For the past four years, David Mihm has surveyed some of the great minds in the search engine industry on local search. Every year the results are more and more complex, as are the local algorithms.
This year’s results were even more intriguing because there have been so many changes within the local arena. I encourage you to run through the complete survey and take it all in. Below are my highlights from the survey. However, every time I read it I find new nuggets.
Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone)
This is something I have found as well. Consistency is key. Its important to finalize your information and stick with it. Addresses, for example can be written in multiple ways (ave, avenue, ave.) Although, that’s probably an extreme example, these little differences add up. Local businesses need to stay consistent across all local directories.
As much as I love analytics and tracking, this is an area I leave alone in local optimization. It would be great to use unique phone numbers per listing, but it lacks the consistency that’s needed. It’s important for marketers to use the same number throughout multiple listings.
Matching Address on Website
Google likes to be able to associate your website with your local listings. A text-based, crawlable, matching address on your website speeds up this process. Better said by my friend, Chris Silver Smith:
| “Place Page details appear to have become mildly weaker under blended Place Search, but the important details which must be focused upon to help insure higher rankings involve items which validate the association between the location, the website, and the basic business listing data (name, address, phone, URL, category/keywords). The factors on the website need to sing in unison with the factors on the Place Page. The location settings for the Place Page also need to be geographically relevant to the user’s location search. So, the geolocation, the city, the zip, and any service area settings should match with what consumers are searching upon for your area.” |
Citation Sources
As mentioned previously (Place Search. What you need to know), Google Places pulls from other sources. It’s important for local business to cultivate these listings. Encouraging customer reviews can add to the weight that Google Places gives a listing.
Although, I still would rather see reviews going directly into Google Places, if given the choice. In many cases, experts have seen the volume of reviews outweighs the quality. In other words, 10 negative reviews out ranks 3 positive reviews. (Of course, if you have 10 negative reviews, you may not want good rankings.)
No Social
Despite the hype, social media does not seem to have an effect on local rankings. It’s not to say that may not change in the future. However, as of now there doesn’t seem to be a direct (or even indirect) connection between the two.
Thanks again to David Mihm for compiling this information. Read the complete Local Search Ranking Factors report and share your thoughts with me.
Tags: Google, google places, Local Search Engine Marketing, News, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, yelp« « Google Calendar with appointments | Google+ Project » »
June 15th, 2011 at 9:11 am
For local search, I’d recommend targeting the city and area that the business is located in. Local search has become even more important with the increased use of smart phones. The majority of mobile search is for local establishments.