Thunder SEO Local Search Presentation - ARCSI Las Vegas, Fall 2008

Max Thomas | [email protected] | (800) 819-6894

Local Search and SEO for Local Businesses

ARCSI


Today’s Topic

Local Search & SEO for Local Businesses

- Or –

How to Make Your Phone Ring!!


Take-Away Goals

1. Understand What is Local Search and Why it Matters to Small Business

2. How to Rank on Google and Search Engines for ‘Local Search’ Results

3. How to Get Traffic and Calls from ‘Local Searches’ on the Web

4. How to Implement a ‘Local Search’ Online Strategy for Your Business


Online Search & Commerce

• 67% of Americans bought a product or service online in 2007* - that’s 200 million online buyers

• 10 billion searches in US in Feb 08**

• 5.9 bn searches on Google, 2.1 bn on Yahoo!**

Sources: *compete.com **comScore


Search Term: “house cleaning services”

AdWords – Pay Per Click (PPC)

Organic Search Natural Listings


www.merrymaids.com

www.mollymaid.com

www.house-cleaning-services.com

www.maidbrigade.com

www.maids.com


www.maids.com

www.weekendmaids.com

www.servicemagic.com

www.thecleaningauthority.com

www.merrymaids.com


Weekend Maids – referral agency


merry maids – ‘lead generation form’


servicemagic – lead generation form

Creepy!


The Cleaning Authority – lead gen form


Question

How Does a Local Business Compete?


Answer

Welcome to Local Search!


Why Local Search Matters

• 80%+ of searches start with a search engine1

• Over 25% of searches are local in nature2

• Over 1.7 Billion Local Searches Conducted Each Month in 2007 (42% increase vs. 2006)4

• 78% of local consumers using online search to research a product or service, make the purchase from a local business offline3

Local Search = Phone Calls + Walk-In’s 1 SMX 2008; 2 Screenwork: Setting The Record Straight, 2008; 3. WebVisible and Nielsen//NetRatings survey, September 2007; 4. comScore & DoubleClick Study


Search Term:“house cleaning services san diego”

“10 Pack” Map(Organic Search)


PPC Local Ads

PPC National Ads


Local Search Optimization

Step-by-Step Guide

Off Page


Step 1 – Claim + Optimize Google LBL

1. Setup Google Account

2. Goto ‘Local Business Center’ (under ‘My Account’)

3. If listing is already there, click ‘edit’ to optimize and claim; if not, click ‘Add new listing’

Google will pull information from other sources so take control and optimize your listing!

Off Page



Off Page



4. Company/Organization (Business Name) – use target keywords (result in ‘map’)

5. Description – use target keywords

6. Categories (up to 5) – use terms that create ‘map’ results or target search terms

7. Photos – add 10 (use stock if necessary)

8. Video – add if you have

Off Page



Off Page


Important!!!!!

• Use as much information as possible in your Google Business Listing.

• It helps to create ‘authority’ and ‘trust’ with Google

• This ‘authority’/’trust’ is the KEY to local search

Off Page


Step 2 – Google Sitemaps

1. Setup WebMaster Tools on Google

2. Submit XML Sitemap

3. Submit KML Sitemap

Why? To build ‘trust’ and ‘authority’ with Google.

Off Page


Step 2 – Google Sitemaps

Off Page


Important!!!!!

• Local Search results pull from 100+ online directories, databases and review sites

• Primary goal is to make sure all your business information is uniform across all platforms

• Google Maps also pulls from other info sources but Google should be optimized separately from the other listings

Off Page


Local Search Listings Universe

• Internet Yellow Pages/Local Directory Submissions

• Specialized Directories (Industry verticals, Social media sites…)

• Mobile Application Providers

• Major Search Engines: Organic Website Optimization; Sponsored Search;Local Search Listings Management

http://www.msn.com/


Step 2 – Feeder Directories

Claim and optimize ‘primary’ ‘feeder’ directories

All of these offer free listings; buy paid listings only if site traffic merits placement or Google counts inbound link as citation

Off Page

TrueLocal


Important!!!!

YellowPages listing – Select categories here first and then use for all listings.

