eBook_Small Business Guide_v5

MARKETING GUIDES

2A SMALL BUSINESSrsquoS GUIDE TO LOCAL SEARCH MARKETING sdot REVLOCALCOM

1

What is Local Search Marketing

2

Local Search Optimization

3

Business Category

4

Geographic Proximity

5

Quantity and Consistency of Citations

6

Authority and User Experience

7

Quantity of Credible Reviews

A Small Businesss Guide to Local Search Marketing

By Cory MillerContent Marketing Manager

Table of Contents

COVER IMAGE DOCMOREAU CREATIVE COMMONS


Local search marketing matters We believe in it so much

that we built our business around it Whether you realize it

or not local search marketing is impacting your business

right now

The Internet offers your business a tremendous opportunity If

yoursquore willing to take advantage of it that is Donrsquot underestimate

the impact of marketing to your community According to Google

73 percent of all online activity is related to local content What are

you doing to keep up with this change in consumer behavior

This guide will serve as your introduction to local search

marketing Wersquoll detail a few of the most important factors that must

be accounted for when optimizing for local search These are the

factors that will likely determine if consumers are finding you or not

IntroductionIMAGE PASCAL CREATIVE COMMONS


Local search marketing is a form of search engine optimization

(SEO) that is designed to grow and sustain your businessrsquos local

presence on search engine results pages (SERPS)

Think about it this way If you type ldquoPizza Deliveryrdquo into Google

Bing or Yelp why do some businesses show up while others are

nowhere to be found Why are some businesses ranking well

on Google but not on Bing Well it has a lot to do with their local

search marketing strategy or their lack of one

Curious to see if your business is showing well locally Try This

1 First clear your browserrsquos search history for uninfluenced results

(search engines like to predict what yoursquore searching for by

looking at your search history)


