The Formic Media seminar series focuses on enhancing local SEO for businesses, emphasizing the importance of claiming and optimizing Google Place pages. It outlines key positive and negative factors affecting local SEO, providing tips for effective listings and enhancing visibility through reviews and local citations. Upcoming seminars are scheduled in April, May, and June, covering topics like Google Analytics and sales success elements.

1. Formic Media Seminar Series:Going Places with Google

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10. Use code FORMICUpcoming Seminars April 13th – Google Analytics

11. May 11th – Elements of Sales Success

12. June 8th – Website ClinicAgenda Local Search Overview

13. Factors Affecting Local SEO

14. Local SEO Optimization Tips

15. Local Social

16. Local AdvertisingLocal SEO Overview

17. Local SEO Overview Why is Local SEO so important?

18. Roughly 20% of all searches have local intent

19. June 2010

20. Google = 10.1 billion searches

21. Yahoo = 2.9 billion

22. Bing = 1.9 billion

23. Total of Big 3 = 14.9 billion searches2,980,000,000 searches had local intent!

24. Local SEO Overview So what, what does that mean for me?

25. 50 million Google Place pages globally

26. Only 4 million have been claimed globally

27. 2 million in the US (out of roughly 25 million in the US) Huge Potential and Opportunity!

28. Local SEO Overview

29. Local SEO Overview

30. Local SEO Overview Requires a different mindset than traditional SEO

31. Organic SEO is about optimizing websites/off-site factors

32. Local SEO is about optimizing locations

33. Local search has its own set of ranking factorsLocal SEO Overview Traditional SEO

34. Ranking algo consists of on-site SEO and off-site (i.e. inbound links) ranking factorsOn-Site Ranking Factors (Title/Meta/etc)Off-Site Ranking Factors (links)

35. Local SEO Overview Local SEO

36. Many more properties to be concerned withTop Five Positive Factors Affecting Local SEO

37. Claiming Your Place Page Verify your listing as the owner of the business

38. http://www.places.google.com/businessClaiming:Enter business info.

39. Verify your listing.Business Address Matches City of Search The only time this doesn’t matter is when there are not enough results to satisfy the search

40. Although it appears that distance to the centroid matters less, there is still a border around the city that mattersAssociate Place Page with Proper CategoriesProvide at least one category for your business

41. Categories should say what your business is (e.g. Restaurant), not on what it does (e.g. Cook Food) or things it sells (e.g. Draper Valley Free Range Chicken). This information can be added in your description or as custom attributes.

42. Categories should not contain location-based information.

43. Only one category per entry field – don’t try to stuff the fieldsReviews Google places a huge focus on reviews – listing them in multiple locationsOff Page / Off Listing Criteria Make sure you have consistent information across all listings

44. Having a properly optimized, well-built site should be at the center of all online marketing effortsTop Five Negative Factors Affecting Local SEO

45. Multiple Listings with the Same Phone Number Make sure all listings are consolidated into one, optimized local listing

46. Google uses this as a way to control spam

47. Even if running multiple businesses from the same phone number you need to define a distinct local area code number for each businessNot Showing Address Google will bury you in the listings – only showing business name specific searches

48. If you don’t want to be found why are you optimizing a local listing page in the first place?Multiple Listings with Same Address Becomes an issue with offices & business located in the same building

49. Suite numbers help

50. Can lead to unwanted merged listings, swapped reviews and the diversion of listing powerListing PO Box Instead of Physical Address Too easy to game the system without having a physical address in additional territoriesMultiple Pages with Same Business Title Easier to avoid for small business – more difficult for chains

51. Google will not allow one business to dominate all resultsLocal Optimization Tips

52. Local Search Strategy & OptimizationImportant Elements to Ranking in the “7 Pack”:

53. Claim your local listing

54. Ensure that your company does not have duplicate listings

55. Ensure that your listing is properly categorized

56. Include keywords in the local listing Title

57. Proximity of the business to the city center

58. Google Places service areas

59. Complete local business listing profile

60. Number of citationsClaim Your Local Listing Trust is a huge signal for Google

61. Only 2MM claimed in U.S. so far

62. http://www.google.com/places

63. No duplicate listings!

64. Do the same at Yahoo (listings.local.yahoo.com)

65. And the same at Bing (ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx)Claim Your Local ListingClaiming:Enter business info.

66. Verify your listing.Include Keywords in your TitleAdd Keywords to your Title:These will be bolded in results.

67. Help to increase CTR, similar to PPC advertising.Categorize Your ListingAdd Relevancy Factors:Search Engines use categories to help define your business accurately.Proximity to City CenterProximity:Having an address in the city and close to the city center helps with local ranking.

68. Importance is determined by competition.Service Areas & Home Based BusinessesAdd Service Areas:Extremely helpful for home based businesses.

69. Good for businesses that serve specific areas.Complete your Local Listing ProfileAdd Profile Content:Reviews