the complicated world of local search

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The Complicated World of Local Search

Dan Leibson@danleibsonSEO ManagerRelevant Ads

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Reasons You Should Belong to SEMPO

• Expand Your Knowledge• Engage With Industry

Leaders• Maximize Your Career Growth• Grow Your Business• Save Money

3

Sponsors and Partners

Housekeeping

A Framework for Thinking About the Local Search Ecosystem

Words and sentences must, by necessity, come only one at a time in linear, logical order. Systems happen all at once. They are connected not just in one direction, but in many directions simultaneously. To discuss them properly, it is necessary somehow to use a language that shares some of the same properties as the phenomena under discussion.

• Donella H. Meadows – Thinking in Systems

5

Overview

• The local search ecosystem is fragmented

• You must work hard to optimize multiple channels to fully leverage the value of local

• Staying on top of trends and implementing processes that help you through a rapid development cycle is key

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The Local Search Ecosystem is Complicated

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Source: getlisted.org

The Mobile First User

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Source: ThinkInsights via Will Critchlow

Mobile Apps

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Source: comScore-Localeze-15mile via Greg Sterling

Google Algo Updates

10

Panda Had a Major Impact on Local Search

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Source: http://www.localseoguide.com/what-happened-to-citysearchs-business/

Unique Opportunity

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Growth is low, relevance is high. Regardless of professional or industry growth, Google is aggressively moving towards localization.

Local Search Ranking Factors: 2013

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Place Page Signals (incl. proximity)

Citation Signals

On-Page Signals

Link Signals

Review Signals

Social Signals

Behavioral / Mobile Signals

Personalization

19.6

16.0

18.814.4

10.3

6.3

6.18.3

Source: David Mihm – MozCon 2013

Semantic and Entity Based Local Strategy

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BRAND

WEBSITE LOCATION

Store Locator, KML,Site Architecture

Google PlacesFor Business

Google PlusAuthorship, Publisher

Source: David Mihm – MozCon 2013

Make Sure Your Data is Correct Here

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The Local Search Ecosystem is Complicated

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Use Structured Data to Get Ahead

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Open graph 36.9%

schema.org 9.9%

G+ publisher 7.1%

G+ author 2.2%

Markup Type

Percent of URLs

Source: Matt Brown

Time To Talk About REI

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REI REI REI REI REI REI

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Who Doesn’t Want a SERP like this?

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It’s Working…

Term Local (Pack) Local Monthly Volumesporting goods 2 3,350,000

sports store 2 450,000

sporting equipment store 3 33,100

camping gear 1 & 4 90,500

camping equipment 1 90,500

hiking 1 1,830,000

hiking gear 1 & 2 271,000

mountain gear 1 49,500

sports store 2 450,000

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What is the Competition Doing?

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What Aren’t They Doing?

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Don’t be a

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Rel=“Publisher”

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Source: http://bit.ly/14ssu4v

Rel=“Author”

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Not (Just) Vanity

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Source: http://moz.com/blog/google-author-photos

Magna Carta Holy Grail

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Measure Your Schema Experiments

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Source: http://searchengineland.com/measuring-the-effect-of-semantic-markup-on-your-search-traffic-164736

Most Google Places/+ Local Pages are Bad!

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Do This for Even Better Rankings

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Source: http://niftymarketing.com/optimal-local-landing-page-infographic/

Want to Rank Here?

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Source: Flickr

Distribute Data Here

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IT’S FREE!!!!!!

Get Reviews on These!

• Google Places• Yahoo Local• Bing Local• Yelp.com• Superpages.com• Yellowpages.com• Yellowbook.com• Urbanspoon.com• Foursquare.com

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Create Review Handout/Email

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Here’s how

• Step 1 - http://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/

• Step 2 - http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/products/google-review-handout/

• Step 3 – REVIEWS!!!

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Yelp

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Use it in an outreach email

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Be careful to watch your review velocity!

http://localvox.com/how-to-avoid-the-yelp-review-filter-and-get-more-positive-reviews/

What to do with Filtered Reviews?

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Remember, These Are Not Indexed!

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This!

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Source: http://schema.org/AggregateRating

Want Even More Location Goodness on your Website?

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Make One Here: http://www.geositemapgenerator.com/

Google Local Carousel

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Your Analytics are Now Borked

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http://blog.autorevo.com/2013/06/no-non-branded-keyword-traffic-in-local-carousel/

Solution!

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Get It Here - http://bit.ly/17tmvjt

Data Normalization

• Step 1 – Get SEO Tools for Excel• Step 2 – Access you Google Analytics Account• Step 3 – Get the number of business name + city

searches for each month of 2012 (or as much from before carousel as you can)

• Step 4 – Average them out• Step 5 – Determine rate of growth• Step 6 – Add rate of growth number to monthly

average (remember to keep a running total)• Step 7 - Subtract # in Step 6 from the Report

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A/B Image Testing!

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Source: http://bit.ly/1cj9wSh

New Maps Inlay

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New Google Maps UI

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Source: http://bit.ly/12VLk7J

Google Maps vs. Apple Maps

But Not So Fast…

Source: http://bit.ly/PIZy5h

Apple Maps Gets Data Here

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Read more here: http://applemapsmarketing.com/

600lb Gorilla?

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Social Proof Works

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http://bit.ly/12ZlHy9

Want to Rank Here?

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Optimize Here

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http://danleibson.com/facebook-graph-search-primer/

Use This

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https://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/

How Do You Keep Up With This?

• Use an RSS reader to develop a reading list

• Follow people on Twitter

• Read The Lean Startup

• Watch This Video: http://moz.com/blog/agile-marketing-whiteboard-friday

• EXPERIMENT/RESEARCH!!!!!!66

Takeaways

• Brick and mortar stores are entities, treat them as such

• Don’t ignore non-traditional mediums for local discovery

• Focus on users/customers and search engines will follow

67

Thank You!

Website: http://www.relevantads.com

Twitter: @danleibson

Email: dleibson@relevantads.com

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