Top local seo strategies for 2014 and beyond

THE TOP LOCAL SEO STRATEGIES IN 2014
1
THE TOP LOCAL SEO
STRATEGIES FOR
2014 AND BEYOND
How to Dominate The Local Search
Results Post-Pigeon
www.localpositions.com
A Publication of

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bernard May, CEO – National Positions
Bernard May is the founder and CEO of
National Positions, an industry-leading digital
marketing agency based in Agoura Hills, CA.
Bernard started National Positions in 2004 out
of his garage in Calabasas, California.
Ten years later, the company has worked
with thousands of companies and has over
500 employees, with offices in the US, South
America, Europe, South Africa, and India.
In 2012 after seeing great results with local clients, Bernard launched
a new division of National Positions called Local Positions. This new
division has successfully helped clients maximize their online presence
and increase their rankings, leading to more traffic and sales.
Bernard has more than 20 years’ experience in digital marketing for some
of the worldwide leaders in technology and innovation. Prior to founding
National Positions, Bernard served as Vice President of Marketing at
First Advantage Corp; Vice President of US Search.com; and Senior
Product Manager at Symantec Corp. Bernard earned a bachelor’s degree
in business science from the University of Cape Town and a Masters of
Commerce in marketing and information systems from the University of
Natal, South Africa.

3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 4
Getting to Know Google’s Pigeon Algorithm........................................................ 5
Making the Case for Local SEO.............................................................................6
TOP 10 LOCAL SEO STRATEGIES IN 2014..........................................................................8
Understand your Competition................................................................................9
Have a Site that’s Technically Sound....................................................................10
Optimize Your Local Maps Listing........................................................................12
Create Phenomenal Content................................................................................15
Start Garnering Great Reviews.............................................................................17
Build Authority with Quality Backlinks..................................................................18
Appeal to Mobile Users........................................................................................20
Optimize Site Experience Through Conversion....................................................21
Spread the Word Through Social Media...............................................................22
Grow Your Online Footprint..................................................................................23
HOW TO TRACK YOUR RESULTS.......................................................................................24
WHO WE ARE......................................................................................................................26

INTRODUCTION
In late July of 2014, Google rolled out a new local search
algorithm targeted specifically at local results. The local algorithm
update, dubbed ‘Pigeon’ by industry experts, has completely
rocked the local search results and changed the way local
businesses must optimize their sites and their overall organic
presences to get exposure at the top of the search results today.
This ebook examines the impact that Pigeon has had on local
businesses, what local ranking factors now matter most to
Google’s algorithm, and discusses the top 10 strategies you can
use to ensure your site is optimized to rank today.
In this ebook, we’ll discuss the following topics:
• Online marketing and why it’s critical to small businesses
• Understanding the local landscape and how Google’s
Pigeon Algorithm has impacted local online marketing
• The top 10 strategies needed for your marketing campaign
to succeed. We’ll be looking into what’s working and what isn’t
today—as well as where you should be focusing your attention
post-Pigeon.
• What to track to truly understand your online ROI

5
GETTING TO KNOW GOOGLE’S PIGEON ALGORITHM
Google’s Pigeon Algorithm has transformed how customers find local businesses online.
Before the algorithm, 12.1% of all Google results were returned with local ‘six-pack’
results, but after the update, many of these results disappeared—as many as 25%.
Additionally, the number of results in the map listing dropped significantly, from an
average of 6 or 7 down to 2 or 3, which has a significant impact on local businesses that
rely on traffic from the exposure they got from these first page results.
While the local maps and “6 pack” results began dropping from the top of the 1st
page results, local directories saw a spike in rankings. Since Pigeon, sites like Yelp,
Citysearch, Travelocity, Angie’s List and more have risen in the ranks and are now getting
more organic exposure than ever.
Google’s Pigeon algorithm ties local results more closely to traditional web search
results. Exposure in the search results is now increasingly competitive for local
businesses and the factors determining their rankings have become increasingly
complex. It’s clear that local businesses that hope to stay competitive will need to
update their marketing strategies to reflect these changes and overall marketing trends.
Before Google’s algorithm update, a local business needed only to optimize their Google
local profile, have an effective local landing page and garner a few client reviews, in order
to generate results.
Now, however, you need much more:
• Technically optimized website
• Domain Authority & quality backlink profile
• Google Maps/Google+
• Local Business Directories
• Citations
• Sharable content on and offsite
• Reviews and more
Percentage of
Google Searches
with Local Results

