Earlier today Gerald Murphy represented 7thingsmedia at the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) as part of the Connected Consumer -- Devices and Data session. What are the quick wins for your local SEO campaign? How can you increase reviews, quickly?

1. Act global, think local
Presented by:
Gerald Murphy, Account Manager
18th November 2014

2. Contents
• 7thingsmedia introduction
• What is local search?
• Local search ranking factors
• Conducting local keyword research
• How to encourage positive reviews?
• How to gain local links?
• Summary
• Q&A
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

3. Social media
SEO
PPC
Mobile
Lead generation
International
Affiliates
LONDON | NEW YORK | SINGAPORE
Display

4. It has taken 16 years for
smartphone penetration to
reach 1 billion...but Strategy
Analysts believe [sic] that it
will only take three years to
achieve the next billion
(MobiForge)
http://mobiforge.com/research-analysis/global-mobile-statistics-2014-part-a-mobile-subscribers-handset-market-share-mobile-operators#smartphonepenetration

5. Today: Local search

6. Mobile insights
• Mobile search queries compared to desktop are:
– Shorter
– Few queries per session
– Becoming more diverse
– Adult content is popular
• Mobile information needs are directly related to
social interactions
– Conversations prompt information seeking
behaviour
• Device type impacts mobile search
– High end smartphones have similar
behaviour to desktop searches
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

7. Local engines
All The
Web
HotBot Google Altavista
• Local search engines do not offer significant advantage over global search
engines
• Google had the highest recall score (42%) compared to local search engines
• Search engine indexes are completely different
Keyword
in
Subdomai
n Name
Search
Now
NZExplorer
Vivisimo Excite Surfwax
SearchNZ
Metasearch engines
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

8. Local SEO ranking factors

9. Citations
Distance between
query and
business
Number of clicks
(popularity)
Clickrate (clicks /
impressions)
Customer ranking
score
Number of
customer reviews
Time and date URL
Meta data
(description, title
or heading)
NAP Structured data Store directory Google Places
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

10. Desktop SEO ranking factors
Domain Age
Keyword Appears
in Top Level
Domain
Keyword As First
Word in Domain
Domain
registration length
Keyword in
Subdomain Name
Domain History
Exact Match
Domain
Public vs. Private
WhoIs
Penalized WhoIs
Owner
Country TLD
extension
Keyword in Title
Tag
Title Tag Starts
with Keyword
Keyword in
Description Tag
Keyword Appears
in H1 Tag
Keyword is Most
Frequently Used
Phrase in
Document
Content Length Keyword Density
Latent Semantic
Indexing
Keywords in
Content (LSI)
LSI Keywords in
Title and
Description Tags
Page Loading
Speed via HTML
Duplicate Content Rel=Canonical
Page Loading
Speed via Chrome
Image
Optimization
Recency of
Content Updates
Magnitude of
Content Updates
Historical Updates
Page Updates
Keyword
Prominence
Keyword in H2, H3
Tags
Keyword Word
Order
Outbound Link
Quality
Outbound Link
Theme
Grammar and
Spelling
Syndicated
Content
Helpful
Supplementary
Content
Number of
Outbound Links
Multimedia
Number of
Internal Links
Pointing to Page
Quality of Internal
Links Pointing to
Page
Broken Links Reading Level Affiliate Links
HTML errors W3C validation
Page Host’s
Domain Authority
Page’s PageRank URL Length URL Path Human Editors Page Category WordPress Tags Keyword in URL URL String
References and
Sources
Bullets and
Numbered Lists
Priority of Page in
Sitemap
Too Many
Outbound Links
Quantity of Other
Keywords Page
Ranks For
Page Age
User Friendly
Layout
Parked Domains Useful Content Valuable content
Insightful
content Contact Us Page
Domain
Trust/TrustRank
Site Architecture Site Updates Number of Pages
Presence of
Sitemap
Site Uptime Server Location SSL Certificate
Terms of Service
and Privacy Pages
Duplicate Meta
Information On-
Site
Breadcrumb
Navigation
Mobile Optimized YouTube Site Usability
Google Analytics
use
Google
Webmaster Tools
use
User reviews/Site
reputation
Linking Domain
Age
# of Linking Root
Domains
# of Links from
Separate C-Class
IPs
# of Linking Pages
Alt Tag (for Image
Links)
Links from .edu or
.gov Domains
PR of Linking Page
Authority of
Linking Domain
Links From
Competitors
Social Shares of
Referring Page
Links from Bad
Neighborhoods
Guest Posts
Links to
Homepage
Domain that Page
Sits On
NofollowLinks
Diversity of Link
Types
“Sponsored Links”
Or Other Words
Around Link
Contextual Links
Excessive 301
Redirects to Page
Backlink Anchor
Text
Internal Link
Anchor Text
Link Title
Attribution
Country TLD of
Referring Domain
Link Location In
Content
Link Location on
Page
Linking Domain
Relevancy
Page Level
Relevancy
Text Around Link
Sentiment
Keyword in Title
Positive Link
Velocity
Negative Link
Velocity
Links from “Hub”
Pages
Link from
Authority Sites
Linked to as
Wikipedia Source
Co-Occurrences Backlink Age Backlink Age
Natural Link
Profile
Reciprocal Links
User Generated
Content Links
Links from 301
Schema.org
Microformats
DMOZ Listed
TrustRank of
Linking Site
Number of
Outbound Links
on Page
Forum Profile
Links
Word Count of
Linking Content
Quality of Linking
Content
Sitewide Links
Organic Click
Through Rate for a
Keyword
Organic CTR for All
Keywords
Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Repeat Traffic Blocked Sites
Chrome
Bookmarks
Google Toolbar
Data
Number of
Comments
Dwell Time
Query Deserves
Freshness
Query Deserves
Diversity
User Browsing
History
User Search
History
Geo Targeting Safe Search Google+ Circles Local Searches
Transactional
Searches
Google News Box Image Results
Site Level Social
Signals
Brand Name
Anchor Text
Co-Citations

