Local business results are giving plenty of small businesses free and quality exposure, however without learning local online marketing there is no chance one's website and listing is going to dominate the keywords one targets. Just being listed and not changing whatever information Google has collected of the business is not going to get the right amount or quality of traffic it deserves. Business owners have to learn the rules of local online marketing in order to maximize the results they are getting from their free Google local business listings.

If you are looking to dominate your local area for your chosen keywords on Google local search you actually have to learn and apply the rules of local business marketing and adjust your listings accordingly. There is not much difference between search global engine optimization and local online marketing, apart from having much less competition in local search results. So it is much easier to set up a small business online marketing campaign for local search results.

As mentioned above the same rules do apply for local business marketing for search engine optimization like in global marketing. Therefore you will have to get your listing up first and then optimize it for the search engine results in order to set up a small business online marketing campaign.

The very first thing you have to do just like in any SEO targeting set up is to go ahead and do your keyword research. Google allows businesses to include up to 5 keywords and you have to make sure that these search queries are going to be popular, profitable and relevant to your business. You have to go ahead to Google's online keyword tool and research different relevant keywords. You can also get great keyword suggestions from Google that can get you great local business marketing results. If you have any other keyword tool software you are advised to use them as well.

Next you have to check out the competition. This is a very important step. Before you would choose the keywords for your small business online marketing campaign you have to know how many results are coming up for that particular keyword in your local area. In order to be able to determine how strong the competition is you will have to "spy on them" by checking out their other targeted keywords, feedback, web page and the ranking of their listing.

Once you have determined the most popular and profitable keywords for your business make sure you do include your keywords in your local online marketing campaigns and descriptions.

Link popularity is very important when it comes to local business marketing and you need to make sure you are linking back to your listing from your own website, send your current customers to your listing, and ask them to review your listing or services on the site.

If small business online marketing is done properly it can result in thousands of targeted visitors each month. And as these listings are not paid marketing campaigns, still the click rate is expected to be much higher than of the paid listings and campaigns. Make sure you are making the most out of your small business online marketing campaigns and you can reap great rewards from Google without paying a penny for being included in the results.