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SES Berlin OMCap 2013
The document discusses the evolution of SEO in a mobile-first world, emphasizing the importance of mobile apps over mobile websites for user engagement. It outlines various mobile site mobilization strategies such as bespoke, hosted, adaptive, and responsive designs, along with best practices for mobile SEO. Additionally, it highlights the growing significance of app-based searches and platforms like Google, Apple Maps, and Yelp as vital channels for brand visibility in local searches.
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SES Berlin OMCap 2013
- 1. SEO In the Ageof Apps Keeping your brand visible in a hyperlocal, multiplatform world OMCap Berlin| October 10, 2013
- 2. The Digital Ecosystemin 2006
- 3. The Digital Ecosystemin 2013 Tablets Desktop Image Codes & AR Laptop Digital Kiosks & Social Machines Smartphones Connected Surfaces Digital Out of Home, Theaters, Connected TV Native Apps Wearable Technology Connected Consoles Connected Games Connected Cars
- 4. It was alot easier when our biggest worry was… • Why mobile, why now? ―Does it work in Internet Explorer on a Mac?‖
- 5. The challenge forbrands is… How do you get found in such a fast-evolving landscape? SES Berlin 5
- 6. The content conundrum mobileweb vs. mobile apps, mobile SEO options
- 7. Search is the#1 mobile browser activity Mobile search is a fundamental activity and discovery channel for smartphone consumers—particularly through the browser. Food/Cooking tips Business directories Online retail Classifieds Restaurant information Maps Bank accounts 11.3% 12.2% 14.0% US Smartphone Browser Activities comScore MobiLens, April 2012 15.1% 15.9% 16.9% 17.0% Stock/Financial news 17.2% Movie information 17.5% Photo/video sharing service Entertainment News 18.7% 25.8% 33.0% News Social networking 34.2% 47.7% Search SES Berlin 7
- 8. Yet in termsof overall usability, people seem to prefer apps App interfaces tend to be cleaner, faster, more user-centric, more navigable than mobile web interfaces—so much so that app design techniques are beginning to bleed over to the mobile web. 55% More convenient 85% of people surveyed by Compuware Corporation in March 2013 said they prefer mobile apps over mobile sites, according to a consumer survey of 3,500. Faster 48% Easier to browse 40% 28% Better UX 27% Easier to check account Easier to shop 26% 3% 11% 1% SES Berlin 8
- 9. Even if anapp is used to search, the content found is likely to be a website A poor post-click experience will torpedo your search campaign. A great mobile SEO or SEM strategy is meaningless without the right content. 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble accessing from their phone. 40% said they'd visit a competitor's web site instead. 19% would have a negative overall perception of a company if they were dissatisfied with the performance of its Web site on a mobile device. % of US mobile users that say site performance affects their perception of, or connection with a brand (Google 2011) SES Berlin 9
- 10. There are 4main web mobilization options • Bespoke: a totally separate site—new application server, database, and transport infrastructure. Preferred Approaches • Hosted: a 3rd party provider repurposes the existing .com site for mobile and hosts the content for you. { • Adaptive: dynamic serving of separate site content existing site components leveraged, using built-in mobile modularity and building net new interfaces as needed. • Responsive: a single HTML5/CSS3 site that modifies the way content is presented according to device –e.g. desktop, smartphone, tablet. SES Berlin 10
- 11. The hosted mobileweb These vendors host your content on their own servers, creating a 3rd party facsimile of your web site. Great solution for microsites and landing pages. Ideal interim solution if you will be redesigning your site within the next 12-18 months. Pro • Fast time to market • Little or no need to integrate with your backend environment Cons • Little control over your content • 3rd party URLs • Templated Uis • You aren‘t paying for a site—you‘re paying for as service. SES Berlin 11
- 12. The adaptive mobilewebsite These sites utilize your existing content– mobile page templates integrate content from a single CMS, keeping your desktop and mobile sites synched in the same .com environment. Ideal approach for mobilization of brand sites that are 2-3 years away from redesign. Pros • Rich, native app-like interfaces • Centralized content management • Total control over URL structure and SEO • Seamless updates across desktop and mobile • Total control over infrastructure and deployment schedules Cons • Higher level of effort than hosted option • Longer time to market SES Berlin 12
- 13. The responsive designwebsite (strict definition) A responsive approach uses HTML5 and CSS3 to create a single, fluid site that reformats itself on the fly to fit the screen at hand. The preferred direction for both visibility and usability but usually requires a complete redesign and re-architecture. The #1 recommended approach for brands planning a completely new site. Pros • No need to duplicate SEO efforts • Desktop and mobile URLs are identical so link equity is shared • No need to duplicate Linking efforts to your mobile site/domain Cons • Potential to compromise mobile site performance by forcing mobile browsers to load desktop content • More code=more maintenance SES Berlin 13