6
MAKING THE CASE FOR LOCAL SEO
Traditional methods are less effective
If you think about traditional marketing channels like radio, television, newspapers and
tradeshows, you’ll find that these have become more expensive and less effective
today, largely due to declining popularity. Fewer people are reading newspapers, DVR
allows TV viewers to fast-forward through commercials, and more people are listening
to personal music players rather than the radio. Moreover, these traditional marketing
methods rely heavily on push marketing techniques that try to create a market. Online
marketing, on the other hand, focuses on pull marketing strategies, techniques that are
based on tapping into an existing market.
A user who needs a dentist in Los Angeles, for instance, will most likely begin by
searching for one online. Online marketing is often the exact opposite of “push” or
outbound marketing, instead it’s a way to attract leads to your business. Local SEO
allows you to reach motivated, targeted customers right when they are actively looking
for your products and services.
Consumers search with their location and proximity in mind
Where your local business is located in relation to a searcher is crucial. It’s not only
search engines that geo-target a user’s query. Searchers are looking for products and
services with proximity in mind—and they’re much more likely to convert (and quickly)
when making those local searches.

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Consumers prefer and act on location-based ads
You’ll note that the influence of the smartphone
is quite significant; in fact, more smartphones
are being used online than desktops!
Consumers make local searches at every stage of the buying cycle
From the initial spark of interest where a customer becomes aware of their desire to make a
purchase, through the researching phase to the purchasing decision—your customers are
looking for the information they need on search engines like Google first. Stats like these show
the immense power that local search has in influencing every part of a purchasing decision.
Google 2014 Study – Understanding
Consumers’ Local Search Behavior

The Top 10 Local
Search Strategies
Post-Pigeon
Google’s algorithm is growing more and more
sophisticated, and that means more ranking factors are
impacting the kinds of exposure local businesses are
capable of seeing at the top of the search results.
Let’s now take a look at the top local search factors in
order of their importance to Google’s new algorithm and
discuss some of the strategies you need to adopt if you
want to get your site ranking in 2014 and beyond.

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UNDERSTAND YOUR COMPETITION
As simple as it sounds, the first step to being successful online is to get to know your
competition. So often, we see campaigns being run without a thorough competitive analysis.
Why is this important? Evaluating your competition can give you valuable insight into what
your customers are looking for when they visit your site—and what you could be doing to drive
and convert more traffic.
Start with a search and see which of your competitors shows up at the top of the results. Then
analyze what they’re doing right when it comes to ranking. Each industry is different—use your
direct competitors successes as guidelines to what it takes to rank in your industry.
A website for a storage company for example, might typically rank with only 5-7 pages of site
content, while an attorney’s website might require hundreds. Inbound links and authority might
vary as well; where one website might have a lot of domain authority generated by many high
quality links from around the web, another may only need a few citations in niche directories.
One Google+ profile may be basic, but another may be comprehensive: filled with comments,
images, and videos.
A thorough competitive analysis is a good place to start and
can help you create an SEO strategy designed to meet the
standards of your industry and the needs and expectations of
your customers.
A great way to determine how competitive the market is for
your keywords is by looking at how much a click costs for your
most important keyword. Location keywords with high per-click
costs are likely highly competitive. For instance, if you’re
a DUI attorney in Los Angeles, you’re in a competitive industry
within a (probably) very dense population, meaning you likely
have a lot of competition to contend with. An agricultural pump
manufacturer in Idaho, however, is in a much more specialized
in industry in a less dense area, meaning competition might
not be as aggressive and gaining local rankings may not
require as comprehensive an SEO strategy.
Rank
Owner Verified
Description Added
Categories
Photo
Reviews
Ratings
Content

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HAVE A SITE THAT’S TECHNICALLY SOUND
The first task of onsite optimization is all about the technical elements of SEO.
Begin by choosing your targeted keywords, and mapping those keywords to the most relevant
pages on your site. Ensure that meta tags, title tags, headers and content are well optimized,
then create a comprehensive site map, and incorporate logical interlinking within your pages to
give your site a clear flow that tells both search engines and visitors what information can be
found and where to find it.
Ask yourself the kinds of questions that matter most to your searchers and to Google’s algorithm:
Is your content
high quality? Are
there internal
links connecting
it all?
These are just a handful of the questions that have a dramatic impact on a user’s experience—
something that search engine’s take into account when ranking your site. Even just ensuring
your site loads quickly and features high quality content arranged in a logical way, will give your
site a serious competitive edge.
Do you have
optimized title
tags and meta
data?
Have you
chosen relevant
keywords? Does
your site speak
to those terms?
How quickly does your
website load? Are
there any canonical
issues, broken links
or frustrating redirects?

