Get Found Faster with Online Directories

© 2014 Deluxe Enterprise Operations, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Get Found Faster with Online Listings

April 15, 1-2PM EST

Christian J. Ward

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http://www.deluxe.com/


http://plus.google.com/109212745198088572535/posts



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Now that Internet search is the primary tool for finding

businesses, listing your business on every popular

directory is a must. We’ll help you put your best foot

forward by explaining how to:

- Ensure consistency across directories

- Claim and optimize your business listings for search engines

- Use our online visibility tool and see a real-life example














AGENDA

What Is An Online Presence?

The Local Search Ecosystem

Scanning Your Online Presence: A

Business Example

The Solution from Deluxe

Q&A


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What Is An Online Presence?


WHAT IS AN ONLINE PRESENCE

Just like the sign on your office, the

billboard on your street, or the printed

yellow pages

Presence in the digital world is utilized to

find your business

Having a strong connection between the

online world and the offline world is critical –

even if you don’t sell online…

Why?


Offline Presence Problems

Brodie Mart Town of Hillsdale Dynasty Buffet Elmhurst Hospital

Offline presence is a readily understood

problem

Digital presence, however, is even more

important


Because Online Drives Offline!

of purchase-related conversions occur within

1 hour of initial mobile search55%

of in-person purchases

include online research40%

of purchasing decisions are made

in person & locally76%

Sources: Google, April 2012; Google, March 2013; POPAI, June 2012

http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/a-short-guide-to-online-to-store.html

http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/creating-moments-that-matter.html

http://www.popai.com/engage/docs/Media-Topline-Final.pdf


And Local Offline Sales are Massive

$6T offline

$400B Online

SALES


Offline Local Sales Rule

Core to every local business, large and

small

And the connection between online

and offline is getting stronger everyday

The consumer is now looking for you

not offline, but, specifically, online

And mobile is starting to dominate that

as well


Mobile Search is Local Search

50% of

local search

is mobile

Neustar Localeze 15miles, March 2013

This means that digital search is dominating

consumer behavior

http://www.localsearchstudy.com/local_search_study_2013.pdf


So What is Online Presence?

It is your businesses digital footprint

Your business website is only one portion of your online presence

Online Presence really consists of several key items Your website

Directory listings, Search Engine Listings

Your social presence

Reviews of your business

Each item is different and each requires attention


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Local Search Ecosystem


Local Search Ecosystem

Local Data

Data Aggregators

Publishers & Directories

Government Records

User-submitted

content

Crawled Website Data

Each source competes

They are “compiled”

every day/week/month

When sources

disagree, duplicates

and errors abound

Worst of all, the

Business themselves

are not in control


Yahoo! User Review

Google Places User

Customer Facebook Post

Mobile Yelp User

Yahoo! Mobile User

Yelp App User Signal

Claimed Yahoo Listing

Regional Directory

Foursquare Check-in

Claimed Yelp Listing

Angie’s List Review

Twitter Post

Store Locator

DexKnows Page

News Article

Bing Local Listing

Government Filing

Tax State Forms

Bank Loan Data

Unstructured Forum

Phone Records

Trademark Application

Acxiom Database

Out of Biz Call Center

Lexis Nexis Directory

Infogroup Database

Patent Registration

Unique Biz ID Forms

Offshore Location Team

GigWalk Submit

Thomson Reuters

Nasdaq Filings

?

The Local Data Ecosystem

How Local Data Gets Messed Up

14

Twitter Post Phone Records

InfogroupYelp Crawl


Competing Data Causes Problems

Imagine asking 10 people where a restaurant is

Goodfella’s

Pizzeria

144 Orchard

St

(212)432-3200 Agreed

Yup!

Perfect.

Exactly

yes.

Spot

on.

Confirmed.

That’s it.

Same.

High Confidence! For your customers and the Search Bots


But What if Instead, The Answers Were

Goodfella’s

Pizzeria

144 Orchard St

(212)432-3200

Good Fella

Brick Oven

144

Archer St.

