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Local Search OptimizationWebmasterWorld – Las Vegas 2008

Justin Sanger, Founder/President, LocalLaunch!

“It is not just for brick-and-mortars anymore. Many Web sites have discovered the power of local targeting. This session will focus on the marketing aspects of local search.”

WebmasterWorld – Las Vegas 2008

Local Search will influence of Trillion Dollars

• Internet will be influencing a trillion dollars of off-line, local spending by 2010/2011 (Jupiter and Forrester e-commerce/retail reports)

• In a recently TMP study, 60% of consumers now use the Internet as their primary information source for local business look-ups.

• Kelsey Group reports that 70% of local consumers are using the Internet to find products and services locally.

• As many as 2.2 billion monthly search queries in the U.S. may carry a local intent

• Much of the related transactional activity will occur without a user/searcher ever reaching a “Website”. Justin Sanger 2008

Everything changed with a few events….

• Update Florida – November 2003

• One Box

– Ylocal in Y Serps – October 2004

– GLocal in G Serps –July 2006

• Gmaps default on iPhone -June 2007

Google Update Florida – November 2003

• “Take a look in the mirror and ask, did I really belong there?”

• Google made its decision on authority and relevance.

• They also made a decision, intentionally or not, how to best answer an local search query with directories/ authorities – not business websites.

– Citysearch, SuperPages, Switchboard

One Box - Local in Y and G SERPs

• “Nepotism reigns”

• If you want to rank for local queries on G, you will have to compete against G itself.

• Suddenly, there was a new algo to contend with that had as its components: – Proximity

– Structured content accuracy

– UGC

– A Local Score

• Conversion actions now took place even without a click, notwithstanding a click to a web site.

Gmaps on iPhone – July 2007

• Mobile search finally comes to age

• Google Maps is a default application

• GPS and Local Search combine

– A compelling, instructional interface

• Searches now view local as an indispensible mobile utility and use it to make buying decisions.

So what does this all mean?

There are now hundreds of ways – local/social/vertical that a business can now be found locally without ever incurring a visit to a web site.

Many contain deep, comparative content, living on the web distinct from your website.

- User, Business, and Legacy generated.

Think:

Atomization ~ separate and spread.Every piece of incremental content is a new opportunity to be found

Pure Local Search EnginesYahoo Local, Google Local Local.com, CitySearch.com

SEs and Local Paid SearchAdwords Local TargetingPanama Local Sponsored

MSN AD Center

IYPs DexKnows.comYellowPages.comSuperpages.com

Local Shopping ShopLocal

Krillion

Destination Vertical SearchHouseValues.com

Cars.com

Online Classifieds Google Base Oodle.com Craig’s List

Local Media SitesChicago TribuneMetroMix.comOC Register

Social Networking Yahoo 2.0, Insider Pages

Judy’s Book, Yelp

Local Search Optimization Fragmentation

City.com San Francisco.com

Boston.com

Local Search Optimization Pyramid of Success

Base Data

Business Profiles

Local ScoreGoogle References

UGC and Social

Authoritative Coattails

Deep Vertical and Local Link Structures

Google Local’s Overview, Details, Reviews, Web Pages

Manipulating the SERPs with Local data

Today, winning in local is about:

• Proving and optimizing locality

• Cleansing and augmenting base and business data

• Understanding who the authorities are

• Influencing social constructs and managing reputation– Today, local search is about

atomization.