local search - by smbseo

LOCAL SEARCH FOR THE LESS INFORMED.

“NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART”

BY:

MIKE STEWART

DIRECTOR OF SEARCH MARKETING @

Advocate & Board of Directors Member

@dallasSEOguru

@smbSEO

#DFWSEM#LocalSearch

#SEO

© 2011 SMB SEO Dallas Internet Marketing Agency

http://twitter.com/dallasseoguru

http://twitter.com/smbseo

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http://twitter.com/search?q=%23localsearch

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The Rules of Power Point Presentations

Logo on

every slide?

1. If you are going to proceed to break the rules… it might be wise to know them first!

2. Don’t use too many pictures….

3. Don’t use bullet points blah blah…•


A Little About Mike:


In the early days of local search…..

?

The early days of local search content publishing and ad optimization, right?

2000-2009“Sales

Strategist”

uhh So …… Why the Weak of

Heart?


….besides a more dramatic title to get you to {Read, ReTweet, RePost, Reply, Regurgitate, or just ShowUp!}

People face common problems that prevent success…

EXTREMELY BUSY


Local Search Optimization is…

It is not...

Taking action is the beginning.


LOCAL SEARCH IS FOREVER EVOLVING…

What has been my secret To Local Ranking

Success?


Honesty. Transparency.(whether you are in sales or fulfillment.)

Holistic “All the Angles” Approach Will Never Go Out of Style. Sometimes having A.D.D. can help.

“Stick and move… stick and move!”

Local SEO is like “National SEO.” The best local search experts are just great SEO experts. The difference is really maps, geo keywords, and reviews.

http://smbseo.com/

http://smbseo.com/


Google leads in local

http://www.smbseo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/SMB-SEO-Dallas-Local-Search-Market-Share-Graph.jpg

So…The very first step? is…


• 90% of purchases are made within 50 miles of a person’s home. (Kelsey)

• 90% of consumers use some type of local search to locateproducts/services (Comscore, Dec. 2010)

Online search influenced over $471 billion worth or offline sales in 2009.

In that same year only $136 billion in sales using e-commerce.

(eMarketer, 2009)

Map Search = Local Search

TIP: embed MapQuest instead of Google on location

pages.


“Google”Kills “MapQuest”By 2009 inSearches

Local Search 101.


So while you are at it go ahead and register with Google, Yahoo!, and Bing…

• www.places.google.com/business

• www.listings.local.yahoo.com

• www.ssl.bing.com/listings

You Do Not “Have To” Have a Website to Claim or List Your Business Locally.

http://www.places.google.com/business

http://www.listings.local.yahoo.com/

http://www.ssl.bing.com/listings

Build a Complete Profile


1. Change the address and claim the listing. Use the same business name, address and phone numbers as the old or wrong Maps business and you should be given the option to claim it.

2. Use the “REPORT A PROBLEM” link on the listing. 3. Find the citation that is causing the error. Correct it.

4. Your website is the best citation… where is your address?

5. Remember, Google Modifies Titles in Blended Results.

5 Tips on Dealing with Bad Google Places Listings


Worst case scenario could see your company information, including positive reviews, with a competitor's contact information, or a competitor's negative reviews attached to your listing.

Keyword Rich Domains


They still work…

Easy way to rank for a specific “search phrase.”

www.BailBondsDallasTx.com is the same as www.Bail-Bonds-Dallas-Tx.com to a search engine. But try sticking that on your truck!

I prefer .com, .org, and .net.

.info doesn’t rank as well (Blackhats Killed Them off). I prefer hyphens over .ws, .tv etc

How many keyword rich domains do you own. Can you scale an Onsite and Offsite content strategy for that many sites?? Cat/Geo mini sites rock!

www.OneSpecialty.com has 12 mini sites! Ex: CustomPoolsDallasTx.com

and LandscapeDesignDallasTx.com

http://www.bailbondsdallastx.com/

http://www.bail-bonds-dallas-tx.com/

http://www.onespecialty.com/

http://custompoolsdallastx.com/

http://landscapedesigndallastx.com/

WebSite Content StrategyUsing Your Thumb as a Ruler:

OpenSourced CMS(remember honest & transparent)

300 Words = OffSite Content

600 Words = OnSite

Find a comfortable schedule that you can stick to and stick to it. Both OnSite and Off!

BIO pages are great links. Your offsite links do not have to be in your niche. Contribute content to a great site, an SEO Expert can

help you choose the right anchor text.

