Online Marketing for Local Business
Posts tagged Local SEO
Local SEO Tips – Citation Building in 2017
7 years
LOCAL SEO and CITATION BUILDING in 2017
Citations still play a critical role in local ranking factors both for local pack/finder results and local organic, so Citation building in 2017 hasn’t changed much from the passage of time. However, not every Citation has the same weight, and these both objective and subjective rankings change over time. This is important, because Local SEO professionals need to know where their time is best used to the benefit of their client.
And online directories and other data sources come and go, or change in nature. A huge example of this was the closing of the DMOZ business directory (also known as the Open Directory Project), the largest directory on the web. It went off line in March of 2017, as its owner AOL no longer wished to support the project.
DMOZ is the largest web directory currently in existence, but now defunct – frozen in time, March 17, 2017 to be exact!
The easiest way to understand this weight is to break down each Citation and data source into various classifications.
PRIMARY DATA SOURCES
These are the Big Four data aggregators that gather and validate business data from all types of sources, and then distribute this business information to hundreds of other sites. (Foursquare is becoming part of a new Big Five category that is emerging) The information contained within each of these aggregators – its accuracy – is CRITICAL to the Local SEO success of any business.
InfoGroup, Acxiom, Localeze, Factual (plus Foursquare)
LEVEL 1
These sites are prominent on Google and Bing, etc. and are well known, frequently used sites for people searching for businesses. In addition to generic sites that are used nationally, this tier also includes geo-located and industry/niche Citations that add significant value to your specific Citation profile.
Examples: Yelp, Facebook, Yellowpages, BBB
Niche Examples: Lawyers.com and Avvo.com for attorneys, Denver.com for that area, Wellness.com for healthcare
LEVEL 2
These are business listing sites that have some prominence on Google, decent domain authority, but may be lesser known.
Examples: Yellowbook, Merchant Circle, HotFrog, Manta, Brownbook
LEVEL 3
These will be business listing websites that very few people will know about, or use. Still, they do have benefits as Citation sources – every instance of your NAP online provides at least some benefit – though you are getting to the point where the gain doesn’t equal the time spent here.
Examples: Yellowise, My Local Services, Local Database
If a Directory is in category Level 1, you’ll know it…these are some of the most popular sites on the web. As far as Level 2 and 3, or even beyond? Here you need to rely more on the consensus of those SEO professionals across the country, and world, to help you decipher which is which.
Again, most of these directories are free, so the only thing you lose is the time associated with posting on a Directory site if it doesn’t have the value you assumed. (But also again, time is a very valuable resource, not to be taken lightly!)
CITATION BUILDING IN 2017 – ADDITIONAL NOTES
It’s important to understand here that Citations of NAP aren’t the only thing that affects Local SEO rankings. Some geo-focused content for example can go a long way.
The most vital however is certainly the Reviews your business gets online. Online publication Small Business Trends reported in April of 2017 that:
- Positive comments from customers produce an average increase in sales of 18%.
- Consumers are likely to spend 31% more because of positive reviews.
- 68% of millennials trust online reviews, only half that number trusts TV ads.
- 72% of consumers say positive reviews online make them trust a local business more.
So Google and others view Review data as important because consumers do. Reviews are the connection between the physical store and how its information is shared online. More stats from 2016 help support their importance:
- 70% of consumers will leave a review for a business when asked.
- 41% of consumers say reviews are often their top factors in judging a business they don’t know.
- 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- Nearly 90%of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of local businesses.
It’s important to note that it’s considered unethical to provide incentive for customers to leave positive reviews, and that too many good reviews within a short period of time may be considered suspicious.
It’s best to exercise patience in requesting reviews. And instead of asking for positive reviews, ask if there is anything you would need to do to deserve a top ranking.
This way, you’re 1) gathering valuable consumer research input into what issues are of concern to them, 2) are able to build brand loyalty by high-levels of customer responsiveness and service, and 3) influence Reviews in a positive way – without simply asking customers to give the.
Local SEO and Your Local Online Presence
7 years
Where Local Search Results are located on the first page
What is Local Search and SEO?
You may be familiar with the traditional definition of SEO, or “search engine optimization”, certainly if you are a reader of my blog. This includes the things I’ve talked about for years, such as on-site variables (right title tags and meta descriptions on pages, and great content for examples), and off-site variables (such a linkbuilding to your site). These items are and will remain critical pieces towards maximizing your site’s visibility. These variables are still important no matter who you are, where you are located, the size of your business, etc.
However Local SEO is specifically geared towards businesses that: 1) have a physical location they expect local people to visit, or 2) have offices, warehouses, etc. that are contacted by people in nearby neighborhoods and the surrounding community.
