Local SEO Strategy Mohammed ALAMI Google+ Twitter Linkedin8/16/2012 - About.me/mohammedalami Quora

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• 01. Introduction• 02. Google changes• 03. Ranking Factors• 04. Onpage optimization• 05. Onplace optimization• 06. Linkbuilding• 07. Citations• 08. Reviews• 09. Social • 10. Mobile• 11. Semantic• 12. Citation finder Tool

AGENDA

Local SEOIntroductionThere are 3 definitions for local search, according to ClickZ:1. Local search is any search aimed at finding something within a specific

geographic area. Example: "hotel in downtown denver."2. Local search is seeking information online with the intention of making a

transaction offline. Example: "atm denver tech center."3. Anything that you would traditionally look for in the printed yellow pages

becomes a local search when it is conducted online. Example: "dry cleaner on colfax avenue."

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• Comscore defines local search as geo modifiers or using a local search engine of an Internet yellow pages site.

• Customers either add a geographical location to their search term, such as "Toronto dentist," or use a yellow pages-style search engine that provided results based on a specific zip code and the search term or category.

Local SEO - Introduction

Source: Comscore State of Local Business Search - July 2011

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Local Web Search Portals;Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, AOL:

Local Portals; Google Places, Bing Maps, Yahoo! Local, MapQuest:

Internet Yellow :

General Directories:

Local Directories:

Social Networks:

Review Sites:

Local SEO - Introduction

Local SEOGoogle changes

• There have been 3 major changes:1. Google places became Google plus local : May 30, 20122. Merging Google+ Local and Google+ Business Pages :

availiable for those under category « local business ».3. Custom URLs for profiles and pages: short, easy to remember

web address that links directly to profile or page on Google+.

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Local SEO – Google changes

Before

Now

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Local SEO – Google changes

Before

Now

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Local SEO – Google changes

Before

Now

https://plus.google.com/110937137992985950150

Local SEORanking factorsThere are 3 main factors that impact rankings in local search:1. Distance from Centroide : Having a physical address in the city

of the search matters.2. NAP consistency and accuracy : Name, Adress, Phone

information over all mediums.3. Prominence of page : score may be generated based on a set of

factors that includes: Reviews, Citations and Links.

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• Distance From « Centroide » : the geographic center of the area searched.• New geolocation tools based on user IP addresses and mobile apps

delivering hyper-local results could have future implications on this factor.

Local SEO - Ranking factors

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• NAP Consistency and Accuracy

Local SEO - Ranking factorsBusiness Name, Phone #, A business name, a phone number and a domain that NEVER change are at the core of a SMBs online identity. Name, phone and domain; these elements are the glue that allows for both branding, and for the value of that branding to come back to the business. Pick them well and make every effort to retain them forever.

N.A.P.The acronym for Name, Address and Phone number. The whole of the local ecosystem uses these basic identifiers to keep track of the business listing and identity. Changing them, for whatever reason, risks confusing the many directories and search engines that are tracking the specific business location. It ultimately risks confusing the customer as well.

Web equity BY Mike Blumenthal : owning your local web presence

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Page Prominence :

• To calculate the local prominence of a business, Google use the information they find online. Each web page with business information they discover is called “local citation”.

• They look at both the quality and quantity of these citations.

• Generating user reviews on a Places page improves credibility and, in turn, prominence.

Local SEO - Ranking factors

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Local SEO – Ranking factorsDavid MIHM - June 2012

Participants were asked to rank 90 possible positive factors and 18 possible negative factors that drive Google's Local Search algorithms.

Source: Local Search Ranking Factors by David MIHM, June 2012

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Bizible - April 2012 • During March, there was

Google Venice Update “Improvements to ranking for local search results”.

• Here’s report including changes :

• Bizible confirmed the importance of search category, physical address and city visible “at a glance” on places.

Local SEO – Ranking factors

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• These terms, located in the "At a glance" section on Google Places listings, are a distillation of all the information that Google can find about a business, in as few words as possible. They can be from reviews, web pages, articles -- from just about any content on the web. Our algorithm tries to select a good description for each place, leaning towards what is interesting, specific, and unique.

Local SEO – Ranking factors About ‘At glance’ section Dec. 2011, Google Places introduced words “At a glance” next to the “descriptor snippets”:

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• Onpage : there still needs to be descriptions and text; at least 300 characters so that the content will interact with the search engines.

• Matt Cuts of Google corroborated this when he stated that 2 to 3 sentences for each locality on site would be sufficient.

Local SEO – Onpage Optimization

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Local SEO – Onplace OptimizationThis optimization shall provide the place page on Google+ local the base to meet best practices and align with website page info to have accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone).

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Local SEO – Linkbuilding/Citations

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• Article 2.0 properties digged locally: posted to some 2.0 properties such like Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress… linking to locations pages.

• Local targeted news website: local business directories, local newspapers and local bloggers hosted on local servers (IP based).

• The vendor network: identify local vendors that have a website and may add review of properties or listings on their site.

Local SEO – Link Building

News

• Links IP based• Article marketing

Directories

• Links to website• Unique description

Blogs

• Guest blogging• Comments

Contractors Resellers Installers

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Local SEO – Citations

Source : The Local Search Ecosystem in Canada

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Local SEO – Reviews

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Local SEO – Social/Mobile

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• Shema markup Local businesses :

• KML Sitemaps :

• Wikipedia articles :

• Freebase local organizations :

Local SEO – Semantic optimization

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Local SEO – Page prominence

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Local SEO – Page prominence

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Citation finder Tool White spark

Have questions ?

Mohammed ALAMI

Master E-commerceAbout.me/mohammedalami

SEO Strategisthttp://blog.mediative.com/en/author/mohammedalami/

Marketing Speakerhttp://www.youtube.com/MEDING42