Local search engine marketing - top tips to get you to the top of Google

Crafted MediaBriefing: local search engine marketing.6 steps to get you to the top of Google’s local listings.

Crafted Media

30 Ipswich-based staff specialising in E-commerce Design Development Search engine marketing Social media Copywriting Mobile sites & apps

Hello

The whole world is local to somewhere

Google states that 20% of all searches have a local intent, that’s 2.8 billion searches per month globally.

Of mobile traffic, upwards of 50% of searches have local intent

23% of time spent accessing internet is on a mobile device

More than 4 million business listings on Google havebeen claimed by business owners

Location, location, relevance

What is local?

Where we refer to ‘local’, these are listings not generated by Google’s algorithm but those associated with a map.

What is local?

‘Place’ pages are integrated listings with mixed natural and Local listings. These come from searches with a local intent ‘Accountants Colchester’

Google’s assumptive location results: better user experience when searching generic term

Location-aware mobiles lead to local listings.

What is local?

List every business location, the more you list the better coverage you can have – think creatively!

Fill out everything: business hours, detailed description 10 photos (even if it’s your logo and the front of your

building) Links to 5 YouTube videos you can also be listed in up to 5 categories including

custom ones.

1) A sense of placement

Competitors Check out your competitors’ listings If they haven’t filled out a section it doesn’t mean it’s

unimportant, it’s an opportunity to steal a march on them.

Logistics If you have too many locations to enter manually, then

Google offers a whitelisting service.

A sense of placement

Quick tip: claim your listing with a Google account email on the same domain as your website e.g. local@examplecompany.com

Google likes links, its algorithm is weighted toward them as they infer relevance

Local is relevant.

Get your business listed on Hotfrog, Yell.com, BizWiki, Qype, Freeindex, Thomson Local, Yelp, Bview, UpMyStreet, Trusted Places, Scoot, Tipped, Infoserve, City Visitor, TouchLocal, UFindus and Smile Local.

Match up the business details:AddressWebsitePhone number

2) Citations: the new links

Quick Tip: There are services that’ll add these on-mass for you, but manual submission is always better.

It’s who you

know

You’ve done local via national listings sites, now go truly local:

Your town:Chamber of commerce, business networking sites, professional bodies, business listings specific to your town / area

Your ‘friends’:What organisations does your business partner with or support locally? Local school, local charities.

Your industry:Suppliers’ websites as a ‘Distributor’

3) It’s who you know

Quick Tip: Scan your invoices for companies with websites who might link to you, often gems can be unearthed in the unlikeliest of places.

4) Customers count

Quick Tip: Don’t fear negative reviews. Promote this to your best customers, negatives will quickly be drowned out.

So, you have proximity to a searched-for location & you have citations.

Seek out customer reviews for your Places page or to complement citations on Qype or Yelp.

Respond to positive e-mails thanking them and asking them to post their review or comments on the above sites.

Send e-mails a couple of weeks post-transaction asking for feedback.

Customers count

Don’t copy

Look at your competitors.

One of them may be ticking a lot of the digital boxes and doing it well.

Learn from it: where are they listed / mentioned. Is there sentiment attached?Crucially, wherever they are, it’s likely to be relevant to your business.

Learn from this, do it better than them.

Intelligent search marketing is‘informed search marketing’

5) Learn and do it better!

Quick Tip: In Google search using: ‘competitor.com -site: competitor.com’ This will return pages mentioning their website from around the web.

Do Something Local TodayAs with traditional search engine marketing, and social, get your basics done, then make local part of your everyday business profile.

Contact suppliers to feature your details - explore common ground for wider search benefit

Search out citations Follow-up good feedback Encourage reviews via your newsletter Mention local reviews to

long-standing customers

The results are cumulative.

6) 5-a-day

Quick Tip: Expect regular change in your rankings, they are dynamic and you won’t always be #1 even when you’re up there.

Contact

tom.griffiths@craftedmedia.com 07760 209403 www.craftedmedia.com

Images

http://www.yourrightmove.co.uk/blog/phil-and-kirsty-from-relocation-relocation/

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1519821469047863831vabrwe

http://www.cruzine.com/2010/10/28/china-photography/

http://gierschickwork.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/847258-miranda-is-funny-in-a-deeply-daft-kind-of-way