This guide, created in 2012, is a process laid out to help small business owners begin their local search engine optimization process. Use this as a resource for local SEO.

1. LOCAL SEARCH
ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Mike Hanson

2. Optimizing for local search
engines
 Who needs to optimize for local search?
 Business owners of all sizes trying to drive online
traffic & foot traffic from local search
 Where can I find local search engines?
 Google – Google Maps, Google Plus
 Bing – Bing Local
 Yahoo – Yahoo Local
 Yelp
 Facebook
 Foursquare
 Twitter
 Yellowpages

3. keyword research
 Begin a local SEO campaign by determining which
keywords describe the business’s services and
products and by gathering business information.
– Determine the top unbranded
keywords driving organic
traffic to the site.
– For each physical business
location:
• Full name of the business
• Address with city, state and zip
code
• Phone number
• URL
– Examples of Keyword
Variations:
• [Keyword] + City
• City + [Keyword]
• [Keyword] + Zip Code
• Zip Code + [Keyword]
• [Keyword] + City State
• City State + [Keyword]

4. baseline ranking &
benchmarking
 Use keywords determined in keyword research for baseline
ranking & benchmarking. Determine baseline for unbranded
organic rankings.
 Important to record the type of listing is ranking:
 Organic web result
 Organic local business listing
 Organic local maps listing
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Yelp
 Foursquare
 Local directory (Superpages.com, Local.com, Yellowpages.com, etc.)
 Consider additional metrics such as indexation, referral traffic
numbers and backlinks.

5. On-page optimization
 On-page optimizations should include adding
targeted keywords to important SEO on page
elements, such as:
 Page title
 Meta description
 Microdata (if applicable)
 Header tags
 Body content
 Images
 Internal links from other pages

6. Local listings
 Yext.com
 Compiles profile
information for many
large and small local
search engines.
 Visit before beginning
profile verification to
determine which
profiles need updates.
 Use this information to
prioritize profile
validation effort.

7. Gather requirements (cont.)
 Verify what information is needed in order to create and
complete business listings on local engines.
 Notate which information is required vs. optional
 Examples of requirements for local engines:
 Business name
 Business address
 Website
 Business category
 Product categories
 Services offered
 Payments accepted
 Business description
 Images

8. Off-page optimizations
 Work on off-page optimizations once on-page
optimizations are complete.
 Writing profile descriptions based on top
keywords.
 Link building with geo-specific keyword anchor
text.
 Secondary and tertiary directory profile creation.

9. Advanced local seo process

10. Local link building
 Strategically securing back links to a website through various online sources.
 Local directories:
 Yellowbook, LocalEze
 Smaller local search engines:
 local.com, Urban Spoon & Open Table for restaurants
 Angie’s List, openlist.com, shopcity.com
 Hyper-local directories & search engines:
 Chambers of Commerce, Town Hall business directories, City Convention & Visitors Bureau’s, City
websites
 Search for “city name + business listings” and “city name + directory” to find additional opportunities
 Local newspapers or other local information sources
 Map and GPS providers:
 MapQuest, Garmin
 Emailing a webmaster and asking for a link
 Optimizing press releases
 RSS feeds
 Link reclamation & modification
 Widgets/apps
 Content creation and distribution
 Social buttons

11. Content creation
 Create relevant content for the target audience and location.
 Formats include:
 Articles
 How-to guides
 Top ten lists
 Images
 Videos
 Infographics
 Distribution efforts:
 Active social media channels
 Active profiles
 Through the website
 News channels
 Press releases
 The goal of each piece of content is to increase rankings and traffic by
building quality inbound links.

12. Markup language
 Currently, Google doesn’t
use markup for ranking
purposes.
 However, rich snippets can
make web pages appear more
prominent in search results.
 Important to choose one
format to use across the
board, however there are
many to choose from:
 Facebook Open Graph
 Microdata (accepted by major
search engines)
 Microformats
 RDFa
 Add markup language to:
 Address
 Phone number
 Hours of operation
 Payment types
 Upcoming events
 Geo coordinates
 Photographs
 Reviews
 Organization
 Main contact person
 Employees
 Videos
 Author
 Images
Example of a search result with authorship markup.

13. Social buttons
 Include social buttons on all URLs to encourage social
actions by users.
 Also include social buttons in email signatures, Order Thank You
pages and email marketing.
 Like back links, social signals can help to boost rankings.
 Social network examples:
 Like
 Tweet
 Pin
 inShare
 +1
 Stumble
 Share
 For mobile URLs – Facebook checkin or Foursquare check-in

14. reviews
 Both quality and quantity of reviews are important.
 Reviews can be used in Search Engine algorithms
for ranking.
 Be vocal about wanting reviews.
 Ask Facebook friends to leave reviews on CitySearch
 Request reviews through email
 Add buttons linking to local listing review pages
such as:
 Google
 Yahoo
 Yelp
 SuperPages

15. Keyhole Markup Language
Sitemap
 Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is a way to
verify that the business has a physical
address.
 Creating and uploading a KML sitemap to
Google Webmaster Tools can make it easier
for Google to index the business listing.
 KML Can identify geographic information for
applications like Google Earth and Google
Maps.

16. Mobile Local URL Optimization
 Optimize local URLs on the mobile site to
cater to local queries and keywords.
 Use basic on-page SEO optimization with
mobile site.
 Optimizing URLs, title tags, H1s and meta
descriptions with location specific keywords
 Add contact information such as phone
number and address in a prominent location
on the page.

17. Reporting
 Measure success to determine:
 Which channels produce the most business
 What time of day content distribution is effective
 Which channel provides the most engagement

18. summary

19. summary
 If a business has a local presence, local
search should be an integral part of the overall
SEO strategy.
 By creating, verifying and optimizing all
aspects of the local URLs, traffic should see
significant increases.