Searchers use Live Search Local to quickly find local businesses. As the owner of a business, you have the ability to update the information shown to searchers, including your business address, telephone number, and customer ratings, all with the click of a button.
How do you find the Live Local Listing Center?
Easy, go straight to http://llc.local.live.com or find the link on the Webmaster Center (http://webmaster.live.com) titled Business Listing.
Once you’ve found the Live Local Listing Center, you can update your information in 4 easy steps:
1. Check to see if your listing exists and add details
Tell us the name and location of your business; we’ll review the data for the listing and ask you to provide additional information, including details for contacting you as the owner of the listing. (For more on how we handle personal information, see our privacy policy).
To get the most out of your listing with Live Search, you can also add other information about your business such as:
- Additional phone numbers
- Web pages associated with the listing
- Email addresses
- Hours of operation
- Payment information
- A photo
- Business description details
2. Add Categories to your listing
Add additional category information to help Live Search identify the type of business you are listing. In the example below, a Starbucks location is categorized as “restaurant” with a sub-category of “coffee”. In addition we added the category “espresso & tea”. Make sure that any categories accurately represent your business.
3. Review listings for correctness
After adding your business details and verifying your category information, review your listing to ensure that everything is shown correctly.
4. Submit the update
Once your information is correct, accept the Local Listing Center service agreement and Microsoft online privacy statement, and submit the listing to Live Search.
5. Verify your ownership (first time visitors)
In order to verify and protect your ownership of the listing, we send you a verification mail with a pin. The pin is associated with your Windows Live ID and allows you to manage your listing in the future.
Logging back in to the Local Listing Center and entering your pin is your final step in updating your local listing.
If your business moves, changes phone number or needs to be removed from the index altogether, you can take care of these issues and more by returning to the local listings center and following the steps described in this post.
— Jeremiah Andrick, Live Search Webmaster Center
UPDATE: There have been some minor updates to the Local Listings Center since we published this blog post. You can read about the changes at:
Virtual Earth: An Evangelists Blog
or for a quick summary you can read Barry Schwartz post at Search Engine Land: