3. Local Search is online consumers
looking to find qualified local
businesses, by entering “top of
mind” search term(s) + a
geographic modifier.
Example: [tire repair san diego]
5. Local SEO is search engine
optimization that makes your
business listing more relevant
to local search queries.
Note: Involves both content and
reputation management across
multiple sites.
6. Typical Local Search…
Let’s look for a cleaning service in Boston, MA
“cleaners” = keyword (product, service, category)
“boston ma” = geographic modifier (the location)
7. … and here’s what a page-one Google search result looks
like for “cleaners” in “boston, ma”:
11. Because almost all
search has local intent.
Consumers are turning to Local
Search by the millions to find local
businesses – it’s the fastest
growing industry on the Web!
20. A website link is part of your business listing
– essentially the two work together to help
your business listing rank.
21. Business listing optimization is 100% organic.
Getting top placement requires a Local SEO
strategy, implementation and management.
22. Business listing optimization or
Local SEO starts with the N.A.P.
(Name, Address, Phone number).
Search engines rely on “trusted sources” for
their basic and enhanced business data:
• Their own local business centers (LBC’s)
─ Google, Yahoo and Bing have their own LBC’s
• Business information aggregators
─ Trusted national data providers like Amacai
(“Localeze”), InfoUSA, Acxiom, and iBegin
24. Search engines also get data via feeds from
“relevant” IYP (Internet Yellow Page) sites.
They aggregate this data and add it to their
own database – these are called “citations”.
25. Local SEO involves many factors
in determining where your
business listing ranks.
26. Local SEO also involves a
series a important steps.
Every step is important. Your ranking
will ultimately depend on the sum total
of every weighted factor.
27. Primary Local Search
ranking factors:
Location
Information
Corroboration
Consumer Input
28. Location
Distance from “Centroid” (the geographic center of
the area searched) - the closer your business is, the
higher you rank. [Note: This factor has been reduced
in weight recently]
29. Information
Listings containing more robust information and
links rank higher in search results (e.g., a website
link, keyword-rich content, tags, media, etc).
Target keyword phrases prospective
customers may use to find you.
30. Corroboration
How many other local search engines or directories
have your enhanced listing published?
Each time the information contained in your listing
can be tied to a matching NAP (Name, Address,
Phone number) on other “relevant“
sites, your listing is awarded a
“citation” -- the more citations you
have, the higher you rank. This
corroboration between relevant
sites builds “trust”, and the trust
factor is critical to ranking.
31. The future of local search = relevance.
Think citations more than links.
As a “trusted source of data”, sites like EZlocal
can guarantee your business citations from the
major search engines.
32. Take advantage of both manual
submissions and data providers who
both actively and passively feed
information to major search engines
and IYP sites.
Utilizing both
will increase your
online exposure and
“certificate of trust”.
34. Consumer Input
How many consumer reviews/ratings or other
sources of user input does your business have on
"relevant" sites?
To maximize citations and achieve the highest
possible ranking you need to get as much positive
feedback as possible. This involves encouraging
your happy customers to go online and give you
positive reviews on multiple relevant sites.
35. The Take-Aways
• Local Search is mainstream
• Corroboration and depth of content are critical to
supporting a business’ image, increasing visibility and
"findability" and generating qualified, “ready-to-buy”
local customers
• Online local consumers are fragmented across multiple
search engines and internet yellow page sites -- robust,
broad content distribution is key to maximize reach
• EZlocal.com has created an easy and affordable single-
source of online local search engine distribution,
optimization and content management