Scaling API-first – The story of a global engineering organization
Local Search Engine Optimization: Mobile SEO & Local Tools
1. Local Mobile Optimization
Mythbusters: Is Local-Mobile Different from Local-Desktop?
Jeff Campbell
Co-Founder & Managing Director
@CJeffCampbell
New York | March 19–23
2. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
• Digital Media thought leaders since 2003
• Paid Search, SEO, Paid Social, Content Optimization
• Deeply integrated with Omnicom agency teams
• 170+ employees in North America with offices in NY,
Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Charlotte and Toronto
• Top 2 in search spend globally.
• We have campaigns running in over 70 countries
• Represent the top search spends in Financial Services,
Technology and Retail
• Proprietary process, best-of-breed technology
3. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Local Searches are Mobile
1 out of 5 searches are related to location…
Mexican restaurants 60067 home improvement stores wellington fl Beechwood to cleveland airport directions
Wegmans haymarket va Chicago dry cleaners shaker heights cvs on woodland blvd
Walmart olive branch MS Sightseeing in D.C.
paint NYC
2.8 billion local queries per month
28115 home depot
best sushi in Los Angeles directions to geneva commons mall
Macy’s in bullhead city, az
restaurants in San Francisco Tampa appliances stores
Starbucks near 314 W. Superior, Chicago IL
dentists 20654
…and 1 in 3 mobile search queries have local intent
@CJeffCampbell
Source: Google
4. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Mobile vs. Desktop Ranking Factors
• Strong coorelations to rankings in Google
smartphone search results
• Phrase-matched keywords in the page’s title
• Encouraging repeat visits
• Being a desktop site
• Having a mobile site (m.domain.com)
• Having more than 100k unique visitors
worldwide
• Specific to Local-Mobile:
• Having a location in close proximity to
Searcher/Device
• Completeness of Google Places
• Hours of Operation
• Events
@CJeffCampbell
Source: Resolution Media, http://www.ResolutionMedia.com
5. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
73% of Local Keywords Differ across Mobile and Desktop
• Recent whitepaper on mobile SEO highlights how much Google differs their search results
according to users on mobile phones or desktop computers
• Only 27% of localized keyword rankings are the same, no matter the interface used
• For non-localized terms, 42% saw no changes from Google Mobile to Google Desktop
@CJeffCampbell
Source: Covario, http://www.covario.com/phocadownload/design/wp_mobile-seo_101211_fnl.pdf
6. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Visual Differences Across Mobile & Desktop
• Desktop shows three organic listings before Places, while mobile displays only two
• Proximity to location is a major factor in results
• Mobile phones contain more focused map views compared to desktop’s wider map radius
@CJeffCampbell
Source: Covario, http://www.covario.com/phocadownload/design/wp_mobile-seo_101211_fnl.pdf
7. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Mobile Content Correlates to Desktop Visibility in
Smartphone Results
Sites That Have Mobile Sites Indexed in Sites in Google Mobile Result Set That
Google Offer Mobile Content
19%
36%
42%
Indexed
Yes
No Mobile Site
64% No
Not Indexed
38%
• From an upcoming whitepaper from Resolution, research showed that having a mobile site is
strongly correlated to visibility in Google smartphone results
• Even though the vast majority of sites displayed in smartphone results are desktop
sites, there may be an advantage to be had in search results by creating a mobile site.
