the complicated world of local search
TRANSCRIPT
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
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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
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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
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Non-Localized Organic SERP
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Source: Mike Ramsey via Moz
Localized Organic SERP
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Source: Mike Ramsey via Moz
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.
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Source
Time to Get Down and Dirty
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Source: Flickr
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=“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/
Distribute Data Here
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IT’S FREE!!!!!!
Read Up on It
• http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/10/factual-helps-app-developers-personalize-the-mobile-experience/
• http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/07/09/factual-launches-location-data-driven-products-mobile-apps
• http://www.factual.com/products
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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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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/
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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New Maps Inlay
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Google Maps vs. Apple Maps
Apple Maps Gets Data Here
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Read more here: http://applemapsmarketing.com/
600lb Gorilla?
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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
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