local and regional digital marketing master class 25th september 2013

Local and Regional Digital Marketing

Opportunities on your doorstep

By Gyles Seward

e: gyles@elementarydigital.co.uk

t: 01274 532278

Please follow us!

http://www.linkedin.com/co

mpany/elementary-digital-

ltd

https://twitter.com/Ele

mentaryDigi

https://www.faceboo

k.com/elementarydi

gital

https://plus.google.com/u/0/

111553684180643963468/

about

The Master ClassLocal

Searc

h

Improve

your local

presence

Workshop

Local

Search

?

What is Local Search?

• A search that is carried out based on location

– Location can feature in the search e.g. vets in Harrogate

– IP based, thus someone searches for vets and they live in Harrogate

• Results that are served based on your location and requirements

Search in the UK

The winner is…..

Potted History of Google

Google Venice update:

– Results based on location

– Google uses your IP, personal search habits and

history to serve results

– If your logged in it uses social factors as well

e.g. Google +1‟s

Why is it important?

of search activity is

related to local content

73% 82%

of local internet

searches follow-up

off line

99%

of smartphone owners use their mobile

browser at least once a day

95%

of mobile users use their devices for local

search, queries have grown 5 times in past two

years

Where do you start?

The Audience

How does your audience search online?

How does your audience browse?

Evaluate your competition…

Website Social Media Citations

(directories)

The „Map‟ Approach

Where you want to be… where you are (Google Analytics)

Insight Conclusions

• Understand your audience (demographics) and

how to reach them (search? Mobile/tablet)

• How your audience search online (locally?)

• The competition‟s local approach

• The targeting needed to reach your audience

Developing your local presence

Your Website

Your Website

• Structure

– Navigation architecture – can

content be found easily (high up

the tree)

– Absolute URL – ensures location

keyword early in the string

– Multiple layers of content

– Share-able via social channels

Content/Context

• Physical address in the city of search

• Dedicated landing pages for locations

• City, county in places landing page title

• Company address and registrations details featured in the

footer

• Content layers – talk about your local business

community, think location and then region

Content/Context

• Images – clearly mark your location in images and

alt text

• Social – bookmarking, „share-ability‟

• Local area code – NOT 08XX

• Feature the location in H1/H2 tags

• Matching domain details – Who Is

Your Website Conclusions

• The easiest way to tell Google about your business

and attract local customers

• Technical and structure essential for any SEO

• Content and context – tells Google more and

opens up your reach

• Quickest way to improve your local search scope

Off Site

Google Places

Google Places

• NAP (name, address, phone number) – ensure

they match to your site

• Fill in all aspects of content – images, video, etc

• Proximity of address to centroid – Yorkshire

• Categories – select the correct services for your

business

Google+ Local Business Page

Google+ Local Business Page

• Individually owner verified local plus page

• Connect with customers

• Post updates – keep in touch

• Push content to prospects, impress them

• +1‟s increase your presence via:

– Personalised search results

Citations

• 1000‟s of online directories throughout the world

• Establish location markers for search engines

• FREE – although you will be bombarded with

phone calls

• Double benefit – your details can be found in

searches!

• Citations need to be consistent (same details on

each one, except the description)

• Quantity – use as many as possible

Reviews

• Quantity is important – however do not spam!

• Google reviews – just need your customers to have a gmail account

• Trustpilot – trusted by Google and manages the whole process for you

• Benefits for local, organic and paid search

• Conversion factor – people click on sites with reviews (good, bad and ugly)

Local

Link

Building

Local Links

„If you can build a solid local link profile, you can rank

organically for universal search terms with local intent in

your vertical.’

#1 on-site local ranking

factor: Domain authority

#5 off-site local ranking

factor: Quality/Authority of

Inbound Links to Domain

#6 off-site local rankings factor:

Quantity of Inbound Links to

Domain from Locally-Relevant

Domains

#8 off-site local ranking factor:

Quality/Authority of Inbound Links

to Places Landing Page URL

Comment on Local Blogs

Finally, link to different places on posts including:

• Your root domain

• Google+ Local Landing page URL

• Google+ Local Business page

First make a list of

“location + keywords”

to target

Then use Google Blog Search to search

for local blogs that discuss topics related

to your keywords

Example searches: inurl:location

“keyword” comment

Filter the blogs that you think have relevant

content (based on your industry, market place

and audience)

Read the posts on the blogs and get a feel for

the topics…if you have something to say leave a

comment

Guest Blog

If allowed - put your name, your business name, address and phone number

(unstructured citation)

Inurl:location “guest post”

Make a list of prospects and

then send an appealing

outreach email

If accepted write an excellent

guest post and implement the

links noted

Testimonials for local businesses

Don‟t sacrifice your true feelings about a company just to get links…it needs to look

natural to Google

A Local Group

Set up a local group that has perceived authority e.g. Yorkshire Mafia

• Set up a website that can be the hub of information

• Use social media to build a following

• Develop a database of local businesses, outreach to them about

placing links on their site (a badge)

• Leverage the traffic and equity to provide link opportunities for yourself

or other business

• Creating a „local business hub‟

Social MediaSocial

Media

How does social media

influence local search?

• Geo-tagged media associated with

business (e.g.

Flickr, YouTube, Pictogram, Instagram)

• Authority of +1‟s on the website

• Velocity of shares on Google+

• Authority of share on Google+

• Authority of shares/likes on Facebook

• Number of shares on Google+

• Number of +1s on website

• Authority of follows/mentions on Twitter

• Volume of check-ins on Twitter/Facebook

• Number of circles in which plus page is

contained

• Number of shares/likes on Facebook

• Social correlates directly with reviews and

vice versa

Social for you…

Start thinking locally

• Build presence – put your brand

in-front of people

• Read the business pages

• Find local businesses/groups

and associations

– Sign up

– Take part

• Listen to conversations – e.g.

Yorkshire Hour

• Engage and contribute – build

your brand presence

• Develop interesting things to talk

about and then share

• Don‟t spam…

“Twitter allows you to locate people who own a business and tweet in your city

or region” Social Media Examiner

https://twitter.com/search-advanced

Direct access into local business at decision maker level…

Local Paid Search

What NOT to do…

• List your business at false locations

• Keyword stuff in the businesses name

• Mis-match NAP/tracking phone numbers across the data ecosystem

• List incorrect business categories

• Presence of multiple places pages with the same/similar business title

address

• Mis-match address on places landing pages

• Stop search engines crawling NAP on your website

What NOT to do

• Presence of multiple places with the same phone number

• Feature the location keyword in categories

• Incorrectly place your map marker

• Keyword/city stuffed in places page description

• List 0800 number on only phone number in places page

• Hide place page address

• Mis-match or hide Who Is Information

• Negative sentiment in places reviews

Questions

If you need any further help please contact:

Gyles Seward

t: 01274 532278

e: gyles@elementarydigital.co.uk

I will email this presentation to you, if requested.

Please follow us!

http://www.linkedin.com/co

mpany/elementary-digital-

ltd

https://twitter.com/Ele

mentaryDigi

https://www.faceboo

k.com/elementarydi

gital

https://plus.google.com/u/0/

111553684180643963468/

about