Comment on articles. Build your online authority. Why are you the expert?

TIP: Site Search is Great Content Research


http://www.smbseo.com/

Keywords in Content

The more keywords you try to stuff on a page the more you risk your page sounding awkward and unnatural. This should be avoided at all costs.

(DO NOT STUFF YOUR KEYWORDS!)


Topic Modeling (LDA - Latent

Dirichlet Allocation)

SuperManClark Kent

Man of SteelKryptonite

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/lda-and-googles-rankings-well-correlated




Blog Weight vs Pages


Site

Blog

anothersmbSEO

client

Measuring Local SEO Efforts w/ Analytics and stats


Other Ways to Measure Success:Shares, Likes, Comments, Calls, Emails, Forms,

etc.

Measuring Local SEO Efforts w/ Ranking Reports


How Citations Impact Local Rankings

Local Search Basics


•Great brands don’t build citations… they earn them!•Unknown brands can beat great brands with SEO.•KML files and Hcard Format Reviews Can be Citations

Reviews:


Encourage Reviews• URL Shorteners bit.ly/smbSEOreview• Page w/links (your url)• Business Cards• Postcards• Emails• Receipts

Make it a process.

Keywords in reviews helps.

Diversity of review sources is good.

Keep them coming. Review frequency is important.

Don’t self review. PERIOD! Too easy to spot.

Watch out for: LunaticsTrollsCompetitorsFormer Employees

Google Paid Search for Novices


Google Boost is Google AdWords for Dummies.

Google Tags……

Next slide please…

Google Paid Search for Novices


AdWords GEO Brand vs Broad vs Cat Geo


AdWords is by far one of the best keyword intellegence tools on the internet.

• D/FW – Cat Geo Campaigns

• Plano – Cat (Product/Service) Campaigns

• The most accurate Google local traffic information is AdWords.

Tip: SEO vs PPC… Stop the Debate! 40/40/20 local budgeting

Local + Social = Hyper-Local Search User Generated Content, Blogging, Social Networks etc.


Take it a step further:

Own Your Niche!

Create an industry review site. Create an industry forum. Become the Expert.

More Off-Site Link Tips:


AllExperts.com, MechantCircle Answers, Wiki , Quora, Yahoo Answers

Press Releases are great links, often from news sites. In many cases you can get local area news site links.

Sure beats other ways of getting in the press!

Industry Forums and Industry Associations website links.

Pimping Your Company for Non-Profit Links(donating to a non-profit is technically not buying links!)

Not Recommended… (but works regardless of what the search marketing evangelicals tell you!)

Comment spam, article marketing, link cloaking (show the search engines one thing and users something else)

URL shorteners as 301 redirects. Publish these links

Content Based Directory sites like

LeadMaverick.com



FaceBook

“ If I tell my Facebook friends about your brand, it is because I like my friends – not because I like your brand.” – Mike Arauz, Undercurrent


Flickr

YouTube

+30,000 views to OneSpecialty.com Flickr Album… how many of these were clients?

Probably only a few. Use with Creative Commons and Give Attribution…

Title of the video is PRIMO!-Unique Descriptions with a link. YouTube is not the only video site.

Build your channel. Your Channel is another website!YouTube Videos can rank on the first page for local search queries and names.

Why Not Embed YouTube In Your

Website.


The odd duck is the real leader. Most of your competitors are doing it all wrong. Most of them have the same links from the same online directories and internet yellow pages sites that you do.

The SEO industry is growing rapidly. Your niche is probably still open for the taking!

If you write great authoritative content you will get better links.

Local SEO + Local PPC + Web Conversion = $$$$!

Social Media is not a fad. We are all becoming more social. Social engagement is the new repeat and referral. In my 10 year career of working with small businesses, the #1 answer to the question of where you get most of your business has always been Repeat and Referral. Social Media is the new R&R!


It helps to be colorful…


If you want to learn more…. Find the real experts!

NEVER SET IT… and FORGET IT!

What is the best SEO Advice Ever?


Mike Stewart“SMB SEO”

www.smbSEO.com

dallasSEOguru

www.facebook.com/DallasSEOguru


Local Search Basics

Thank you for taking the time to listen…

http://www.smbseo.com/

thho://www.twitter.com/dallasseoguru

http://www.facebook.com/DallasSEOguru

http://www.facebook.com/DallasSEOguru

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local search - by smbseo

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