Transforming Local Searchers into Customers - Will Scott - AZIMA

Coipyright, Property of Search Influence, LLC © 2013
@w2scott #AZIMA Presented to AZIMA
Transforming Local Searchers
into Customers
Presented to:

About Me: Will Scott
• First website online in 1994
• Deployed over 2,500 customized web sites in 18 months (with a
production staff of 12).
• Former Vice President of YPsolutions (now Local Matters)
• Online Directory vendor to 20 independent
Yellow Pages
• Deployed over 300 online yellow pages a
year with print “look and feel”
• Part of team which took Sprint BestRedYP
from zero to 1,000,000 monthly visitors in
18 months
• Uniquely qualified to help improve media
companies’ online products

About Search Influence
• Helping customers successfully market online since 2006
• We work with thousands of clients, directly and as a white-label
provider to major national media companies.
• Scalable Solutions Powered by Experts
• Search Influence:
• 50+ full-time employees
• 70+ contract writers
• 12 AdWords Certified Staff
• Reputation:
• 2011 Inc. 500 honoree
• Recognized leader in search and social for local business
• Over a decade in online media

As Seen In:

LOCAL SEARCH
“Making Phones Ring And Doors Swing”

Local Search Matters

+

Location
Traditional
Results
Non-Geo-Specific Search Term
Local
Results

High Local
Ranking + High Organic
Ranking
High Blended
Ranking=

THE MOVE TO MOBILE
There’s nothing more local than my pocket

9 Google confidential
HyperNgrowth&in&mobile&search&is&driving&consumer&behavior&&
5X 92%&
89%&
&
25%&
57%&
48%&

10 Google confidential
1Source: Google Internal Data, 2011. % of each platform’s traffic shown hourly for one day.
Does not indicate absolute or relative traffic volumes.
12:00 AM 3:00 AM 6:00 AM 9:00 AM 12:00 PM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM
Tablet Mobile Desktop
Day EveningMorningNight
Hourly Distribution of Searches by Platform
(doesn’t reflect absolute traffic volume)

PC Users Accessing the Internet Flat-lined
In 2012, growth in the number of PC users accessing the Internet flat-lined for the first
time.

Web Traffic from Non-PC Devices Spikes
By contrast, the share of web traffic from non-PC devices including smartphones
and tablets more than doubled to 15% in December 2012 versus 7% in
December 2011.

THE LOCAL BUSINESS (SMB)
Most of the time, they have more pressing matters than where to
advertise – or so they think.

Key Considerations
• Many Local Businesses are budget sensitive
– But some aren’t
• Budgets: From less than $3,000 / year up to
greater than $3,000 / month
• Businesses know they need it
• Solutions offered aren’t always in their best
interest
• Most solutions aren’t manageable

24
Proprietary and Confidential. Copyright © 2013 BIA/Kelsey. All Rights Reserved.
Media Fragmentation Continues to Increase
4.4
5.6
7.8
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Wave 14 2010 Wave 15 2011 Wave 16 2012
Number of Media used
has increased by 77%
since 2010.
Average Number of Media Used by SMBs
for Advertising and Promotion

Confidential, Property of Search Influence, LLC © 2013
@w2scott #RevSummit - Local Media Association16
Top 2 Box (Extremely or Very Important)
Sample Size = 139
Source: LCM Wave 16, Q3/2012 (and prior waves, if relevant). Methodology: Online panels. Findings may not be
statistically significant.
Q320
31.4%
32.4%
38.0%
42.0%
49.0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Yelp
Twitter
Blog
Google
Facebook

26
SMB Spend Split: Acquisition vs. Retention
29.5%
41.2%
6.5%
19.2%
3.7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Roughly 50/50
>50% for Acquiring
>50% for Retaining
Hard to Say
Not sure
6:1 Ratio
Loyalty Opportunities:
• 4-10x more expensive for SMBs to acquire new customers than retain existing ones
(Patrick Barry, DemandForce)
• Businesses that retain 5% more customers increase profit by at least 25%
(“The Loyalty Effect”)

27
Primary Purpose of Facebook Page
41.7%
30.9%
19.4%
5.0%
2.2%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Acquire
Build Awareness
Build Community
Retain
Not sure Customer acquisition is now the #1
objective of SMBs using Facebook
(up 15% wave-over-wave).

LOCAL BUSINESS PERCEPTIONS
Prove it!

