
As Search Engines think of ways to evolve and innovate, they are increasingly turning towards local markets to make their systems easier and better to use from a "surfer's" perspective.
In the quest to make searches more personalized and targeted for specific needs, Search Engines have come up with "Local Search."
You may have noticed that while performing any search on major search engines – Google, Yahoo, and MSN – the first few listing to crop-up all the time is "Local Results" for your search term. The local search results integrate some very useful and advanced features: customer reviews and ratings, storefront and product photos, detailed maps with directions, hours of operation, forms of accepted payment, integration with cell phones – and the list goes on.
What is this local search and how does it work?Well, local search functions more like an advanced and super-fast phone book. Say you want to find an Italian restaurant in Miami, where you are going on a business trip. You enter "Italian Restaurant" followed by the zip code and there you go, you'll get lists of all the Italian restaurants near you along with their addresses and phone numbers.
If you want to read reviews about any restaurant . . . no problem. With just the click of a mouse you can quickly find out what others had to say about that restaurant, how much it costs to dine, what are their specialties – almost anything!.
How can you get your business listed in Local Search?You can now directly submit your businesses in Google Local through their Local Business Center or in Yahoo Local through their Sign In page. Yahoo gives you the flexibility of creating a Free Basic Listing – which will allow you to list your business phone number, address, and web address or an Enhanced Listing for $9.95/month, which, in addition to the Basic Listing features, will allow you to add your business' tag line, and customized links to different pages within your web site.
Milestone Clients: Most of Milestone clients are part of Google and Yahoo local. This has helped tremendously in building local traffic to the site.
www.milestoneinternet.com