The participants were asked to rate the importance of 69 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google, Bing and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms.

Top positive ranking factors

1. General Importance of Claiming Place Page / Local
2. Business Address in City of Search
3. Associating Place Page with Proper Categories
4. Volume of Citations from Major Data Providers + IYP Portals
5. General Importance of Off-Page / Off-Listing Criteria

Things that work better than in 2009

1. Associating Photos with Your Place Page
2. General Importance of Claiming Place Page / Local Listing
3. Volume of MyMaps on which Your Business Is Included
4. Age of Place Page
5. Associating Local Area Code as Primary Place Page Phone Number

The results of this survey are truly invaluable and is well worth the time to read for any business that wants to do well in local search.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Top Local Search Ranking Factors For 2010

Sometimes I dismiss what is common sense to me not realizing there are plenty of people out there that, admittedly, do not have one tech savvy bone in their body – or so they think.

Today I received a call from a good friend who is bringing her Feng Shui business online. She was frantic. Her site was gone and she had no way of fixing it. She felt helpless and had no idea what to do and feared months of work was gone.

Once I got the full story on what had transpired over the last several weeks I was able to help her get it resolved. The short of the story is she had been requesting changes to her site for several weeks and the hosting/web designer had assured her the changes would be made. Sad thing is the changes were not made. Then she woke up this morning and her site had vanished.

With this sudden disappearance of the site and the circumstances surrounding the event I had my suspicions. I took a quick look  at the url and sure enough her domain name was redirecting to her hosts home page. I figured no problem, it’s a new domain with no established incoming links I’ll just give her space on my servers and she can redirect the domain to my name servers. Problem solved.

Well, not so fast. You see she had her hosting company, a GoDaddy reseller, register the domain name for her, which they did. But – and a big but –  the provider registered the domain name in their name not hers. And to make things clear the domain name is a branding name for her company.

In the end we setup an account up at GoDaddy and got her hosting company to transfer the domain into her name. I walked her through the account setup in less than 5 minutes. Now she has 10 tech savvy bones.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Never, I repeat, NEVER let someone else register your domain name for you. I’ve heard stories of less-than-reputable web hosts that registered the domain under their own name, making them the owner of the domain rather than you, then charging outrageous fees for the use of the name later  . If someone else places themselves as the owner of your domain name there is little you can do, outside of a lawsuit, to get it back.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Why You Always Register Your Own Domain Name

• Use your City and State in the name of the site/blog title
• Use your City and State in article or posts titles
• List your phone number with area code on a contact or about us page
• Use your business name, address, city, state and full phone number in the footer of every page.

If you are geo targeting a business location using keywords in the proper locations on the site you will rank better as well. You can use the Google AdWords tool to research the exact searches for your city and state.

Here are a few things to keep in mind ;

• The city name usually gets more searches.
• City and full state name (ex. Denver Colorado) will get the second highest volume.
• City and state abbreviated (ex. Denver CO) will usually be used in search a lot less but is highly targeted and has less competition.

So let’s say you are a Ski Shop in Vail Colorado.

Since there is only one city named Vail in the US that is synonymous with skiing, the search term “vail ski shop” would turn out to be a good keyword phrase to use.

But let’s say you are a criminal lawyer in Hamilton, Mississippi. There are other cities named Hamilton in places like Ontario Canada, Montana and Ohio.

In a case like this  “hamilton mississippi criminal lawyer” would probably turn out to be the best keyword phrase  to use in the title of your site/blog articles.

In the case of your local business listing with the search engines including keywords in your business title will help also help you rank better. But remember: if you try to stuff TOO many keywords into your business title, the search engines will find out about it and penalize your business.

All of this is to say:

The potential to attract new customers via Local Search is enormous.

1 (source – David Mihm)
2 (source – Chris Lang – Gwave Mastery)

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

GEO Targeting For Local Search

Localize those PPC efforts

There are various ways of utilizing geographic modifiers for your paid search. It can include using your city, county, etc. as a keyword or targeting your geographic area in your campaign settings. One of Google’s newer features, local ad extensions, can play a huge roll in the success of these localized campaigns. If you’re not all that familiar with it, it’s definitely worth knowing about.

A local ad extension is additional information, typically your address, which Google can show along with your ads. It’s a simple option that you can turn on within your campaign settings. The extensions can show in Google and any of their properties, including Google Maps and search results. So while maintaining your settings, these ads will also have a physical address that pops up when a searcher is close to you geographically. This does not replace regional or other geographic targeting for AdWords, but it’s a great way to target your local business and get more visitors not only to your website, but to your location as well! Having additional information will draw people’s attention to your ad. There is no price difference for using ad extensions with your ads, so feel free to experiment.

We know it’s important to target your landing pages as well, and in the local space, it’s a good idea to include your address on the landing page. Make sure that your landing page is very localized considering that continuity of content is extremely important, particularly for local searches. It helps build trust and reiterates your location while expanding on your offer.