212.345.1122

Where?

You mean

Goodfella’s

LES?

Never heard

of it.

144 Orchard

Ave.

Great

movie.

I don’t think I

know them.

Low confidence, lost business, and lower ranks in search


This is How Local Search Works Too…

Consistency : Getting the same, exact NAP

Authority: From sources you trust

Number: In Large Quantity

+47more

It’s logical, consistency in trusted sources matters


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Scanning Your Online Presence: A Business Example


For Example

Using the Deluxe online

presence scan found at:

This Goodfella’s Pizzeria

can get an instantaneous

analysis

Including links directly to

each

Deluxe.com > Search Marketing > Online Directories


Each error can cost

you rankings

It’s not good enough to

be “close” in this game

Missing online

presence is a lost

opportunity

This is an ongoing

problem that requires

constant attention

Confusion


Search Engines & Confusion

As with our example, search engines like

Google use a similar method

They “crawl” millions of sources looking to

gain confidence on where, when, and what

If they are more confident, you move up in

rank

Confusion in the data of Name, Address and

Phone are the biggest causes of problems

(aka citations)


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The Solution


Deluxe LocalSync 2.0 Network


Listings: Yelp

Yelp crowd-sources valuable local business

reviews by customers for customers

—with over 117 million users totaling

around 47 million reviews

Categories

Core Geodata

Photo Gallery

Business Descriptions

Hours of Operation

Review Alert


Listings: Yahoo!

Categories

Clickable Featured Message


Photo Gallery

Payments Accepted

Hours of Operation

Core Geodata

Fast Updates

Review Alert

External Links

Video

Analytics


Listings: Bing


Core Geodatax

Photos

Hours of Operation

External Links


Listings: MapQuest

Core Geodatax

Business Description

Hours

Featured Message


What is a Duplicate Listing?

Listing 1

Listing 2 (slightly different

address format)

Duplicate listings can be

created during the publisher

compilation process.

They’re a result of

misinterpreting data about a

single business that’s

formatted in multiple ways as

information about multiple

businesses.


Why is this a problem?

Contrary to what you may think, showing up twice is

not a good thing!

Remember, search crawlers value:

Consistency of data across sources

Authority of sources where data is found

Number of different sources that show the same data —

NOT the number of listings or duplicates in each!

Most duplicates are not consistent

The bottom line:

Duplicate listings can confuse customers and hurt search rankings.


Duplicates & Incorrect Information

Duplicates distribute a significant

amount of incorrect data…

Total

Total wrong phone numbers: 26,372

Wrong phone number & address 5,593

Wrong phone number & name 11,416

Wrong phone number, name, address 906

Total wrong addresses: 10,343

Wrong address & name 3,013

Total wrong names: 17,360


Why suppress listings, rather than delete them?

If a listing is deleted, it will come back!

A publisher’s algorithm will determine that a

deleted listing is missing — and it will likely

repurchase the listing from an aggregator to

correct this “error.”

Search engines and crawlers understand

redirects and 404/Page Not Found errors,

which signal that a listing should be ignored.

Only suppression ensures that duplicate listings never resurface.


Increase in Search Engine Rankings

Background

From Dec. 2014 to Jan. 2015, a partner conducted an independent study analyzing the

effect on its clients’ first page ranking performance.

186 accounts — half in a control group and half in a test group — were tracked on

Google, Google Maps, Yahoo, Yahoo Local, Yahoo Maps, Bing, and Bing Maps. All

accounts were tracked for first page placement only (no data is available for pages 2-

10).

Increase in First Page Appearances

300%

519%

313%


Summary

Your online presence is critical

Those neon signs need to be fixed!

Be found, be engaged, be nice

It’s a complex problem, but there is a

solution…


Questions?

Run your scan now… Deluxe.com > Search Marketing > Online Directories


Questions?

After you’ve run your scan… Our Deluxe experts can help you with a package that’s

right for you

Learn More:

Contact – Shelly Williams:

800.211.3377

[email protected]

Get Found Faster with Online Directories

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