Local SEO & Google Places

Your Name @YourTwitterIDhttp://yourwebsite.com

Organic SEO Basics

•Finding the right keywords (Traffic, Relevance, Competition)

•Tools to finding keywords

•75% of SEO is Off Page Optimization (25% on page)

•Building Links is everything

What is Local SEO?Organic SEO vs Local SEO

DEMO

Organic = LinksLocal = Citations

(local links)

Local Listing Set Up

Google Placeshttp://google.com/local/add

1. Click on Add Business

2. Enter your business & fill out

everything

Choose relevant Categories (one’s you want to rank

for)

Add Photos, Videos, & Coupon

(fill out completely)

Verify Business So important to do this

Can verify via Phone or Postcard (Phone is instant)

Optimize Your Local Listing = On

Page

5 Things to Optimize Your Website for Local

• Physical Address on EVERY page (in footer)

• Local phone # of your listing on every page

• Include your target keywords & location when you see fit. (about page, blog posts, etc)

• Somewhere have all the cities in the vicinity of your listing on about or contact page

• Localize your contentModify old content so it caters to location you want to target

Optimize Your Local Listing = Off

Page•Location, Location, Location

(center of the city)

•Citations are the backlinks of local. The more the merrier

•Reviews - More = Better. Best if it comes from a localized review site

Search Engines need to get

information from trusted sources

Here are places to get Free Local Listings

• http://local.yahoo.com

• http://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

• Localeze.com

• Superpages.com

• Yellowpages.com

• biz.yelp.com

• infousa.com

• http://citysearch.com

• http://insiderpages.com

• http://merchantcircle.com

Things to remember

Citations!! The more you have the

more you will DOMINATE

Make sure you target the right

categories

Get customer reviews

(do it right)

Make sure you have FULL address

Address at the center of the city

Keyword Domain Name

What has a Negative impact on Local Listings?

Negative Ranking Factors

•Multiple local business listings (duplicates)

•Use of a PO Box

•Use of 800 #

Yelp.com

Foursquare.com/businesses

Action Steps

•Set up & Claim Local listing

•Get Citations = Local Business Directories

•Ask for Reviews (on Google & Yelp) - Make sure they’re honest reviews

Q & A