putting your business on the map

Putting Your Business on the Map

Optimizing for Local Search Results

Deluxe Mobile TourPortland, Oregon

Presentation Outline

- What Local Search Looks Like- Major Ranking Factors

- Inside the Local Business Centers- Local Search Data Providers- The Importance of Citations

- Traditional SEO Considerations- Reviews and Social Media for Local- Paid Search Options in Local- Developing Your Local Mindset

What Local Search Looks Like

• Explosive Growth – Local search grew 58% in 2008 (traditional search up only

21%) – Comscore, March 09

• Over 2,000,000,000 Local queries on Google alone EACH MONTH

Largely guesswork on the part of search engines....– 5% of searches use the city and/or state name – 2% use informal terms, like neighborhoods – .5% use zip codes

--Ian White, Urban Mapping

+ Search engines are now trying hard to “get at” Local intent

The Old Local Search

+ No real attempt to “get at” Local intent

Paid Results

TraditionalOrganic Results

Getting At “Local Intent”

The Big Game-Changer

• 4/1/2009:Google rolls-out IP-targeted Local Search results for generic keywords (i.e. no geo-modifiers)

Also:+Mobile Targeting+Browser Awareness

The Big Game-Changer

Paid Results

TraditionalOrganic Results

Local Results

• The 10-pack: • Driven by the maps.google.com

and local.yahoo.com algorithms (different from “organic”)

The 10-pack is now the “7-Pack”

Photo: Flickr/John Biehler

Ch..Ch..Ch..Chaaanges

+ It’s not just about Google

- Even when it’s just about Google!

+ “Other” is the third-largest Local search engine (Gib Olander, Localeze)

Comscore / 15milesOctober 2009

Google Maps (26%) +Yahoo Local (17%) + Bing Local (4%) = 47%

Local Search Ranking Factors

Local has its own set of ranking factors...+ remember that this is the maps.google.com

algorithm (and local.yahoo.com and local.bing.com, etc.)

Local Search Ranking Factors

Local Ranking Factors

Importance of General Signals• Verified Local Business Listing (4.40) • Off-Page / Off-Listing Criteria (3.35) • Customer Reviews (3.35) • Traditional On-Page Criteria (2.36)

Google Places

Claim Your Places Listing: google.com/places

Google’s most trusted source of business data.

Yahoo + Bing Listings

https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspxhttp://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php

Why Is Claiming Your Listing So Important?

• If Possible, Claim Manually (even for multiple locations...)

• Engines like to know they are displaying correct information about a business.– In general, trust and ranking are directly correlated– Claiming at search engines = maximum trust.– Bulk uploads = vulnerable to spam

The Dangers of Hijacking+ Google Maps has historically been

very vulnerable to hijacking

+ They claim they’ve fixed the issuesMindset is still very much “wiki” for unclaimed listings

Source: Danny Sullivan / Mike BlumenthalSearchengineland.com

The Dangers of Hijacking--This affects REAL businesses

Source: Cathy Rulloda,FlowerChat.com

The Dangers of Hijacking--This affects REAL businesses

LBC Ranking Factors

MAX THESE OUT!Don’t be afraid to use custom categories

LINK w/YOUTUBE

Describe Productsor Services

LBC Ranking Factors

Use (one or two) Keywords in Business Title

Good: Janet Thompson, DentistBad: Janet Thompson, DDSBad: Portland, OR Dentist – Cosmetic Dentistry Portland – Dental Surgery + Could create problems with data provider mis-matches

Consider incorporating your business using keywords

The Factor You Can’t Really Optimize

#2 Factor: Address in City of SearchEssential to have a physical location in the area being searched

(#12 = Proximity to Centroid)Used to play a larger role

Beyond the Local Business Center

Where do the major Local search engines (especially Google) get their data?

1. The Listing/Places Centers

2. Third-Party Data Providers

3. Web Crawling

Data Providers + Citations

What are “Citations”?• Mentions of your business name in close

proximity to either your address, phone number, or both

• May or may not be accompanied by a link to your website.

• Come from Data Providers AND Web Crawl• “Citation is the new link”

Where to Find Citations

Look Under “Web Pages” on Your Local Business Listing / Places Page

• Google is obfuscating

• Check the “Web Pages” of your competitors• See what kinds of Internet Yellow Pages/directory

websites show up in top organic results for your geographic queries

Where to Find Citations

The Organic Search Ecosystem

The Local Search Ecosystem

The Key to Citations

• Consistency: Name Address Phone Number are absolutely critical– Don’t Use Tracking Phone Numbers– Don’t Try to Stuff KW’s in Business Name

– “NAP” – Gib Olander, Localeze

Why? Trust in proper information

Citations: Data Provider Example

+Citation from directory website fed by major data provider

Major Data Providers + Citation Sources

infoUSA - http://expressupdateusa.com/ Localeze - http://localeze.com/manageAcxiom – via UniversalBusinessListing.org

“The Big Three”

Secondary Data Providers + Citation Sources

Superpages.com – http://advertising.superpages.com/spportal/business

-listing

YellowPages.com – http://listings.yellowpages.com/Services/ServiceClaimSearch.aspx

BOTW Local - https://local.botw.org/secure/signup.aspx

CityVoter.com - http://cityvoter.com/signup

InsiderPages - http://www.insiderpages.com/advertiser/find_business

HotFrog - http://www.hotfrog.com/AddYourBusiness.aspx

Web Crawl Citations

Search“yourcity, st directory” “yourindustry, st directory” “yourindustry yourstate directory” etc. e.g., portland directory –maine

http://oregon.uscity.net/http://www.oregondirectory.com/ (Localeze)http://www.eatinoregon.com/www.portlandneighborhood.comwww.jewishportland.comwww.pdxcreativedirectory.comwww.pdxyz.com

Traditional SEO Considerations

...OK, wait, one more Places consideration

Submit your contact/location page as your Places URL +Stronger geographic scent = higher Local ranking+Stronger geographic scent = higher conversion

...Example of a good contact page coming later...