- 14. The RESS website(Responsive + Adaptive) A responsive approach uses HTML5 and CSS3 to create a single, fluid site that reformats itself on the fly to fit the screen at hand. The preferred direction for both visibility and usability but usually requires a complete redesign and re-architecture. The #1 recommended approach for brands planning a completely new site. Pros • No need to duplicate SEO efforts • Desktop and mobile URLs are identical so link equity is shared • No need to duplicate Linking efforts to your mobile site/domain Cons • Potential to compromise mobile site performance by forcing mobile browsers to load desktop content • More code=more maintenance SES Berlin 14
- 15. All-purpose mobile SEObest practices Regardless of mobile site set up, the following best practices remain true for all platforms (as well as standard desktop SEO). – Crawler Access • Allow access for all crawlers to both desktop and mobile websites to fully understand page structure, importance and consolidate signals. – Page Load Speed • Ensure quick page load speeds, as mobile users are typically on slower connections – User Experience • Ensure visitors can find the information they are looking for and interact with the website suitable – Content Optimization • Optimize important page elements and content to identified keywords – Crawlability Obstacles • Code the website free from Obstacles, such as Flash and obstrusive JavaScript https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details SES Berlin 15
- 16. Additional mobile SEOrecommendations – Responsive Design & Adaptive Sites • Use CSS Media-Queries to format size to screen (responsive only) • Return a Vary: User Agent response in the HTTP header to signal to search engines that content has changed, and why – Separate Mobile and Desktop URLs • Operate a separate subdomain or subdirectory for mobile visitors (Google does not favor one format over the other). • Redirect devices and crawlers based on User Agent – Include Vary Header in HTTP response code and be clear to users and crawlers why a redirect took place • Redirects can be either unidirectional or bidirectional – decide based on user experience but give users an option to override the redirect if they choose. • Use ‗switchboard tags‘ to connect Desktop and Mobile URL signals, avoiding duplicate content and consolidating link value •Desktop URL –> rel=―alternate‖ to Mobile URL •Mobile URL -> rel=―canonical‖ to Desktop URL SES Berlin 16
- 17. HTTP vary redirects • • • • • Treatsearch engine bots, including Googlebot and Googlebot-Smartphone like any other user-agent and redirect accordingly. Include Vary in HTTP response to explain redirect Redirect to a specific mobile URL – not the homepage (Match the switchboard tag with the redirect URL) Either 301 or 302 redirects are fine Give users a way to override redirects for UX using cookies Requested URL Response Code Mobile URL Vary Response http://www.example.com GET / HTTP/1.1 Host: www.example.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4.1 like Mac OS X; en-us_ A…. Accept: text/html,application/xhtml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5 Accept-Encoding: qzip, deflate Connection: keep-alive HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily Server: Apache Location: http://www.example.com Content-Length: 0 Cache-Control: max-age=300 Expires: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:30:37 GMT Vary: User-Agent Date: wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:25:37 GMT Connection: keep-alive Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=83D8D08297F7C62D46FB8145130EF666.worker6;Path=/;HttpOnly https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/redirects SES Berlin 17
- 18. Canonical tags Use canonicaland alternate tags to connect mobile and desktop URLs together Avoid duplicate content Combine authority and popularity signals This change can also be reflected in the standard sitemap.xml file <link rel=“canonical” Href=“http://www.example.com/page-1> <link rel=“alternate” media=“only screen and (max-width: 640px) href=http://m.example.com/page-1> <url> <loc>http://www.example.com/page-1/<loc> <xhtml:link rel+”alternate” Media=“only screen and (max-width: 640px)” Href=“http//m.example.com/page-1> </url> http://searchengineland.com/switchboard-tags-like-canonical-tags-but-for-mobile-seo-127676 SES Berlin 18
- 19. App Search Getting indexedwithin native mobile apps SES Berlin 19
- 20. It‘s important tounderstand app-based search channels because: • As users gravitate towards apps for search purposes, content result types diversify—it‘s not just about the browser anymore. • Search destinations diversify as well—most brands must focus on the major search engines plus a variety of niche search apps. • The old SEO rules still apply but, new SEO best practices are evolving that will govern the app search ecosystem. SES Berlin 20
