Webwork - 5:23 pm on May 14, 2008 (gmt 0)

Kobe, why wouldn't a pattern of association matter, i.e., associating your company name with a location, be a factor weighted by a localizing algorithm?

"Webwork, Cooking and Bottle Washing Services, 123 Main Street, Anytown, USA ######. Phone = Anytown's area code and local exchange #."

Makes sense, to whatever degree one is attempting to associate one's business with a location. Seems a perfect candidate for "fixing" in a future semantic web with a new version of semantic markup. For now, it's likely a matter of proximity of keywords, address info on websites, address info in WhoIs records, address info provided to any of the various data aggregators and data cleansers, local reviews that mention a business name on a local website, etc.

So far as optimizing "for local" methinks Google offers a better shortcut based upon "registering" your business name and address.

A directory listing is likely one small piece of the puzzle and, to whatever degree the directories fields allow for submitting localizing data (business address and phone) - go for it.

[edited by: Webwork at 5:30 pm (utc) on May 14, 2008]