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MOST IMPORTANT
ONSITE FACTORS
Search Metrics 2014 Study

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OPTIMIZE YOUR LOCAL MAPS LISTING
Optimizing your local maps listing is key if you want to get exposure in the limited, and
incredibly competitive, maps results Google returns thanks to Pigeon.
It all starts with a strong Google+ profile. Make sure your profile is claimed and categorized
properly, and that any relevant profile information is available.
We’re not just talking about the basics—like an accurate name, phone number and address—
but anything that a user (and Google) would recognize as relevant too: hours of operation,
directions, images and videos. Google weighs these elements in determining a business’
authority, credibility and relevance.
You’ll also want to link to a landing page on your website that is optimized. KML (Keyhole
Markup Language) can be used to describe your precise physical location in longitude and
latitude, increasing the chances that they’ll include you in map results.
Having local business schema—a kind of programming mockup language—on your local
landing page allows Google to index your business information, as well as details such as
the types of payment you accept, event details, and photos. And don’t forget to include an
optimized footer as another simple way to show Google key information.
Outside of your Google listing, your address and phone number should be listed in as many
off-site platforms as possible – Yelp, Yellow Pages, CitySearch, niche directories, and on
content links from things like press releases, presentations, and infographics.
There are a number of other local search specific factors—some in your control and some
out of it—that determine your rankings. Here are ten of the top factors Google’s algorithm
considers before returning their local search results:

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Physical Address Located Within the City Being Searched
Is your address located within the city the user is searching in?
Google only displays businesses located in proximity to the
searcher’s query.
Accurate Category Selection
How accurately do your claimed categories reflect your business?
If you’re in a niche market, have you created a custom category to
accurately match what your customers would be searching for?
Proximity to the Center of the Area Being Searched
How close to the center of the city being searched does Google
deem your business?
Quantity of Local Business Listings/Citations
How many online directories has your business been listed
in? These “citations” act as references validating your
physical location to Google.
CITATION
Authority of Online Citations
How authoritative are the directory listings or citations
associated with your business’ NAP information?

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Your Website’s Domain Authority
How established, relevant and authoritative is the domain of
the site associated with your Google+ Local page?
Address Above the Fold
Are the city and state where your business is located in
the header of your page?
Online Reviews & Ratings
How many reviews are associated with your business?
What is your overall star rating?
Beachville, CA
WEBSITE
Consistent NAP Information
Is your business’ name, address and phone number
consistent on your site, directory listings, and so on?
Area Code on Your Google+ Local Page
Are the city and state where your business is located in
the header of your page?

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CREATE PHENOMENAL CONTENT
Optimized onsite content is a crucial component of a site’s rankings.
How many pages of content do you have? How well-written and relevant is it? Are keywords in
your content? Are they in your title tags? Are you making sure to link internally within your site?
Keywords in places like title tags are key as they confirm to the search engines that the term a
searcher is looking for is relevant and important to that specific page on your site. Also keep in
mind that keywords towards the beginning of a title carry more weight than those at the end.
Never force a keyword though, if it’s going to be at the cost of quality. The days of keyword
stuffing and spammy content are over; content should be written for the searcher, not just for
the search engines. So create content that’s as natural and organic as possible.
Because Google not only looks at the
individual pages but also the overall
depth of the content on the site, content
silos can be a helpful strategy. Begin by
creating themes and expand on them
with categories and subcategories of
relevant content.
A dentist, for example, might build a
silo around cosmetic dentistry or teeth
whitening, with sub-articles about
financing your procedure, image galleries
of before and after photos, and articles
explaining the procedure or process
involved; all of which interlink with each
other, showing Google a clear hierarchy
of pages that support each other.

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Promoting content on and off-site builds authority and increases exposure.
While onsite content lends itself to establishing your site as an authority. Offsite content can
drive traffic, further your reach, and build quality links.
When promoting content around the web, you need to determine what’s most sharable,
relevant and engaging for your audience. Sharable content offers real value, establishes
credibility and emphasizes your brand.
According to a recent study (Search Metrics report – August 2014) the following content types
are the most important to the search engines:
Onsite Content Long Form Content Blogging Social Media
FAQs & Resource Pages Infographics Ebooks & Webinars Audio & Video

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START GARNERING GREAT REVIEWS
Having reviews—even if they’re not all positive—is crucial for establishing credibility, in the eyes
of the search engines, and trustworthiness, in the eyes of potential customers.
The number of reviews and the overall review score are both important factors that search
engines use to evaluate your site’s credibility and authority. Google weighs Google+ reviews
most highly, but reviews from sites such as Yelp and niche directories all matter.
Unfortunately, we’re all too familiar with the reality that customers are often more inclined to
leave negative reviews, than positive. In order to generate more reviews, encourage satisfied
customers to give their feedbackyou can also make it easy for them by emailing a link to where
they can leave a review, also make sure to express thanks in advance for them sharing their
experience with your business.
Collecting and syndicating
positive reviews, and
managing and mitigating
negative ones, is key—
especially for local businesses
whose customers can be
strongly influenced by the
comments and feedback of
others in their area.