- 21. Google search app:web results Much like the desktop, Google still rules the roost with 97% market share. Yet most searches performed with the Google App lead to browser content. The stats • • • Estimated 84% of the world‘s mobile search market.1 53% of the mobile ad revenue in the US.2 3 out of 4 most popular US apps belong to Google (Google+, YouTube, and Google Maps.3 Getting found • • • • Sources results from the main Google index as well as other Google properties. A well-optimized mobile site should result in good Google mobile app visibility as well. Prominent links to Goggles, Voice, and Apps create divergent pathways away from the browser. As use of app search increases, so will importance of nontraditional content channels. | 1 StatCounter, 06.2013 | 2 eMarketer, 08.2013 | 3 GlobalWebIndex, 08.2013 | SES Berlin 21
- 22. Google search app:app results The Google Search App homepage routes users away from general, mobile web-based results with a strong prompt to other Google Apps. SES Berlin 22
- 23. Google search app:voice results Likewise, the Google Search App offers a prominent link to voice search vs. browser results. As user uptake increases, SEOs will need to optimize for natural language queries vs. keywords. • Still not quite sematic—Google Voice utilizes speech-to-text and text-to-speech. • Available in the Google Search App and Google Apps Browser App • Focus less on keywords and more on answers to the most relevant questions a real-time search users might ask. • Increased relevance for local content. SES Berlin 23
- 24. Google Goggles (and,eventually, Glasses) The Google Search Apps also present a prominent prompt to engage in visual search via Google Goggles. As image recognition becomes more refined, users are bound to become more reliant on visual search via mobile camera. • Optimize all images by using them contextually on the page and utilizing the ALT tag with sematic and geospatial statements to identify them. • Utilize sematic file names—using both image/logo brand name in image file URLs e.g. ―YOUR_NAME_company-logo.png‖ • Use the Rel tag to visually define logos and icons. • Use your brand logo on Google Places and Google Plus pages • For retailers add your products to Google Shopping, which should give your listing preferential treatment over listings without images. SES Berlin 24
- 25. Google+ Local, Google+Business Smartphone search is heavily oriented towards action-oriented, real-world activity—Google+ Business and Google+ Local are key discovery pathways. The stats • • Approx. 74% of local search volume is mobile.1 Mobile local search volume will outpace desktop by 2015.2 Getting found • • • • Google Places is gone—many listings carried over to Google+ Local and Google+ Business but many did not, so claim or create your listing. Google+ App sources results from Google+ web—optimization tactics should carry over. Business details—e.g. phone number, store hours, payment options—and video are are especially relevant to mobile users. As overall Google+ uptake increases, the Google+ Local app will become a significant |local traffic source. | Chitika 10.2012 BIA/Kelsey 04.2012 | 1 SES Berlin 2 25
- 26. Google Maps Google Mapsis the acknowledged leader in the mobile maps and GPS space. For businesses with physical locations, it‘s a vital mobile search channel. The stats • • • 94% of smartphone owners look for local info.1 90% take action as a result.2 59% visited a local business as a result of a mobile search.3 Getting found • • • Maps info is fed by Google+ Local And Google+ Business listings— strive for a complete listing with special emphasis on hours, photos, videos, and other locally relevant content. Citations from 3rd party apps like Yelp boost rank. Be sure your listing is claimed/created, accurate and not duplicated. Destination search frequently starts—and almost always ends—with the maps app. Visibility for brick and mortar businesses is indispensible. | 1-3 Google and Ipsos OTX Media CT 05.2012 | SES Berlin 26
- 27. Apple maps Despite ashaky start, Apple Maps is still native to iOS6 and OS7 which account for the majority of iOS, iPad, and iPod touch devices. The stats • While Android devices outnumber iOS in circulation and shipment, iOS users continue to be the most avid consumers of mobile web and app data. Getting found • • • • Sources results from a proprietary Apple database—core data providers are Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual If your listing isn‘t appearing in Apple Maps, be sure to proactively create listings with these providers. Reviews and additional content syndicated from Yelp, hence Yelp optimization boosts Apple Maps visibility. Apple is committed to improving the Maps experience– as quality gets better, user uptake will grow. SES Berlin 27
- 28. Yelp Yelp‘s importance liesin the fact that so many other search apps rely on it to calculate relevance. The stats • • Yelp's mobile application was used on 9.2 million unique mobile devices on a monthly average basis during Q4 2012.2. Approximately 40% of all searches on Yelp came from their mobile app.3 Getting found • • • • Yelp licenses content from 3rd party data providers but much of it comes from users and business owners. Much like Google+Local, locally oriented content such as store hours, photos, and service offerings are key. Ratings and reviews also figure heavily in rank Yelp is a key feeder of results for many big engine search apps. | 1-3 Yelp 01.2013 | SES Berlin 28
