Local SEO Presentation

How To Rock Your

Local SEOWith Vivek Patel

What I Will Cover What Is Local SEO Why Do You Need Local SEO different from Traditional SEO Local Search Result on Google Who Needs Local SEO Benefits Of Local SEO Local Ranking Factor On the Page Factors Optimization from Local SEO Perspective Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit On-Site Optimization for Local Search Google+ Pages for Business (Google My Business Vs Google+ Local) Local SEO Plugins Citations Building (Multiple location pages Perfect dental, Choice pet supply) Fix up the Local Presence Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews Link Building for Local Keywords Local Marketing on Social Media Sites Some Additional Local Social Media Optimization Tips Google Update for Local SEO Looking at Local Analytics Local Search Engine Ranking Report Expert in Local SEO Q & A

What Is Local SEO Local SEO basically is the optimization process for the local results in search engines.

In simple words, local SEO services is ranking your online business website in top level in search engines for local searches.

Prospective customers to find information about your company online, either when they search specifically for your enterprise or for any businesses that provide particular goods and services nearby them. Ex: SEO Company India.

Why Do You Need Becoming one of the essential components to every business and brand that wants long-term success across search

engines.

If your business has a physical location, you’ve undoubtedly been told that you need local SEO.

Any business that gets some or all of its customers or clients locally should consider local SEO.

Let’s See some interesting statistic:

• 70% of mobile searchers will call a business DIRECTLY from a search results page.• 59% percent of searchers use Google every month to find a local business• 87% of searchers who search for a local business will call or actively go to that business within 24 Hours• More people carrying out a search online trust local search results than any others.

Here is what I mean;I’m based in Ahmedabad.If I search for “restaurants” (very generic I know) on my mobile here is what I see in return:

Image of result page:

Local SEO different from Traditional SEOWebsite ----------> Business

Inbound Links ----------> Citations

Content Relevance ----------> Local Prominence

Anchor Text ----------> Business Name/Address/Phone Number

Keywords ----------> Local Keywords

Local Search Result on Google

Paid Local

Organic

Who Needs Local SEO

Any business that gets some or all of its customers or clients locally should consider local SEO. That could be a local restaurant, retail outlet, doctor, dentist or lawyer, but it could just as easily be a local ad agency. If you have a physical address in a city and expect people to go there, you should be doing local SEO for that location.

Benefits Of Local SEO The main and biggest benefit for choosing Local SEO is, it cost less when compared to global SEO.

By using Local Business Listing, you will get more exposure to your business.

You will get targeted traffic, conversions and online traffic to your website.

Choosing Local SEO, will always bring more popular to you locally and you can see the conversion within few days.

It Takes Advantage of Enhanced Google Features

A map showing your location Pictures of your business Reviews posted by other users

Local Ranking Factor First published in 2008 by David Mihm Local Search Ranking Factors 2013 identified 83 foundational ranking factors. I’ve taken the top 20 most important factors

On the Page Factors Optimization from Local SEO PerspectiveOn the page factors optimization from Local SEO perspective for Imaginovation.net

Analysis Section Level of Importance

Optimization Status Priority Current Status Recommendation

On the page factors optimization from Local SEO

Business and website listed in Google with proper category associations High Low High We cannot find Imaginovation.net business and website listed in Google under the proper category

We should create a Google Places listing for business and get listed your business in

Google Place.Physical address in city of search High Good -

Consistency of structured citations High Good Low Phone number is missing in footer address section We should include phone number in contact details

Quality/authority of structured citations High Low High Business is not listed on high-quality websitesWe should get listed on a handful of really

authoritative local business indexes and directories.

HTML NAP matching place page NAP High Good - Google+ Local page dashboard address matches the one found on the website -

Domain authority of website High Low High Domain authority is low

We should start working to build your domain authority, and the higher it is, the better your

chances of ranking well for your most important terms.

Individually owner-verified local Plus page High Low High Missing verify ownership of your listing We should add business in google place and get vrified.

