Local search marketing tips SEO guide & tips for further & higher education (fe) colleges in the UK. How to optimise your Google places profile, use Foursquare, Gowalla to reach new audiences.

1. Local SEO guide for higher education colleges & training providers.
What is Local Search Marketing?
Local listings & SEO have always been important for local marketing but now they’re
essential for colleges. Why? Because…
• Over 50% of searchers use key phrases of 3 words or longer e.g.
“Chichester College part time courses”
• On Yahoo alone, 100 Million unique visitors per month search with “local
intent” - (source: Frazier Miller, GM of Yahoo Local)
• Local results in organic search results and have taken up more space,
pushing the organic listings further down the page.
• With Google reporting that nearly 30% of all mobile queries have some type of
local intent, local search is no longer just an alternative to online yellow
pages.
It’s important to get listed on a
range of local search sites & local
directories. Google Places makes
it easy for people to make
decisions about which local
colleges to visit. If your listing
doesn’t have a 100% score, you
will probably not be listed in the
first local colleges that Google
displays for local results.
What do you need to do?
• Make sure your Google listing has a 100% score – There are more
than 20 different fields you in your Google Places listing and most colleges
don’t fill them all in
• Add service keywords in your listing description – List one or two of the
areas where your target market lives.
• Encourage students & employers to write reviews on your Google
places listing. Often the business with the most reviews is a winner. On
your publicity, contact form, thank you page, on invoices, on email, say
“We’d love it if you gave our college a review on Google/Bing/Yahoo
Local.”
• Make sure you are listed in your local phone book –Obvious, but
Google looks to authority sources of data to build their database and
check for local information. If you’re not listed here, it may affect your
ability to rank on Google.
web : www.webyogi.co.uk | call : 07412 139341 | email : info@webyogi.co.uk

2. Get listed in the top local directories:
• Google Local Business Center
• Bing Local
• Yahoo Local Free Business Listing
• Facebook places
• Local.com Free Business Listing
• Superpages.com Free Listing
• Yellowpages.com Create A Listing
• Yelp
• Qype
• Best of the Web
• Hotfrog
• Touch local
• Foursquare
• Gowalla
Local social search
Many of the popular location-based social networks present themselves as games.
They give points to users for going to new or multiple places, then tally the points up
against the user's friends.
Services like Foursquare, Gowalla, yelp, Qype, Brightkite & Loopt and others make it
easy to post your physical location to the Web.
web : www.webyogi.co.uk | call : 07412 139341 | email : info@webyogi.co.uk

3. Benefits Things to consider
• Reach local audiences • Use your keywords in your
• Many directory listings are free listing title
• Have the local destination
within your domain name.
Resources
Killer tips for local search marketing
SEO for local search - SEOmoz
How to rank higher in Google Places / Local in the UK
5 Ways To Rank Better TODAY In The Localized SERPs | SEO.com
35 Local Link Opportunities You Missed | Seer Interactive SEO Blog
5 Ways to Optimize Google Places for Local & Mobile Search Marketing
Local SEO Primer: How To Rank Higher In Google Place Search
Learning Local SEO and Local Search Optimization | Work.com
SEOmoz | One Dead Simple Tactic for Better Rankings in Google Local
Any Questions?
Ready to improve your online marketing? Start now contact info@webyogi.co.uk.
Feel free to get in touch! We offer in-house training & consultancy for social media
projects.
www: http://www.webyogi.co.uk/
email: info@webyogi.co.uk
Local Search Marketing: @webyogi
facebook: Webyogidigitalmarketing
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web : www.webyogi.co.uk | call : 07412 139341 | email : info@webyogi.co.uk