- 29. Bing Native to allWindows Mobile devices as well as Blackberry, Nokia, and Kindle—it‘s footprint is likely to grow expansively in 2013/14 now that Bing powers Siri. The stats • According to app discovery portal XYO.net, Bing downloads on iOS and Google devices number roughly 15 million. Getting found • • Like Google, Bing sources app results from the main index— mobile optimization of your .com site will create a halo effect of visibility for the Bing app. Despite a slow start in mobile, Bing’s foothold on Windows devices and the Kindle, plus the integration of Bing into Siri in iOS7 earn it a certain amount of consideration and effort from SEOs. SES Berlin 29
- 30. Siri Less of asearch engine and more of a ―mobile assistant‖, Siri has been slow to catch on due to the challenges posed by speech recognition. The stats • • • 67% of Siri users actually use the search functionality.1 The most active Siri users are 40-49, the least active 20-29.2 Men are more frequent users of Siri than Women.3 Getting found • • • Siri often bypasses traditional search results, skipping right to social results like Yelp—ranking in Siri requires attention to curating your presence in social spaces. Siri totally disregards PPC—if your strategy up until now was heavily paid, you‘ll need to relegate more resources to SEO. Apple is committed to improving the Siri experience– as quality gets better, user uptake will grow. SES Berlin | 1-3 Besirious.com11.2012 | 30
- 31. YouTube YouTube is the2nd largest search engine in the world and one of the most mobile centric— 25% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices1. The stats • • • Video accounted for 51% of all mobile traffic by the end of 2012.2 People watch one billion views a day on YouTube mobile.3 YouTube is available on 400 million devices.4 Getting found • • • Always include keywords in the video file name and video headline. Adding a video script in the description as well as uploading a script for closed captioning, will boost relevance for voice. Smartphone and tablet users alike are active video consumers—YouTube presents a significant opportunity to create mobile search visibility. | 1 YouTube 03.2013 | 2 Cisco 02.2012 | 3-4 YouTube 03.2013 | SES Berlin 31
- 32. Google Now Google Nowis Google‘s foray into creating an intelligent personal assistant. Now not only answers search queries but also makes recommendations and delegates actions to web services. Basically, it‘s a search app that eliminates your need to search. SES Berlin 32
- 33. Facebook Facebook is themost popular mobile app in the US, used actively by 76% of smartphone owners1—it‘s arguably as important as Google. The stats • • • 192M Android, 147M iPhone, 48M iPad2 Facebook's mobile monthly active users grew 57 percent from early 2012 to 680 million in 20133 Over 50% of Facebook‘s total traffic is now mobile4 Getting found • • Having a well optimized Facebook presence is essential given this app‘s importance but it‘s also a boost to your visibility in other important mobile applications. Facebook is a results-feeder for many search engines— high visibility, carefully curated content and positive endorsements will benefit visibility in big engine apps. | 1 comScore, Inc. ―2013 Mobile Future in Focus‖ 02.2013 | 2 TechCrunch 01.2013 | 3 Facebook 01.2013 | 4 Facebook 03.2012 | SES Berlin 33
- 34. Foursquare Of all socialnetworks, only Foursquare is primarily mobile and app-based. For brick and-mortar brands, it grows in importance as a search channel. The stats • 25 million users, 1 million businesses, 10.4 million monthly users (various sources). Getting found • • • Foursquare content is difficult for bots to crawl—SEO relies on submitted XML sitemaps to enable search engine visibility. True visibility within the app is contingent on proximity, ratings and reviews. For all its popularity with the digerati, Foursquare has been slow to gain traction with the general populace. SES Berlin 34
- 35. Apps to discoverapps A significant amount of app discovery happens within mobile apps. Many crawl app stores to collect new listings but most also allow for submission as well. Rank is generally calculated on a combination of newness, user ratings, and page views. Hot App Finder Appsmart Appshopper Appolicious Share Apps 148 Apps SES Berlin AppGrooves Best Apps Market App for Execs Best App Finder AppStart App Advice Fluke Moms with Apps AppShaker 35
- 36. Vertical search, metasearch Music Business Fun Dating Deals Hotels Travel Recipes Shopping AR QR Shopping Tickets Real Estate Wikipedia Creative SES Berlin Reviews Automotive 36
- 37. About Mobile Marketing "Nothinggets you closer to your consumer than mobile. And nothing gets to closer to mobile marketing perfection than Mobile Marketing: An Hour a Day.‖ — Greg Stuart, CEO, Mobile Marketing Association and Co-Author of What Sticks "Elkin and Pasqua expertly detail the mobile landscape, tactics, and tools available to today's mobile marketer. This is a mustread." — Sara Holoubek, CEO, Luminary Labs "This book is filled with clear, well thought-out strategic guidance on all things mobile, with expert perspectives to help customize the strategy on an individual business (and budget) level.‖ — Joy Liuzzo, President, Wave Collapse "This is now my go-to book for mobile. Not only does it have the brain trust going for it, but it also has the data to back it up.‖ — Rob Garner, author of Search and Social: The Definitive Guide to RealTime Content Marketing SES Berlin More information: www.mobileanhouraday.com Buy online: http://amzn.to/Tx5jVg 37
- 38.
