local seo basics

LOCAL SEO

seOverflow

presented by Mike Belasco@belasco

• SEO, Link Building, Social Media Marketing and PPCs in Denver, Colorado.

• Specialize in outsourced work for web designers, marketing consultants, advertising agencies, etc. Always looking for good partners.

• The only company with 2 Local Search Ranking Factors participants. We know Local!

Who Is seOverflow?

• What is Local Search? • Searching For Local

Information• The Challenge of Local

Search• The Algorithms

Today’s Agenda

What is Local Search?

What Exactly is Local Search?

Local Search is any search made with the goal of finding something

in a specific geographic area.

This is known as searching with

local intent.

Local Search = what? + where?

People are searching online forsome thing in some place.

What Exactly is Local Search?

Local expert, Greg Sterling,

defines Local Search as:“seeking information online with

the intention of making a transaction off line”

What Exactly is Local Search?

What Exactly is Local Search?

Essentially, anything that you would traditionally look for in the print

Yellow Pages becomes a Local Search

when it is conducted online.

Nearcasting is when a searcher

is looking for something close to his or her current location.

Farcasting is when a searcher is looking for something elsewhere, often in a place where he or she hopes to be in the future.

Where are the Customers?

Conservative estimate:70%

of all searches are made with local intent.

For some types of business, nearly ALL searches

are made with local intent.73% of online activity is related to local content (Google - May, 2007)

Why is Local Search So Important?

ROBO – Research online, buy offline– 82% of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone

call or purchase (TMP / comScore)– 90% of online commercial searches result in offline bricks and

mortar purchases (proprietary research / comScore)– 66% of American use online local search, like Google local search

to locate local businesses (TMP / comScore)– 54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search

for phone books (comScore networks)– 43% of search engine users are seeking a local merchant to buy

something offline.

http://www.thelocalone.com/why.htm

Why is Local Search So Important?

Where and How People Search for Local Business Information

The searcher decides how and where to search for local information and what

information is important to them.

A local business needs to be in as many of those places as possible with all the

information a prospect may be seeking.

Resources are limited. Research to determine what’s most important for each

niche and each location.

How People Search for Local Info

People search in the regular Search Engines with and

without geographic qualifiers

In Universal Search

People search within the

local search enginesof the big search brands with and

without geographic qualifiers:

Google Maps,Yahoo!Local, Bing Local

In the Big Three Local Search Engines

People search on Superpages, DexKnows,

Yahoo!Yellow Pages, YellowBook, Switchboard, etc.

In the Internet Yellow Pages

On Websites Featuring Local Info:

Local newspapers, Chamber of Commerce, regional tourism site,

Better Business Bureau, local business directories, etc.

Yelp, Merchant Circle, Angie’s List, Topix, CitySearch, InsiderPages, etc.

On Social/Local Websites

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook,

MySpace, etc.

On Social Networking Sites

TrueLocal, Localeze, Local.com, etc.

In Lesser Local Search Engines

Craig’s List

Online newspapers

Niche and local shopping sites.

In Online Classifieds

BedandBreakfast.com, Business.com,

GunDogBreeders.com

In Vertical Directories

Truveo, Planet-Cars, Hotpads, Google Image Search, etc.

In Vertical Search Engines

Consider where most of a business’ potential customers are located and what the company should rank for when working on a Local Search

strategy.

Then, fish where the fish are.

Where are the Customers?

Research to determine the right places to get listed for each niche and location.

– Resources are limited-prioritize submissions.

– Track results. – Devote more attention to what’s working.– Rinse and repeat.

Fish Where the Fish Are

Where you fish may depend on the geographic location.

– Yelp – Northern California– City Search, Superpages – Denver– Kudzu - Atlanta

Fish Where the Fish Are

Where you fish may depend on the type of business

– Trip Advisor - hotels, limos, tours– Zagat’s - Restaurants– Service Magic - Contractors– Superlawyers - Attorneys

Fish Where the Fish Are

Where you fish may depend on the type of customer

– Online yellow pages for seniors– CraigsList for bargain hunters– Topix for news hounds– LinkedIn for B2B

Fish Where the Fish Are

Get in front of more customers more often using Barnacle SEO.

“Barnacle SEO: attaching oneself to a large fixed object and waiting

for the customers to float by in the current.”

Will Scott http://www.localsearchnews.net/local-search-engine-optimization-for-the-sams-club-crowd-with-barnacle-seo/

Barnacle SEO

Use Barnacle SEO to turn competitors into partners.

Examples:

Merchant Circle

Yahoo!Local

Yelp

Insider Pages

Superpages

Barnacle SEO

Use Barnacle SEO on those sites to help you own more real estate in

the SERPs.

They may already rank for what you want to rank for.

They are trusted sites for Local citations.

Barnacle SEO

Point links at your pages on these sites to boost them up in

the SERPs.

This is especially effective with long tail terms.

Research and prioritize for each niche and/or location

Barnacle SEO

– Internet Yellow Pages– Convention & Visitor’s

Bureau– Local/ regional online

newspapers and magazines

– Local business directories

– Chamber of Commerce

Barnacle SEO

– Trade associations– Vertical directories– Local city guides– Locally focused

powerhouses, like Kudzu, CraigsList, etc.

– Better Business Bureau

Where to Attach Yourself:

The Challenge of Local Search

Universal Search is all about relevance to a search query:

– What we say a page is about (page titles, etc.)

– What the Search Engines see that the page is about (content, internal linking)

– What others on the web say the page is about (links, link text)

What’s Different?

Local Search is all about Local business information relevance to a search query:– Location makes you more or less relevant– Factual information – what and where– Customer opinions– Trust in information and opinions

What’s Different?

Rank well in Universal Search

Rank well in the Local 3, 7 & 8 Packs

Rank well in the Local Search Engines

Be on Social Networking Sites

Be in the Internet Yellow Pages

Be on Local/Social web sites

Be in vertical directories and search engines for your industry and location.

The Challenge of Local Search

The Challenge of Local Search

Own the SERPs!

The Algorithms

There are 3 distinct Google algorithms:–Universal Search–Google Maps–The Google 7 Pack

The Algorithms are Different

The Algorithms are Different

Google Universal vs Maps

The Algorithms are Different

Google 7 Pack vs Universal

The Algorithms are Different

Google 7 Pack vs Maps

The 7 Pack algorithm is mostly based on the Maps algorithm, but also has a

layer of the Universal algorithm on top of it.

The Algorithms are Different

The Maps and 7 Pack algorithms give true local

businesses a distinct advantage over directory type

sites, like IYP’s and Yelp, which they do not enjoy in

Universal search.

The Algorithms are Different

The Maps and 7 Pack algorithms are not that great for

– Home based businesses– Business that aren’t in the city they want

to rank for, including service businesses that travel to the customer.

The Algorithms are Different

• Mike Belasco• @belasco• mike@seoverflow.com• www.seoverflow.com• www.linkedin.com/in/miketheinternetguy• www.facebook.com/seoverflow

Thank You!