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BUILD AUTHORITY WITH QUALITY BACKLINKS
Backlinks are links from around the web that point back to pages on your site.
Keep in mind: number of backlinks is important, but quality is much more significant. Since
Google’s Penguin update, which targeted sites with poor quality link profiles, links have been
a fairly touchy subject in the SEO world. But no matter what anyone says, links still matter.
To ensure Google sees your link profile as natural and high-quality, look at the quality of the
linking site and its relevance to your industry and your keyword; whether the link is a follow
or no-follow, the velocity and consistency of linking activity, and the percentage of backlinks
containing of exact-match anchor text—something you have to be careful to limit.
A few authoritative links from reputable websites can go a long way, and are far more beneficial
than a high volume of low quality links. Quality links can take a great deal more work to
earn, but they are well worth it both for the SEO benefit and the increased visibility you’ll be
generating around the web.
Links can be earned in a variety of ways.
Outreach links are those that you earn by reaching out to
bloggers, journalists and other site owners and asking them to link
to your site’s content. Often, they will agree, as it enriches their
own site with engaging content that they didn’t have to create.
Press releases are another form of outreach, and can often create
a great number of high quality backlinks from reputable news sites.
Content sharing links come from things like presentations,
videos, and infographics published to other sites. They can
give you excellent link value from high quality sites and—even
better—increase your visibility on these influential platforms too.
The better the quality of the content, the greater the chances
that users will share them, driving even more organic traffic.

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Promotional linking such as coupons can generate
linking, as many sites are eager for promotional content to
share with their users.
Citations and niche directories are a crucial way for local
businesses to build high quality relevant links since these
directories are, by definition, relevant to your industry. This
is where you find the listings containing your name, address
and phone number. Search engines and visitors alike expect
to find this information on your site and listed in directories
around the Internet and the higher the authority of the citation,
the better.
Social media bookmarking back to Content and articles
published on external sites. Building links on sites such
as StumbleUpon is a great way to increase the visibility of
your content while generating additional links.

20
APPEAL TO MOBILE USERS
More local shoppers are using smartphones and
tablets to get online than ever before.
A higher number of local searches are made on mobile
devices than any other. And mobile searchers are
more likely to take action faster than those searching
on desktops—often calling or visiting that business’s
store within the day. That means that if you’re site and
your business isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re not going to
be ranking on those mobile searches and you’re going
to be losing an incredibly high portion of your local
market.
Mobile users are frequently looking for telephone
numbers, hours of operation, directions and more, and
they want this information to be easily accessible and
easy to use. Be sure to provide these in a form that is
easy to interact with on mobile devices. Have click-to-
map and click-to-call buttons to make converting
easy for your customers. Your landing pages should
be either responsive or adaptive as well, ensuring that
you’re providing the most positive mobile experience
possible when a lead lands on your site.

21
OPTIMIZE THE SEARCHER’S SITE
EXPERIENCE THROUGH CONVERSION
As a local business it is crucial that you are able to convert the traffic that comes to your
website, if you want to see ROI from your online marketing.
The most important thing is to try to identify how users might traverse your website. What
factors help them stay on your site rather than leaving for another?
Good images, clear calls to action, risk reversals, a personal appeal, ad copy, and trust icons
are all important conversion elements that can encourage visitors to take the next step.
Identify high traffic pages, those where people are abandoning the website, and pages with
a high bounce rate where they arrive and leave from the same page. Our conversion team
can help you identify the causes of these issues and how to resolve them using split testing
and multi variant testing. Content experiments to see which pages do be better than others,
allowing you to choose strategies that work best.
Conversion analysis techniques include:
• Analysis
• Conversion Optimization
• Split and Multi-Varient Testing
• Online chat Installation
• Call tracking
Bear in mind that in many cases, traffic may not
convert on the site, but may result in a conversion
through a phone call, email or a visit to your
physical location, all of which are perfectly valid
forms of conversion.
VISITORS
LEADS
CONVERSIONS

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SPREAD THE WORD THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a very important factor in a site’s overall organic presence.
According to a Searchmetrics study, Google+ is the most important social media profile in
terms of SEO, but in terms of customer engagement Facebook shares and comments, as well
as Pinterest and Twitter activity reign supreme.
How active and expensive your social media strategy needs to be should be based within the
context with your industry. Let’s all be honest here. Some businesses just aren’t quite as “sexy”
as others. What we mean here is that some brands naturally lend themselves to social media
more so than others. For example, it’s probably safe to assume that a greater number of local
customers may want to engage with the tweets of their neighborhood pub more often then
they would with the company they purchased their garage door installer from. A scuba diving
shop may have a lot more engagement on their Instagram or Pinterest account then say, a tax
attorney. And while, LinkedIn may be a better channel if you’re for a B2B business, Facebook
might be more appropriate if you’re B2C.
Social media is an important channel,
but the extent to which your brand
engages or needs to engage on any
given platform is entirely dependent
on the nature of your business and
the make-up of your audience.

