The key to success with local search engine optimization is to start small and stay focused on your customers. But by building slowly on your success, you can accomplish big things! In this presentation at David Mihm's Local University at SMX Advanced 2012 in Seattle, Jonathon Colman, the in-house SEO at REI, walks us through how he and his colleagues made the case to pursue local SEO and how REI later bought into a wide-ranging cross-channel customer strategy that had big wins for local search visibility. Watch out for a special guest appearance by Data the android from TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation"! You can learn more about Jonathon Colman at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/

1. Photo © Flickr user iL.C.Nøttaasen at flickr.com/photos/magnera/3157602186/

2. MAKING THE
CASE
FOR LOCAL
SEARCH

3. AN INSIDE STORY OF
SMALL CHANGES
AND SOME BIG WINS
Jonathon Colman
www.jonathoncolman.org
Twitter @jcolman
Agile SEO for REI
www.REI.com

5. We operate 123 stores in 30 states
Such as our Seattle
Flagship Store:
222 Yale Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98109
Oooooh, a citation!
Photo © Flickr user Sonofabike at flickr.com/photos/oyj/2609205311

6. %
Traffic to our store pages
from local organic search
is growing at +25% YTD

7. It wasn’t always this way

8. Just 2 years ago, we weren’t
growing our organic traffic
to local store content at all

9. Photo © Flickr user Petereed at flickr.com/photos/petereed/496392956/

10. Someone
else’s fault
No budget Other
right now priorities
Who will
own it?
Someone Someone
else’s job else’s budget
ROI can’t be
This is not measured Someone
what we do else’s metrics
Right idea,
Wrong time
This not how Better
we do this opportunities
Wrong idea,
It will take Wrong time
too long
Photo © Flickr user Petereed at flickr.com/photos/petereed/496392956/

11. How do we
find this?
Photo © Flickr user loop_oh at flickr.com/photos/loop_oh/4541017817/

12. By assigning value to
indicators of off-line
activities.
Photo © Flickr user Thomas Hawk at flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/540936323/

13. • Store locator use
• Store page views
• Rentals pages
• Local event pages
• Local class pages
• Local volunteer
opportunities
• Links, Likes,
Tweets for local
content
Photo © Flickr user Thomas Hawk at flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/540936323/

14. They’re all worth
something. So
make an estimate.
Don’t fall into the
trap of making your
estimate perfect.
Perfection takes up
lots of time and
stops good work
from happening.
Just be reasonable.
Photo © Flickr user Thomas Hawk at flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/540936323/

15. Use these values to
estimate the worth of
total off-line activities
Voilà! Now you’ve
created a simple
business case …and a vocabulary
that you can teach
to your organization
Photo © Flickr user Koen Vereeken at flickr.com/photos/koenvereeken/2088902012/

16. But how do you
convince the
HiPPOs?
Photo © Flickr user nilsrinaldi at flickr.com/photos/nilsrinaldi/5158417206/

17. Bring in the
BIG GUNS
Photo © Flickr user Thos003 at flickr.com/photos/thos003/5822205888/

18. We engaged David
Mihm to audit our
local visibility and
help us understand
the total landscape
of opportunity.
Photo © Flickr user Thos003 at flickr.com/photos/thos003/5822205888/

19. The result:
A prioritized series
of changes and
optimizations, big
and small, that we
could pursue.
Photo © Flickr user Thos003 at flickr.com/photos/thos003/5822205888/

20. chose the SMALL ones
and that was ENOUGH

21. We used our new
“value vocabulary” and
business case to win
tiny bits of support
from all our partners
Photo © Flickr user Akira ASKR at flickr.com/photos/akira_1972/3104076736/ Photo © Flickr user 401K at flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6355308765/

22. The low-
hanging fruit
of local search,
if you will
Photo © Flickr user Sherwood411 at flickr.com/photos/sherwood411/4864128553/

23. We optimized a few of
our <title>s here…
Photo © Flickr user tamburix at flickr.com/photos/tamburix/6928172860/

24. Wrangled a tiny UX
improvement there…
Photo © Flickr user baldiri at flickr.com/photos/baldiri/5735003580/

25. Ran a quick A/B test on
our content here…
Photo © Flickr user mil8 at flickr.com/photos/mil8/2164167813/

26. We even ran a tiny
local Link campaign
Mad props if you
know who Link is!
Photo © Flickr user Dunechaser at flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/1883086933/

27. Our data-intensive reporting
and incremental gains caught
the imagination of leadership
and garnered further support
Photo © Flickr user Francesco Schwarz at flickr.com/photos/isellsoap/6885674187/

28. Because they had the
vision to be able to see
that this isn’t about SEO.
It’s about the
cross-channel
customer
experience.
Photo © Flickr user Jeremy Brooks at flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/2294396074/

29. A cross-channel story is
one that everyone in your
organization can support …because it’s all about the
customer, not about you.
Photo © Flickr user Daniel Y. Go at flickr.com/photos/danielygo/5391176827/

30. Success often breeds success.
Little changes lead to big wins.
Photo © Flickr user istolethetv at flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/3887342134/

31. Now our mobile app
helps you find our
physical stores

32. Now we provide local
store product inventory
visibility on our site…

33. As well as on Google.

34. Now we’re working with
an agency to manage our
local information across
Google properties, IYPs,
wayfinding services, etc.

35. Now we’re running
local/social presences
all across the country

36. Now we’re running
local/social presences
all across the country

37. Now we’ve marked up our
local store content with
Schema.org microdata

38. Now we’ve got local staff
engaged in creating local
media… with our members!

39. %
…is just the beginning.

40. Our conclusions:
1. Shrink the change by
starting off small
Photo © Flickr user istolethetv at flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/3887342134/

41. Our conclusions:
1. Shrink the change by
starting off small
2. Use data to tell your
story
Photo © Flickr user ipuntxote at flickr.com/photos/dia-a-dia/7046151669/

42. Our conclusions:
1. Shrink the change by
starting off small
2. Use data to tell your
story
3. Don’t chase the
perfect at the cost of
getting things done
Photo © Flickr user jayneandd at flickr.com/photos/jayneandd/4450623309/

43. Our conclusions:
1. Shrink the change by
starting off small
2. Use data to tell your
story
3. Don’t chase the
perfect at the cost of
getting things done
4. Seek outside counsel
and guidance from
experts
Photo © Flickr user istolethetv at flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/3887342134/

44. Our conclusions:
1. Shrink the change by
starting off small
2. Use data to tell your
story
3. Don’t chase the
perfect at the cost of
getting things done
4. Seek outside counsel
and guidance from
experts
5. Small changes lead to
big wins for you and
your customers
Photo © Flickr user iL.C.Nøttaasen at flickr.com/photos/magnera/3157602186/

45. Thank you!
Jonathon Colman
Agile SEO for REI
Home: www.jonathoncolman.org
Twitter: @jcolman
E-mail: jcolman@rei.com