So any business that gets the majority or all of its customers/clients locally should strongly consider Local SEO services. This could be a local restaurant, retail shop, doctor, gym, dentist, lawyer, landscaping company, auto repair shops, consumer services companies and hundreds more of course.
Because Local SEO is just starting to grow and many businesses aren’t on-board yet, you have a big advantage – at least for now. But that will change, especially when others realize the things I’m talking about here. Your opportunity, to strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of what Local SEO does for your business, is now.
Almost 50% of searches done in 2014 triggered “local listings” according to how Google categorizes their product or service, and this year that number will grow. The next stat to consider is that 94% of consumers select a link from the first page. 94 percent! And since the Top 7 Local results are featured prominently on the first page, often times higher than all organic results, being here if possible should be a primary goal for most local companies.
How can I be in the Top 7? I do both Local SEO and Organic (traditional) SEO work, described as follows.
Local SEO
Is all about ranking for searches such as my personally local “St. Louis”-based ones. This is done through CITATIONS – or having accurate and consistent information in as many directories and aggregators as possible. These are any place online where we can use your company NAP (name, address, phone number) all on the same page, in the precise format as your local listings. There are many thousands of potential directories to be listed in, some of the most critical and most popular include a robust Google+ page, Yelp page, Acxiom, Infogroup, Localeze, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, Bing Local, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Factual, Apple Maps, Mapquest, TomTom, Whitepages. Yellowbook, Manta, Merchant Circle, Brownbook, Mojo Pages, Hotfrog, CitySquares and many, many (up to 30,000!) more. Each of these increases Google’s confidence in you and your business, which helps you move up “St. Louis”-based searches.
The other critical part of Local SEO are REVIEWS of your business, done most critically on your Google+ page. This is something we can work together on to solicit these great (five-star) reviews from your current and happy customers when you partner with us.
Organic SEO
Focuses on both on-site and off-site optimizations, and is still vital for top rankings too. On-site is primarily built through the addition of unique, high-quality content added to the site frequently, in addition to some of the structural aspects of the site.
How your site is STRUCTURED is key for you. When we build new sites, or work with existing ones, all these key issues will be addressed, so there is no need for additional comment here, other than to say we will also teach YOU to add content and images in a way that follows the best practices of SEO. This ensures that you are getting the maximum value for your site’s online presence.
The other vital piece of Organic SEO is CONTENT. This can be in the form of blog posts or static webpages. But you need to add unique, frequent content on a regular basis for Google to know you are “with it” and that folks are busy minding the store for lack of better terms. This can be in form of blogging as mentioned or continually adding new photos – with very detailed descriptions (Google likes 500 words or more per page) – *regularly. I am an MBA-level writer with a strong marketing agency background, so our clients receive top quality work that is designed to convert as well.
Then for off-the-site, we need to focus on back-links. Backlinks are links to your site from others, which essentially count as one “vote” for the value of your content to others, since they are willing to share your site with others. There are numerous strategies that we use to create high quality backlinks to your website.
These are the main services that we offer at Hat Trick Associates, with a strong focus on Local SEO in 2015. If you are interested in becoming part of the Top 7 and being included on the First Page of results, please give me a call at: (314 494-3494 or shoot me an email at: jhaynes@hattrickassociates.com. I’d be happy to set up a quick phone consultation to find out more about your business, your online goals, and how we can work together to help your rankings and ultimately grow your company through increased web traffic.
Maximum Visibility Local SEO Program
Maximum Visibility Local SEO Program – Affordable, Effective Marketing for Local Business
Our proprietary Maximum Visibility Local SEO Program is best package you can find anywhere – offering more features and benefits than you can find from anyone else online.
As the leader in Local SEO, our enterprise-level relationships with third party vendors gives us access to data that others cannot replicate, and we have connected to the APIs of a number of partners – with more on the way – to provide even more actionable information to you!
And in the end, isn’t that the real point? Not just numbers. But using this data to truly track your performance, and make the adjustments you need for your Brick and Mortar store or office, or local service to improve and expand?
Local SEO is still something that (a good number of) competitors are not (yet!) doing…so you have a window of opportunity available to you to gain a lead in your local marketing – take it while it lasts! Each directory you are entered into not only assures that your potential customers get accurate information while they are out and about, ALREADY searching for someone like you (…the hard work has already been done). Each one also creates a Citation for your business too.
Think of a Citation as one “vote” for your company online – every singular page that contains your NAP – Name, address, and phone number (*EXACTLY the same in all places) and a Citation is generate. Google and other search engines count up how many Citation you have when considering how highly to rank your business in Local search, and there are 100 million Local Searches done daily now.
Local searches are the most motivated, anywhere…80% of searches will end in a purchase! So you need to be found by these folks. See the PDF link below where we walk you through each page of the customized, monthly dashboard you will receive as part of our Package ~