Constant Contact Local Business
Survey
50% see inaccurate listings for their business
70% don’t have time to manage all the sites
23% have a good sense listings drive traffic
84% believe that having a mobile-able website is
important
25% know how to create a mobile optimized site
62% think it is important to be seen on mobile apps
85% believe more people will be looking for business on
mobile sites

LOCAL SEO
Rubber, meet road

1 Individually Owner-verified Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
2 Physical Address in City of Search (PLACE PAGE)
3 Proper Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)
4 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title (PLACE PAGE)
5 Proximity of Address to Centroid (PLACE PAGE)
6 Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
(OFF-SITE)
7 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
8 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
(OFF-SITE)
9 Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text)
(REVIEWS)
10 Product / Service Keyword in Place Page Description
(PLACE PAGE)
2008 vs 2012

Many of the Fundamentals are still the same.
• Having a physical location in the right city is
paramount.
• Categories are huge.
• Citations and location data are still critical.
• Quantity of reviews are still way more important
than quality.
…and yes, proximity to centroid still has influence.

David’s Unscientific Take…
Local Ranking Factors
Citations
Reviews
Links
Website
Miscellaneous
WEBSITE
CITATIONS /
LOCATION
INFO
LINKS REVIEWS

Essential: Consistent NAP

The Anatomy of NAP
Local Citation = N A P + W
Name
Address
Phone #
Website

Audit your NAP
• Determine Local Search strengths
• Find weaknesses that affect rankings
• Discover optimization opportunities
• Prevent duplication & data corruption

Audit Business Information First!
Confirm Name
• Multiple variations?
• Legal Name or DBA
Confirm Address
• usps.com/zip4
Confirm Phone
- One per location
- Should be local
- Avoid call-tracking numbers

NAP Checks
Using
Whitespark

Digging Deeper on Citations
• Whitespark Local Citation Finder
• Brightlocal Citation Tracker
• Google:
– "business name" + "phone number"
• Organize citations so you can see NAP data
errors
• Clean up duplicates / erroneous citations

Inconsistency & Duplications

Fix Inconsistencies
• Check InfoGroup, Localeze & Acxiom for
incorrect citation information
– InfoGroup: http://expressupdateusa.com/
– Localeze:
http://webapp.localeze.com/directory/get-
started.aspx
• Channel partners get better pricing
– Acxiom: http://mybusinesslistingmanager.com/
• Duplicate citations are bad

Citation & Data Aggregator
Management Tips:
• Keep track of login information
• Use one email account for communication
with citation sources
• Be ABSOLUTELY sure your NAP isn’t already
listed before adding citations
• Periodically monitor citations
• Get rid of duplicates

YOUR WEB SITE
Google followed you home

On-Site Local Optimization
• Is NAP on website readable?
• NAP should match Google Plus Local page NAP
• Additional phone numbers should be non-crawlable
• NAP should be structured data, either hCard or Schema
– To Create: http://microformats.org/code/hcard/creator
– To Validate:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
• One hCard / Page to keep NAP signals clean.

Schema & hCard Example

Improper or Non-Existent On-
Site Local Optimization

Multi-Locations & Local
Landing Pages
• Local landing page for each location
• Use local landing page in Google+ Listing
• Factors to include in a local landing page:
– NAP in hCard or Schema
– Embedded Google map
– Locally optimized title tags and H1/H2 tags
– Meta description with address and phone included
– Testimonials and Reviews
– Locally optimized url naming structure
• Eg: domain.com/pizza-falls-church-va

Multi-Location Deployment
• The same rules apply for multi-location
businesses
• Process must be scalable and automated
– Have to assure consistent NAP on a grand scale
• Content pages must be unique
• Focus on your top-level categories
• Do location-specific keyword research
• Use robots.txt and site architecture to guide the
engines

Citation Management Thoughts
• Be thorough and organized
• Set a schedule to check in
– Log into your accounts to view progress
• Be patient
– Responses typically take from two weeks to two months
• Stay informed on issues, trends and Google updates
• Allocate budget for expert guidance
• For multi-location / directory providers, involve IT Early

Local Presence Success

DUPLICATE LISTINGS
They really suck

Takeaways for Local Success
• Places – Most searches start with Google
• Ecosystem – Google got that information
somewhere
• Process – Local is not fire and forget –
lather, rinse, repeat and repeat and repeat
• Web Site – Your site and Google must Agree
• Duplication Sucks – Don’t confuse Google

Thank you!
Will Scott
– searchinfluence.com/blog
– wscott@searchinfluence.com
– twitter.com/w2scott

Transforming Local Searchers into Customers - Will Scott - AZIMA

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