Local Ain't Just A Listing Anymore: Local Search Evolution

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
2014 Webinar Series
Local Ain’t Just A Listing Anymore!
#BeyondListings

| 2
Today’s Speakers
Mike Corak – EVP, Strategy | ethology
Mike Corak is the Executive Vice President of Strategy at ethology, leading the strategic planning and
agency services teams. An agency veteran, Corak has developed and implemented winning digital and
integrated strategies for hundreds of companies over his 12-year career, including Coca-Cola, ConAgra
Foods, ConocoPhillips, FedEx, Fujitsu, Nike, Office Depot, and Walt Disney. Prior to ethology, Corak led
the interactive services, strategy and client management teams at Off Madison Avenue and iCrossing.
Corak serves on the board of SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), helping
drive the search industry’s trade group initiatives in research and best practices education.
Twitter @mikecorak
Tina Hodson, Director of Digital Marketing | Conn’s Home Plus
Tina Hodson directs the strategy and execution for digital products and marketing activities for Conn’s
HomePlus, based in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining the Conn’s team as a consultant, Tina was a
digital marketing strategist for GDD Interactive serving clients such as Pappas Restaurants,
RadioShack, and PepBoys. From 2001 to 2011, Tina worked in product and product marketing for a
variety of digital pure plays, including Match.com during its rise to becoming the defacto answer for
online dating in the early 2000s. She began her career in marketing and telecommunications, working
for such ventures such as Verizon Wireless, Excel Communications and CSI Wireless (acquired by
MCI). Tina is a Texas native and beach volleyball enthusiast.

| 3
Today’s Moderator
DAVID ST. JOHN TRADEWELL – ECONSULTANCY
David has been an advertising, marketing and media professional since the early 1990’s
and has more than 17 years experience in digital. He founded the first online advertising
team for the Times Supplements Group at News International before joining the original
global search engine, AltaVista in 1999. He was part of the founding team of Europe’s
leading search and social media specialists, Spannerworks and stayed with the firm after
its sale to iCrossing. During his tenure the company became the largest independent
digital marketing firm in the world, before being sold to Hearst Media in 2010. David has
worked with dozens of global brands and Fortune 500 business such as Coca-Cola, Bank
of America, Toyota, eBay, Dell, Pfizer and Unilever.

What is Local Search?
March 11, 2014 | #BeyondListings| 4
You know, the Maps section

March 11, 2014| 5
Not all local directories
have maps
… But you get the point
These directories help
your customers find your
locations
| #BeyondListings

Think of these pages as an
extension of your website:
• Name, Address, Phone
• Target relevant keywords
• Upload branded content
(logos, images, videos)
• Describe your products &
services
| 6| 6 March 11, 2014 | #BeyondListings

What Local Used to Be
Local Search used to be
dominated by data
aggregators
Aggregators are still a
necessity for local marketing
But local search is more
sophisticated than
just…
Submit It & Forget It
| #Beyond Listings| 7 March 11, 2014

What Local Used to Be
| 8
Place pages like this used to be good enough
No description, one category, bad photos… No Problem!
March 11, 2014 | #BeyondListings

| 9
That’s not good enough anymore!
… But why should I care about Local?

Why should I care about Local?
Google provides local
results
… for non-geo-targeted
queries
Yahoo & Bing as well
| #BeyondListings| 10 March 11, 2014

| 11
20% of desktop searches have local intent
+50% of mobile searches

| 12
Customers coming through local search prove to show a
high propensity to buy / covert in comparison to other
digital channels
= +75% more
conversions

| 13
You convinced me!
… But how do I approach local?

| 14
How do I approach local search?
The Basics

The Basics: Local Best Practices
Owner Verify!
• Name, Address, Phone
• Hours of Operation
• Optimized Descriptions
• Relevant Categories
• Products
• Services
• Brands
• Images
| 15 March 11, 2014 | #BeyondListings

The Basics: Ranking Factors
Google’s complicated algorithm
definitely reaches Google
Maps, too
Some quick points:
• Number of Citations (aggregators)
• Domain Authority of URL
• NAP Consistency
• Keyword in Business Title
•NAP in Landing Page Title
• Social Engagement

| 17
Integration

Hey Tina, Conn’s
gets lots of local
traffic, but why?
Beyond listing
quality, integration
is the key!
18
| #BeyondListings

