Who Is Number 1 in Local SEO?

No doubt remains, local search is huge and getting bigger. The fastest and easiest way to land your business on the first page of Google is with Google Places. It is the single most critical element of Small Business SEO - for now.

Google Places is a critical part of local search marketing, but it's still just a piece. The other two major elements are local SEO through organic listings and pay per click (PPC). PPC can work very well, but you will need to pay to use. There's no permanent listings. Local SEO will give you both organic listings and a boost to your Google Places ranking.

Some markets are already ultra competitive for Google Places listings on the first page. Competition wil only increase with time. Just seven Place listings are available that display on the first page of results. In many local areas, a lot more than seven are competing to be number one, or at least in the first seven results.

What's the best way to get at the top of both organic listings and Google Places? Two things are necessary. First, for Google Places you'll need both local SEO and reviews from customers. For local SEO you will need enough pages to compete, captivating content and backlinks to those pages to rise in the rankings.

Within a year, easy Google Places placement will be gone in almost all markets. Then we will be back to local SEO being needed to continue the stream of visitors to your business or business website.

What do you do now?. First, secure a listing in Google Places. Second, do whatever you need to do to get customers to give your business positive reviews. Third, get you local SEO program going strong. If you are not ranked on the first page for your business, get there. Fourth, market every day.

There is no doubt that internet marketing is the future for generating new leads and staying in touch with existing customers. You need to make the decision to determine where you will be in the ranked now and in the future.

Let's be blunt. You business future depends upon it. Your long term business survival depends on local SEO. People are getting their news and entertainment more and more online. Internet time is increasing while newspaper, television and magazine audiences decline. We have seen the future and it's here now.