What is local search? How does it impact customers finding you? What are some common mistakes found in business listings and claimed profiles? How does the flow of business listings impact your business? Learn this and more with Local Business Data Flow presented by industry expert Chris Travers with UBL.org

1. Local Business
Listing Data Flow
& Fixing Incorrect
Listings
Chris Travers
President & Co-Founder
Universal Business Listing
UBL.org | cptravers@ubl.org
9-26-2013

2. 3 Types of Local Search Results
Organic Search Results
2

3. 3 Types of Local Search Results
Sponsored Business Listings
3

4. 3 Types of Local Search Results
Organic Business Listings
4

5. Consumers search desktop, mobile, GPS, 411
1
Search Engines & Search Apps/Services
2
Internet Yellow Pages and Directories
3
Mapping Services
4
Social Media

7. LOCAL SEARCH IN
Local mobile searches (85.9 billion) are projected to exceed desktop searches
2013
(84 billion) for the fist time in 2015 (eMarketer)
Local Search Desktop
Source: Google
Local on Mobile
Sources: Google and Bing

8. Sources
Business
Internal
Publishers
Data
Vendors
• Website
• Direct submissions/Management
• Mobile, Social, Video Pages
• Advertising - Search, Directories, Premium Listings
• Print YP and Directories
• Vertical Data Services – Medical, Architect, Churches
• Other online directories, review sites
• Infogroup, Acxiom, Localeze, Factual, D&B
• Verizon, Infutor and other 411 phone svcs

9. Sources
Public
Records
Agencies/
Services
Consumers
• Postal records – particularly address format
• Government Filings – Federal, State, Tax
• Utility Records – Gas, electric
• Web compilations, RSS feeds
• Interactive Agencies, CMRs, Website managers
• SMB reseller channels
• Specialized listing management services – UBL, Yext, Single
Platform, Locu
• Via sites like Foursquare or Google Mapmaker
• Via reviews and ratings submissions

10. Data Flow
Phone Records
- Mobile &
POTS
Business
Internal
Records
Business Claimed
Listings Direct
Print YP
Data
Business
Website
Public
Records
Consumers
Data Aggregators
Business
Mobile, Social
and Video Pages
Vertical
Databases
Agencies – Listing
Management
Companies
Other Publishers
& Review Sites
Business
Ad Units &
Premium
Listings

11. Data Flow
Phone Records
- Mobile &
POTS
Business
Internal
Records
Business Claimed
Listings Direct
Print YP
Data
Business
Website
Public
Records
Consumers
Data Aggregators
Business
Mobile, Social
and Video Pages
Vertical
Databases
Agencies – Listing
Management
Companies
Other Publishers
& Review Sites
Business
Ad Units &
Premium
Listings

12. Data Flow
Phone Records
- Mobile &
POTS
Business
Internal
Records
Business Claimed
Listings Direct
Print YP
Data
Business
Website
Public
Records
Consumers
Data Aggregators
Business
Mobile, Social
and Video Pages
Vertical
Databases
Agencies – Listing
Management
Companies
Other Publishers
& Review Sites
Business
Ad Units &
Premium
Listings

13. Data Flow
Phone Records
- Mobile &
POTS
Business
Internal
Records
Business Claimed
Listings Direct
Print YP
Data
Business
Website
Public
Records
Consumers
Data Aggregators
Business
Mobile, Social
and Video Pages
Vertical
Databases
Agencies – Listing
Management
Companies
Other Publishers
& Review Sites
Business
Ad Units &
Premium
Listings

14. What the Business Owners See
14

15. 15

16. Infogroup’s Standard Business Compilation & Verification Process
Address Standardization &
Hygiene
Compilation
3-4 weeks
• Government Sources
• Public Company Filings
• Utility Information
• Tourism Directories
• Web Compilation & RSS Feeds
• Partner Feedback
• POI Compilation
• Express Update
• 4,000 Yellow Pages
• Daily QA checks
Infogroup | License Division
www.infogroup.com
• National Change of Address
(NCOALink)
• Delivery Point Validation (DPV)
• Locatable Address Conversion
(LACSLink)
• Delivery Sequence File (DSF2)
Phone Verification
Enhanced Content
Standardization of
Elements & Duplicate
Removal
4-6 weeks
Final Quality Check
3-4 weeks for grand total of about 15 weeks
• 25 Million Calls Per Year
Key Elements Standardizes:
• Specialized Calling Groups for
Large Business, New Business
and Specialty Files
• QA monitors phone calls daily
Enhanced Content Applied:
•Business Name
•Photos
•SIC Code / Category
•Hours of Operation
•Franchise/Brand
•Credit Cards Accepted
•Toll Free
Duplicate Removal:
• ACE Software
•Compare new file to old file to
identify duplicates
• 92% of addresses receive a zip+4
16
•URLs
• Database checked one last
time by QA Staff before
release
• Experienced QA &
Compilation Staff Drives
Quality Data
• Average tenure is 8 years
• Compilation staff bonuses
based on 99% accuracy

17. Critical data fields and options
 Publishers, aggregators and listing
services offer dozens of data field
options
 Vital ones are name, address, phone,
website and categories
 Increasingly photos & video – all as
binary links
 Often neglected include Hours of
Operation, quality descriptions with
geo-keywords, payment methods
 All represent discoverability
opportunities.