1

IMAGE NEW OLD STOCK


2 Next type a general category keyword that represents your

business (do not enter your business name) into Google or Bing

For example dentist lawyer pizza auto repair etc Just so you

know not every keyword will trigger local search results If you

donrsquot see a map or lettered pushpins on your SERP your search

query is not one that the search engine deems relevant for local

search results

3 What do you see Is your business being displayed on the map

Does it have its own push pin Are you even seeing it Do you

recognize your local competition



Search engines use information from online directories and

databases to create display and rank local listings Local listing

pages are profiles that contain information about your business

These local listing pages need to be fed with information and

continually updated to achieve maximum results This information

often includes your business name address phone number

website etc Some of the more popular local listing directories

like Google Bing and Yelp require additional information for a local

listing page to be considered fully optimized

Seems simple right Create and optimize local listing pages for

your business and yoursquoll start dominating the local search results

Itrsquos actually a lot more complicated than that In fact Googlersquos local

search algorithm uses over 200 indicators to rank local search

results This includes keyword category geographic proximity

quantity and consistency of structured citations inbound links

domain authority and consumer reviews just to name a few And

remember wersquore just scratching the surface Oh and then therersquos

the fact that search engines are continually changing their search

result algorithms to display the best results possible

Wersquoll touch on a few of these examples to give you a better

understanding of how search engines work and how we help

optimize your business for local search

2

IMAGE WIKIMEDIA COMMONS


Business Category

Business categories are a fundamental element of local search

optimization When creating a local listing page nearly all online

directories require you to submit categories that describe your

business Itrsquos important to remember that categories describe what

your business is not what it does or sells For example a correct

category would be ldquoItalian Restaurantrdquo while an incorrect category

would be ldquoPizza amp Pastardquo

Herersquos the tricky part Not all categories are created equal

Unfortunately the major local listing directories didnrsquot get together

one day and decide on a master list of business categories For

example Google and Yelp differ greatly in their approach to

business categories Google My Business allows you to choose

up to 10 categories that describe your business Yelp on the other

hand only allows you to select three of its 698 categories Yelp also

structures its category selection much differently than Googlersquos

Yelp makes you choose a primary category secondary category

3

Not all categories are created equal


and a tertiary category for each keyword For example if yoursquore a

divorce lawyer you would first select ldquoprofessional servicesrdquo then

select ldquoLawyersrdquo and finally ldquoDivorce and Family Lawrdquo

And herersquos the thing You must select the correct categories

Spend time researching the category list for the respective

directory yoursquore creating a local listing page for Otherwise you run

the risk of losing out on valuable local search traffic

And if you didnrsquot think business categories were confusing

enough search engines like Google and Bing improve local search

results by aggregating information (including categories) from

your businessrsquos local listing pages on third-party directories That

means an incorrectly assigned category on your Yellow Pages local

listing page can negatively affect your Google My Business page

Categories seem simple but theyrsquore tremendously important



Why do search engines display different local search results

for the exact same keyword search at home than they do at work

which are only a few miles apart Again this is a fairly complex

answer but wersquoll give you the basic rundown

Google and other search engines use your computerrsquos Internet

Protocol (IP) address to determine your location An IP address is

an unique number assigned by Internet Service Providers to each

computer connected to the Internet The unique IP address of your

work computer and your home computer is how Google and other

search engines know yoursquore in different locations

Where it gets a little more complex is how search engines

decide which local search results are most relevant to your

search Search engines donrsquot want to offer a searcher results that

are a significant distance from a searcherrsquos location if they can

4

IMAGE NEW OLD STOCK


help it Google determines proximity of a businessrsquos address to a

predetermined ldquocentroidrdquo which is usually the city center of the

respective city yoursquore searching in Make sense

So if your business is located on the outskirts of town are you

playing against a stacked deck No therersquos still plenty of hope

for you The first interesting thing to note about address proximity

is that Google will actually move the centroid to the center of an

industryrsquos hub in the city yoursquore searching in

Letrsquos look at an example Yoursquore visiting Columbus OH and

yoursquore looking for a place to grab a bite to eat When searching

restaurants Columbus Google will move its ldquorestaurantrdquo centroid

slightly west of the city center because of the cluster of popular

restaurants nearby and the lack of restaurants east of downtown

And herersquos the other huge factor in address proximity mobile

searches Eighty-eight percent of searches on smartphones have

local intent Mobile devices provide search engines with your

exact location instead of the general vicinity of your IP Address

Search engines understand that consumer intent is much different

for mobile searches than desktop searches which is why search

engines place more relevance on the businesses closest to your

search


Try it yourself Search for the same keyword on your

phone and your desktop in the same location Look at

the differences between results Of course address

proximity is only one factor in local search optimization

but it is one thatrsquos often misunderstood



As we mentioned before search engines rely on information

from third-party directories to determine the authenticity of a local

listing page These are called citations Citations are mentions of

your business name address and phone number (NAP) on third

party directories Citations are a key component of Google and

Bingrsquos ranking algorithms With all factors being equal businesses

with a higher number of citations will likely rank higher than

businesses with only a few

Citations are a great way to earn trust from search engines

if you have your facts straight However if search engines find

inconsistencies in your citations you could be severely penalized

For example your business may have moved or changed its phone

number over the years If old information is still populating third-

party directories then your citations arenrsquot telling Google and Bing

the same story This is a problem

5

Directories should tell Google the same story



Letrsquos use Wilt Chamberlainrsquos 100 point game to better explain

citations

On March 2 1962 Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game

scoring record by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors

in a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks This is commonly

accepted as a fact but with no video footage or any members of

the New York press in attendance how do we know for certain

With little ldquofactualrdquo proof you have to trust the sources that

were in the attendance Letrsquos say there were 4000 people in

attendance that night which means there were 4000 individual

accounts of the events that transpired Letrsquos also assume that the

firsthand accounts of certain individuals hold more weight than

others This more influential group would include players coaches

scorekeepers and local press

If all 4000 people left the arena and agreed that with 46

seconds to go in the game Chamberlain scored his 100th point

then therersquos little reason to dispute the story despite the lack of

factual proof We can even go one step further and check the score

sheet to confirm Chamberlainrsquos point total

However if there were a large number of discrepancies in the



story then the record feat will seem more suspicious And what if

the record was even disputed by a few members of the local media

that were present Perhaps a couple of reporters published stories

claiming that Chamberlain was incorrectly awarded a basket in

the first half because it was actually tipped in by Chamberlainrsquos

teammate Paul Arizin What do you believe Did Chamberlain

score 100 points or actually finish with 98

This is exactly how citations work Search engines will be

forgiving if you have minor inconsistencies on a lesser valued

directory However there are a handful of directories that have a

lot more authority than others (similar to the reporters at the game)

If inconsistences are found on authoritative databases (a trusted

database that feeds information directly into Google and Bing) then

the validity of your business information is in doubt and your local

search presence is likely suffering



Your businessrsquos website URL is a key element of all online

directories In fact itrsquos so important that the common mention of

your businessrsquos name address phone number (NAP) citation is

typically referred to as a NAPU (name address phone number

URL)

