How to Prioritize Your Local Search Work - Darren Shaw - SearchLove Boston 2014

How To Prioritize Your Local Search Work

DARREN SHAW

Darren ShawFounder at Whitespark

[email protected]

@EdmontonSEO

Can you do local SEO in only 3 hours?

Sure, you can do*some* work

Organic SEO

• Keyword research• Website• Content• Links• Social• Reporting

Local SEO

• Keyword research• Website• Content• Links• Social• Reporting• Google+ Local Listing • Citation building• Citation audit/cleanup• Review acquisition

Additional Work

Why Reviews?

VS

Listings with reviews provide a better user experience

Google loves a good user experience

Get at least 5 Google+ Local Reviews

Get 5 reviews, get the stars

Nice


http://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/


http://getfivestars.com/

Get keywords in reviews

Increase awareness of Yelp


To rank in Yelp

1) Get reviews2) Get keywords

in yelp reviews


Awareness, NOT solicitation


If only there was a way to findto find friends on Yelp


Thanks Yelp!


On your website


In your email


On your door


In your business

Download this printable sign I made! (I’m so proud)bit.ly/1lsv4m9

http://bit.ly/1lsv4m9

Diversify Review Sites

GetFiveStars makes this easy

ReviewsHighest valueLowest effort

2 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes

Optimize the location landing page(s)

Single location: link to homepage

Multi-location: link to a dedicated location page


Include city and primary keyword in the URL


Title tag1) Include primary keyword.2) Include city & state abbreviation3) Include same business name as on Google listing


Add a couple of good paragraphs of"about us"/"this location" content.


Include name, address, and phone in schema.org


Embed a Google map, the right way


Write high-quality long form content on the services pages

No. Just no.


OMG YES. 4500 words on DUI Law in Alberta

pringlelaw.ca/practices/1-impaired-driving


It’s working out quite well for them

#1 Organic

#1 Local

Fix any technical problems

Not enough time to cover it, but LMGTFY

Clean up duplicate listings

Pick good categories

Don’t violate guidelines & don’t keyword spamOnly use your official DBA

name

City in description can cause a ranking drop

Don’t use a PO Box, UPS, or any kind of fake address.

Don’t add any keywords from your categories to the

description

It’s ok to add a link or two to the description, but don’t do

any exact match anchors

X

X X

Don’t include any of these words: bit.ly/1fPnlx3

Get 1 accurate & complete listing on the major data aggregators

You really must be listed on all 4 of these

http://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-usUsed with permission from David Mihm

Get 1 accurate & complete listing on the major data aggregators

http://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us

Go to http://www.expressupdate.com to find and remove incorrect listings.

Clean up duplicates on the major data aggregators

http://www.expressupdate.com/

Go to http://www.neustarlocaleze.biz to find and remove incorrect listings.


http://www.neustarlocaleze.biz/

Go to https://mybusinesslistingmanager.myacxiom.com to find and remove incorrect listings.


https://mybusinesslistingmanager.myacxiom.com/

Go to http://factual.com/data/t/places to find and remove incorrect listings.


http://factual.com/data/t/places

To update or remove: factual.com/contact


Get 1 accurate & complete listing on the second tier citation sites

On each of these sites, use the internal search function to find and remove incorrect listings.

Clean up duplicates on the second tier citation sites

Get some quality unstructured citations

Feature local artists at the business


Host events at the business


Offer student discounts


http://www.localstampede.com/citation-building-strategies-list/

Tons of great ideas here:




Get a handful of city-specific and industry specific citations

Get 1 accurate and complete listing on the remainingtop 50 citation sites

Clean up duplicates on the remaining top 50 citation sites

Get 1 accurate and complete listing, and remove duplicateson the remaining top 50 citation sites

https://www.whitespark.ca/citation-audit-and-cleanup-service




[0047] When the document falls within the broad area (block 460--YES), then a location prominence score associated with the document may be determined (block 470). The location prominence score may be based on a set of factors that are unrelated to the geographical area over which the user is searching. In one implementation, the set of factors may include one or more of the following factors: (1) a score associated with an authoritative document; (2) the total number of documents referring to a business associated with the document; (3) the highest score of documents referring to the business; (4) the number of documents with reviews of the business; and (5) the number of information documents that mention the business. In other implementations, the set of factors may include additional or different factors.

Get at least 1 super link


SS Scholarship SS Sponsorship


Their home page


Their scholarship page


Sponsorships

1. Boston inurl:sponsors2. site:.edu boston supporters3. site:.edu boston sponsors4. site:.org boston supporters5. site:.org boston sponsors6. site:.k12.ca.us supporters7. site:.k12.ca.us sponsors

Get a handful of local links


XLINK




Clean up any spammy links

Get the typical basic links from citations, social profiles, etc

Download it here:bit.ly/1kmlOTk

What should youwork on with 40

hours?

You can do it all(excluding serious technical issues and link cleanup)


hours?

Reviews: 32 minutes

Website: 4 hours - optimize the landing page - enhance content on a handful of services pages

Google+ Local Listing: 30 minutes

Citations: 7 hours - data aggregators - 2nd tier - city-specific and industry-specific - prospect for and get 2 local sponsorship citation & link

Links: 8 hours - get scholarship page up and do some outreach


hours?

Reviews: 32 minutes

Website: 4 hours - optimize the landing page - enhance content on a handful of services pages


Citations: 5 hours - data aggregators - 2nd tier - prospect for and get 1 local sponsorship citation & link

And what if you only have 3 hours?

Reviews: 32 minutes

Website: 1 hour - optimize the landing page


Citations: 1 hour - data aggregators

Thanks.Any questions?

DARREN SHAW

[email protected]

@EdmontonSEO

How to Prioritize Your Local Search Work - Darren Shaw - SearchLove Boston 2014

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