Citations are an essential part of any local search strategy and they're increasing in importance. In the 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors Study, Citation factors fill 3 of the top 6 slots for the most influential local ranking factors. But researching, building & optimizing citations remains a confusing process for many SEOs. What should you tackle first? How important is cleaning up citations vs. building new citations? etc… In this webinar we examine why citations are so important, how to create a highly effective citation strategy and advanced tips to optimize citations to dominate search results for your clients.

1. Sept 11th 2013
‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’

2. ‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’
Agenda:
Why are citations so important
Citation Building Strategy
Advanced optimization techniques

3. Presentations and Q&A
– 3 sections to webinar
– 3 Presentations
• Mini Q&A after
– Full Q&A session at end

4. House keeping…
Webinar is being recorded
Recording available on Monday
No webcam view (boo…)
Slidedeck uploaded to slideshare.net
Follow up email with all details

5. Speakers
David Moceri
Heygotomarketing.com
Nyagoslav
Zhekov
Ngsmarketing.com

6. Hosts
Myles Anderson
BrightLocal.com
Linda Buquet
Localsearchforum.com

7. Section 1
So why citations?!
‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’
Myles Anderson
BrightLocal.com

8. Data drives internet & mobile
 All local sites & services need data
 LBS & apps need a data layer
 Same data sources feed into web & mobile
 More data sources & outlets than ever before
 More local searches than ever before

9. Mobile driving growth in local searches
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Mobile Desktop
BIA/Kelsey Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) Survey, Wave 16, November 2012
Scale = billion searches/year

10. 169,000,000,000
„LOCAL‟ SEARCHES IN 2015
BIA/Kelsey Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) Survey, Wave 16, November 2012

11. Citations remain ‘the key’ factor in local search
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
#6 ‘Validation
with third-
party
providers’
#2 ‘Citations
from Major
Data
Providers’
#4
Volume of
structured
Citations
#7 Quality of
structured
Citations from
#10 Quality of
unstructured
citations
#11 Volume of
unstructured
citations
#4
Volume of
structured
Citations
#5
Volume of
unstructured
Citations
#5
Quantity of
Structured
Citations
#8
Quality/Author
ity of
Structured
Citations
#3 Consistency
of Structured
Citations
#4
Quality/Author
ity of
Structured
Citations
#6 Quantity of
Structured
Citations
#14, 16, 25, 39
Source: Local Search Ranking Factors Study – 2008-2013

12. Expert Citation Survey 2013
 17 local search experts
11 questions
Key & common questions
 A big thank you to…

13. Expert Citation Survey - Panelists
Mike Blumenthal
Andrew Shotland
Nyagoslav Zhekov
David Moceri
Mike Ramsey
Phil Rozek
 Laura Betterley
Casey Meraz
Susan Hallam
Mike Bellasco
Matthew Hunt
Brian Coryat
Damian Rollinson
Don Campbell
Jon Keel
Phil Britton
Myles Anderson

14. How important are accurate Citations to
local search ranking?
69%
19%
12% 0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Critical Very Important Quite Important Not Important

15. Are Citations getting more or less important
to local search ranking?
44%
50%
6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
More Important The Same Less Important

16. What is more important - quantity or quality
of Citations?
63%
19% 18%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Quality Quantity Same Importance

17. Which type of sites are most valuable for
Citations?
19%
31%
25% 25%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Local Dir National Dir Niche/Industry All the same

18. Is it more important to update existing wrong
citations or build new citations?
38%
6%
56%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Existing New Mix of both

19. How important is it to merge or delete
duplicate citations?
31%
19%
38%
13%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Essential Very Important Quite Important Not Very Important

20. Do you think it's best to build citations
quickly or steadily over time?
53%
27%
13%
7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Build steadily (3-6
months)
Depends on
quantity of existing
Build quickly (1-2
months)
Build as many as
you can now!

21. “We know building citations quickly for new
sites is essential, but equally citation building is
an ongoing steady process, not a one hit
wonder. A steady approach always wins with
Google! ”
Susan Hallam
“Citation building should be an on-going
process and never end.”
Mike Blumenthal

22. Does address formatting need to be 100%
perfect? (or do small differences not matter? )
31%
50%
19%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
100% Perfect Important but not critical Formatting not an issue

23. “As far as address formatting goes, different sites
tend to use different standards of abbreviation. This
forces sites like Google to use they're own
standardized matching algorithms to yield
better, more unified results. …Moral of the story
is, don't intentionally alternate between Road and
Rd, but don't stress over it if it happens..”
Phil Britten

24. How important is 'richness' of citations? (e.g.
adding 'description', 'photos', 'opening hours‟ etc…)
56%
31%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Very Important Quite Important Not Important

25. How important is it to use different
descriptions across different sites?
30%
26%
17%
3% 4% 4% 4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Not important
now but may
be in future
Important to
do on high
value
directories
Not important
& time
consuming
Useful to help
citations rank
higher
Important to
avoid dupe
content
penalties
Important
because some
sites check for
unique
content
Don't bother!

