Anvil Media's Amanda Hummel talked to Lunch & Learn attendees about Local SEO and how to optimize a company's presence locally.

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Get Your Local Business Found
in Local Search
Presented By:
Amanda Hummel
@amandanhummel
Account Executive
amanda@anvilmedia.com

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Contents
2
03 | What is Local SEO
04 | Why Does it Matter?
08 | The Local Landscape
15 | Ranking Factors
17 | On-Site Optimization
20 | Listing Platforms
26 | Citations
29 | Reviews
33 | Tools
36 | Recap

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What is a Local SEO?
Optimization of your site and web presence for local
results in search engines. What you do to ensure
your business, phone number, address and URL
appear for people searching for your offerings in
your area.
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Why Does it Matter?
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Increase in Geographic Search Queries
— There are approximately
seven billion unique local
searches per month on
Google in the United
States.
— 4 in 5 consumers use
search engines to find local
information
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https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/how-advertisers-can-extend-
their-relevance-with-search_research-studies.pdf

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Search Engines Prioritized “Local” Options
— The Google 3-pack appears
in the top spot in 93% of
searches with local intent.
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http://www.seoclarity.net/how-googles-local-pack-update-has-reshaped-the-organic-landscape-12952/#gs.e5QviBw

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Local Search Improves User Trust
— 88% of consumers have
read reviews to determine
the quality of a local
business.
— 72% of consumers say
that positive reviews make
them trust a local business.
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The Local Landscape
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Don’t Put All Your Eggs in Google’s Basket
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If you really want to succeed in local search, you need to make organic and
social media efforts.
https://moz.com/learn/local/online-marketing-landscape

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Type Example
Search Engine
Service
Location Based Services (LBS)
Listing Types
Search Engine Listings
Each of the three major search engines have their own local listings. These listings show up in main search results when the
engine can determine the user’s query has local intent as well as in specific local only search results.
Service Listings
There are also dedicated sites that cater to the local market by exclusively offering local listings. Services like Yelp and
Citysearch offer the user countless listings organized by location. There are even industry specific sites such as TripAdvisor.
LBS Listings
Location Based Services (LBS) are services that are accessed by a mobile user and include platforms like Foursquare or
Facebook. When a user is at specific location the listing is shown and the user can then “check-in” to the location and this is
shared with their social network.
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Data aggregators syndicate business listings
out to hundreds of local search platforms
that then serve listings based on keyword
queries. It’s important to ensure business
data is accurate in the major data providers’
databases.
What To Do:
— Get listed with the major data providers
through Moz Local or Local Site Submit
Major Data Aggregators

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Recent Changes in Google Local Search
— Snack-Pack vs 7-Pack
— Goodbye Google+ Link
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Google 7-Pack

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Home Services Ads
Currently in beta, limited to
plumbers, locksmiths, housekeepers
and handymen in the San Francisco
Bay area, but it is likely to expand to
other locations (and perhaps other
business types) at some point in the
near future.
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Ranking Factors
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Ranking Factors
Top 10 Snack Pack Factors
1. Physical Address in City of Search
2. Consistency of Structured Citations
3. Proper GMB Category Associations
4. Proximity of Address to the Point of Search
5. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
6. Domain Authority of Website
7. Product / Service Keyword in GMB Business
Title
8. City, State in GMB Landing Page Title
9. HTML NAP Matching GMB Location NAP
10. Click-Through Rate from Search Results
https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
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Top 10 Localized Organic Factors
1. Domain Authority of Website
2. Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
3. City, State in GMB Landing Page Title
4. Click-Through Rate from Search Results
5. Topical (Product/Service) Keyword Relevance of
Domain Content
6. Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain
7. Geographic (City/Neighborhood) Keyword Relevance
of Domain Content
8. Physical Address in City of Search
9. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
10. City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags

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On-Site Optimization
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On-Site Checklist
 Each page has primary and secondary keywords
 Link to important content from navigation & homepage
 Utilize internal linking for important content
 Dedicated location page per location
 Phone number and address on every page
 Meta Data includes relevant geo specific keywords
 Headers used to ensure relevance
 Use sub-headings and images
 Have a goal for each page
 Ensure your site is indexable and crawlable
 Utilize Analytics and Google Search Console (formerly
Webmaster Tools)
 NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is crawlable (in HTML)
 Strong Page Speed
(https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/)
 Optimize your site for Mobile devices
 Link your Google My Business Page
 Redirects are set up correctly (use 301 redirects)
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Schema.org
Schema.org is markup vocabulary you place on your site that helps search engines better understand
what your site is about to produce more informative search results for users.
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What can you markup?
— Articles
— Local businesses
— Restaurants
— TV episodes and ratings
— Book Reviews
— Movies
— Software Applications
— Events
— Products
Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper
can help you create the markup for your
site.

