Harnessing the Light and Darker Sides of On-Page Local SEO | UnGagged Las Vegas 2016

#UnGagged16 Vegas
14–16 November 2016
James Bavington
StrategiQ
Harnessing the Light and Darker Sides
of On-Page Local SEO

#UnGagged16 Vegas
Things I’ve learnt this year, that
our helping my local clients..

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SMBs can have enterprise level,
optimised websites without
spending loads of money.

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On-page/technical SEO is still important
There are no silver bullets, but cumulative
iteration of smaller best-practice techniques.

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bavington.uk/28NCmTNBased on 1,973 Local SEOs participating in the survey.

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Data courtesy of
As a local SEO, what impact does on-page SEO
have on search ranking in 2016?

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bavington.uk/2016-local-factors
2016 Local Ranking Factors Study

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14–16 November 2016 Data courtesy of
Local Marketing Investment
Links
6.35
GMB
2.84
Off-site Local
2.62
Website
3.49

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PDF deck will be available at the
end of the session

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I love working with Small
Local Businesses.
• Less red-tape. Work with the decision makers.
• Technical work can be completed quickly.

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How long big-company SEOs have been
waiting for the technical change they are
most desperate to get implemented.
Survey by Will Critchlow
May 2016, Moz.com
mz.cm/1OscIyp
BrightLocal and I asked the same question
in a survey to 2000+ Local SEOs.
80% of technical changes within a week!
Survey by and I
July 2016, Search Engine Land.
selnd.com/2fLbmcd
1%
20%
37%
16%
26% <1 Month
1-6 Months
6-12 Months
12-24 Months
Over 2 yrs
27%
37%
30%
5%1%
<24 Hrs
0-1 Weeks
1-2 Weeks
1 Month
2+ Months

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I love working with Small
Local Businesses.
• Less red-tape. Work with the decision makers.
• Technical work can be completed quickly.
• They’ll recommend you to their friends.
• You can make a real, noticeable difference.
• Develop amazing, intimate client relationships.

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On-page & Technical SEO Alone…

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However

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Is the average monthly SEO retainer
paid by local businesses last year.
$1,389 (£1121)
Data used with permission from ’s 2015 Local SEO Survey
bavington.uk/local_seo_survey

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And..

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Small/local business owners are
increasingly informed, expectant
and many have been burnt.

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Google are trying’ to engage
directly with small business
owners

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A different kind of focus
• Small, local businesses are being educated.
• Small business owners need that warm fuzzy feeling.
• You have to get to know your client’s business.
• Discover their why, it’s our job to present this.

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“Now, a local small business needs to worry about
conversion and people walking through its door
rather than ranking.”
Mike Blumenthal
@mblumenthal
Feb’16 PracticalEcommerce

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Site Speed & Hosting

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2010
Page Speed is a
ranking factor
albeit small, mainly
targeting slow sites.
bit.ly/SL_speed_algo
Right now..
Page Speed is a
big usability factor
for users,
particularly on
mobile.
May 2016
Google finish rolling
out their mobile
algorithm which
factors mobile
speed.
2015
Google have been
experimenting with
SERP Slow Labels.
bit.ly/SL_slow_labels

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Most local/small business
websites are slow.

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where do I start?
The Obvious ?
• Use a good theme with minimal plugins.
• Compress, combine and minify your code.
• Compress your images.
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• Reduce DNS lookups
• Compression via .htaccess
The Difference
• Use specialist hosting
• Use 3rd Party performance services
• But perhaps most importantly…

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1. Create a culture that strives for performance
2. Specify performance as a technical requirement
3. Document, share and evolve best practice
get buy-in from
your developers

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http://www.brookelectricalservices.co.uk/

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Seek specialist hosting

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1. Migration tool
2. Staging environment
3. Git, Staging & Versioning
4. Automated Daily Back-ups
5. caching/security plugins
not needed
6. Fast EverCache architecture
7. Automatic WP updates
8. Built-in Redirect Manager
9. Built-in CDN
10.Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs (Oct’16)
11. HTTP/2 (Jul’16)
$10 (10 installs)
Per client per month $4 (150 installs)
Per client per month>

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We migrated 25 WordPress clients over 3 days from various hosts.
36%
Average decrease in page load speed
(Based on an average of 5 tests taken before and after the migration for every site).

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WordPress out-of-the-
box and stripped back,
isn’t that slow.
bavington.uk/H8dc2Y9

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That’s great, but is there anything quick
and easy I can do in the short-term?

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CloudflareUser Your Server
Routing your site through CloudFlare
CDN Optimisation Security DNS
Integrated, fast DNS
services.
DDoS
Protection from
advanced DDoS
attacks
Enterprise-grade
Website Application
Firewall.
Fast caching for both
mobile and desktop
users.
Distributed content
that speeds up your
website.