An Integrated Approach to Local
| 19
Content Demand

Integration: Organic Search
| 20
Linking your locations’ listings to an individual location
page will assist local ranking when pages are optimized
correctly

Integration: Organic Search
| 21
Local descriptions & categories should focus on
high volume, high converting keywords
Keywords
Electronics
Furniture
Appliances
Store Credit
Mattresses
Financing

Integration: Social & Local
• Facebook Places
• foursquare
• Google+ Local
Owner verify & delete
duplicates for consistency

Google+ Local posts:
• Target promotions
• Highlight #ContentGaps
• Utilize as an SEO tool

Ratings & Reviews
Google Maps & Yelp
ranking correlate with the
number of reviews & the
quality of ratings
Facilitating positive reviews
is recommended

Integration: Paid Search & Local
• Adwords Express
• Yelp Enhanced Listings
• Yext PowerListings
All help local visibility &
can cover search gaps

Owning Real Estate

Owning More Real Estate
1st Page Allocation
• Paid = 3 results
• Organic = 10 results
• Local = 3-7 results
| 27
Paid Search
Organic Search
Local Search
Organic Search

Local goes beyond Google
Maps
Directories are taking up
prime real estate in organic
Find out the directories
relevant to your industry &
optimize
| 28
Yelp
Yellowpages

Align your local, paid &
organic search strategy
Maximize coverage for
important queries
Cannibalization is a good
thing when you’re owning
the 1st page
| 29
Conn’s Paid
Conn’s Organic
Conn’s Local

The Mobile Effect

Hey Tina, Conn’s
gets good
conversion from
local traffic, but
why?
User experience at
every touch-point
matters!
31
| #BeyondListings

The Mobile Effect
| 32
More people are searching on their phones… DUH!
But seriously, this is a big deal for local marketing!
US Local Search Market

| 33
84% of smartphone owners
regularly use map applications

| 34
40% of all Yellowpage.com traffic
comes from mobile

| 35
MapQuest App has over
40 million downloads

| 36
11 million monthly mobile Yelpers

| 37
Apple Maps reaches
23% of smartphone users
…you can’t really
delete that one though

The Mobile Effect
Mobile traffic takes up the
lion’s share local search
visitors
Pro Tip: Use tagged URLs
in order to see all traffic
coming through mobile
applications
Or else it will come as
direct traffic 

The Mobile Effect
| 39
Local / Mobile traffic has a very high propensity to buy!
Have a good mobile experience
Have an end game / mobile conversion path

Take Aways
• Local Search is evolving
• Your customers are using Local Search
• Google, Yahoo & Bing are emphasizing Local Search
• You’re competition is investing in Local Search

So What Now?
1. Perform a Local Search Audit
2. Syndicate through aggregators (still a major factor)
3. Owner Verify & Optimize relevant local listings
4. Use content research to enhance listings
5. Align your overall digital strategy with local search in
order to maximize search coverage
6. INTEGRATE!

About ethology
| 43
Ethology is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps
challenger brands connect with their customers through the
integration of research, strategy, and execution at all points of
brand engagement.
We differentiates our digital agency from others in two distinct
ways:
•By planning digital campaigns from the bottom up, mining
data from your target audience’s behavior and stated desires
to better align your marketing approach.
•Through designing and executing integrated digital
marketing programs that create efficiencies and improved
results.
www.ethology.com

Thanks for your time
Econsultancy is a global independent community-based publisher, focused on best
practice digital marketing and ecommerce. Our hub has 180,000+ subscribers
worldwide from clients, agencies and suppliers alike. We help our subscribers build their
internal capabilities via a combination of research reports and how-to guides, training
and development, face-to-face conferences, forums and professional networking.
Since 1999 our resources have helped subscribers learn, make better decisions, build
business cases, find the best suppliers, accelerate their careers and lead the way in
best practices and innovation.
www.econsultancy.com
All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsulancy.com Ltd 2011.
| 44

Local Ain't Just A Listing Anymore: Local Search Evolution

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Local Ain't Just A Listing Anymore: Local Search Evolution

Similar to Local Ain't Just A Listing Anymore: Local Search Evolution (20)

More from Mike Corak

More from Mike Corak (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Local Ain't Just A Listing Anymore: Local Search Evolution