26. Only 40% say it‟s important to do….
30%
26%
17%
3% 4% 4% 4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Not important
now but may
be in future
Important to
do on high
value
directories
Not important
& time
consuming
Useful to help
citations rank
higher
Important to
avoid dupe
content
penalties
Important
because some
sites check for
unique
content
Don't bother!

27. Section 2
Citation Strategy –
Research & Implementation
‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’
Nyagoslav Zhekov
Ngsmarketing.com

28. Step 1: Collecting and Sorting Information
Name, Address, Phone number
+Category[1]
Plenitude of Business Data
Collect outdated information
Bonus: Company Information Sheet
bit.ly/CitationsForm
1bit.ly/LocalezeList
bit.ly/InfogroupList

29. Step 2: Discovering Existing Listings
1. How business information flows on the web:

30. Step 2: Discovering Existing Listings (Cont.)
2. It is actually a little more complicated…
Tier 1:
- Government organizations (Industry Canada)
- Telcos:
AT&T, Verizon (US), BT (UK), Deutsche Telekom (Germany))
Tier 2:
- Business data aggregators
Infogroup, LocalEze, Acxiom, Factual, D&B (US), Yellow Pages Group
(Canada), LDC, Market Location, 118 Information, Infoserve (UK), Sensis
(Australia), Gelbe Seiten (Germany)

31. Step 2: Discovering Existing Listings (Cont.)
Tier 3:
- Major business directories
YP.com, CityGrid Network, Yelp, Local.com (US)
Yell, ThomsonLocal, TouchLocal (UK)
*Yellow Pages Group and Sensis are “monopolists” in Canada and
Australia, respectively
Tier 4:
- All the rest

32. Step 2: Discovering Existing Listings (Cont.)
Before you start: Prepare a spreadsheet
bit.ly/CitationsSpreadsheet
1. Automated phase
- GetListed.org – Infogroup, LocalEze, Acxiom, Factual, YP.com
- Yext’s “Local Search Scorecard” – a lot of major directories
- Bright Local’s “CitationTracker” – Google’s full index

33. Step 2: Discovering Existing Listings (Cont.)
2. Manual phase
- Double-check the most important data sources
(Acxiom, Infogroup, LocalEze, Factual, Citysearch, Yahoo, Yellowpages, Yelp
, Local.com, MapQuest)
- Double-check some business directories that generally contain a lot of
duplicates:
MerchantCircle, MojoPages, EZLocal, Manta, HotFrog, Foursquare, Chamb
erofCommerce, Yellowbot
- Double-check some business directories that are not well indexed by
Google: Insiderpages, Kudzu, Brownbook
- Search for any phone number that has ever been used by the business in
the following format: 555-555-5555
- Search for any variation of the business name + ZIP where the business
has been located (and any combinations of the two)

34. Step 3: Fix, Claim, Update, Report
 Claim all listings that are claimable:
 If a listing is not claimable, report the incorrect information via email
bit.ly/ReportInfoTemplate
 Report and remove duplicate listings
bit.ly/ReportDuplicates

35. Step 4: Discover Additional Citation Sources
1. Important citation sources every business should be listed on
bit.ly/CitationSources
2. Citation sources important for specific industry/location
bit.ly/CitationSourcesCity
bit.ly/CitationSourcesNiche
3. Check competitors’ citations using CitationTracker and
Citation Finder

36. Step 4: Discover Additional Citation
Sources (Cont.)
4. How to determine if a citation source is important:
 Direct competitors have citations there
 Other businesses from same city/industry are listed there
 General popularity as a citation source (bit.ly/CitationSourcesPopular)
 How big the business information database of the citation source is
 How big their distribution network is
 How long it takes for Google to pick a citation (bit.ly/CitationsTime)
 Web traffic to the citation source
 Domain authority of the citation source
 Citation source ranks high when using relevant queries on Google

37. Step 5: Get Listed
1. Use software to help speed-up the work:
- Chrome Auto-Fill bit.ly/AutoFillChrome
- Roboform bit.ly/UseRoboform
2. Save business directories that require phone verification for
the end -
LocalEze, Infogroup, Nokia, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Citysearch, iBegin, Yellowee, Yell
owbot (US)
Yellowpages, WebLocal (Canada)