23
GROW YOUR ONLINE FOOTPRINT
We’ve spoken about your website and the factors that make your site an authority on the web,
but building beyond your site is just as important.
Imagine your website as the center of a complex network of connections, with multiple
channels pointing back to you. People may find out about you via social media, or multimedia
content such as YouTube and Slideshare. Popular websites that rank well can lend a great
amount of link value and build visibility. The SEO value may be indirect, but this is an important
way to build visibility and earn rankings.
Increase your footprint on the web by leveraging content and
engagement wherever possible. This eBook for example, will be
expanded upon in a webinar. And that webinar will be turned into
a video published on YouTube and a presentation that’s posted on
SlideShare. We’ll blog about it, we’ll tweet about it. We’ll get a landing
page up on our website dedicated to it and we’ll link to that page
And that’s just one eBook. Always ask yourself
where your customers are and what they’re
searching for, how you could enhance your site,
how you can expand your reach, and where you
can build authority and engagement.
The wider your footprint, the greater the chance
is that your site will begin to rank.
from all over the web.

MEASURING THE
RIGHT METRICS:
HOW TO TRACK
YOUR SUCCESS
With all of these factors affecting your site’s visibility in the
search results, how can you figure out how well you’re
doing? As ranking factors become less and less important,
it’s important to look at organic traffic numbers – even if your
site is ranked at the bottom of the first page, if it’s growing
traffic, it’s a good sign that you’re doing something right.
There are a number of ways to get data that you can use to
evaluate your succes – go to Google Analytics and look at
Organic search. While this information is not necessarily the
most precise, it is easy to access and can give you a good
general feel for how people are finding your site, and how
they’re interacting with it once they get there.

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Take a look at the data for organic landing pages – which pages are optimized for each keyword?
Are they drawing traffic based on searches for those keywords? Which pages are getting traffic and
what kind of conversion rates do they see? Pages that do not perform as well may need additional
optimization.
Using Google Webmaster Tools, check out Google My Business. This can give you insight into how
many impressions your site is earning, and how important your brand name is considered. You’ll also
be able to see how often the information from and about your site is showing up on the web.
Clicking for driving directions is also available in Google Webmaster tools and can be very helpful;
hyperlocalized information, can let you see how effective your efforts are in the neighborhoods and
suburbs you’re trying to reach.
In order to gauge success, there are areas that we need to look at: organic results, local places
results, directory rankings, and the quality and quantity of your citations.
Local Listings
Directory
Paid
Reviews
Regular Organic

WHO WE ARE
Local Positions is an industry leading online marketing company that
specializes in helping local businesses use the Internet to boost visibility,
traffic and sales.
We’ve created millions of leads for thousands of businesses across the
country.
Our parent company, National Positions, is one of the biggest Internet
marketing agencies in the country. For the past four years, we’ve been
named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. Magazine.
Local Positions has taken the methodology and customer service
that’s made National Positions an industry leader and brought it to local
businesses everywhere. We’ve taken our proven Internet marketing
solutions to fit the needs of your local business so that you can create
online visibility and drive customers to your door.

27
NOT SURE WHERE TO START?
ORDER AN AUDIT.
At Local Positions, we can build a comprehensive audit that provides in-depth insight into
how your site is doing, and how you can improve your site for better results:
Get a complete SEO audit Local SEO with Maps program:
• Examines the key SEO factors which affect
your ability to rank
• Pinpoints SEO issues and explains the remedies
• Perform over 300 checks
• Look at 6 main areas of Local SEO and Maps
• Performs a competitive analysis
• Reports are customizable
• Includes explanations and advice
• The most comprehensive Local Package
starting under $1000
• Everything you need to meet the needs of
the Pigeon algorithm
• Month-to-month contracts
• Leading Technical Tools
• Proven Track Record
• From a Company that you can depend on
WE’RE HERE TO HELP!
877-866-6699 www.localpositions.com info@localpositions.com

Top local seo strategies for 2014 and beyond

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