The document summarizes Jake Aull's webinar on mobile and local SEO strategies for 2016 and beyond. It discusses the roles of various directory listing services and data aggregators in local SEO today. It also covers the importance of mobile websites, using schema.org markup to showcase reviews, and how local SEO strategies can benefit mobile SEO through location data and prioritization of ratings and reviews in search results.

1. A
Webinar,
by
Jake
Aull,
Hosted
by
SEMrush
June
21,
2016
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Mobile
and
Local
SEO
for
2016
and
Beyond

2. About
Speaker
Jake
Aull
Jake
Aull
wrote
and
started
teaching
Georgia
State
University's
first
course
in
Social
Media
Marke@ng
in
2010/2011,
which
he
con@nues
to
this
day.
He
has
also
wriRen
books
for
Pearson-­‐Pren@ce
Hall,
including
WordPress
SEO
Success
(currently
in
Barnes
and
Noble
bookstores)
and
the
Instructors’
Manual
to
Pearson’s
first
Social
Media
Marke@ng
text
book.
He
has
been
a
leader
and
speaker
in
social
media
marke@ng
and
SEO
in
the
southeast.
Jake
is
Head
Honcho
of
ZenFires
Digital
Marke@ng
in
Atlanta,
GA,
providing
Search
Marke@ng
services
and
consul@ng
to
various
clients
and
companies
across
the
U.S.
Jake
has
also
been
published
and
cited
in
publica@ons
such
as
Atlanta
Business
Chronicle
and
OZ
Magazine
and
is
Chair
for
Atlanta
Interac@ve
Marke@ng
Associa@on
Search
Marke@ng
SIG
2015.
Jake
Aull
Head
Honcho,
ZenFires
|
@jakeaull
zenfires.com
|
slideshare.net/jakeaull

3. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
and
Local
SEO
for
2016
and
Beyond:
What’s
Covered
in
this
PresentaHon
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Local
SEO
Today:
The
Market
Roles
• Mobile
Websites
• Mobile
Adver@sing
• Mobile
Apps
• Audio/Voice
Search

4.
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Local
SEO
Today:
The
Market
Roles

5. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Local
SEO
Today:
The
Market
Roles
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Directory
loca@on
lis@ngs
management
services
(Yext,
Moz
Local)
• vs.
data
aggregators
(Axiom,
InfoUSA,
Neustar)
• Yext
vs.
Moz
Local
(Yext’s
new
data
layer
is
lost
ager
the
contract
term
is
over)
• Or,
DIY
• Is
it
worth
paying
Yelp
and
other
channels?
• Google
Local
• It’s
now
GoogleMyBusiness
• Expect
the
death
of
Google+
• It’s
easier
than
ever
for
customers
to
leave
Google
reviews
–
so
be
sure
to
ask
customers
to
leave
them!
• Claims
and
verifica@ons
work
beRer
with
domain-­‐based
emails
(so
sync
to
gmail?)
• Don’t
forget
about
Apple
Maps
and
Facebook
check-­‐in.
• And
pay
aRen@on
to
Waze
and
tradi@onal
GPS
services
(e.g.,
TomTom
drives
Apple
Maps)

6. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Local
SEO
Strategies
for
Websites
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Definitely
don’t
ignore
the
reviews!
• Ask
for
reviews
in
your
preferred
channel
(Yelp,
Facebook,
etc.)
• Using
Schema.org
markup,
reviews
can
be
shown
in
website
SEO
lis@ngs
on
the
SERP
• (Schema.org
discussed
throughout
this
presenta@on)
• Don’t
forget
about
NAP
• Show
the
name,
address,
phone
strategically
throughout
your
website

7.
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Mobile
Websites

8. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
Websites
&
Google
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• There
has
always
been
a
rela@onship
between
mobile
and
local
• (remember
the
fun
abbrevia@on
SoLoMo
for
Social/Local/Mobile?);
this
con@nues
to
grow
with
updated
tech
in
geo-­‐fencing
and
NFC.
• Point
is
to
apply
geo-­‐local
SEO
strategies
to
your
sites,
to
reap
addi@onal
mobile
SEO
benefits,
even
if
local
wasn’t
your
original
primary
search
strategy.

9. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Schema.org
&
Mobile
SEO
_______________________________________________________________________
Local
SEO
applies
to
more
than
just
desktop
sites,
loca@on
directories
and
apps:
• The
loca@on
data
in
schema
markups
achieves
more
visible
no@ceability
and
results
in
mobile
(as
well
as
desktop).
• Also
note
the
increased
real
estate
and
visibility
devoted
to
ra@ngs
and
reviews
lis@ngs
(which
are
also
an
item
of
schema
markup)
• How
to
get
these
lis@ngs?
Look
at
schema.org
and/or
use
SEO
plugins
such
as
Yoast
WordPress
SEO
Premium.
• (And
of
course
loca@on
directories
in
general
come
up
high
in
Google
SERP;
so
be
there!)

10. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Schema.org
&
Mobile
SEO
____________________________________________________________________________
• Schema.org
data
lis@ngs
have
various
category
op@ons,
but
any/all
can
pop
out
on
the
small
mobile
window
for
increased
results.
• For
example
Google
and
schema
have
always
allowed
extra
real
estate
and
highlights
for
“News”
content,
ar@cles
and
blog
posts.
• Such
News
content
also
is
given
added
emphasis
in
AMP
(accelerated
mobile
pages)
aRributes
and
op@miza@on.
• Whether
responsive
or
adap@ve/device-­‐specific-­‐
served
websites,
there’s
no
turning
back
now.
• Over
half
of
search
is
in
mobile;
and
Google
wants
either
responsive
or
adap@ve/device-­‐specific
websites
for
indexed
lis@ngs.
• If
you’re
looking
for
an
easy/quick
way
to
have
a
mobile-­‐friendly
site,
most
Wordpress
themes
are
mobile-­‐responsive
(or
else
can
be
with
a
plugin).

11. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
Websites
&
Google
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Mobilegeddon
happened
a
year
ago,
the
penal@es
for
non-­‐mobile
sites
were
not
as
bad
as
everyone
feared.
• However
the
expecta@ons
and
penal@es
have
happened
nonetheless,
and
have
increased
in
@me.
• Today,
Google’s
updated
Penguin
operates
more
closely
to
real-­‐@me,
for
accelerated
penal@es,
as
well
as
improved
results
lis@ngs.
• Which
contributes
to
the
rise
(seemingly
out
of
nowhere)
on
websites
of
back
link
and
other
spam-­‐based
errors
-­‐
for
both
mobile
and
desktop
websites
(since
mobile
site
errors
are
shown
separately
in
Google
SearchConsole).
• Therefore
mobile
metrics
must
be
monitored
(and
fixed)
for
such
errors
-­‐
quickly
and
thoroughly.

12. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Some
Sample
Mobile
Metrics
on
Google
AnalyHcs
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
Websites
&
Google
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Tradi@onally,
the
primary
approach
to
mobile
website
SEO
(ager
ensuring
a
mobile
website
was
in
place)
has
been
to
have
Google
Search
Console
“Fetch
as
Google”
a
mobile
site
and
check
metrics
there
such
as
“Mobile
Usability”
and
check
“Crawl
Errors/URL
Errors”
for
smart
phone.
• Today,
it’s
worth
looking
for
mobile-­‐specific
errors,
and
sepng
up
Google
Search
Console
to
iden@fy
mobile-­‐
specific
data.
• For
separate,
adap@ve/device-­‐driven
mobile
websites
(not
typical
responsive
sites,
but
s@ll
mobile-­‐friendly),
a
separate
mobile
sitemap.xml
file
should
be
generated
and
submiRed
to
Google.
• Expect
mobile-­‐
(and
tablet-­‐
and
smartwatch-­‐)
specific
metrics
and
analy@cs
to
increase
in
spotlights
of
Google
tools
offerings.

14. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Some
Sample
Mobile
Metrics
on
Google
Search
Console
(used
to
be
Webmaster
Tools)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
Websites
&
Speed
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Speed
has
always
been
an
issue
for
websites
and
search,
but
takes
on
new
dimensions
for
mobile
site
downloads
and
therefore
mobile
SEO.
• One
of
the
suggested
cons
of
mobile
responsive
sites
is
that
they
are
larger
sites
(than
strictly
mobile
device-­‐
served
sites
would
be),
and
therefore
slower,
hur@ng
SEO.
• Therefore
test
your
site
speed
against
the
norm
and
compe@tors
(there
are
a
number
of
tools
that
do
this)
and
see
if
you
need
to
upgrade
or
change
website
hos@ng.
• Moz.com
prefers
“pages
to
be
under
3-­‐5
seconds
at
1.5Mbps
load
@me.”
• Also,
cross-­‐browser
troubleshoo@ng
gives
birth
to
mul@-­‐device
troubleshoo@ng.
So
test
your
site
in
mul@ple
plasorms
and
browsers.

16. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
Website
Device/Browser
TesHng
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• If
you
don’t
have
all
op@ons
at
your
disposal,
remember
that
desktop
browsers
such
as
Safari
allow
you
to
control
and
change
the
browser-­‐device
appearance
of
your
site;
to
preview
how
it
would
look
on
smartphone
or
tablet.
Take
advantage
of
this
feature!

17.
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Mobile
AdverHsing

18. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
SEM
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Marketers
agree
that
SEM/PPC
is
heavily
emphasized
on
the
small
screen
of
search
results
(as
compared
to
desktop).
• (And
remember
that
ads
have
been
moved
off
the
sidebar
of
Google
desktop,
to
mimic
a
more
mobile-­‐responsive
appearance,
allowing
less
real
estate
overall
for
the
SERP,
emphasizing
GoogleMyBusiness
map
and
pins,
and
ads,
above-­‐the-­‐fold).
• Therefore,
consider
if
you
need
increased
digital
adver@sing
for
your
mobile
presence.
• The
mobile
ad
data
is
very
valuable
as
well
• Don’t
forget
about
the
targe@ng,
and
data
analysis
benefits,
of
loca@on-­‐specific
adver@sing!
• (But
remember
that
mobile
ad
blocking
is
definitely
in
growth)

19. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Sample
Google
AdWords
Data
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• This
shows
regular
AdWords
campaign
results
in
a
laggard
industry
(hospital/medical
marke@ng),
with
unexpected
highest
results
from
mobile
plasorms.
• Therefore
be
ready
to
educate
clients/decision
makers
on
the
effec@veness
of
mobile
marke@ng
channels
they
didn’t
expect.

20.
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Mobile
Apps

21. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
The
Case
for
Mobile
Sites
vs.
Apps?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• You
may
not
need
an
app
-­‐
mobile
responsive
websites
do
a
good
job
of
serving
content
to
customers
on
mobile.
So
ask
yourself
-­‐
do
you
really
need
an
app?
And
the
costs
that
go
along
with
it?
Considering
that
most
apps
are
downloaded
and
opened
once
by
users
and
then
never
again?
• But
if
you
do
generate
an
app,
app
store
op@miza@on
is
emphasized
in
the
search
industry
ar@cles
now
more
than
ever.

22. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
App
Store
SEO
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
hRp://searchengineland.com/op@mizing-­‐mobile-­‐search-­‐2016-­‐con@nuous-­‐process-­‐236854

23.
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Audio/Voice
Search

24. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Audio
Search
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Audio
search
(such
as
Siri
and
Google
voice)
have
been
on
the
definite
rise
in
the
last
year.
Part
of
this
is
due
to
smartwatches.
When
such
devices
are
used
for
search,
and
they
are
too
small
or
inconvenient
for
typing,
then
audio
search
becomes
default.
• For
emphasis,
I
read
recently
that
10%
of
global
searches
are
audio.
• Bing
pays
Apple
to
be
the
search
engine
for
Siri.
• What
is
important
to
recognize
here
is
that
audio
search
re-­‐interprets
lengthy
queries
to
results
based
on
minimal
keywords.
• For
example
‘I
want
a
good
pizza
restaurant’
can
be
interpreted
in
audio
search
results
as
‘pizza
restaurant
in
(your
area).’
• Recognizing
that
people
use
different
words
for
voice
search
than
text.
• Expect
this
division
for
users,
and
technology,
to
grow
in
their
separate
behaviors
and
tech.

25. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Voice
Search
Infographic
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
hRp://marke@ngland.com/google-­‐study-­‐voice-­‐search-­‐direc@ons-­‐103985

26. Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
jake@zenfires.com
Mobile
and
Local
SEO
for
2016
and
Beyond
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Local
SEO
Today:
The
Market
Roles
• Mobile
Websites
• Mobile
Adver@sing
• Mobile
Apps
• Audio/Voice
Search

27. Thank
You!
Jake
Aull
|
Zen
Fires
Digital
Marke@ng
|
GSU
Social
Media
Marke@ng
Instructor
404.259.5550
|
ZenFires.com
|
@jakeaull
Ques@ons?