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Listing Platforms
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Google My Business
— Claim & Verify Listing
— Ensure your NAP is consistent
— Add photos
— Select Category
— Add your Website URL
— Add your Hours of Operation
— Add Description
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Bing
— Create your listing
— Ensure NAP is consistent
— Add Photos
— Include Website URL
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Yahoo!
— Create and Claim your listing
— Ensure NAP is consistent
— Add Photos
— Determine categories
— Add your Website URL
— Add your Hours of Operation
— Add description
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Yelp
— Create/Claim your Listing
— Verify Listing
— Add Photos
— Add Categories
— Add Hours of Operation
— Add Website URL
— Add description
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Facebook
— Create Facebook Business Page
— Ensure your NAP is consistent
— Add Photos
— Add your URL
— Include a description in the “About”
section
— Select Category & Subcategories
— Add your hours of operation
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Citations
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Citations are defined as “mentions” of
your business name and address on
other webpages, even if there is no link
to your website. An example of a
citation might be an online yellow pages
directory where your business is listed,
but not linked to. It can also be a local
chamber of commerce, or a local
business association where your
business information can be found,
even if they are not linking to your
website.
Citations
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Citation Sources
— Data Aggregators
— Local search engines
— Local Blogs
— Locally focused directories
— Industry-focused directories or blogs
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https://moz.com/learn/local/citations-by-city

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Review Monitoring & Management
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Reviews
The 2015 Local Consumer Survey reports 92% of consumers read online reviews, in
addition, 73% of consumers read 1-6 reviews before they feel they can trust a
business.
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Key Online Review Tips & Tactics
1. Always monitor reviews
2. Address negative reviews in a
timely manner (24 hours max)
3. Great customer service naturally
creates better ratings
4. Identifying themes within negative
reviews and take appropriate
action in order to improve as a
company
5. Track competitive reviews for
intelligence & insight
6. Always remember - reviews
directly impact revenue https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/

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Review Do’s & Don’ts
Don't:
— Write fake reviews for your own business.
— Pay a third party to post fake reviews, posing as a customer.
— Pay a third party to post any review on behalf of anyone else. Customers must leave their
own reviews using their own accounts.
— Get too many reviews at once. They may trip filters at the review sites that will cause the
reviews to be deleted.
Do:
— Link to your review profiles from your website.
— Create simple print materials, listing places customers can review you, to be given to the
customer at the time of service.
— Train staff with direct contact with customers to request a review from them upon
completion of service.
— Follow up (after completing a service) with an email linking to places a customer can
review your business (don't include Yelp).
— Request reviews during an after-service follow-up phone call.
— Let your customers review your business at their review site of choice. Review diversity is
good for both customers and search engines.
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How Not to Anger Yelp
If Yelp has reason to believe a business has been
partaking in unsavory review behavior, they will heavily
penalize you.
— DO NOT pay or incentivize Yelp reviews!
— DO NOT create phony Yelp Reviews!
— Put a badge and link to your Yelp listing on your
website
— Put a "Find us on Yelp" sign in your place of business
— Include a link to your Yelp business listing in your
email signature with the words, "Check us out on
Yelp!“
— Ask customer in store or via email to check-in on
Yelp (Yelp will prompt a review from them after they
check in)
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Tools
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Tools
— Local Site Submit
— Moz Local
— Bright Local
— Citation Tracker
— Citation Burst
— ReviewBiz
— ReviewFlow
— Whitespark
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Recap
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Recap
— Claim and Optimize your Listings and Local Profiles
— Be Consistent (NAP)
— Optimize your Website for SEO
— Build quality citations
— Monitor and act on your reviews (positive and negative)
— Get people talking about you
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Resources
— http://searchengineland.com/new-google-local-search-display-230525
— http://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-seo-stay-competitive-googles-local-3-pack/143185/
— http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101-local-seo-stats-need-consider-strategy/141086/
— http://www.seoclarity.net/how-googles-local-pack-update-has-reshaped-the-organic-landscape-
12952/#gs.e5QviBw
— https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/
— https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/how-advertisers-can-extend-their-relevance-with-
search_research-studies.pdf
— http://searchengineland.com/google-maps-yelp-local-seo-2015-210846
— https://biz.yelp.com/support/review_solicitation
— https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
— https://moz.com/learn/local/how-to-get-citations
— https://moz.com/learn/local
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Thank you!
anvilmedia.com