38. Step 6: Following Up
1. After 1 week
- Check email for updates
- Manually go through the listings
2. After 2 weeks
- Manually go through the listings
- Resend email requests if action hasn’t been taken
3. After 3 weeks
- Check email for updates
- Postcard verifications should be completed
4. After 4 weeks
- Last check for updates
- If some listings haven’t been updated yet – report the URLs
bit.ly/PageRemoval

39. Irrelevant Step: About Me
Nyagoslav Zhekov
www.NGSMarketing.com
info@ngsmarketing.com
(+1) 347-535-4535
twitter.com/Nyagoslav

40. Section 3
Advanced Optimization
‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’
David Moceri
Heygotomarketing.com

41. Presentations Overview
– How You Should View Citations
– Software Strategies
– Manual Strategies

42. How You Should View Citations
– They are Google Checkpoints
– Pick Top 10 to 20 to Manage
• Google+ Local – Bing Local – Yahoo Local
• Yelp – MerchantCircle – Patch – YellowPages
• Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – Google+ Page
– Treat Them Like Buffer Sites
• Build Links to Them as you Would to Your Site
• Buy Fiverr Gigs to Build Social Signals
• Put Up Spun and/or New Blog Posts

44. Put Your Competitors Out of Business!
If You’re NOT on the 1st Page You are Done!

45. HEREISTHEOUTCOM

46. VERYEXCITING

47. What You Are Witnessing Is Real
7 - 1st Page Rankings (Usually 5 to 6)
This is a Real Simple Way to Crush It!
These Directories/Citations Have Built-In
Traffic & Social Signals Which = Activity!
These are Authority Sites for Local SEO
Results posted at the end

48. Software Strategies
– Software You Can Use
• ScrapeBox
• ScrapeJet
• EVO Mega Pro
• Instant Traffic Software
• SE Nuke CrX
• Magic Submitter
• Just About Anything You Already Own

49. Software Strategies - Yelp
– ScrapeBox: What to Blog Comment
Silver State Smiles
2685 S Rainbow Blvd
Ste 107
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 722-2226
http://www.yelp.com/biz/silver-state-smiles-las-vegas

50. Software Strategies - Facebook
– ScrapeBox: What to Blog Comment
Silver State Smiles
2685 S Rainbow Blvd
Ste 107
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 722-2226
https://www.facebook.com/Silverstatesmiles

51. Software Strategies - YellowPages
– ScrapeBox: What to Blog Comment
Silver State Smiles
2685 S Rainbow Blvd
Ste 107
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 722-2226
http://www.yellowpages.com/las-vegas-nv/mip/silver-
state-smiles-463588479

52. Manual Strategies
– Ways You Can Manually Do It
• Add to Curated Content
• Add to the Bottom of All Blog Posts
• Add to Articles Posts
• Add to YouTube Video Descriptions
• Add to PDF & Slide Sites
• Add to Web 2.0 Properties

53. Manual Strategies
– Ways You Can Manually Do It
• Add to Curated Content
• Add to the Bottom of All Blog Posts
• Meta Data – (New Method I Been See Results)

54. Manual Strategies
Respond to All Reviews with Keywords
Here is a Great Chrome Extension to Use

55. Quick Poll
Which topics do you want us to cover in
upcoming webinars? (select 3)

56. Questions?

57. Answered questions…
http://www.localsearchforum.com/sho
wthread.php?t=10064

58. ‘Enhanced Citations for Local Search Greatness’
Top 10 Citation Sources

59. Top 10 Citation Sites
1. yellowpages.com
2. merchantcircle.com
3. superpages.com
4. yahoo.com
5. manta.com
6. yelp.com
7. facebook.com
8. citysearch.com
9. showmelocal.com
10. yellowbot.com

60. Top 10 Citation Sites
1. yellowpages.ca
2. canpages.ca
3. weblocal.ca
4. cylex.ca
5. yelp.com
6. manta.com
7. facebook.com
8. yelp.ca
9. hotfrog.ca
10. pagesjaunes.ca

61. Top 10 Citation Sites
1. yell.com
2. cylex-uk.co.uk
3. thomsonlocal.com
4. hotfrog.co.uk
5. misterwhat.co.uk
6. yelp.com
7. independent.co.uk
8. yelp.co.uk
9. qype.co.uk
10. thesun.co.uk

62. Download top 50 sources
http://www.brightlocal.com/2013/09/1
1/top-50-local-citation-sites

63. InsideLocal: upcoming webinars
September 25th – Local Reputation Management
– Don Campbell, Phil Rozek, Myles Anderson
Tbc – Google+ Local Advanced Troubleshooting
– Linda Buquet + 2 more (tbc)

64. Register here…
www.brightlocal.com/insidelocal
www.localsearchforum.com/insidelo
cal-webinars

65. That’s all folks!