Editor's Notes
- #3 Ten years ago it was just about the desktop. The hardest question we had to answer was “Will it work in Explorer on a mac?”. It all seemed very complex back then – we didn’t know how easy we had it. Digital meant desktop and looking back, it was a pretty simple proposition.
- #8 comScore Mobile Lens http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/6/comScore_Reports_April_2012_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
- #9 http://www.compuware.com/about/release/747433/mobile-apps-vs-mobile-websites--and-the-winner-is
- #14 Returning different HTML and CSS on the same URL based on User Agent detectionReturn a Vary: User Agent response in the HTTP header to signal to search engines that content has changed, and whyGoogle uses this as a signal to find and crawl pages using mobile specific crawlerSearch engines can again understand both pieces of content for relevancy, and consolidate link and popularity signals
- #22 1.) http://searchengineland.com/google-competition-and-the-paradox-of-mobile-search-1445322.) http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/google-inc-goog-is-the-new-%E2%80%98darling%E2%80%99-of-hedge-funds-apple-inc-aapl-american-international-group-inc-aig-86812/
- #23 http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/06/u-s-mobile-advertising-twitter-sales-are-double-that-of-facebook-in-a-google-ruled-2-6b-market/
- #24 This clearly has consequences for online businesses and brands. With typed search, ranking well involves predicting the keywords people use to search, guided by statistics on search term popularity and competition. Voice search doesn't rely to the same extent on classic keywords. Online businesses and brands need to instead think about what kind of questions might be asked, and how their sites can provide the best response. Even here, there is another challenge. With search engines aiming to create a conversational experience, the hard fact is that users are less likely to need to click through to a web page for information. This will have an impact not only on search traffic but also on the data that website owners rely on to monitor their search marketing campaigns.However, there's still a window of opportunity for businesses. The key is to offer a service, product or in-depth information that can't be delivered in a search engine response.I don't know. But we're going to find out. I do know that Google's algorithms try to return the most highly relevant information to a query. We also know that the concept of exact match exists in Google's algorithms. Therefore it may be logical to assume that if you create content that exactly matches natural language queries...you may gain an upper hand over your competitors in search. Over the next couple weeks, we're going to test this theory with some content that exactly matches a natural language query. We'll do some before and after testing and write up the results in this blog.
- #25 http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/06/u-s-mobile-advertising-twitter-sales-are-double-that-of-facebook-in-a-google-ruled-2-6b-market/
- #26 1.) http://screenwerk.com/2012/10/05/report-74-of-googles-local-search-volumes-coming-from-mobile-devices/2.) http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/12628.html3.) In the end, it’s all about numbers. That’s why we offer in-depth data about +1’s, conversion reporting, and more, showing how Google+ contributes to your bottom line.
- #27 For address-less businesses, it’s still possible to appear in Google Maps with the floating circle “pinpoint.” The display may not be ideal for you (if the mouse-overs are inconsistent), and the lack of a listings column likely reduces your visibility. So, make sure your icon is located at least within the clump of where most businesses appear for your area — or, consider establishing a brick-and-mortar location. It’s a step backward in technology to do such a thing just to have a chance to appear prominently in Google local search, but this is our reality. (See also 5 Ways To Rank Outside of Your Physical Location in Google Places)For all local businesses, rankings are becoming even more important! Familiarize yourself with how to rank in Google Maps, and consider whether you need to step up your game to compete more effectively in this arena.Focus on ways to get more positive reviews, since this could increase your chances of ranking in the new interface when users opt to filter by reviews, even if you’ve been ranking lower than your competitors up until now.Make sure you include photos with your Google listing — you can do this through the Google Places dashboard (it allows up to 10). Add pics into your Google+ Local page as well. Since photos are being more prominently featured, I’d say that the more photos you have associated with your company, the more likely your business may attract attention from consumers.Even though Google+ is still not heavily populated with consumers, you should still attempt to engage with it some to position yourself well if it does eventually take off. It’s fairly certain that Google will continue pushing that service — and when Google pushes, it’s more likely to cross the threshold into reaching a critical mass. Having a growing audience in Google+ will possibly enable you to reach more people in search over time. I believe you need to be active in other popular social media sites as well, such as Twitter and Facebook, and you can organize that work to replicate it in Google+ with minimal labor.
