Business listings are the basic building blocks of online advertising. If your business isn’t listed or your listings are incorrect you are significantly hurting the chances that potential customers find you online. Online business listings are not complicated but it can take a decent amount of time and energy to make sure that your listings are updated and accurate. Below is a list of the steps you should take in order to make sure that your listings are giving you the greatest chance of getting found online.

1. Make a list of important business directories

There are hundreds of business directories and search engines where your business could get found. You don’t need to create a listing on all of them right away, but eventually you should try to get your business listing updated and accurate in as many directories as you can. If you are unsure of where your business could be listed check out the list of business directories I made here.

2. Research keywords relevant to your business

People have gotten extremely good at researching goods and services before they make a purchase. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer. What keywords and keyword phrases would you be searching for your product or service. Don’t focus on broad highly competitive keywords. Instead focus on the long tail keywords which, in aggregate, can drive a ton of traffic to your site.

3. Claim your business listings

For most sites this step is extremely easy. Simply create an account on the appropriate directory and fill out your business name, address, phone number and other basic business information.

4. Add a keyword optimized title and description

You’ve already done your keyword research. Include your most important keywords in both the title and business description in order to increase the chance that your business ranks higher for those search terms.

5. Choose appropriate categories

This is a step that a lot of businesses miss and can generate a lot of traffic if done correctly. Making sure that your business is included in the right categories can be the difference between being on the first page of search results and being buried many pages deep.

6. Update your business website as the homepage

Not only will including your business website allow users to easily visit your site and further research your product or service, but it will also serve as another inbound link to your business. Since your search engine ranking is largely determined by the number of inbound links this is an easy way to improve your SEO.

7. Add enhanced content

There are 20,000,000 small businesses in the US. How do you stand out from the crowd? Enhanced content like photos, videos, and a detailed business description are a great way to get searchers to choose your listings and hopefully become customers.

Hope that you find these tips helpful. Now, go optimize your listings!