This is the deck for a webinar about local search I gave for SEMPO

1. The Complicated World of Local Search
Dan Leibson
@danleibson
SEO Manager
Relevant Ads 1

2. Reasons You Should Belong to SEMPO
• Expand Your Knowledge
• Engage With Industry
Leaders
• Maximize Your Career Growth
• Grow Your Business
• Save Money

3. 3
Sponsors and Partners

4. Housekeeping

5. A Framework for Thinking About the
Local Search Ecosystem
Words and sentences must, by necessity, come only
one at a time in linear, logical order. Systems happen
all at once. They are connected not just in one
direction, but in many directions simultaneously. To
discuss them properly, it is necessary somehow to use
a language that shares some of the same properties
as the phenomena under discussion.
• Donella H. Meadows – Thinking in Systems
5

6. Overview
• The local search ecosystem is fragmented
• You must work hard to optimize multiple channels to
fully leverage the value of local
• Staying on top of trends and implementing
processes that help you through a rapid
development cycle is key
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7. The Local Search Ecosystem is
Complicated
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Source: getlisted.org

8. The Mobile First User
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Source: ThinkInsights via Will Critchlow

9. Mobile Apps
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Source: comScore-Localeze-15mile via Greg Sterling

10. Google Algo Updates
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11. Venice
11
Source: Flickr

12. Non-Localized Organic SERP
12
Source: Mike Ramsey via Moz

13. Localized Organic SERP
13
Source: Mike Ramsey via Moz

14. Panda
14
Source: Flickr

15. Panda Had a Major Impact on Local
Search
15
Source: http://www.localseoguide.com/what-happened-to-citysearchs-business/

16. Unique Opportunity
16
Growth is low, relevance is
high. Regardless of
professional or industry
growth, Google is aggressively
moving towards localization.

17. 17
Source

18. Time to Get Down and Dirty
18
Source: Flickr

19. Local Search Ranking Factors: 2013
19
Place Page Signals (incl. proximity)
Citation Signals
On-Page Signals
Link Signals
Review Signals
Social Signals
Behavioral / Mobile Signals
Personalization
19.6
16.0
18.8
14.4
10.3
6.3
6.1
8.3
Source: David Mihm – MozCon 2013

20. Semantic and Entity Based Local
Strategy
20
BRAND
WEBSITE LOCATION
Store Locator, KML,
Site Architecture
Google Places
For Business
Google Plus
Authorship, Publisher
Source: David Mihm – MozCon 2013

21. Make Sure Your Data is Correct Here
21

22. The Local Search Ecosystem is
Complicated
22

23. Use Structured Data to Get Ahead
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Open graph 36.9%
schema.org 9.9%
G+ publisher 7.1%
G+ author 2.2%
Markup
Type
Percent of
URLs
Source: Matt Brown

24. Time To Talk About REI
24

25. REI REI REI REI REI REI
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26. Who Doesn’t Want a SERP like this?
26

27. It’s Working…
Term Local (Pack) Local Monthly Volume
sporting goods 2 3,350,000
sports store 2 450,000
sporting equipment store 3 33,100
camping gear 1 & 4 90,500
camping equipment 1 90,500
hiking 1 1,830,000
hiking gear 1 & 2 271,000
mountain gear 1 49,500
sports store 2 450,000
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28. What is the Competition Doing?
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29. What Aren’t They Doing?
29

30. Don’t be a
30

31. Rel=“Publisher”
31
Source: http://bit.ly/14ssu4v

32. Rel=“Author”
32

33. Not (Just) Vanity
33
Source: http://moz.com/blog/google-author-photos

34. Magna Carta Holy Grail
34

35. Measure Your Schema Experiments
35
Source: http://searchengineland.com/measuring-the-effect-of-
semantic-markup-on-your-search-traffic-164736

36. Most Google Places/+ Local Pages are
Bad!
36

37. Do This for Even Better Rankings
37
Source: http://niftymarketing.com/optimal-local-landing-page-infographic/

38. Want to Rank Here?
38
Source: Flickr

39. Distribute Data Here
39
IT’S FREE!!!!!!

40. Read Up on It
• http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/10/factu
al-helps-app-developers-personalize-the-mobile-
experience/
• http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/07/09/factual-
launches-location-data-driven-products-mobile-apps
• http://www.factual.com/products
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41. Get Reviews on These!
• Google Places
• Yahoo Local
• Bing Local
• Yelp.com
• Superpages.com
• Yellowpages.com
• Yellowbook.com
• Urbanspoon.com
• Foursquare.com
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42. Create Review Handout/Email
42

43. Here’s how
• Step 1 - http://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-
generator/
• Step 2 -
http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/products/google
-review-handout/
• Step 3 – REVIEWS!!!
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44. Yelp
44

45. Use it in an outreach email
45
Be careful to watch your review velocity!
http://localvox.com/how-to-avoid-the-yelp-review-
filter-and-get-more-positive-reviews/

46. What to do with Filtered Reviews?
46

47. Remember, These Are Not Indexed!
47

48. This!
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Source: http://schema.org/AggregateRating

49. Want Even More Location Goodness on
your Website?
49
Make One Here: http://www.geositemapgenerator.com/

50. Google Local Carousel
50

51. Your Analytics are Now Borked
51
http://blog.autorevo.com/2013/06/no-non-branded-keyword-traffic-in-local-carousel/

52. Solution!
52
Get It Here - http://bit.ly/17tmvjt

53. Data Normalization
• Step 1 – Get SEO Tools for Excel
• Step 2 – Access you Google Analytics Account
• Step 3 – Get the number of business name + city
searches for each month of 2012 (or as much from
before carousel as you can)
• Step 4 – Average them out
• Step 5 – Determine rate of growth
• Step 6 – Add rate of growth number to monthly
average (remember to keep a running total)
• Step 7 - Subtract # in Step 6 from the Report
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54. A/B Image Testing!
54
Source: http://bit.ly/1cj9wSh

55. New Maps Inlay
55

56. New Google Maps UI
56
Source: http://bit.ly/12VLk7J

57. Google Maps vs. Apple Maps

59. But Not So Fast…
Source: http://bit.ly/PIZy5h

60. Apple Maps Gets Data Here
60
Read more here: http://applemapsmarketing.com/

61. 600lb Gorilla?
61

62. Social Proof Works
62
http://bit.ly/12ZlHy9

63. Want to Rank Here?
63

64. Optimize Here
64
http://danleibson.com/facebook-graph-search-primer/

65. Use This
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https://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/

66. How Do You Keep Up With This?
• Use an RSS reader to develop a reading list
• Follow people on Twitter
• Read The Lean Startup
• Watch This Video: http://moz.com/blog/agile-
marketing-whiteboard-friday
• EXPERIMENT/RESEARCH!!!!!!
66

67. Takeaways
• Brick and mortar stores are entities, treat them as
such
• Don’t ignore non-traditional mediums for local
discovery
• Focus on users/customers and search engines will
follow
67

69. Thank You!
Website: http://www.relevantads.com
Twitter: @danleibson
Email: dleibson@relevantads.com
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