- #28 1.) http://screenwerk.com/2012/10/05/report-74-of-googles-local-search-volumes-coming-from-mobile-devices/2.) http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/12628.html3.)
- #29 Be sure Your listing is Claimed, Accurate and NOT DuplicatedHowever, before you get too focused on reviews it's vital that you take the time to be sure that your Yelp listing is accurate and up to date. You also need to be aware that, unlike many local directory sites, Yelp does NOT require verification before allowing users to post a new business listing. This leads to duplicate listings, which can be damaging to your business. They split up your reviews, confuse customers and can even compete with each other for rankings.Yelp's community managers are supposed to manage duplicates, but we wouldn't recommend relying on that. You need to actively check for duplicate listings of your business and if you find any, email Yelp to have them removed as soon as possible. Of course, that doesn't stop another user from creating another new listing, so check back on a regular basis to be sure dupes aren't being created. For detailed information on removing duplicate Yelp listings as well as duplicates on other sites, please see this great post from Nyagoslav Zhekov.Claiming (Yelp refers to it as unlocking) and actively managing your own listing(s) is how you get current hours, special offers and other details in front of perspective customers. You'll also be able you to receive alerts when new reviews are posted, allowing you to respond to them as needed. To get the most out of your claimed Yelp listing, follow the advice in this post on the Review Trackers blog. How Does Yelp Rank Businesses?Here's what Yelp says about its search algorithm:How is the ranking of search results determined? Yelp's search results are based on an algorithm that is designed to provide the best results based on a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviews. We are constantly working on improving our search results so that we can deliver the most relevant local results to our users.Yelp has always been ALL about community interaction and the prime driver of this interaction is reviews. Reviewers gain prominence for their opinions by being active members of the community. People who contribute a lot of reviews and interact frequently with other Yelpers can gain Elite Status. Those who don't participate much will have their reviews filtered out and rarely seen at all.Here's a great video Yelp released explaining how reviews work within their system as well as how they filter them./ow Do You Increase Your Yelp Rankings?The most obvious way to rank well in searches on Yelp is by getting more reviews than your competitors. However, the catch is that these reviews need to stick rather than get filtered out. Any efforts to get fans to leave their opinions on Yelp are totally wasted if those people aren't active Yelpers. So, logically you need to find an easy way to separate your customers so that you can push non-active Yelp users to a platform (like Google) where their reviews will have the most impact.On the flip side, getting solid reviews from active and even Elite Yelpers can have a very powerful impact on your rankings. Here's what Yelp tells us about Elite Yelpers:0What is the "Yelp Elite Squad"? The Yelp Elite Squad is our way of recognizing and rewarding yelpers who are active evangelists and role models, both on and off the site. Elite-worthiness is based on a number of things, including well-written reviews, a fleshed-out personal profile, an active voting and complimenting record, and playing nice with others. Members of the Elite Squad are designated by a shiny Elite badge on their account profile. If you think you or someone you know might be ready to be Yelp Elite, visit http://www.yelp.com/elite.Here's an example of a Yelp Elite's profile and as you can see, much of it's related to community activity:Elite Yelpers are so influential that some business owners have been caught offering to pay them for good reviews. Yelp will publicly shame you and add a "consumer alert" notice to your listing if they catch you trying to solicit reviews. They are very strict about NOT incentivizing reviews in any way. Doing so can result in the loss of your listing and being banned from the directory.However, we still feel it's important that you know how to find those Elite users just in case one stumbles in your door or happens to already be a customer of yours. Use the following search in Google (hat tip to David Mihm) - be sure to change the city (san diego) to the one you're searching for:"title="Elite 2012""san diego site: yelp.com/user_detailsYelp users may choose to sort their search by Highest Rated. Face it, you want to go to the best places, not the mediocre ones, so getting good ratings will get your listing in front of more Yelpers in cases like this.Yelp also looks for useful details when answering a search from within its reviews interface. So, if reviewers tend to rave about your egg rolls in reviews, you have a better chance of ranking well for egg rolls than other Chinese restaurants. You can try to influence customers to mention the longer tail terms in their reviews that you really want to rank well for by offering specials and coupons for them.The Yelp results for egg rolls in Houston are much different than the results for Chinese restaurant because Yelp ranks the highest rated restaurants that also have egg rolls mentioned in reviews about them:Searchers can also sort their results by Best Match. If you're smart enough to have a good keyword term in your business name, that'll help you rank for that term if it's searched for. However, this won't work for generic terms, like Chinese Restaurant but is effective for longer tail queries, like egg rolls.Name, address and phone number (NAP) consistency are always important to your local search rankings efforts. So be sure that your Yelp listing matches what's on your website, at Localeze, Acxiom and Factual, and in all the other trusted online directories you have profiles.Check ins are also growing in importance - the more the better. Since you can now check in to a venue directly from Apple Maps, the overall number of check ins on Yelp will increase and may have even more of an impact on rankings in the future. Only time will tell on that one but be prepared.Apple Maps will continue to improve and grow over time. It's already on hundreds of millions of iDevices and rumor has it that it'll soon be part of the new MAC OS X, which will put it on Mac desktops and laptops, too. With that many people getting Apple Maps as their default map, ranking well matters and right now, ranking well in Yelp is the best way to get there.Here's to working smart instead of hard!