City, state in Places landing page title High Good - Website have city and state names in your landing page title tag

City, state in Places landing page description High Good - Website have city and state names in your landing page meta description

Quality/authority of inbound links to domain High Low High

Website is having less number of backlinks from external website. Here is the reference provided using third party

Link Popularity Checking tool:http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=http%3A

%2F%2Fwww.imaginovation.net%2F

We should start creating a quality backlinks towards website using targeted keywords as an anchor text in order to improve the link

popularity of website in search engines

Quantity of native Google Places reviews Low Low Low Less number of reviews We should start earning a number of Google-based reviews

Quantity of citations from locally relevant domains High Low High Your business NAP mentioned on a website that relates specifically to your geographic community.

Locally relevant domains on which you might earn citations could include local news sites, local professional association sites and local

blogs that publish content about your business. So we should start earning citations

from the local community and blogs.

Local area code on local Plus page High Good - The area code of the phone number match the area code associated with your city of location

Quantity of third-party traditional reviews High Low High Less number of third-party platforms reviews on which it can be useful to get rank.

For getting a good third party reviews we should start to work on third-party platforms.

Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit Issue

Id Issue Type IssueFailed checks

Total checks

Changed from last audit

1 ERROR Duplicate content 0 23 0

2 ERROR Duplicate meta description 0 21 0

3 ERROR Duplicate title tag 0 21 0

4 ERROR HTTP 5XX server errors 0 23 0

5 ERROR HTTP 4XX client errors 2 23 0

6 ERROR Title tag is missing or empty 0 21 0

7 ERROR Internal broken links 2 59 0

8 ERROR We couldn't crawl the page 0 23 0

9 ERROR We couldn't resolve DNS to crawl your site 0 23 0

10 ERROR We couldn't open the page's URL 0 23 0

11 ERROR External broken links 4 51 0

12 ERROR Internal images are broken 0 24 0

13 ERROR External images are broken 0 1 0

14 ERROR Malformed robots.txt 0 1 0

15 ERROR Sitemap files have format errors 0 1 0

16 ERROR Wrong pages found in sitemap 0 0 0

17 ERROR WWW domain configured incorrectly 0 0 0

18 WARNING Images without an ALT attribute 4 24 0

19 WARNING Page has a low word count 0 21 0

20 WARNING Missing h1 heading 0 21 0

21 WARNING Doctype not declared 7 7 0

Issue Id

Issue Type Issue

Failed checks

Total checks

Changed from last audit

22 WARNING Multiple h1 tags 1 21 0

23 WARNING Sitemap file not found 0 0 0

24 WARNING Title element is too short 15 21 0

25 WARNING Title element is too long 0 21 0

26 WARNING H1 and title tags have duplicate content 14 23 0

27 WARNING The meta description tag is missing 6 21 0

28 WARNING Too many on-page links 0 21 0

29 WARNING 302 redirect 0 23 0

30 WARNING Slow loading speed 0 1 0

31 WARNING Text/HTML ratio 0 1 0

32 WARNING Overly dynamic URLs 0 21 0

33 WARNING Language is not specified 0 21 0

34 WARNING Encoding not declared 0 21 0

35 WARNING Flash is used 0 21 0

36 WARNING Frame is detected 0 21 0

37 WARNING Underscores in URLs 0 21 0

38 WARNING Internal links use a nofollow attribute 0 7 0

39 WARNING Sitemap exist but not found in robots 1 1 0

40 NOTICE Long URL 0 21 0

41 NOTICE External links use a nofollow attribute 0 18 0

42 NOTICE No robots txt 0 1 0

Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit

Apart from this what we need to cover for Local SEO Audit

1. Google My Business page auditI. Locate the proper Google My Business page we should be working

withII. Find and destroy duplicate pages III. Is the page verified?• Is the correct NAP used?• Proper category association• Map & search photos1. Business hours

Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit

2. Website & landing page auditI. Correct crawlable NAP on landing pageII. Site structureIII. Business hoursIV. Landing page contentV. Check and ensure your landing page is indexedVI. Landing page meta title tag and meta description• Heading tags• Driving directions & embedded map on landing pageI. Alt text on landing pageII. Customer reviews on page in Schema /ReviewIII. Load time of landing page

Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit

3. Citation AuditI. Check data aggregators

a) Infogroupb) Localezec) Acxiomd) Factual

II. Check the top 50 citations• Identify new high quality citation sources (Whitespark)

Detailed on-site Local SEO Audit

4. Organic link & penalty analysisI. Ensure there is not a manual web spam actionII. Check for algorithmic penaltiesIII. How many links do the site and page have?IV. Anchor text of linksV. Does a disavow exist?

