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

Posted on 07. Feb, 2011 by 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:

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

List of Authority Sites Optimized for Keywords:

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

  1. Katie D

    07. Feb, 2011

    What a fantastic, comprehensive list. Just yesterday I was looking for a local business for a windshield replacement. I found a company on http://www.google.com/places/ and was able to read their reviews right there. Their local profile and reviews were why I called and now why I will recommend them to others in my area.

    Without that listing, I likely would have called a national company with a local office. Instead I was able to support a local, small business, which I love doing. The bonus was that in just 5 hours, I had a new windshield.

  2. John F.

    07. Feb, 2011

    Wow, talk about giving the store away! What a great list for someone that is a do it yourself type or may not think they can afford to hire a great SEO company like yours. However, after readying this article it certainly shows that you know your business! Thanks for another great article!

  3. Megan L.

    07. Feb, 2011

    Great information! I had no idea that some profile sites allow for company names in the URLs and some do not. I will definitely keep this in mind for my clients in the future! :)

  4. Liyya

    09. Feb, 2011

    So, I have to say, I love the part that catches any reader’s attention –> If You are Skimming Please Read This <– — I mean how clever is that! The funny part is that I wasn't even skimming it was just the opposite I felt like I couldn't absorb the info faster! I especially love how you explain that doing multiple things help with SEO, my clients always seem to think that having a website is enough – it's like WHO is going to find you after you build that pretty site?! lol :)

  5. Amber

    09. Feb, 2011

    Thanks for the great resources!!

  6. Michelle

    14. Feb, 2011

    FANTASTIC and I love the example, too. Folks in the Financial Planning sector should really pay EXTRA attention to that :-)

  7. Jeff

    22. Feb, 2011

    Great list,, will definitely come in handy. Thanks for putting it together and sharing it with us!

    Jeff
    Jeff recently posted..97 WordPress Magazine Themes

  8. Boise Idaho

    02. Mar, 2011

    This is the most helpful post I have read in a while.

  9. jessy

    20. Mar, 2011

    WOW awesome list, i liked it.
    jessy recently posted..Reservation Ticket Agent Resume

  10. nik @ kreatin

    07. Apr, 2011

    Cool list have been surfing around fir something like this. Now i think I have enough to do the rest of this week. Just hope that mpost of them take international pages since all my sites are Danish.
    nik @ kreatin recently posted..Kreatin kapsler – piller er fortid- prøv tyggetabletter istedet

  11. ibcontact

    10. May, 2011

    Thanks, great article!

  12. Loss Assessors

    23. May, 2011

    Thanks for sharing such a great list with us. Hope it will help a lot. I really thankful to you and i am looking forward for your next helping information.

    Loss Assessors

  13. Matt Byo

    06. Jun, 2011

    This is a great list of sites to place links, I especially like the division of name, company name and keyword. We are going to use this list on our next launch.

    Park Equipment

  14. Ramiro Rodriguez

    14. Jun, 2011

    I needed to read this. Recently I stopped ranking for my keywords and I don’t know why. It’s a big hit, especially after all the work I put into my blog and keywords.

    My blog was getting close to 1,000 visitors a day and it’s since dropped to about 200. That hurts….man :-(
    Ramiro Rodriguez recently posted..eMail Marketing Strategies 2 Killer eMail Marketing Tips

  15. samuel

    15. Jun, 2011

    Nice Sharing….

  16. Josh B - PMB

    17. Jun, 2011

    Great list! I am going through all of them, one by one, now! Thanks.

  17. Asset Finance

    27. Jun, 2011

    Thanks Christine for sharing such an awesome list. I have already visited many of them but still there are some sites that I haven’t visited yet. Thanks again.

  18. SG

    18. Jul, 2011

    Interesting article. I had no idea there were so many profile sites out there. Thanks for posting.

  19. Ocie Robichaud

    19. Jul, 2011

    Dang, you caught me skimming. I have only tried to get websites to rank, not content, but I can see why this is a good strategy. I will think about using this idea in the near future!
    Ocie Robichaud recently posted..7 Steps to Have Young-Looking Skin

  20. Josh B - PMB

    20. Jul, 2011

    Excellent list! This is truly invaluable information.

  21. Андрей

    08. Aug, 2011

    Great list! The information is very detailed. Necessarily pass through the list.
    Андрей recently posted..Антикварный магазин

  22. Bizz

    15. Aug, 2011

    I prefer trying to rank for keywords, as opposed to brand or company name. Any SEO worth a damn can get a brand or company to rank with little to no effort, and how much is that really worth anyway.

    Curt Bizovi
    Mucho Martini glasses
    Big Lots furniture store
    Bizz recently posted..The best romance movies of all time? Here’s MY list…!

  23. Christine

    15. Aug, 2011

    That’s true Curt — optimizing for a company name isn’t really as much about having your company show up first in Google, but to have lots of positive references that appear when people do their due diligence on your company.

  24. Alex

    24. Aug, 2011

    It’s amazing how many sites still fail to add their main keyword to the title tag. Thank you too for the wonderful resource list, I’ve saved that and will be using it often.
    Alex recently posted..Uneven Skin Tone On Face

  25. Peter Sharp

    25. Aug, 2011

    That is such a useful reminder and great list of Profile sites. I realised that I do much better Keyword research & SEO for my clients than I’ve done on my own website. Time to invest some time! Much appreciated.

