a new edition of the Local Search Guide.

The Guide strives to keep people informed of the changes in local search. Changes in local search are so rapid that every day you can log on to the World Wide Web and see something a little different than you did the day before. The players could be different and the strategies could be different as well. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of what is happening so that you can be effective in advertising your local business to the right market. That’s why I recommend the Local Search Guide.

The Guide is sponsored by some of my favorite organizations, including Superpages, comScore, The Kelsey Group, and SEMPO. Here’s what you get when you pay attention to the Guide:

• Profiles of Internet Yellow Pages
• Search Engine Profiles and Support Advice
• Great Search Tools
• Mobile Marketing Tools
• Information on Vertical Directories
• A Useful Glossary
• Insightful Columns and Viewpoints From Industry Leaders
• Other Great Resources

When it comes to definitive information about local search, there’s no resource like the Local Search Guide.

Today, the Google Webmaster Central Blog featured Matt Cutts giving a presentation via YouTube video on how a company can influence the snippet that appears on Google SERPs for their listing. It’s a useful video that offers some great insights into the description meta tag and its importance. Matt also discusses how a snippet can be formed from the content on your website. This has some excellent application for local businesses, which I’ll cover briefly after you’ve watched the video:

• Write a killer meta description tag
• Include your address on every page of your website
• Try to think about the content on your site and what would make a good snippet, then write each sentence as if it could be that snippet
• List your site on DMOZ
• Only include the most important information about your company on each web page

Chances are if you run a local business that has a website that there is a business with a broader reach within your niche that you can get involved in. If they have a forum you can use that forum to your advantage and build your link popularity as well as develop content for your local business website.

I read the following tips on Marketing Pilgrim this morning and thought it was a great suggestion. Why not use it to build content for your local websites?

1. Find a forum with a decent traffic level in your niche
2. Spend some time contributing to the community, get your name respected and ensure the mods don’t see you as a spammer (having a trusted profile in your niche community/forum is worth it’s weight in gold - treat this as a serious investment and don’t ruin it for a one-shot chance at linkbait)
3. Start a post on the forum with the seed of an idea, and a couple of examples from you
4. Let the forum community chip in their own ideas and funny comments and let them grow the idea for you
5. Wait for the thread to die down and compile all the best bits from it
6. Write this up into a piece of linkbait for your site
7. Social media success!

Every time you leave a forum post and you have a signature linking back to your website you are building inbound links for your local website. If the forum has related content to yours then those links are relevant inbound links, making them high value links. The above suggestion can help you build some link popularity and, if you take the suggestion to heart, you can use other people outside of your local area to help you build content for your local website.

After you upload the content to your website, go back to the forum and let the forum participants know that you put the page on your website. Thank them for helping you develop it then wait to see how many of them link to you because you put something useful on your website. Those inbound links will also contribute to your link popularity.

Traditionally, relevance as it relates to search engine optimization has meant matching keywords or marrying similar keywords from related niches. A little word association can illustrate what I mean:

automobile —> car and truck
real estate —-> property
medical expert ——> doctor
private detectvie ——> investigation
publishing ——-> printing

As you can see, the keywords don’t have to be exact. They just have to be related. That’s the traditional view of relevance and it’s typically in reference to linking. So if you had a used car website then you might get a link from a magazine by the name of Car & Truck Enthusiast (my apologies if there really is one). A real estate agent might link to a property database. A website that publishes expert medical advice might link to doctors who sell e-books. A private detective may link to a website with investigative articles. Perhaps a publishing company will link to a print company website.

These are examples of relevant relationships that could result in powerful and profitable links for the websites involved. But in local geographical areas, many times the number of websites that would provide a relevant link to yours will be very limited. And if there are any at all, it could mean that you are linking to your direct competition. Are you sure you want to do that?

If your business is local and it serves a wholly local clientele, there is another way you can achieve relevant link status without linking to your competition and without obscuring your link strategy. If your website is optimized around your local geographical place names, zip codes, neighborhoods, etc. then you can exchange links or provide link bait for other businesses in your area that are not necessarily related to yours in subject matter or expertise.

For instance, let’s say you run a massage parlor in your hometown. On your website you could have a page that lists things you can do while your customers wait for their massage appointment. “Got time to kill?” could be your headline. If you have some good ideas on that page then you could draw some links from other businesses - say a doctor who didn’t want to create his own list so just links to your for his customers’ benefit, or an auto mechanic, or a florist.

This is just one idea. There are countless other creative way that you could encourage your local business neighbors to link to you. It helps, when it comes to link relevance for local businesses, to think outside the box.

Do you have a list of keywords for your anchor text? It isn’t enough just to use keywords on your web pages and create internal links. That’s all well and good and you should do it. But what if someone in your community wants to link to your website? Do you have a list of keywords to give them for the links?