5. Review AnalysisI. Google My Business reviewsII. Identify top 3rd party review sites

6. Social Media AuditI. Facebook reviewII. Google Plus auditIII. Foursquare audit

On-Site Optimization for Local SearchProperly optimizing your website could account for as much as 18% of what Google considers in its algorithm when determining which local results to serve up to users.

Domain Keyword Research for Local Search Title and Meta Descriptions Create "Local" Content H1 heading URL Structure ALT text on images Internal link between related pages Optimizing Blog with Local Targeted Keywords Local Address & Phone Number on All Pages Location-Specific Pages Ex: Perfect Dental, Choice pet supply (Use clint email) Embed a Map Create a Geo Sitemap Local Markup Schemas And Structured Data Authorship verification & Publisher Markup

Domain name should reflect business type

Keyword Research for Local Search Find the terms that triggers a local result. Let’s say you offer “Home Security Systems” that you sell and install in your city. Try a variation of your original search term. Lets try “Security Systems Fresno” and see what happens:

Locally Optimized Title Tags

Title of each page should reflect your business, services and location.

Locally Optimized Meta Descriptions

Descriptions of each page should reflect your business, services and location.

Title

Description

Create "Local" Content

Far too many sites forget to include City/ST information inside the site content. Optimizing for local search won’t work unless you’re talking about your local area in your content.

Write a simple case-study on a job you did in your target city.

Write about what you like about working in your target city, or what you like about its residents.

Write about any local laws or regulations that your potential customers might want to know about.

H1 heading What’s important here is to include your city and state in the page heading to

further show local relevancy

URL Structure If you’ve got the ability to edit your URL structure, try to include your city and state

information in your URLs

ALT text on images Google can’t see what’s in your images, so alt text helps provide a better understanding

of your page content. Including City/ST information can really help boost local relevancy.

Internal link between related pages

Crosslink between related pages with descriptive terms and add location to content where it makes sense.

Optimizing Blog with Local Targeted Keywords

Instead of having a generic how to blog, try to make it more city or locality specific.

For example, if you offer plumbing service in Ahmedabad, why not write on How to find the right plumbing company in Ahmedabad?

Local Address & Phone Number on All Pages

Most businesses will place this information in their website’s footer. Be sure that it is actually in the text and not in an image.

Location-Specific Pages

Create separate location page on your website if your business serve in multiple locations.

This way, anyone searching for your business in a particular region, city, state or country should be directed to the appropriate page.

Embed a Map If you enter an address on Google Map, you can get an HTML embed code to add

the map to your website. Just click on the link icon to get the code. Copy and paste this HTML to embed in your website.

This is a great way to help visitors to your website find your location easily.

Create a Geo Sitemap

Want to make absolutely sure Google knows where you are? Then create a geo sitemap and a KML file for your website.

Geo Sitemap Generator makes it easy. Just fill in your company details, download the files and upload them to your website’s root folder.

Verify it using your Google Analytics code, and then add your geo sitemap’s URL under Site Configuration > Sitemaps in Google Webmaster Tool.

Local Markup Schemas and Structured Data

Schema and structured data allow you to markup your web content with special tags that help Google extract specific types of information and then display them in search results.

For example, here's what the code would look like after the microdata markup:

And this is the difference it can make in Google:

Authorship verification & Publisher Markup

Authorship verification is not available. Publisher Markup is a rich snippets schema which can be used to further promote and highlight your

company within the SERPs, and it’s called ‘Rel=Publisher’. (Not available)

Google+ Pages Google Business Page Vs Google Brand Page

Google Business pages appear in Google Maps, the 3 local packs in Search results. Business that is eligible for a Google Business Page ( physical location requirement ) can also have a Google Brand page, however a website that is only eligible for a Google Brand page cannot have a Business Page.