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CloudFlare’s free CDN & Optimisation example
3 sec
2 sec
1 sec
0 sec
2.71 sec
2.09 sec
1.67 sec
Shared Hosting
(Based on an average of 5 tests taken before and after the migration).

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Junade Ali
@IcyApril
Community Manager, CloudFlare
• Over 10M sites on their network
• 22 US datacentres, 100 Globally
• CloudFlare now serve 5% of all web requests.
• On average, 20K sites are added daily

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Junade Ali
@IcyApril
Community Manager, CloudFlare
“On an average HTML site it's possible to get
around a two-thirds performance increase
just by using HTTP/2 and Server Push.”

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HTTPS://

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Dec ‘15
Google have
started prioritising
indexing HTTPS://
over HTTP://
bit.ly/
https_indexing
Aug ‘14
HTTPs is a ‘slight’
ranking factor and
increasing usability
and trust factor.
bit.ly/
https_signal
Jan ‘16
Google are
experimenting by
shaming insecure
sites in Chrome.
bit.ly/
http_shame
Dec ‘15
Chrome launches a
dedicated security
panel.
bit.ly/
chrome_security_panel

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Current http pages
Current insecure https pages
Current secure https pages
Chrome 56 (Jan 2017)
http pages with sensitive fields
Date TBC
Labelling ‘Not Secure’ in Incognito
‘Eventually’
All non-secure content marked in red

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You’ll need an SSL to utilize HTTP/2

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You’ll need an SSL to utilize HTTP/2
What’s HTTP/2?
bit.ly/pete_http2

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All businesses need to be
serving their website over https

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You can get them for free

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User Cloudflare Server
SSL Off
Free Flexible SSL
Full SSL*
* Requires valid SSL on your server
Ecommerce still requires an
SSL on your server.
CloudFlare’s free
service includes a
Flexible SSL.

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Proceed with caution
@filiwiese
SSL Guide – Oct’16
bavington.uk/FiliHTTPS
1. Do your research before implementing
2. 301 Redirect & Canonicalize
3. Don’t forget to sweep your local citations

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Engagement & Conversion

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Local businesses are not
typically ‘known brands’

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We work with our clients to
discover their ‘why’.

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"We champion the development of exclusive, high
quality, hand-made limited editions. We support
traditional craft and hand-made techniques with
the world’s leading street artists.

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"We’re London’s original terror tour, established in
1982. Our limited team of four guides are
published authors and academics whos passion
shows in every tour.

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We’re your local, family-owned specialists who
install the best equipment, coupled with
experienced workmanship for long-term comfort
and value. What we do, we do in our own homes.
"

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Landing Coverage Pages

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Area/coverage pages DO still work
and can rank for a variety of high
level and niche keywords.

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Local area coverage pages
can rank on page one
below the Snack Pack.
“Drainage cambridge”
only 70 monthly searches

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But not all keywords will
produce the Snack Pack
“Blocked Drain Cambridge”
only 150 monthly searches

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Three top organic rankings
are ‘area coverage pages’

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Google seems fit to rank
four local companies
afterwards.
3 of these are Yellow
Pages websites

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Is it possible to
learn this power?

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A small local business client
we’re working with now.

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Saturated
Market
Market
Opportunity

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WP Custom Post Type
Design Visual
Video Content
Photography
Local Coverage Page

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Don’t be greedy, start with a few areas.
Adequately research the niche keywords.
Be sure that you can differentiate how your
client operates in each area.
Discover and show ‘their why’
Produce a single page per town/city/locality
Link the area pages from the main navigation
The dos
Don’t publish a fake or PO Box or virtual
Addresses. It’s against Google’s Guidelines.
Publish hard-coded tracking numbers or local
area numbers they don’t own.
Stuff pages with service/product keywords,
postcodes or multiple locations.
Hide your pages within sitemaps
Use the same templated generic content on
your pages.
The don’ts
!
!
!
!
!
!
"
"
"
"
"
"
The don’ts

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Link your area pages.
All area pages are clearly and
confidently linked from within
the primary navigation.

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Area Photography
Area landmark which also
includes one of the
company’s vans.
Basic on-page SEO
Area H1 with supporting <p>
that covers the company’s
USP of being a family
business.

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Area specific SLA’s
Accurate call-out times for
each area page are displayed
here.
Clear ’Why us’ CTAs
Acting directly as a landing
page, you should display your
’why’ above the fold.

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Great, unique content
Introduce your area page
with well written, unique
content that welcomes
visitors from this geographic
area. Include your standard
SEO best-practice.

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Call to Action Form
Make it easy and obvious for
visitors to make an enquiry
directly on the area page
itself.

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Facebook Widget
If your site has a fairly large
Facebook following, show the
faces within the widget.
If a prospective customer’s
friend is already a fan, they’ll
see their face (and approval!)
here.

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Filtered Reviews
Display reviews from
customers who are from this
area. Where possible,
reference their sub-location
or street name.