18. 10 Types of business listing issues
1. Missing on key sites or services, duplicates, out-of-service or relocated locations
2. Corporate versus Branch or Franchisee listing conflicts, professional group practices
3. Branding inconsistencies – corporate versus street name, name changes large or small,
name length
4. Unclaimed locations, hijacked listings or lost passwords for claimed sites
5. Mismatched phone number, use of call tracking numbers
6. Address variations – Route numbers v Street name, in-store location or suite, zip-code
social climbing, P.O. Box numbers or poor service area selections
7. Deficient or inaccurate categorization
8. Website URL – tracking link, sub-domain
9. Photo-formats & bad image links – banner images for Google+ and Facebook
10. Poor or incomplete descriptions and “enhanced data”, including hours of operation

19. Repair Actions
Analyze
Syndicate
Optimize
• Audit presence and look for variations on vital data points
• Do a citation baseline
• Monitor reviews and ratings
• Monitor rankings and page actions
• Claim key national sites – Quality more important than
Quantity
• Use Data aggregators – validate the data
• Use business listing management services
• Add to industry vertical sites
• Ensure comprehensive content and consistent data
• Add store locator and local landing pages to website
• Add geo-data for SEO
• Ensure mobile display and access
• Actively update and socialize

20. Analytics- Measure and Monitor
 Coverage and Accuracy
o Presence Audit Report
o Graphical summaries and detailed
spreadsheets for analysis
20

21. Analytics- Measure and Monitor
 Coverage and Accuracy
o Citation Reports, Visibility
21

22. Analytics- Measure Success
 Engagement
o Profile Page Activity Reports
o Impressions, Clicks, Calls, Click to
Map, Query Terms
 Prominence
o Maps Ranking Analysis
o Google, Bing, Yahoo

23. Analytics- Measure Success
 Reputation Management
o Reviews
o Ratings
o Social Mentions
 Local Segmentation
o Website Analytics – Local
Directory Sources
o Local Users - Geography

24. Listing syndication actions
1. Claim – individually or bulk. Lock ownership. Prepare branches for verification calls/timing.
2. Aggregators – submit AND validate data held.
3. Verticals – key directory sources by industry, and submit to verticals e.g. USAChurch.com
for churches
4. Listing management Services – do it all or most of it for you. Ensure you keep control of
listings, and choose a partner that fits volume, requirements and type –
e.g. large enterprise or franchise
focus versus high or low volume
individual SMBs, hand-crafted
submissions versus broad
volume-based bulk feeds.

25. Previous independent comparison in LSA presentation

26. Professional Group Listings
Adding individual professionals in a practice, separately
to that practice - Via Infogroup
VETERINARIANS
BANKERS
SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATIONS
INSURANCE AGENTS
REAL ESTATE
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
OPHTHALMOLOGISTS
COSMETIC PLASTIC/RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY
ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS
DENTISTS
COSMETIC DENTISTRY
CHIROPRACTORS DC
OPTOMETRISTS
PODIATRISTS
PODIATRIC SPORTS MEDICINE
PHYSICAL THERAPISTS
PSYCHOLOGISTS
ATTORNEYS
REAL ESTATE-LAW
MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELORS
SOCIAL WORKERS
ENGINEERS

27. National Brands
 Co-op Opportunity
 Installation or Store-Within-A-Store
 Brand Insertion

28. Website optimization – local landing pages
1.
Local Landing pages for branches –
optimized for Mobile display, with
searchable directory
2.
Use micro formats to define
address, local keywords, categories,
events
3.
Local Address and Phone on each
local page – not as image.
4.
Title Tags – incl. local terms
5.
Meta Description tags – incl. local
6.
Geo sitemap/KML – Google submit
7.
Encourage reviews – provide links
to listings where users can post
8.
Social, email-to and other links
http://www.seocopywriting.com/content-marketing/create-unique-seo-content-location-pages/
Mary Bowling

29. Why “presence management” offers great ROI
for resellers
1. Provides clear value that is easily understood and seen by customers, particularly via a visit
to Google and Facebook
2. Customers rightly perceive this as a confusing, time-confusing headache
3. The cost is typically less than 1% of their marketing budget – or less than the cost of one ad
unit, regardless of business size
4. The listings generate a significant percentage of user actions
5. The listings increasingly dominate display results – particularly on mobile
6. ROI can be calculated by using baseline study of citations and Website analytics, as well as
increasingly site-action reports. Compare visits from listings versus cost of visits from
advertising methods
7. Customers can manage a listing profile easier than building and managing a website
8. Customers know they need to monitor reviews against these listings, clear positive or
negative impact on their business
9. Easily bundled into other services and monthly, one-time or annual pricing – e.g.
advertising, website construction, hosting