Mary Bowling Searchfest Local Search Presentation

Optimizing for Local Search Success by Mary Bowling seOverflow.com

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Challenges for Local Businesses

On-Page Optimization

Optimizing Your Business Listings

The Impact of Reviews on Local Search

Local Business Challenges: Optimizing for Local Search is different

You need to:

Rank well in Universal Search

Rank well in the Local 10 Pack

Rank well in Local Search Engines

Be in the Internet Yellow Pages

Be on Local/Social web sites

Be in vertical directories for your industry and location

Local Business Challenges: To be present wherever potential customers are looking for you MaryBowling.com SEOverflow.com Universal Search Secondary Local Search Engines Local 10 pack - Google Local 3 Pack – Yahoo! Major Local Search Engines Local/Social Sites Internet Yellow Pages Local Directories Industry Directories Niche Search Engines

On Page Optimization for both Universal Search and Local Search

Build relevance and trust in your location+keywords

Do all the usual things when optimizing - title, description, h tags, content, good internal linking, etc – but with a geographic slant

Use hcard format for location info on pages

On Page Optimization for multiple locations

Create a separate page for each location

Use local info on each of these pages

Link internally to location pages, using the right link text

Use other terms on the page that will help the Search Engines understand where you are: street intersections, highway exits, what’s nearby, nicknames for neighborhoods, etc.

What’s Wrong with This Page? MaryBowling.com SEOverflow.com

TIP: Give Your Biz a Tagline

If your business name doesn’t make it very clear where you are and what you do, then use a tagline to communicate that information to both humans and Search Engine spiders.

Standardization Builds Trust standardize your information across the web

Use the same name, address and phone numbers everywhere online and offline

Go to the sources of business data and standardize there (see Resources )

Use a local database directory

Check out UniversalBusinessListing.org and GetListed.org

Optimize Your Biz Listings to help them rank

Use your main keyword phrase and complementary terms in your profile descriptions

Grab the long tail by including:

Your products and services

The brands you carry

The locations you serve

Optimize Your Biz Listings to help them rank

Choose – or create – the right categories

Give your listing attributes

Optimize Your Biz Listings to attract customers

Enhance your listings to attract attention, answer questions and build trust

Use photos, videos, reviews, coupons, experience, certifications, memberships, education, awards, languages spoken, etc, etc, etc

Learn from your competitors and from those in your niche in other locations

Create Citations what are they?

Citations, aka web references, are web pages that cite or mention your business or web site.

They do not have to contain a link!

Create Citations why you need more citations

They’re important in building Google’s trust in the information they have about you

They can drive targeted traffic to your business

Citations are easier to get than links

The Impact of Reviews Reviews + Local Search = perfect match.

Reviews are exactly what people want!

“ Online reviews are second only to personal advice from a friend as the driver of purchase decisions; user reviews are more influential than third-party reviews. ("Web users and web community," Rubicon Consulting, Inc. October 2008)”

“ 81% of online holiday shoppers read online customer reviews (Nielson Online, December 2008)”

“ 86% of consumers read online business reviews before making purchasing decisions; 90% of whom say they trust these reviews. (Kudzu.com survey of 600 users, December 2008)”

“ The Trust in Advertising survey of 26,000+ found that Consumer Recommendations are the most credible form of advertising . ("Social Media Marketing: The Right Strategy for Tough Economic Times" Awareness, 2008)”

Statistics from BazaarVoice.com See more at http://www.bazaarvoice.com/industryStats.html

The Impact of Reviews Ratings and reviews influence rankings

Ratings enter into the algorithm on some sites, like Yahoo!Local

Highly rated items can rise to the top on some sites and poorly rated ones are rarely seen.

Users can sort their results by ratings on some sites, creating their own personalized rankings

The Impact of Reviews Ratings can influence personalized rankings MaryBowling.com SEOverflow.com

The Impact of Reviews Ratings and reviews influence CTR

Who wants to do business with bad businesses?

Users can sort their results by ratings, so they may never see you

Highly rated items can rise to the top on some sites and poorly rated ones are rarely seen.

TIP: Ask for Reviews but only from happy customers

Have a plan in place

Use surveys and follow-up emails

Bribe people to submit reviews

Send reviews to a variety of web sites

TIP: Get Local Links

The right incoming links can help with location trust .

Look for links from local authority sites.

Look for links from sites that rank for what you want to rank for.

Use existing relationships to get local links.

Resources

SES Training in Local Search-Denver

http:// www.searchenginestrategies.com/training/denver /#local

Local Search Engine Marketing Manual http://www.blizzardinternet.com/whitepapers/local-search-engine-optimization-white-paper/

Optimized! http://www.marybowling.com

Local Search Column at ClickZ http://www.clickz.com/3630485

Email: [email_address]

Phone: (970) 309 7840

Resources MaryBowling.com SEOverflow.com Updated White Paper: SEO for Wordpress Blogs A Non-Techie’s Guide available at Optimized! http://www.marybowling.com