Local SEO Strategies - Big List of Profile Sites: Business and Personal

Local SEO Strategies – Big List of Profile Sites: Business and Personal

Posted on 07. Feb, 2011 by Christine OKelly + in Search Engine Optimization

You can have one website that you optimize really well that appears as one of the ten listings in the search results. OR you can have a website, a press release, Google Local profile, a Slideshow, and a Hubpage, and exist on FIVE of the ten positions. Which would you prefer?

This post shows you how to leverage authority sites to get more positive content online that is optimized for your name and your local keywords.

Someone in ABC City Florida searching for a financial planner might search for “ABC City financial planner” verses just “financial planner.” They know from using search engines that localizing their search will produce more targeted results. And if you’ve got content published that is optimized for that search term (notice I said “content” not just “a website”), you can put your company in front of them at the exact moment they are searching for your solutions.

Keyword Optimization vs. Reputation Management

There are two main reasons that most people/companies are looking to optimize – and there’s a reason why this is important coming up in the next subheading.

1. For keywords that their target audience is looking for: in order to attract the target audience that is looking for products and services for which they provide a solution

2. For their name or their company’s name: To push down negative comments or reviews, or to create a larger more dominant positive presence when customers do their due diligence to research a company or person.

While both require “search engine optimization,” there are slightly different tactics. I mention this because many local businesses are doing too much of one and not enough of the other. Or they are doing some of both, but not as effectively as they could.

–> If You are Skimming Please Read This <–

The TITLE TAG and URL of the page is the most critical part of the page in terms of optimization. When you’re publishing content on authority sites, you want to look for those that USE YOUR TERM IN THE TITLE TAG AND if possible, THE URL.

In order to rank for YOUR KEYWORD like “ABC Financial Planner,” you want that term to be in the title tag and URL.
If you want to rank for YOUR COMPANY NAME, you want your company name to be in the title tag and URL.
If you want to rank for YOUR NAME, then you want your name in the title tag and URL.

Ok, so how do you do that if you don’t have control over the sites where you’re publishing the content? That’s where this post comes in handy. Below, you’ll find a list that is separated into 3 parts: Keyword, Company, and Individual. Depending on your goal, you can look to these sites to publish content in order to build more positive search engine optimized content. That doesn’t mean that the content is magically going to dominate the first page as soon as you publish it. Where it ranks will greatly depend on the amount of pages also optimized for that content and various other factors. Some things you can do to improve the rankings of your new pages are to build links to them (for example: in the sidebar of your blog and in blog comments, and in your Google Local Profile) and to do a good job optimizing the titles. Look at other profiles on these same sites and see which fields are being pulled for the title tag and URL. This will help you to create a more optimized title tag and URL.

List of Profile Sites that can be optimized for a COMPANY name:

Google+ Business Page
Google Places (critical for a local business)
Yahoo Local (critical for a local business)
BBB
Angie’s List
Merchant Circle
Yellow Bot
Super Pages
Mojo Pages
Yellow Pages
MapQuest
Manta
HotFrog
Insider Pages
Local Best of the Web
Yelp
Kudzu
Crunchbase
About Us
City Slick
In Local
In Company
Lookup Page
City Search
Magic Yellow
Bigsight
Axiom
InfoUSA
City Search
EZLocal
InfoUSA
Local Eze
MapQuest
Show Me Local

List of Profile Sites that can be optimized for an INDIVIDUAL’S name:

Profile Sites That Can Be Optimized for a Company and/or Business

Profiles that Must Be Connected To Published Content

Online PR Media (Press releases are one of the only types of content that can be optimized for keywords, Company Names, or Individual Names)
Many directories: search for {keyword} + “add your site” or {keyword} + “submit url” or {keyword} + “add url” and similar terms
Biznik (Individual)
Work.com (Individual)
Scribd (Business or Individual)
HubPages (Business or Individual)
Docstoc (Business or Individual)
eZine Articles (Individual)
Slideshare (Business or Individual)

75 Responses to “Local SEO Strategies – Big List of Profile Sites: Business and Personal”

Christine OKelly

01. Nov, 2012

Glad this was useful Bednar! And about your suggestion… of course! Just added it!
indovision

17. Nov, 2012

Thank you for these lists! I’m glad I found this complete online business profile post.
Esymo

