Local Search Optimization, Google+ Local, and the Future of Local Search

Mike Wiltonwww.plasticsurgerystudios.com@psurgerystudios@mwilton13#AAFPRSLocal

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Who Am I?

mwilton13

Internet Marketing Manager:

Writer:

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Doctor searches made up 27% of the total local business searches conducted by consumers last year.(Source: Bright Local's Local Consumer Review Survey 2012)

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Local doctor searches saw a 6%growth over 2010 data, second

only to restaurants.

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Consumers find local listingsto be the most relevant andtrusted in search engine results

(Source: 5th Annual 15miles/Localeze Local Search Usage Study)

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

How Do You Get Your Piece of the Traffic?

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Build a Local Presence

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

The Anatomy of a Local Listing

1. Owner-verified business data in Google+ Local

2. Data via citation sources3. Approved User Generated Content4. Scraped data

(Source: Joel Headly, Google Maps team, June 2009)

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Local Listing & Citation Best Practices:

● Claim and complete your listings● Keep your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistent● Create one listing per location● Use unique phone numbers for each doctor/location● Utilize categories (e.g. "Plastic Surgeon", "Facial Plastic Surgeon",

"Facelift Surgeon," etc.)● Don't get spammy

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Local Citation Sources and Local Listings on Google, Bing, and Yahoo Generated an Average of 8% of the

Total Website Traffic for Our Doctors in 2011.

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Build an Authoritative, Locally Relevant Website

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

Local Search On Site Factors

In February 2012, Google launched theVenice update, which improved thetriggering of Local Universal results byrelying more on the ranking of main searchresults as a signal.

Additionally they launched a system to findresults from a user's city more reliably.Allowing Google to better detect when bothqueries and documents are local to a user.(Source: Google Inside Search, Feb. 2012)

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

On Site Factors That Influence Local Relevance

● Website authority● Localization of website content● Website contact matching local listings● Microformatted contact info● KML Files

"By using structured markup to describe a business or organization mentioned on your page, you not only improve the Web by making it easier to recognize references to specific places but also help Google surface your site in local search results." (Source: Rich Snippets for Local Search, Google)

"KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser, such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile. You can create KML files to pinpoint locations, add image overlays, and expose rich data in new ways." (Source: Google Developers KML Documentation)

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

The Future of Local:Google+ Local

● Bridges the Social/Local Gap● Creates new signals

○ +1's○ Engagement○ Reviewer Authority

● Unifies Business Data

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

The Future of Local:Siri & Apple Maps

● First major competitor against Google formobile map space.

● 4.758% of all local searches take place on Siri(Source: David Mihm/GetListed.org)

● Apple Maps has partnered with Localeze,Axciom, and Yelp for business listings andreviews

mwilton13

AAFRPS Fall Meeting Washington, DC | September 5-8, 2012 | #AAFPRSLocal

The Future of Local: Yelp

= Siri Rankings

=

mwilton13

Resources: bit.ly/OEc43W

Mike Wiltonwww.plasticsurgerystudios.com@psurgerystudios@mwilton13#AAFPRSLocal