- #30 1.)http://blogsession.co.uk/2012/11/siri-usage-statistics-worldwide/http://searchengineland.com/infographic-seo-for-siri-the-mobile-search-world-137499
- #31 1.)http://blogsession.co.uk/2012/11/siri-usage-statistics-worldwide/http://searchengineland.com/infographic-seo-for-siri-the-mobile-search-world-137499
- #32 Earlier it used to be a complicated process to add CC to a video – one would need to specify the start and end time of each line and it would take hours. But recently YouTube introduced a speech recognition technology/feature which automatically detects the start and end of each line spoken and matches it to the video’s audio. So all you need to do is upload the script of the video and the captions will appear exactly in sync with the video. It is amazing how YouTube does this – but it is also the reason they are the No.1 in this market.So a video on a topic with CC should definitely outrank the video on the same topic with no CC provided other SEO factors have also been taken care of.2. Adding the Script in the DescriptionIf you are creating the script for the speech in video, then adding the same script in the description of the video shouldn’t take much time. Google indexes this as well.3. Naming the Video File with KeywordsIf you are uploading a video about the ‘Health Benefits of Organic Foods’ then the file name of the video should be something like organic-food-benefits.avi or something similar. MOV0234.AVI is not going to be meaningful. The viewer of the video does not look at this but YouTube gives a relevancy credit to the file name because if your file name is named with your keyword then there is a better chance that your video is about what it says.4. Create a More Engaging VideoThis probably sounds straight forward and simple and you may even be tempted to skip this paragrapgh – BUT WAIT. I am about to say something which will blow you away.YouTube gives relevancy credits to videos where people watch it for a longer time. This is not just a theory but has been tested by us. We uploaded two videos with almost the same SEO factors built in but the only change was the perception by the real human visitor. One video was engaging and the other video was not engaging to the real humans. 6 months later the more engaging video was ranking much better than the other video. So yes, YouTube gives credit to videos which are more engaging because it is a good way to measure the quality of the video.For the purposes of guarding my niche from competition, I cannot reveal the videos I tested – so if you have a hard time trusting me, you can ignore this fact at your own risk.5. Authoritative YouTube ChannelIf you are posting a video on a fresh YouTube channel it is not going to have as much SEO power as the same video uploaded on a channel with has a lot of other good videos on the same topic. This is similar to website SEO – Posting an article in a fresh blog vs. posting an article in a high PR established blog makes a difference between heaven and hell.Not only the video would get better rankings, but it will grow faster when the subscribers of that YouTube channel like, comment and share that video.So always try to have established youtube channels for each of your niche and avoid posting videos on fresh channels. Also avoid posting irrelevant videos in the channels – it may dilute the SEO power of all the other videos on that channel.6. Posting HD Videos Instead of SDIt is astonishing how many marketers do not even mention about uploading HD videos. Again this has been tested by us in several occasions. HD videos out-rank standard definition videos every time.You may think that YouTube may not prefer HD videos because it costs them a lot of storage space and bandwidth – but they have more resources that you can imagine. The reason why they limit the length of the videos is not because of lack of storage or bandwidth but to prevent people from uploading copyrighted videos. This has been confirmed by YouTube itself.It makes sense that a HD video should be better than a standard video. If someone is investing the energy and resources in creating a HD video then the content could be equally good.So try to upload 1080P videos whenever possible and if you are doing screen cast or presentation videos – 720P should do the job.Some of the other commonly talked about SEO methods areHaving a relevant headline with proper keywordsPutting your link in the description above other content with http://Including tags from other videos which rank well for the keywords that you are targetingGiving a call to action at the end of the video for liking your video and/or subscribing to your channel.Hope you found my insights useful. Please leave you comments.This article is written by Deepak Raj who blogs at BikeAdvice.in . He is very interested in Video Marketing. His YouTube Channel (youtube.com/bikeadvice) has more than 3000 subscribers and nearly 3 million video views in total.Wanna make money with your own website? Check my Online Profits training program.Related PostsNo related posts. Share44101LikeLike