• Search Engine Land , Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:30 PM

Making the most of the Google OneBox and Yahoo Shortcut listings is a must for local advertisers, as these enhanced results provide local searchers with enough at-a-glance info to help them make quick decisions about local businesses. Steve Espinosa offers tips for site and page optimization to help ensure that your company (or client) gets an effective OneBox or Shortcut listing.

Of course, you'll want to make sure that you include the business address and telephone number, preferably in hCard format (an HTML markup that directs the engines to specific snippets of info). And don't forget to optimize the title tags with your local listing in mind.

"This is equally, if not more important when it comes to the landing page URL of your local listing," Espinosa says. "This page will no doubt become a web reference for your local listing. What has become obvious in my research through thousands of local listings is that the title tag of the web reference plays a factor in how much weight or authority is placed in the reference."

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