Find out what's hot in local search engine optimization

1. Local Search Sizzle What’s Hot in Local Search? presented by Mike Belasco and Mary Bowling

2. Who Is seOverflow? seOverflow is a search engine optimization and pay per click marketing company in Denver, CO. We specialize in offering solutions that enable web design companies, marketing consultants, and otherSEO companies to offer high end SEO services to their clients. Mike and Mary both have specialized expertise in Local Search and participated in David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey in 2008 and 2009.

3. Today’s Topics Why recent changes in the Google 10 pack are so important and how to optimize for it. What you need to know about David Mihm's 2009 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey How to pimp out Google Analytics to track Local Search

4. The Google 10 Pack

5. Anatomy of a SERP Pay Per Click Pay Per Click Local Ten Pack Organic

6. The Anatomy of the 10 Pack The linked name goes to the associated website. The More link goes to the Local Business listing. Notice the Reviews link Notice the phone number.

7. The Google 10 Pack Ranking in the 10 pack is now critical for more niches. Within the last 2 months Google began showing the 10 pack for searches that do not include a geographic identifier. More are being rolled out.

8. The Google 10 Pack This enables exposure for broad search terms, like dui lawyer, without a location term, like Denver, included. It’s good news for you if you are in the 10 pack and bad news if you are not.

9. The Google 10 Pack It’s showing up for more searches It’s often pushing the organic listings below the fold. The 10 pack is what searchers AND clients see. Clients want to be in it. How can you deliver?

10. The Google 10 Pack The 10 pack has it’s own algorithm I believe it is based mostly on the Local Search results. But ranking well in the Universal Results has an influence, too.

11. Website SEO for the 10 Pack Optimize for your keywords+location. Put correct physical address on all pages of the site. Check your website for location confusion, and correct it. For multiple locations, create a page optimized for each location. Use internal contextual linking to convey link reputation for your location+keywords .

12. Website SEO for the 10 Pack Contact Us page: Optimize for your name, location and phone number. Place links here pointing to your Google Maps and Yahoo Local profile pages, using good link text. Consider using the hcard format. Avoid any location confusion on this page

13. Local Search Optimization The Basis for Local Search: It’s all about real world businesses with physical locations. It’s all about factual business information, although Opportunities do exist for marketing messages: descriptions, photos, videos, coupons, attributes.

14. Set Reasonable Expectations It’s unreasonable to think you should rank in Local Search for places where you are not located. If you want to rank for places where you are not located, but where you do business, it’s best to concentrate on optimizing your website for those terms. Local Search Optimization

15. For specific tactics for optimizing for Local Search, please see the slides from the presentation Mary made at SearchFest last winter: Local Search Optimization Tips Local Search Optimization

16. Local Search Factor Rankings Survey

17. Local Search Ranking Factors Consensus on Important Factors Claim and Verify Listings Get Reviews Get Citations

18. Local Search Ranking Factors Claim and Verify Listings This is a huge trust factor! Google is bribing people to do it. Bonus: You get control of the information shown about you

19. Local Search Ranking Factors Get Reviews It’s helpful in most niches and locations to have online reviews for your business. More reviews probably help with better rankings. You need to develop a way to get reviews on an ongoing basis.

20. Local Search Ranking Factors Get citations from the right sources There’s increased agreement on the importance of citations. The right sources probably vary by industry. There are some standard, trusted sources that are probably good for everyone, like the Internet Yellow Pages and Yelp. Citations from hyper local sources may be gaining in influence.

21. Google Analytics For Local Search

22. If your site is dependant on local search it is important to configure your analytics package to quickly access and analyze important data 7 part blog series starts on our blog today You get a sneak peak at 3 GA for Local Search Tips here today 7 Ways To Pimp GA For Local Search

23. Identify traffic from “10 pack” type local universal search results as being different from “regular” organic traffic GA For Local Search Tip 1

24. 1. Use a 'local vanity' URL as your URL in your Google Local Business Center listing 2. Create a 'tracking' URL 3. Set up a redirect to 301 redirect your vanity URL to a real 'tracking' URL 4. Update your GA Snippet to allow # instead of ? to denote URL parameters (or use the canonical element) 5. Configure Advanced Segmentation in GA to view results GA For Local Search Tip 1

25. GA For Local Search Tip 1

26. redirect 301 /vanityurl http://www.yourdomain.com/#utm_source=google&utm_medium=localpack&utm_campaign=google-universal-local GA For Local Search Tip 1

27. <script type=”text/javascript”>varpageTracker = _gat._getTracker(”UA-XXXXXXXX-X”);pageTracker._initData();pageTracker._setAllowAnchor(true); pageTracker._trackPageview();</script> OR <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.yourdomain.com"/> GA For Local Search Tip 1

28. GA For Local Search Tip 1

29. GA For Local Search Tip 1

30. Create an advanced segment to quickly identify and analyze traffic coming from your target “location” GA For Local Search Tip 2

31. GA For Local Search Tip 2

32. GA For Local Search Tip 2

33. Create a custom report to quickly identify which cities/states your conversions are coming from GA For Local Search Tip 3

34. GA For Local Search Tip 3

35. An audit of your local listings in Google Maps and other important local platforms for lack of standardization of business data, location confusion, multiple listings and other issues that may be causing poor rankings. Inside information on what your competitors are doing to rank well. Tips on getting reviews on local websites and how to handle negative reviews. Specific recommendations for improvement. Retail $750 per location, discounts for multiple locations and wholesale prices available seOverview: Local Edition

36. Local Search Ranking Factors Survey seOverflow Blog Optimized! Google Lat Long Blog LocalSearchNews.net Mike on Twitter http://twitter.com/belasco Mary on Twitter http://twitter.com/MaryBowling Resources