Sign-up To The Newsletter And Get A Free eBookSign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.Name Email14 Responses to “6 Powerful YouTube SEO Tips That No One Talks About”Sid on March 1, 2012 11:08 am All of your six tips give an excellent insight into the SEO procedure for YouTube videos. I particularly like your tip on how a video with CC can boost the video’s ranking. As with non-video content, interesting and useful video content can make it scale the search engine rankings. Thank you for the useful post! Patricio on March 1, 2012 3:51 pm Thanks for the list of tips! Definitely worth implementing in my You Tube videos. Rosemary Jayne on March 1, 2012 3:55 pm If only this article had been published a few weeks ago! I made some mistakes but thankfully creating a script and uploading closed captions are something I can do now. Thanks for the really useful post. rebeccahappy on March 1, 2012 4:34 pm These are great points. I just have a couple of questions around the CC. Are you saying that we have to write out the script for it or that youtube pulls the script and puts it into the CC function. I had been told this point before but have yet to put it in action. Charles Specht on March 1, 2012 6:37 pm Great article about YouTube. Haven’t done much of this yet but I might in the near future. Ming | Affiliate Marketing on March 2, 2012 2:14 am For the CC, does YouTube automatically interpret the script? If so, a voice over video is definitely outrank a screen captured video with some random music background. Heard about the speech recognition technique quite some time ago but not sure if they start implement and index the voice they recognized. Thanks for the good tips! Cheers, Ming Ehsan on March 2, 2012 7:24 am Yeah Youtube is great way to get more traffic to website, I have got more than 40K visitors from one of my Youtube video to my website. Mario Bruneau on March 2, 2012 4:01 pm Hey Deepak, This is the most content rich post about YouTube SEO I have come accross so far. A lot of answers to my questions. Thanks for sharing Lenia on March 3, 2012 6:00 am Thank you for the tips. I am currently working to learn a little bit more about video marketing and use it as soon as possible. Great tips to know! Thanks! Kathrine on March 3, 2012 10:58 am I’d like to add something here. A tip from my side. Daily upload a video to youtube with all the guidelines given in this post. As the days pass your channel will have hundreds of videos and you will be getting massive traffic because of large number of videos uploaded. Kathrine. Sohel on March 4, 2012 10:12 am Very much helpful and as well as informative. Every blogger should know about it. Thanks for shearing this with us. Jamie Northrup on March 4, 2012 4:49 pm Good tips, I haven’t used YouTube as part of my strategy yet, but have plans to do so later this year, I’ve bookmarked this for later. Chris | Sminso on March 4, 2012 6:06 pm Great tips for SEO on Youtube. I find it amazing how many people dont use Youtube as part of there SEO for there main sites. People like stuff they can learn in a video format. These are great tips to help people get your videos! Deepak on March 5, 2012 10:14 am Thanks everyone for your comments Motivates me to publish more good content! 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- #33 Voice search combined with a better link between the 'Internet of things' and personalisation is the future. We're already seeing websites with better meta data (think structured data) and a better understanding of context from G - it's all been bubbling for some time and now starting to come together as moving parts start to align.Optimizing for Google NowDoes that mean you should worry about ranking for cards now? Not at all, but it does mean you need to shape up your SEO practices, particularly the misconception that improving search rankings is all about building a certain number of links. Google Now gets its results from personalization, user search history, public sources, geo-location, Google+, Google Calendar, and your Gmail. There’s clearly more to it all than building links.With Google Now—and search in general—we’re veering from one set methodology to a strategic, gestalt form of SEO. Look at how your users are reaching your site and their interactions across various devices. Focus on solid local SEO, and optimize any pages serviced by Google, primarily Google+ and Google+ Local. Start thinking about each individual person as a search query.Google Now is really only a sign of what’s to come. There’s plenty of evidence hinting at the appearance of Google Now in desktop browsers soon, so be prepared.Read more: http://www.bestrank.com/blog/no-no-not-later-google-now-and-seo#ixzz2h9efIwfU
- #34 comScore Inc. , “2013 Mobile Future in Focus, February 25, 2013http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/04/how-many-mobile-users-does-facebook-have/
- #35 comScore Inc. , “2013 Mobile Future in Focus, February 25, 2013http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/04/how-many-mobile-users-does-facebook-have/