Mobile local search is a technology that allows people to access the Internet on a mobile device to search for local businesses and services. According to eMarketer, an estimated 91 million US consumers will use the Internet on a mobile device at least monthly by the end of 2011, and research shows that much of the searches will be for local content (Mobile Users Expand Their Search Habits, eMarketer, August 1, 2011). This means businesses have an opportunity to reach local customers, who are potentially searching for their products or services on their mobile devices.

Having a mobile-friendly website is an important step in the right direction when it comes to launching an effective mobile marketing strategy. But what’s the next step?

Like any standard website you launch, to ensure success you must follow it with a well-designed search engine marketing strategy. What good is a website if you’re not driving any traffic to it? The same is true in the mobile world. A good mobile local search strategy will bring traffic to your business.

Mobile SEO is a term that’s becoming more and more popular as businesses realize the importance of generating traffic to their mobile websites. Here are 5 mobile search marketing tips to keep in mind.

1. Practice basic on-page optimization techniques. Though SEO for mobile websites is different than a standard website, there are a few basic principles that you can apply. Some basic on-page optimization techniques that should be kept in mind are title tag optimization, meta tag optimization, heading tags and URL optimization.
2. Make it easy for people to visit your mobile site. Typically, mobile searches are performed on a 3G connection by people who are on the move. If your web pages take too long to load, people will likely hit the “Back” button and try a different website. If your site doesn’t contain the most important information front and center, then people will try another site. Including features like click-to-map or click-to-call telephone numbers are good ways to make it easy for people to contact your business and drive foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store.
3. Don’t neglect to create a mobile sitemap. By creating a mobile sitemap, you will be giving mobile crawlers a hand in discovering new content on your site. Also, remember to include a link to this new sitemap in your Robots.txt file.
4. Submit your site to mobile search engines. This is a “must do” in order to have your mobile site indexed at all. Some major mobile search engines to consider are:
   1. Google XHTML http://www.google.com/xhtml
   2. Google Mobile http://www.google.com/mobile/
   3. Yahoo! Mobile http://mobile.yahoo.com/search
   4. MSN/Bing http://home.mobile.live.com/Home.mvc
   5. AOL Mobile http://mobile.aolsearch.com
   6. ABPHONE http://www.abphone.com Google Mobile http://www.google.com/mobile/
5. Claim your Place page. This is especially important for local businesses. In order to ensure a map shows up with the location of your business at the top of the universal results page on a smartphone, you must claim your place page (Google Places, Bing Business Portal, etc.)