Presented at last weeks Travel Portland event, geared towards local travel and tourism businesses, like hotels, restaurants, car services, etc. Good basic info with an invaluable and downloadable "business worksheet" that I created myself.
1. Getting Your Local
Business Found Online
February 8, 2013
Presented by:
Scott Hendison
Search Commander, Inc.
2. About Me
• I started marketing online in 1999, as the
owner of a computer repair & software store
• I began full time SEO consulting in 2004 with
Search Commander, Inc. and founded SEO
Automatic, a set of end user & “white label“
Internet Marketing tools & WordPress plugins.
• In 2006, I co-founded SEMpdx, an educational
non-profit group (SearchFest Feb 22nd)
3. What we‘ll cover
• Consistency & Your Business
• More important than Google
• Listing at Google
• Offers & Reviews
• Measuring Traffic
5. Business Fact Sheet
• Before you go to the internet, put together a
consistent message
• Establish all of your facts and create style and
submission guidelines like the big brands do
• From logos to marketing messages, customers
(and the search industry) value consistency.
6. Business Fact Sheet
• Getting everything into a single document
means there will never be incomplete data.
• Include online images, descriptions, history,
and key personel bios, profile links, etc.
• Everything you might need for your listings
should be in one place.
7. Business Fact Sheet
• It all starts with your NAP – your Name,
Address and Phone
• It should be identical everywhere at every
data source on the web.
• You‘ll be amazed at the inconsistencies you
can find from site to site
8. NAP - Name
• How are you registered? What do the bills
say? Using a legal business name is
important, and may be worth a $50 dba.
• Subtle differences matter – i.e. Tabby‘s
Travel vs. Tabbys Travel, etc.
• NEVER EVER stuff a key phrase into your
name, despite what you see from others.
10. NAP - Address
• USPS uses all caps
• USPS has no consistency on address abreviation
• USPS only uses punctuation for biz names
• USPS always uses Zip+4
11. NAP - Phone
• Which is better 503- or (503) ?
• Most directories use (503)
• WWGD? Google uses (503)
• So why would you differ?
12. NAP - Name, Address and Phone
• Change your website to match USPS
• NAP should be visible from every single page of
your site, in the header or the sidebar
• It should be text, not just an image of text.
• There‘s also a format of adding info that can
give you an edge over your competitors...
14. What‘s Schema?
• Having a text NAP alone is not enough, and it
should be properly formatted on your website.
• Plain text or older standardized web formats
like vCard, or hCard are acceptable but...
• The search and data industries have come
together in a scheme to standardize things,
and make the sharing of information simpler.
15. What‘s Schema?
• Schema.org provides a collection of html tags
so webmasters can markup their pages in ways
recognized by major search providers.
• ‘Search providers‘ means not only G, Y and B,
but everything from Global Positioning Systems
like TomTom to services like Apple Maps
• Schema-Creator.org helps your web designer
easily add the correct to your site
19. Business Fact Sheet
• Complete a Business Fact Sheet in it‘s entirety,
skipping nothing.
• Take the time to do it right, so that you can
delegate future submissions to others.
• It‘s the foundation for everything you do.
36. Pre-Google Action Items
• Check USPS for correct address format
• Match Your Website NAP
• Use Schema markup
• Complete your http://bit.ly/bizsheet
• #1 go to Infogroup (ExpressUpdateUSA)
• #2 go to Localeze
• #3 go to Axciom
• THEN verify / claim / edit Google
39. Google
• Changed what they call Places at least 3 times
• Google+ was completely reinvented
• Many businesses have listings at both
• In some cases you can connect the two
• Visit both of these URLs while logged in...
http://www.google.com/places/
http://www.google.com/+/business/
41. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
You‘ll see EITHER, “add a business“ like this...
42. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
Or you‘ll see a dashboard like this...
43. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• If you see the option to add a business, type in
your phone number and proceed
44. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
If you see a dashboard, hit EDIT...
45. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
Once you are in the business editing area...
• NAP
• Description
• Fill out everything you can from your biz sheet
• Use all ten photo uploads and add (YOUR) videos
• Fill out or add all category opportunities
• Be careful with Service Areas & Locations Served
47. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• Add all 10 photos
• 1st one added is main
• NEVER stock immages
• Use your phone camera
• Got Videos? Add links to
your YouTube videos too
49. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
Two areas to be REALLY careful with...
1. The categories you choose
2. Service area and location setting
50. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
Categories:
• NEVER use a geographic location in the
categories, despite what you see from others
• Always use as many categories as you can by
hitting “Add Another Category“, BUT...
• Improper use or “category spamming“ can get
your listing suspended from Google.
51. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
Service Area and Location Settings:
52. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• If you ONLY serve customers at their location,
you MUST check “Do not show my address...“
53. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• If you have a PO Box or other type of maildrop,
you MUST check “Do not show my address...“
54. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• If you live on a residential street w/ no biz sign,
you MUST check “Do not show my address...“
56. Google Places Page
• His page was bare so I filled out his profile
• I added legitimate categories & info
• I deleted all old, and added 10 new images
(First image added becomes the logo)
• He had over 500 monthly impressions, so I did
*not* check the box to hide his address.
• We received the verification code by mail,
punched it in, and two days later...
58. Google Places Page
• Every time you edit, moderators will review
• No business is safe from scrutiny
• Biz name, categories, street view, etc. are all
looked at again, no matter how long the listing
has been live and receiving traffic.
• Any prior “bad acts“ are held against you
• This is the most common cause of listing
suspension – someone makes changes, and the
listing gets disabled for older TOS violations.
59. Google Places
http://bit.ly/googlelocalhelp
If you have a problem, get help by phone!
60. Google Places
http://bit.ly/googlelocalhelp
After checking the magic combination of boxes
61. Google Places
http://bit.ly/googlelocalhelp
Add your info, and your phone will ring...
62. Google Places
http://bit.ly/googlelocalhelp
• You cannot get to the ‘call‘ link any other way
• It does not have to be the business line, or
even the business owner initiating the call
• I‘ve talked to Google reps four times, and each
time I‘ve found them to be VERY helpful
• The rep for Randys suspension suggested a yard
sign until the next Google Street View update!
• Listings have returned within 48 hours
63. Google Places
http://www.google.com/places/
• After making changes, you will often have to
verify ownership again.
• Sometimes by phone, sometimes by postcard
• Phone verification requires auto-answering to
be turned off
• Even after verification, changes you‘ve made
can take literally weeks to appear
66. Google Offers
Less than 10% of businesses use Google offers*
• Opportunity to stand out
• Costs you nothing (for now)
• Reach new customers
• Chance to be daring and creative, but put
any disclaimer right in the offer
* Source: I made it up out of thin air, but I‘d bet it‘s even lower than that...
76. Google Offers
• Must not be for specific services*
• Must be printable
• Must be “real world“ – no online offers
• You get to reach new customers
• It‘s your chance to be daring and creative,
and put a disclaimer right on the coupon
• Does Google favor businesses using offers?
* Academic aids, adult services, alcohol, gambling, drugs, fireworks, hacking, health care,
medicine, intelectual property, regulated goods, tobacco, radar detectors, weapons, or
anything else that Google might add in the future.
78. Google+ Local
http://www.google.com/+/business/
• Who Has a Google+ Local Page?
• Who has seen or edited both?
• Who has merged them together?
• Who wonders what they‘ll call it next?
86. Connecting + and Place pages
• Connecting / associating the two pages
together is possible, but not a full merge yet
• Although some have done it successfully,
others have seen problems, including lost
reviews, and temporarily disapearing listings
• Most SEOs say to wait, Google will sort it out
88. Google Reviews
• Reviews are critical, although review volume
does not seem to be a ranking factor
• Never leave fake reviews, or hire services
that get you illegitimate reviews
• Employees and owners of businesses may not
leave reviewsm according to Googles TOS
89. Google Reviews
• Always take time to respond to a customer
complaint or a negative review, whether on
Google, Yelp or elsewhere.
• It‘s helpful to encourage, nag, induce or even
incentivize people into leaving reviews
through postcards, emails, contests etc.
• Kiosks in your business for leaving reviews
are no longer a good idea (same IP address)
92. Measuring Traffic
• Is what you‘re doing worth the effort?
• How do you justify the time or money spent?
• Where can you get quick snapshots of
performance metrics?
97. Google Analytics
Google Analytics can easily show you...
• Nothing about traffic from your profiles
• There is no easy way to see it at a glance
• You CAN...
• Use a custom page in your profile
• Set up advanced segmenting
98. Google Analytics
• You can create a distinct URL, such as
www.yoursite.com/localcontact and list that
as the URL people click from profile pages
• Or you can apend the URLs with a “tag“ so
they are easily tracked in Analytics by
creating one at http://bit.ly/urlbuilder
• Or you can create an “advanced segment“...
99. Google Analytics
Which might make your head explode...
Step by step Advanced Segmenting
http://bit.ly/trackinggooglelocal
100. Summing Up
• Create your business profile sheet
• Mark up your website with schema data
• Claim the major three data providers
• Complete Google thoroughly
• Try Google Offers while it‘s free
• Gather, encourage and respond to reviews
• Don‘t sweat the stats – Analytics will come
101. Thank You
This presentation may be downloaded now-
http://bit.ly/2-8-2013
Contact me...
Scott Hendison
scott@searchcommander.com