@CJeffCampbell
Source: Resolution Media, http://www.ResolutionMedia.com
8. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Mobile Users Skew Toward Local Behaviors
@CJeffCampbell
9. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Local-Mobile Takeaways
• Mobile and local searches are growing and
becoming more and more intertwined
• Basic local ranking factors include traditional
SEO, accurate NAP, as well as claiming Places
profiles
• Completeness is key due to likely factor of
location/hours in algos
• Mobile interfaces will display different local search
results, with narrow map views and greater focus
on Places results
• Having a mobile site and mobile content correlates
strongly with rankings on Google Mobile
@CJeffCampbell
11. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Enterprise Local Tools: AllLocal
• http://www.allLocal.com
• Singular Feed Upload
• Access to Google
Places, Localeze, infogroup and Acxiom
networks
• Google Places reporting
• Listing data
• Review monitoring
@CJeffCampbell
12. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Enterprise Local Tools: AllLocal
@CJeffCampbell
13. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Enterprise Local Tools: Acxiom’s MyRepMan
• http://www.databyacxiom.com;
http://www.myrepman.com
• Singular Feed Upload
• Access to Acxiom network
• Listing data
• Review monitoring
• Social mentions
@CJeffCampbell
14. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Enterprise Local Tools: Yext
• http://www.yext.com
• Singular Feed Upload
• Access to 31 local
directories/sites
• Guaranteed listing
standards, direct updates
• Listing data
@CJeffCampbell
15. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Additional Local Tools
Whitespark Local Citation Google Places Category Tool
(http://blumenthals.com/index.php?Google_LBC_Categories)
Finder (http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-
finder/) • Free
• Find categories for your Google Places
• Citation monitoring listings (includes international)
• Competitive analysis
• Compare searches
• Organize and identify citations
@CJeffCampbell
16. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Additional Local Tools
Local Search Rank Checker
(http://www.brightlocal.com/seo-tools/local-search-
rank-checker/)
• Local rankings by search engine
• Local directory citation
@CJeffCampbell
17. New York | March 19–23, 2012 | #sesny
Thanks!
Jeff Campbell
Co-Founder & Managing Director
JCampbell@ResolutionMedia.com
CJeffCampbell
Notas del editor
Those who are thinking about the impact of mobility on SEO are 1) many times mobile marketers without a background in SEO giving usability advice that may or may not apply to SEO or 2) SEOs without an understanding of mobile marketing who don’t believe that mobility will impact SEO.
Mobile is obviously more focused on localization, showcasing the narrow map view. Desktop is still showcasing local results, but it’s not as focused as the mobile phone user. Screenshots are from October 2011, so there are some slight changes over the past several months.
Only 21% of Google’s top advertisers have a mobile siteGiven that most of the sites returned do have mobile versions, having mobile content could somehow produce a lift in smartphone search results.These results don’t imply causation, but there definitely is correlation between rankings and have mobile site content.Can find more mobile ranking factors and results from the Resolution whitepaper to be released the week of 3/19/2012.
allLocal: This platform is especially geared to help streamline optimization efforts across multiple local avenues. Most importantly, they update Google Places, Localeze, Infogroup and Acxiom through one platform, versus 4. Additionally, allLocal has many direct relationships that they feed out local data to such as Bing.Additional benefits of using allLocal:*Google Places reporting (it’s extremely difficult to report on Google Places data currently for those businesses with a large amount of locations)*Review monitoring*Listing data (claimed, status, listing score, etc.)*Address validation*Account rep
TheallLocal platform can give you a high level look at how your locations are performing on Google Places (views, clicks, top keywords, etc.). But then you can deep dive into listings to see how accurate they are and across which local platforms.
Acxiom’s tool does provide listing data and review monitoring through their MyRepMan product. However, their feed reach is limited to only Acxiom’s network, thus missing some of the bigger players found through Infogroup and Localeze. Additionally, businesses don’t get the added benefit of Google Places data like the allLocal platform provides. While businesses should still tackle Google Places in conjunction with MyRepMan, there are added benefits of going through one interface (a la allLocal).
Yext is by far one of the most interesting tools in the local search space. Their unique ability to directly update a listing on one of their partner sites almost instantaneously is by far the differentiator that needs to be reckoned with. The problem is that their reach is not that great yet, missing the power of data aggregators like Localeze and Infogroup’s massive networks. Yext is definitely something to keep an eye on throughout the next year or two, because as they add more to their network, it might be a more interesting option for some large businesses. That said, their pricing is quite hefty, so might be off the table for most small- to mid-sized businesses.
Local Search Rank Checker, in my opinion tends to be geared more towards SMBs. However, they do seem to handle multi-businesses (I’m not 100% positive how effective it is for the enterprise-level) and SEO agencies.