Anchor text is the keyword phrase that people use to link to your website. For instance, if you issue hunting and fishing licenses then you might use the keyword phrase, “hunting and fishing license” in all of your internal website links pointing the page that takes those orders. But what about other local businesses that want to send people to your website? Will they use the same phrase? You can’t assume that they will.

That’s why it’s important to develop a list of keyword phrases that are important to you and that you want inbound links for. The inbound links can help you achieve better rankings at the search engines. Therefore, you should pick keyword phrases that you want to rank highly for and give that list to your potential link partners for their anchor text.

Matt McGee at Small Business SEM had an interesting post on the challenges of local search for small businesses. In essence, he said the problem is more than SEO. The issue is really geo-targeting. And I’d like to add that it isn’t all on the shoulders of the small business owner. A part of the solution to the problem will have to come from the way the search engines program their algorithms for local search.

In the past, it has been suggested that zip codes be used, but Brick Marketing’s sister blog at Search Engine Optimization Journal this morning gave an interesting analysis on the difficulties of zip code searches for urban businesses and rural businesses. These challenges cannot be denied.

The question is, how can rural businesses ensure they end up in the search engine results page for the keywords they want to target? It’s a good question. Here are a few suggestions:

• Make sure each page of your website targets a specific keyword phrase AND a local geographic area
• Be as specific as possible in your geographic place names
• Try to use the geographic terms that are used by the people in your area
• Don’t be afraid to use other nearby geographic locations and well-known landmarks in your area
• Put your address and phone number in the footer, header, or somewhere on every page of your website

To elaborate a little on No. 3 above, if your business faces a creek that is named Cripple Creek, but that particular section of the creek right in front of your business is better known by the local people in your area as Crip Neck Hollow then be sure to use the phrase “Crip Neck Hollow” often on your website. You might describe the location of your business, for instance, as “facing Cripple Creek at Crip Neck Hollow,” or use a general description like “two miles east of Crip Neck Hollow.” These kinds of phrases are phrases that people might use when searching for businesses in your area.

Now for the danger in this approach: You could pigeon hole yourself if you get too specific. Be sure to include as many place names on your website within your service area. If you serve an area that is 20 miles in radius and there are about 50 small towns in that area then have a “service area” page on your website and list every one of those towns on that page. You might even have specific web pages to address the unique needs of people living in each of those areas.

(Source) Most of the online advertising growth will be in video and local search. They say these will drove 30 percent growth in internet ad expenditures in 2007 – which is nine times faster than the rest of the ad market.

These are not surprising statistics. Internet marketing professionals have been saying for some time that video and local search will be the two fastest growing segments of Internet marketing. It’s almost a no-brainer.

Since it is so easy and inexpensive these days to make your own video and upload it to your website, video marketing will grow - and it will get better. Local marketing, of course, will grow because, well, because all marketing is local. It just makes sense. And you can’t deny that people are still somewhat leery of Internet purchasing, but they still love doing research online. The Internet is a research medium. So when people get ready to buy they just go online, do some research, find the product they want, and drive to a local merchant to make the purchase. No matter how you try to entice them to buy online, most people won’t do it. Therefore, local search marketing and advertising is a fast growing segment of Internet marketing.

Since that is true, the most important thing you can do for your local small business website is to optimize it for local search. It is an absolutely essential task for local businesses wanting a piece of the local market share. Why fight it?

The beauty about running a local business website is you can do all the things that other businesses can do, except that you do them on a local level.

What I mean is this: You are trying to rank your business higher for your keywords just like any other business. The only difference is you are doing it on a local level. That means that local search engine optimization is just like any other search engine optimization. The key is to choose words that your local community would use.

If you sell tractors and farm equipment, for instance, would people local to you call them tractors and farm equipment or would they refer to every piece of machinery as “John Deer?” The idea is to use the terminology that people in your community would use. That’s the best way to perform local search engine optimization.

Local Search Engine Optimization is not too difficult if you know what you’re doing.

Let’s face it. Competition for your keywords is tough. You are up against some big players from all around the world. But you do most your business locally. What do you do?

The name of the game is to get traffic to your website. The best way to do that without spending a lot of money is through local search engine optimization. If you serve a large geographic area you can optimize your website for that area by mentioning specific neighborhoods or regions within the area that you serve. For instance, in a large metropolitan area like Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, you might mention such cities as Bedford, Allen, Mesquite, Garland, Arlington, and other surrounding cities so that you can optimize your web pages for those localized areas.

You can build a separate web page for each area that focuses on the specific keyword you want to rank for or you can list the cities you serve on each page of your website. At the very least, you should list them all on one page of your website. By doing this one thing, you can increase your chances of ranking well for your keywords and for your local area tremendously. That’s when you’ve done local search engine optimization at its best.