Most all directories use your YellowPages category – be sure it is accurate and the same for all directory listings

Off Page


Step 3 – Review Sites

Claim and optimize listing – allows for businesses to respond to reviews

All of these offer free listings; buy paid listings only if site traffic merits placement or Google counts inbound link as citation

Off Page

yelp



Review site chart

Off Page



Encourage customer reviews – try not to ‘buy’ reviews; explain how much this helps you; thank them

Ratings over rankings – users trust rankings

Off Page


Step 4 – Local + Vertical Directories

1. Local Directories – search for local directories in your area and sign-up for free listings; great if url includes geographic term (e.g., ‘SanDiegoBizMart.com’)

2. Vertical Directories – search for ‘cleaning’ directories and sign-up for listings (e.g., www.cleaningdirectories.com); if there’s a fee, look if Google counts as inbound link; great to have a link from url that uses ‘cleaning’)

Off Page

http://www.cleaningdirectories.com/


Step 5 – Mass Distribution

Submit to all 85+ ‘mass directories’ via 1) UniversalBusinessListing.org - $30/year or less

through seo agencyOr

2) Localeze.com – depends on seo agency

Pro’s – affordable, wide spread distributionCon’s – no guarantee directories will pick up data

feed, time lag (up to 60 days)Off Page


Step 6 – Title + Description Tags

1. ‘Title’ Tag – every page ‘title’ tag should be unique, include company name and city/state

2. ‘Description’ Tag – every page ‘description’ tag should be unique, include company name, call-to-action, phone and physical address

Google uses Title + Description Tags in search engine listings – so think of them in terms of promoting your message (e.g., Call 1-800…)

On Page


Step 7 – Link to Your Listings

Link from your site to directory listings using keywords as anchor – if site is new or weak, Google + Yahoo! will index your listing.

Example – We welcome online reviews from our clients about their catering experience. If you’d like to post a review on InsiderPages please click here. Or, click the following to share your review on Yelp or click the Kudzu logo below. Thanks!

On Page

http://local.yahoo.com/info-31176787-the-wild-thyme-company-san-diego?csz=San+Diego%2C+CA+92121

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15246615200

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-wild-thyme-company-san-diego


Step 8 - Ongoing

1. Check competitor ‘Citations’ on Google

2. Watch your rankings

3. Check Webmaster Tools for errors

4. Review Google Analytics to see where traffic is coming from

5. Look at ‘directory’ listing stats – Google, Merchant Circle, etc.

6. Consider call tracking to know where phone calls come from

Ongoing


Suggestions

Put keyword in url (use hyphens over underscores)

Search is not a ‘branding’ marketing channel, it’s ‘transaction’ focused

Ongoing


“green house cleaning san diego”

Map results varies by search – no “map” results


“green house cleaning san anselmo”

Map results varies by search


Search Engine Ranking Factors An overview of the seomoz.org 2008 study

1. Top 10 Positive Factors1. Keyword use in title tag2. Anchor text of inbound link3. Global link popularity of site4. Age of site5. Link popularity within the site’s internal linking structure6. Topical relevance of inbound links to site7. Link popularity of site in topical community8. Keyword use in body text9. Global link popularity of linking site10. Topical relationship of linking

2. Top 5 Negative Factors1. Server is often inaccessible to bots2. Content very similar or duplicate of existing content in the index3. External links to low quality/spam sites4. Participation in link schemes or actively selling links5. Duplicate title/meta tags on many pages


Google Puzzle – How it all fits together

Off Page• Inbound Links

• Social Media Sites – tags, links & traffic

• Review Sites – reviews, links & traffic

• Directories – links & traffic

• Blogs – links, mention and traffic

On Page• Content

• Internal Links

• Title Tags

SERP’s – Keyword Rankings

Pass Authority

Searchable Content & Keywords

Increase in Site Traffic!!!


Tracking (at minimum)

3. SALES• Online Application Requests• Request To Hold/RealtyDataTrust• Emails – spam potential• Calls – VoiceStar tracking (show online)

2. SEO• Keyword Rankings• Page Rank• Inbound Links• SMO Tags/Mentions• Referring Sites• Keyword Searches

1. SITE• Page Views• Visitors• Unique Users


Website Structure

1. Content Management System (CMS) – facilitate adding content on a regular basis; consider Joomla or Wordpress site

2. More searchable content on pages

3. Lead Generation – phone number, form and ‘check availability’ on every page (see NJP, PMF examples)

4. SEO friendly url’s (?, &, = …stop bot searches)


Thank You!

Thunder SEO Local Search Presentation - ARCSI Las Vegas, Fall 2008

Technology

Transcript of Thunder SEO Local Search Presentation - ARCSI Las Vegas, Fall 2008