(See the introduction to Google Local here)
(See Part II here)

In order for your Business to do well on Google’s Local Business Listing, you have to do a bit of work up-front.

For law firms that already have a Google Local Listing, but it’s not showing, review the simple steps shown below and get to work.

For those that do not have a listing…roll-up your sleeves – you have some work to do.

First, make sure your Business address and phone number is on every single page of the website.

Second, if possible, add location meta tags your home page like so:

<meta name=”city” content=”add your city here”>
<meta name=”State” content=”add your State here”>
<meta name=”country” content=”United States”>

If you know what the code shown above is, you should know how to add it to your home page – all others, skip it.

Third, the title tags on your site must be in sync with what you do for a living. If your title tags say Home, Welcome, or refer to you personally, stop right now and get some help. To check your title tags say, place you cursor right in the middle of some text on your site, right-click the mouse, and select view source or source.

Near the top of the page, find the content that is between this – <Title> and this – </Title>. That’s the Title of the home page.

Fourth, edit or register your business with the directories shown below. Google Local Business relies on publicly available information to power its listings. So it makes sense to have your business listed in the biggest business listings available on the web. This is important, so don’t skip this step.

Go to each site, and where you can search for your practice, do so. If you find your business, register with the site then go back and claim it. If you are not listed, you typically see an invite to add it.

***Important note: spend 45 seconds writing-up a nice business description…..and use the same one on every single site where you are permitted to add it – or modify what is there. Be sure to include your City, State, and as many of your important practice areas that will fit. Save it somewhere because you’ll need it when you build or modify your local listing.

(Ed’s Note: To have your info added to these directories, some will require you to register. And I know at least three of them will call you and try to market their services. Also, a number of these websites change the sign-up pages on a regular basis so you might have to search around for the link to sign-up and register your practice. Don’t forget to look at the bottom of the page. They hide the sign-up link in that area quite a bit.)

Superpages.com

Local.com

Yippie.biz

Localeze.com

Yahoo Local

Yellowpages.com

IBeginSource.com

InfoUSA Add Your Business Listing

AllPages.com

Insider Pages

Kudzu.com

MagicYellow.com

Merchant Circle

Yelp

Openlist

YellowBot

City Squares

Mojopages

Citysearch

Hot Frog

And lastly, register your firm with any other guide or directory you can find that shows up on searches in your area.

Just do a Google Search for business, business directory and business listings plus your location and note any business guide or directory (non-legal) that shows up on the first 4 -5 pages of Google search results. Here’s what I mean.

Do a Google Search for your practice area and location and note any guide or directory (non-legal) that shows up on the first 4 -5 pages of Google search results.

Also a search for your location + attorney and your location + lawyer.

Also, do a search for general business directories and listings. Just search for your city + business directory, your city + business listing.

If they allow you to submit your information for free, do so. And if it’s a paid directory, consider investing in it if it’s not too expensive.

Also, if you have clients that own their own businesses and have a website, ask if they will put a link to your site someplace on their site – you reciprocate as well.

When you’re finished with this effort, the hard part is completed.

Whether you already have a Google Local Business or do not – it’s on to Part II – Modifying your Google Local Listing or setting up the initial listing.