Unfortunately just having a website isnrsquot enough Your website

has to be constructed in a way that search engines can easily find

the important information that theyrsquore looking for Typically search

engines are looking for the proper formatting and location of your

NAP Theyrsquore also looking at indicators like keyword presence in

your URL geographically optimized page titles geographically

optimized tags location of on-page keywords etc

Again every search engine has an extensive list of on-page

factors when determining local search rankings

An increasingly important ranking factor when determining

page authority is mobile usability In other words is your businessrsquos

website optimized for mobile devices Mobile experience is so

important to Google that itrsquos expected to release an algorithm

update that rewards businesses that provide a positive mobile

experience (For more on user experience check out our blog post

about mobile usability)

6

IMAGE NEW OLD STOCK



A search enginersquos number one goal is to deliver the most

relevant results possible for any given search A powerful

indication of a businessrsquos relevance to a search query is the

amount (and quality) of consumer reviews Most online directories

allow consumers to leave reviews on a local listing page that

reflects their experience with that business Some directories

would allow your cat to leave a review while others have more

rigorous policies than the TSA

Much like citations search engines aggregate consumer

reviews from third-party sites as part of their ranking algorithms As

you can imagine the more credible the review the more weight it

holds as a local search ranking factor Google and Bing award the

highest value to reviews left on their respective local listing pages

but they also seriously value reviews left on Yelp TripAdvisor

Angiersquos List and many others

7

The more credible the review the more weight it holds

IMAGE DOUGWOODS CREATIVE COMMONS


Wait Before you ask everyone in your office to leave a review

on your local listing pages consider this Only authentic reviews

are valuable Google and Yelp are notorious for filtering suspicious

reviews Both companies strongly condemn reviews that are

solicited or incentivized For example if your business has only

earned two reviews in the last six months and suddenly seven new

reviews come in on the same day a red flag is immediately raised

Google and Yelp look at several indicators to determine whether

a review is authentic or not First theyrsquoll look at the profile history of

the person leaving the review They want to see how old the profile

is whether the reviewer has left reviews before and the reviewerrsquos

location Search engines will also take into account the rating of

the review itself For example if your business has received 40

reviews all with a perfect five star rating it might seem a little fishy

Itrsquos our experience that good reviews are important but a few ldquoOKrdquo

reviews make the good ones more trustworthy


Local search marketing is all about being found online

What happens when you search for your business Is your

business being found

Local search optimization is dependent upon hundreds of

constantly changing factors Submitting your businesss

information to one directory alone isnt enough

Business categories are a fundamental part of local search

marketing Be sure to spend some time researching before

you choose yours

Geographic proximity plays a big part in your businesss

search results Google will decide which results are most

relevant to the searcher based on their location

How many citations (or times your business is mentioned

on the internet) does your business have How consistent

is the information These are important questions

Your businesss website URL is key to success in local

search marketing Your website should be constructed

in a way that translates to search engines especially on

mobile

Search engines hold reviews in high regard Review sites

are always on the look out for manipulation so make sure

your reviewers are credible

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Local Search Marketing Take-Aways

We connect powerful systems with powerful people

Like what you learnedRead more about what we do

TALK TO AN EXPERT

LOCAL SEARCH PAID ADVERTISING SOCIAL CONTENT

Ready to Get Started

Copyright copy 2015 RevLocal All rights reserved


1


2


3

Business Category

4


5


6


7


A Small Businesss Guide to Local Search Marketing

By Cory MillerContent Marketing Manager

Table of Contents

COVER IMAGE DOCMOREAU CREATIVE COMMONS





right now

























1

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2



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3

































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search
























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citations










































URL)

















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mobile




1

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3

4

5

6

7




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citations










































URL)

















6

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mobile




1

2

3

4

5

6

7




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5





citations










































URL)

















6

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1

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3

4

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URL)

















6

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1

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4

5

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6

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7





























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1

2

3

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6

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mobile




1

2

3

4

5

6

7




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7





























you choose yours










mobile




1

2

3

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5

6

7




TALK TO AN EXPERT






























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mobile




1

2

3

4

5

6

7




TALK TO AN EXPERT













you choose yours










mobile




1

2

3

4

5

6

7




TALK TO AN EXPERT






TALK TO AN EXPERT




Documents

eBook_Small Business Guide_v5