Google Brand pages, only appear within the Google+ verse. Brand pages promote organizations that don't have a physical address. If you operate a business with a physical location, you may want to create a local business page instead.

Google+ Local and Google My Business platforms are separate, they can be combined and accessed under one profile.

Delete Duplicate Pages

Google+ Brand Page Audit

http://www.steadydemand.com/Google-Plus-Brand-Audit-Tool.php

When you want some clear information about how well your Google+ page is performing, use this tool you’ll receive a free report on what you’re doing right and wrong.

Local SEO Plugins

Yoast Local SEO - $69, $129, $249. Marks up your contact page

WordPress Local SEO – FREE

Local Search SEO Contact Page – FREE Generates QR Code

Local Business SEO - Simple way to add important microdata information about your site for SEO purposes

Citations Building

A citation is any mention of your business out on the web, with or without a link.

It can come in various forms: Company Name, by itself. Company name & phone number. Company name, phone number, & address. Company name, phone number, address, & link. etc.

There are 5 basic types of sites we'll want to get listed on: Data-aggregators (e.g. LocalEze). Horizontal directories (e.g. Yelp). Industry-specific directories (e.g. Avvo). Region-specific sites (e.g. Denver.com/places). Sites where you can get an "unstructured" citation, like a mention in a newspaper or by a "local" blogger.

Citations Building Citation Building Process

1. Prepare a baseline report Considering the MOZ tool and Yexta. Start dateb. Overall status (include number of approvals, pending, already exist, inconsistent, duplicate etc.)c. Project summary

2. Prepared Local business questionnaire

3. Prepare Phase 1 (Moz report), Phase 2 (list of sites we have) report

4. Different location page create separate listing

5. Check NAP Across the web and prepare a list of directories that have the wrong NAP.

6. Ask client for credentials if they already did business listing. So we can save our time and directly update those listings.

7. Now you have a bunch of sites, including wrong NAP and fresh sites in which listings haven’t done.

8. Set up Yext account. This is the best and easy way to get listed on a certain number of sites.

9. Data aggregator & Call verification sites

Creating a local listing for any clients and verifying if the phone call is the only verification option that is very important. We’ve planned separately for those directories. Here are the steps:

a. Prepare a list of those directories.b. Identify the way to do listing.c. Create and account and make detail procedure note with screenshots for their team.

10. Start citation building and put the remarks for all the sites which helps to take any decision.

10. At the end, we do outreaching for those sites in which we are unable to add our listing manually and regularly takes followup.

12. Before preparing a final report, once again we check for new approvals and then after we prepare final report.

13. Updating on overall progress.

If client has more than 1 Location? What is different?Steps which we follow for multiple location based business. 1. Perform location based audit report: 2. Determine our location and priorities:3. Create unique page for each location:4. Create A Location Specific Social Account For Each Location:

a. Facebookb. Google + page

• Follow the same procedure which we follow for single location                                              

Fix up the local presence where NAP Inconsistence and Duplicate T

hree types of citations we're trying to fix during this process1.D

uplicates: Duplicate listing on the same directory.2.M

ismatches - Listings for your business that have the wrong Business Name, Physical Address, or Phone Number.

3.Incomplete Citations - It's important that you fill out the profiles to complete once you've claimed them. This includes adding photo and filling out every field there is an option for.

Identify possible NAP variations & record them in the spreadsheet.1.H

ow we find incorrect citations.

• 1st Technique: Search in specific directories and websiteExample: site:hotfrog.com "Company name" –phone number

• 2nd Technique: Find listings with incorrect phone numbersExample: Main company’s phone number –Exclude local phone number Main company’s phone number –Exclude local phone number +Company Name

• 3rd Technique: Find incorrect business names that have the proper phoneExample: Phone Number -"Company Name"

• 4th Technique: "Business Name"+"Address" and "Business Name"+"Zip code"

Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews

Provide review gathering strategy

Prepare a strategy doc.

Ask customers you’ve served to leave a genuine review on your Google+ local page.

Sample Review Gathering-Handout

Here are some tips for getting great social local search reviews.

