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El Google Locoby Peter Boyd, Esq.Google has not gone loco, just local. Google Local Search is now alive and enables users to find local information along with business listings, maps, directions, and useful web pages all through one easy to use search. Google searches its entire collection of web pages to pinpoint geographic information that is relevant to a user's query. Google combines this information with comprehensive local business, map, and service information drawn from a wide variety of U.S. databases such as the yellow pages and other sources. So what does this mean for your firm? Simple: While Google Local is still in Beta, your firm needs to be listed not only in the main search results provided by Google at http://www.google.com, but also in the Google Local search - local.google.com. How does your firm accomplish this? Our general advice is to list in a variety of US databases such as the yellow pages, directories, and associations, and make sure your site is already listed in Google's regular search database. Of course, this begs the question which directories? At this time Google has not announced which specific directories are used, but if you conduct an actual search in Google Local for "lawyer" and then your city/state/zip, then the results will indicate what Google is using to provide its local search. Our research indicates that for the legal field these major yellow page directories are used heavily: YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, Switchboard.com, with other results coming various state/local bar associations, and web sites listed in those directories. Major
Online Directories Telephone
Directories Minor Online Directories YP.net Legal
Specific Directories Again, our advice is simple. List your firm in as many directories as possible, and shortly your web site should appear in the Google Local search. Not only will your firm receive a boost in traffic from Google Local in the coming year, but it will receive a general overall boost in traffic by being listed in multiple directories, some of which rank very high in regular search results.
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