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Keywords & Services
As this is an acting landing
page, briefly cover your
primary services – this also
helps the page rank for a
variety of secondary phrases
without trying too hard.

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Local Team
If you have team members
who are based, or typically
service specific areas, filter
and introduce them on the
page to add further unique,
relevant content.

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Local tip or news?
Here we’re adding unique
content in the form of advice
and considerations for
customers who live within
this area. If the business
owner can’t help with this,
consider filtering local news
or blogs.

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Unique, quality local
content that connects
with the user is key for
local area coverage
pages.

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Show filtered reviews/testimonials for that
area, with reference to locality.
Use photography specific to that area, if you
can, with the business in the shot.
Display case studies or a portfolio gallery,
filtered to the area.
Ask your client for a ’local tip’ that can help
and connect with customers in the area.
Show filtered news/blog posts that
reference the locality.
Creative, unique, local content
⋆
$
%
&
'
Show crew who are based or operate
specifically within that area.
Display accurate, different response/call out
times or distance/travel advice/directions.
Source a quote or reference from the
company director about the area.
Differentiate services/products if they differ
in anyway per area.
Write bespoke, unique content for the page,
with insight from your client.
(
)
*
+
,

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Prepare for the move towards
paid, local Snack Packs.

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@JoyanneHawkins
SMX Advanced Local Workshop
21 June ‘16

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Screenshot by Ryan Scollon
@ryanbowlerhat

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Your local area
pages should be
worthy and able to
convert a paid click.
Think beyond
organic local
rankings.

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Google My Business (GMB)

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domain.com/?utm_source=
google&utm_medium=GMB
&utm_campaign=Google%2
0My%20Business
Google’s URL Builder
bavington.uk/28PbO65

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@googlemybiz

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Invest in professional photography

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An even cheaper way…

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Virtual Tour
• Costs between $175-$300
• Compatible with Facebook’s new 360 view
• They take care of everything AND supply you
with 8-20 professional photos.

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“Those who view a listing
with a virtual tour
are twice as likely to be
interested in
booking/visiting there”

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What about adding virtual
or fake addresses to GMB?

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Trust
Flow
Citation
Flow
Trust
Flow
Citation
Flow
Competitor Our Client

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1. It’s against Google’s guidelines
2. Building forged citations is hard
3. Reviews, adding photos and verification is hard
4. Your listing can be edited or reported
I wouldn’t…

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Cultivating Reviews
(on-page and off)

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“Google reviews came in at the top of the list. The
sites with the most reviews outranked other
businesses.
bavington.uk/2016-local-factors

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1. 90% of consumers read less than 10
reviews to to trust a business.
2. 73% believe reviews over 3 months old
aren’t relevant.
3. 70% of consumers will leave a review for
a business if they're asked to.
Full Survey Results:
bavington.uk/2fDalBG

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Building good reviews is hard

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“9/10 customers who had a positive experience
would leave a review if they were asked.
Only 7% who’ve had a positive experience are
actually being asked!”
David Mihm
@davidmihm
BrightonSEO. Sep’16

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1. 5-6 Jobs completed per-day.
2. Manual email-based follow-up email.
3. WordPress based website.
4. Very happy customers
5. Only 2 natural third party reviews per year
A review experiment

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Area Selection
Service Choice
Hyper Local Area

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1. Initial 40% conversion rate on emails sent.
2. Averaging 3 responses per day.
3. Team are manually filling in the blanks and moderating.
4. Client is happy to read customer feedback!
Early results

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Save time and stay in control

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What can SEO’s use it for?
• Deploying Google Analytics
• Set-up event/click tracking
• Adwords Conversion & Remarketing
• Google Certified Shops Integration
• Add third party tracking tools
• Add custom HTML
Why bother?
• Manage your tags in a single area
• Preview mode & version control
• The snippet loads asynchronously
• Reduces external requests
• You don’t have to wait for developers
• Quick, easy access to your website

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A simple, single location local
business JSON-LD boilerplate

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A simple JSON-LD
Local Business Schema
Boilerplate.
bavington.uk/JSON-local

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“Over time, I think structured markup is
something that might go into the rankings as well”
John Mueller
@johnmu
Sep’15

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1. Use fast, specialist hosting and get performance buy-in from your devs.
2. Use CloudFlare to manage DNS and gain a performance boost.
3. Your site(s) need to be https. It can be done for free and will soon be mandatory.
4. Conversion is key – present and engage with ‘your why’.
5. Leverage well made area pages for organic and eventual paid snack pack ads.
6. Invest and leverage professional media like video and photography.
7. Build reviews not just off-page but on-page too
8. Save time, deploy schema and improve performance with Tag Management
Wrapping up..

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Thank you.
Questions?
@bavington / @strategiq
james@strategiq.co
https://bavington.co.uk
bavington.uk/UnGagged16

Harnessing the Light and Darker Sides of On-Page Local SEO | UnGagged Las Vegas 2016

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