22. Nov, 2012

Thanks for this lists!
Esymo recently posted..Accredited College Degree Programs – Explore Affordable Psychology Schools Online
Local SEO

06. Dec, 2012

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like
you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you
can do with some pics to drive the message home a little
bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog.
A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
Local SEO recently posted..Local SEO
SEO Expert

13. Dec, 2012

Great company profile creating list. I am very glad to see this useful list.
full color brochures

23. Dec, 2012

Everything is very open with a really clear description of
the challenges. It was really informative. Your website
is useful. Thank you for sharing!
full color brochures recently posted..full color brochures
Hayley Wilson

02. Jan, 2013

The lists is so awesome and it will raise the rank and traffic my website.,
Hayley Wilson recently posted..What exactly does SEO mean, and what are ‘white hat/black hat’ strategies?
houston limo

09. Jan, 2013

really nice idea u give by your post and i seriously like that… but is that enough for seo ranking let me know in your comment……..
Tara Geissinger

10. Jan, 2013

I don’t think there is any ONE thing that will be enough for great rankings. The key to effective SEO is to put together an overall plan that combines lots of little things — all working together to bring you better visibility. In the same sense, rarely is distributing one press release enough. It’s the consistent posting of quality content (press releases, articles, blog posts, etc…) that is going to attract the attention of readers. I hope that helps!
Taiga Leather

14. Jan, 2013

Hey there, You have done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend
to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Taiga Leather recently posted..Taiga Leather
Tara Geissinger

15. Jan, 2013

Thanks Taiga! We’re glad you found it helpful!
Offshore ASP.NET Development

28. Jan, 2013

The lists is so awesome, thanks for nice sharing a list.
Md. Ismail Hossen

06. Feb, 2013

Thanks Christine OKelly,

Your post is very helpful for me. Its really works for me.
Jesse

06. Feb, 2013

This is a very useful list. All recommended sites are very good. I am using this list for optimizing my client’s websites. Thanks a lot!
Jesse recently posted..SEO Services By Vishesh – Get Your Website To The Top
Speed Test

13. Feb, 2013

@Christine OKelly! Thanks for sharing huge list of profile linking, I read on my discussion forums and blogs that profile links have no value but my personal experience is that profile linking is so much stronger then any task in SEO.

Thanks
Christine OKelly

13. Feb, 2013

I agree with you Speed Test — there are lots of opinions (that change over time) about which links have value and which don’t — but we have to define the word “value.” Many directories are used to provide citations that impact Google Local results:

http://searchengineland.com/using-citations-to-optimize-google-maps-ranking-48888

Also, exposure on different sites only give you more exposure. In many cases, directories and review sites are what shows up in the search engines. Here’s an example: http://bit.ly/X8Zzj3

Great discussion!
Bruce

12. Mar, 2013

Always better to be in the top spot(s) for your key search term, good example of leveraging more than just your website for SEO power.
Bruce recently posted..Design & Promote Welcomes Two New Team Members
Tanarika

20. Mar, 2013

Hi Thank you very much for this list of Social profile website. they are providing backlinks. thanks alot.
Trevor Ambrose

28. Mar, 2013

This is such a good detailed list for a business profile. I’m going to start listing. Thanks for sharing.
Tara Geissinger

30. Mar, 2013

Glad you liked it Trevor!
Dipti Innovation

05. Apr, 2013

Great list, thanks for sharing.
Do you have a bookmarking sites list.
http://www.youtube.com/

08. Apr, 2013

Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this website. It’s
simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appeal. I must say you have done a great job with this. Additionally, the blog loads super quick for me on Chrome. Superb Blog!
http://www.youtube.com/ recently posted..http://www.youtube.com/
Leanne

11. Apr, 2013

I think what you posted was actually very logical.
However, what about this? suppose you were to create a awesome headline?

I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your blog, but what if you added a title that grabbed people’s attention?

I mean Local SEO Strategies – Big List of Profile Sites:
Business and Personal | Online PR MediaOnline PR Media is a little vanilla.
You ought to peek at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they create post headlines to grab people to open the links. You might add a related video or a related picture or two to grab people excited about what you’ve got to
say. Just my opinion, it might make your blog a little livelier.
Leanne recently posted..Leanne