Use geographic keywords in Title Tags where appropriate

Use geographic anchor text throughout your site; especially when linking to your contact page

-Westside where? Eastside where?- should link to a page on OWN site,not Mapquest

Code your contact information in HTML

+ Bonus points for hCard microformathttp://microformats.org/wiki/hcard

BETTER

+ Ensures that your citations will get picked up by web crawl – you submitted your contact URL to G / Y!

+ Increase potential for reviews on those platforms

Link Out to Major Citations from Location Pages. Why?

+ Increase potential for indented listings in organic search with link juice

+ “Barnacle SEO” (Will Scott, searchinfluence.com)

If you have a YouTube video, link to it from your contact page, too (Steve Espinosa, localsearchnews.net)

Link Out to Major Citations from Location Pages. Why?

“Barnacle SEO” (Will Scott, searchinfluence.com)

Model Contact Page City / St in H1 (and Title Tag)

Links OutTo Citations

hCard microformat

Not pictured: HTML directions

Model Contact Page Results

“New” Citations

The Social Side of Local: Reviews

+Volume of reviews seems to affect Local ranking

+Quality of Rating DOES seem to affect Local click-throughs but NOT ranking

The Social Side of Local: Reviews

+Specific platforms are more important for specific verticals

+Hotels: TripAdvisor, Priceline+Restaurants: Yelp, Citysearch+Plumbers: Judy’s Book, Kudzu

The Social Side of Local: Incentivizing Reviews

+Offer Free Wi-Fi (Michael Jensen, SoloSEO)

+ Comment Cards / Raffle+Email Newsletter signup

+SurveyMonkey

+Event sponsorship / promotion

The Social Side of Local: Incentivizing Reviews

+Be Vigilant+Google Alerts / Yahoo Local RSS Feed+Twitter Search RSS feed

+Reviews are an opportunity for engagement+Use them to improve your business!+Build customer loyalty

The Social Side of Local: Blogs + Twitter

+“yourcity, st blog”+ “yourindustry, st blog”+ “yourindustry yourstate blog”

Courtesy Matt McGee, HyperLocalBlogger.com

• Twitter Search – “near:97209 within:50mi”

• Twellow:

• http://www.twellow.com/geo_search?q=("BEND,+OR")|("BEND,+Oregon")&m=BEND,+Oregon

• LocaFollow

• Outside.in

• PlaceBlogger

• Flickr Groups

• Yahoo Neighbors Courtesy Matt McGee, HyperLocalBlogger.com

• Mine your LOCAL virtual community– Neighborhood organizations + non-profits– Chambers of commerce + related

organizations– BBB

• It’s likely that quality of citation as well as quantity matters (more info: search “Mike Blumenthal Location Prominence”)

• Links still help with Local SEO, too Courtesy Matt McGee, HyperLocalBlogger.com

Paid Options in Local Search

+ Pretty much every portal has its own advertising program

+ Some of them have distribution networks - Citysearch ads power MySpace and many other sites

- Yellowpages.com ads power Bing Local and others

- Google, Yahoo, Microsoft all have “content networks”

+ Facebook Ads + Twitter Coupons!

(Briefly!)

Google Advertising Options

Setting Up Adwords:

- Best to create two separate campaigns- One targeted nationally, with geographic

keywords- i.e. “restaurants in bend, oregon”

- One targeted locally, with generic keywords- i.e. “restaurants”

Drilling down on Local targeting

After you've created your campaign, return to the Settings tab to add location information to the campaign.

Advertising on Mobile Network ONLY can be much cheaper, more targeted, and more effective.

Worth investigating if you’ve got “time, not money.”

“Tags”

$25/mo.

Don’t affect placement

Yahoo Advertising Options

http://listings.local.yahoo.com

Yahoo Advertising Options

http://listings.local.yahoo.com

Fed by DexKnows.com

Yelp Advertising Options

http://biz.yelp.comNot cheap -- $300 - $1,000/mo.

In the right verticals, could be well worth it.

Developing Your Local Mindset

Requires a Different Mindset from Traditional SEO+ Traditional SEO is about optimizing websites;

Local SEO is about optimizing locations

+ Everything about a location should “match up” across the web

Local SEO Traditional SEO

+ Location + Website - Verification / Claiming - Content

- Citations / Off-site Refs. - Title Tags

- Categories - Site Architecture

- Reviews - Social Media

+ Website + Links

YES NO

Takeaways

• Claim your listings at the major search engines• Claim/submit your listings to the major data

providers– infoUSA, Localeze, Acxiom (via UniversalBusinessListing.org)

• Submit your business to as many additional local and industry directories as you have time for

Takeaways

• Use geographic keywords on your website, especially:– In the title tags– In your anchor text

• Include your address in HTML on your website• Link out to your major citations

Takeaways

• Incentivize customer reviews any way you can• Respond to what people are saying about you in

an honest, polite way• Get involved in locally-oriented social media

• Consider small $$, geo-targeted paid campaigns

Learn More About Local Search

www.davidmihm.com/blog/

http://getlisted.org/resources

http://blog.getlisted.org/

http://blumenthals.com/blog/

http://www.searchinfluence.com/blog

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog

http://www.localseoguide.com

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com

GET IN TOUCH

David Mihm(503) 560-2755

david@getlisted.org

putting your business on the map - david mihm

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