  26. Bea@Digital Piano Reviews

    30. Aug, 2011

    Thanks for the list. Profile links on these high PR websites are worth the effort.

  27. Tom

    08. Sep, 2011

    Thank you so much for providing this great list of profile resources. Ranking multiple sites on the same page for a keyword is a great way to edge out your competition, and for local businesses it can be a great way to bump unfavorable reviews off the top of the results as well.

    Kudos!

  28. Sandy

    12. Sep, 2011

    Is anyone else having a problem with cofoundr.com?

    I’m trying to register but the activation link isn’t working for me.
    Sandy recently posted..Loreem Skin Care System Review

  29. Christine

    12. Sep, 2011

    I just tried Sandy and also got an error when clicking the confirmation link. I bet they’d appreciate knowing that so I’ll shoot them an email!

  30. matty

    02. Oct, 2011

    Thanks a lot for the SEO advice and the resource list it will come in very handy :)

  31. Ginger Wynn

    06. Oct, 2011

    I was recently asked to help a large local company with their reputation management. I’ve seen the addition of profiles to make a HUGE difference in a relatively short amount of time. Looking for a list JUST LIKE THIS.. definitely sharing this resource and adding it to the social media section of our sales training site.

  32. Tara

    12. Oct, 2011

    That’s great. I’m so glad we were able to help!

  33. Sean

    18. Oct, 2011

    Profile links are really very effective to get fast ranking improvement for any website. Very very thankful to you for sharing this.

  34. Tara

    18. Oct, 2011

    You’re welcome, Sean! Glad that we could help! :)

  35. Michel Hedler

    24. Nov, 2011

    Great list of profile sites to optimize company name and keywords, love to know some of the strategies that may help to have effective SEO operations and I truly learn a lot of things here.
    Michel Hedler recently posted..Credit Card Payment

  36. Marty Rogers

    03. Dec, 2011

    Fantastic list Tara, thank you for your efforts!

    Have a wonderful weekend! :)

  37. Tara Geissinger

    07. Dec, 2011

    Thanks Marty! :) Glad you liked it!

  38. Marguerite Bradford

    09. Dec, 2011

    I realised that I do much better Keyword research & SEO for my clients than I’ve done on my own website. Excellent list!
    Marguerite Bradford recently posted..Many Cures

  39. Tara Geissinger

    12. Dec, 2011

    Isn’t that always the case? LOL I guess it’s good that you take such great care of your clients though!

  40. Recruitment Services

    11. Jan, 2012

    Nowadays getting backlinks through profile submission is one of the best strategy in SEO. We can have a separate list of submitting the company profile under free business listings and also the individual profile in few networking sites. There are also free listings in region wise. Just have a simple search in Google, many sites can be found.

    Many were not trying these things, but instead they do article submission, directory, blog commenting which really becoming spam nowadays.

    Special thanks to Christine OKelly for sharing the great list.

  41. Sherwin Hermogenes

    28. Jan, 2012

    Thanks for sharing. Nice list.

  42. Courtyards CDO

    03. Feb, 2012

    Very complete list, useful and there are many links I did not know. Thanks a lot.

  43. Meryll

    07. Feb, 2012

    Wow, this site is an absolute find! Thanks so much for all the information, I learned a lot. Especially for sharing all those handy links! This site is definitely going to be bookmarked!

    Thanks,
    Meryll * White Space International

  44. Lonnamark

    15. Mar, 2012

    Thanks for sharing list

  45. Healthy Lifestyle

    22. Mar, 2012

    Thank you, thank you! This has been a very helpful resource. I will build my links in those websites you have shared with us. Really appreciate it.
    Healthy Lifestyle recently posted..The Best Philippine Beaches: Luzon

  46. Tara Geissinger

    23. Mar, 2012

    That’s awesome. So glad we could help!

  47. Ben Molder

    17. Apr, 2012

    Thank You Christine. Great list authority places for link.
    Ben Molder recently posted..Repossessed Cars

  48. Mike Hussey

    08. May, 2012

    This is the definite Great list for authority links and at the present time getting backlinks throughout profile submission is one of the great tactics in SEO. I want to share some thing that Google second updated to call penguin update and it is same to Panda and It panelized to unnatural links, duplicate content, and link farms. SO, please keep it up excellent stuff.

    Thanks for sharing useful list to us.

  49. llll

    12. May, 2012

    Excellent post at Local SEO Strategies – Big List of Profile Sites: Business and Personal | Online PR Media. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful info specifically the last part :) I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this particular info for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Local SEO Strategies – Big List of Profile Sites: Business and Personal | Online PR Media -- Topsy.com - February 7, 2011

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TARAinFL, Online PR Media. Online PR Media said: Local SEO Strategies: Big list of profile sites in our latest blog: http://ow.ly/3ROhl [...]
  2. 28 Places You Can Go to Power Boost Your Local Google Search Rank - Local Search Engine Ranking Report - March 20, 2012

    [...] listing is adopted from Online PR Media, where you can find even more hints on how you can improve your local search [...]

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv badge