11. Distance between query and business
• We often click on Points Of Interest (POI) up to 3,000 metres away
• Engines prefer to rank websites that are within 2,000 metres
– NAP
• 78% of local mobile searches result in offline purchases
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

12. Clickrate (clicks / impressions)
• Make your meta data flourish
• 65 character length titles
• Human friendly URLs
– Search engines equally love:
• Short
• Keyword rich
• Memorable
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

13. Number of customer reviews
• Reviews will help:
– Gain credibility
– Brand awareness
– Increase engagement
– Influence perception
• 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal
recommendations
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

14. Competitor reviews
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

15. Strategically gaining reviews
• Yelp and Google Review stickers
• Use multiple review websites
- Look natural
• Utilise social media
• Analyse your customer database (returning customers)
- So long as this is allowed under the terms and conditions of
data subjects
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

16. NAP
• Name
• Address
• Phone number
– Website footer
– NAP on review websites
– Google Places
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

17. Store Directories
• Static webpage per store
• NAP
• Individually registered and pulled Google Places
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

18. 3 great, practical quick(er) wins

19. 1. Geo data
• Get dirty with data !

20. 1. Geo data

21. 2. Local keyword research

22. 3. Local links

23. The bigger picture

24. Current SEO trends
Panda: Reduces websites with a poor
user experience, low quality content, and
websites that are “thin, heavy”
Penguin: Reduces black hat SEO.
Heavily link focused, for example, link
farms, spam blog posts, URL redirection
and cloaking
Hummingbird: Essentially Google’s
new engine which processes synonyms
and improves keyword in context (which
also improves query intent as previously
discussed)
Pigeon: Currently used for US English
queries but this local SEO update is likely
to extend into the UK soon)

25. Future…
• It is all about mobile
• Mobile’s are largely consumer devices
• We do not link out on mobile devices
– Increased mobile use is going to kill links
• EU might target locational data after Google's right to be forgotten dies
down
• Google may not always be the largest search engine (Apple)
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

26. Summary

27. Local SEO summary
• Reviews, reviews and reviews
• Individual store webpages
• Beautifully written meta data (URLs, descriptions, titles)
• NAP
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK
87% of people search for local
information on their mobile
(Mint Twist)

28. References
• Mobithinking (2014) Global mobile statistics 2014 Part A: Mobile subscribers;
handset market share; mobile operators [Online] http://mobiforge.com/research-analysis/...
• Search Engine Land / Myles Anderson (2014) 88% Of Consumers Trust Online
Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations [Online] searchengineland.com
• Smith, A.G. (2003) ‘Think local, search global? Comparing search engines for
searching geographically specific information’. Online Information Review. 27(2) pp.
102 -- 109
@7thingsmedia
@IABUK

29. Questions

30. fin.
connect:
gerald.murphy@7thingsmedia.com
www.7thingsmedia.com
@7thingsmedia
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