1.Add Buttons/Badges to Your Website

•Encourage Reviews in Your Store

•Encourage Reviews via Emails

•Simply Ask

Respond to all review types.

Link Building for Local Keywords Once you’ve built your local business listings up, the next thing you should start doing is

building links to your website.

Related Local Businesses – Look for businesses that are in the same industry, but are not competitors. Local Bloggers – Find bloggers that are in your region whose audience might be interested in your

business. General Local Resource Pages – Search for local business resources that may not have come up in

your local directories search and find out if you can get your site listed. Competitor Backlinks – Using tools like Open Site Explorer, find out what backlinks your local

competitors’ websites have to see if you can get yourself listed on them as well. Local Events and Charities – Lookout for events in your area and sponsoring and donating to local

charities.

Local Marketing on Social Media SitesFacebook:

Optimizing Your Facebook Page for Local Invite Your Friends Become a Fan of Local Business Pages Target Status Updates by Location Use Facebook Ads

Twitter: Optimizing Your Twitter Profile for Local Connect with Local Twitter Users Check out Followers for Local Businesses Follow Local Discussions

Linkedin: Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile for Local Invite Email Connections Connect with Colleagues & Alumni Open Networkers Groups Local Networking Groups Email Your Local Contacts

Google+: Optimize Your Google+ Profile for Local Optimize Your Google+ Page for Local Make Sure Your Google+ Profile is Publicly Visible Add Local Google+ Users to Circles Interact with Local Connections Suggest Your Google+ Business Page to Local

Followers Follow Your Local Connections Back on Your

Business Page

Some Additional Local Social Media Optimization Tips

Include Social Links in Your Emails

Include Social Buttons on Your Website

Add Social Mentions to Printed Materials and Advertisements like HIRAL

Stay Active

Encourage Sharing

Google Update for Local SEO

Pigeon Update - Launched on July 24, 2014

The Pigeon update, designed to give users a better search experience when looking for local businesses.

The Algorithm Affects Search Results Within Both Google Maps Search & Google Web Search

Local Results Are More Closely Tied To Traditional Web Ranking Signals

The Update Provides More Accurate Results For Yelp-Specific Queries

The Local Search Algorithm Is The Biggest Local Search Update That Google Has Released

Looking at Local Analytics

To make sure that your local marketing strategies are getting local results, check out the following analytics.

Google Analytics

When reviewing traffic to your website, look at your Google Analytics’ Audience Demographics data.

Facebook Insights

Check out your Facebook page’s Insights to see demographics information for your page’s likes, reach, and people talking about your page content.

Local Search Engine Ranking Report

Questions that client ask1. Can you suggest ways we can improve things in the way we currently provide the service?2. How can we speed up the process with the directories? I've been trying to get you the business

information as soon as I can as 1 way of doing that.3. Can you give more info on how you do the directory process on you end? From what I understand you do

multiple passes over the directories. 4. If we're trying to fix up the local presence that's been contaminated (like in the case of Alpha Plus Dental

Center) then I think doing Google searches with the information that's wrong will help to find where are the things that need to be fixed. See my note from earlier today.

5. How are things different on your end if it's a client that has 1 location vs more than 1 location? What is different?

6. Our website’s local MOZ is still 45%.7. It was like this over 12 weeks ago when we discussed this. What’s the reasoning for this?• How come nothing is increasing? We are shocked that this number has not increased.1. Etc………..

Some Good and Bad Example of Clients

Good One:

1. Client1:• 1 Location• Status:

• Attempted sites: 396• Approved: 194• Pending: 25• Already Exist: 76• Error site: 101

2. Clinet2:• 10 Location• Phase I and Phase II• Status:

• Attempted sites: 127+140=267• Approved: 52+88=140• Pending: 16+33=51• Already Exist: 1+3=4• Error site: 58+16=74

Bad One:

1. Client3:• 1 Location• Status:

• Attempted sites: 241• Approved: 153• Pending: 37• Already Exist: 28• Error site: 23

Expert in Local SEO

David Mihm@davidmihm

Casey Meraz@caseymeraz

Q & A