There are many options for success with local PPC. You could try including your city name with your keyword along with geographic targeting in your settings, and then try with and without ad extensions. Then, try the reverse! Experiment with different variables and discover what works best for your business. Achieving successful results doesn’t happen over night, and there’s no fast rule to follow. The best way to get it going is to try all the opportunities at your disposal – you never know what you might find!

Emily Thompson is the Online Marketing Coordinator for Kutenda Internet Marketing Software . Kutenda offers software and services for small businesses to succeed in online marketing and grow their business.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google Local Ad Extensions: The Power of Localized PPC

I myself am a firm believer that truly local sites, my fellow neighbors and businesses, can rank better in the local search arena than the national and local directories if they focus on creating targeted content and getting targeted local links.

A great way to get valuable local targeted links which bring you link juice, plus drive traffic to your website, is to be a guest author on local sites. This is a very underutilized technique.

Guest authoring is a method for reaching a brand new audience and for increasing traffic and sales. In the event folks like what they read they may not only head to your site or blog, they will send your post to social media websites and link to it from various other sites as well. This all goes towards solidifying yourself on the web.

Finding Authoring Opportunities

Granted there are not that many active sites at the local level but they do exists. Finding them is a bit of a chore sometimes but the best way I’ve found to locate local sites is to use real-time data from Twitter or Google using city and state names as the search term ie; your keyword + Denver, Brighton CO, etc. This is a dead-giveaway on who’s active.

You can also use Google to look  for authoring opportunities. Use the search strings listed below to find niche related sites to guest author on.

{your keyword} “guest blogger” OR “guest post” OR “guest article” OR “guest column”
{your keyword} “become a contributor” OR “contribute to this site”
{your keyword} “write for us” OR “write for me”
{keyword} inurl:category/guest

I have set 2 simple conditions to determine whether I would take further action once I found opportunities;

• Active site – fresh content being created on a monthly basis at a minimum
• Zip codes, city’s, states or phone numbers on their site

Another way you can find a guest authoring opportunities is to simply keep your eyes open whenever you are browsing some of your favorite blogs. The #1 way to guest author on someone’s site is to simply ask! You might be surprised by the answer.

Things To Remember

Once you’ve found site that you can contribute to make sure to keep 2 things in mind:

• When writing bear in mind that the post should not be an ad for your own services or products
• Concentrate on a few great keywords in your posts including some long-tail keywords

Guest authoring is one of the best forms of free advertising available online today. Not to mention you are building up your brand and getting authoritative links pointing back to your website. And to top it all off – you are building relationships with your fellow bloggers.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Guest Author On Local Sites

As more consumers go online and use major search engines to find local businesses, local merchants have to supplement their advertising strategy. While it used to be enough to take out an ad in the local phone book, such as the Yellow Pages, now local merchants also have to consider SEO.

Although this seems like an overly complicated strategy for the average mom-and-pop, it’s not. First of all, you don’t even need a website to rank locally (which cuts costs considerably). Secondly, ranking locally is much different than ranking nationally/internationally, meaning that it can be much less competitive and, therefore, much more cost-effective.

The 10 Pack

The most important part of localized search result is “the 10 Pack.” This is the first set of results that appear alongside a Google map whenever you search for a certain kind of local business. Since the 10 Pack can include anywhere form 3-10 results, it monopolizes much of the SERP real-estate above the fold, making it considerably more impactful than the second and third results. You need to get into the 10 Pack. There are both onsite and offsite elements that your business can leverage to rank in the 10 Pack.

Offsite Factors for Local SEO

Because you don’t even need a website to rank in 10 Pack, offsite factors carry a lot of weight in local SEO. These include: verified local business listings, citations and offsite references, local directory listings, customer reviews, and backlinks with the right anchor text.

Search Engine Business Listings: the first thing to do for local SEO is make sure that you have a map listing with the Google Local Business Center. Not only is it free, but anyone can create one. So if you haven’t created one already, check if someone else has. If one already exists, revise it to include the terms you want to rank for. If one does not exist, create one that includes all those key terms.

Citations: it’s also important to have as many offsite references as possible. this includes getting mentioned on community blogs and other local business sites. If there aren’t any offsite references to your business, reach out to the webmaster and find out how to get mentioned. And if you have a site, see if they will link to you. If you don’t have a site, see if they’ll link to your Google Local Business Center.

Local Directory Listings: just because directories like the Yellow Pages aren’t the only game in town anymore, that doesn’t mean that they’re not important. By having a listing in the online editions of these directories, you can increase the odds of ranking in the 10 Pack. Just make sure to place your listing in the right category, otherwise you can end up ranking for terms that aren’t relevant to your services.

Other Verified Listings: although the 3 major search engines all have their own business listings, they also get data from sites such as Acxiom, infoUSA, and Localeze. So you want to get your business info listed with third party sites, as well. Just make sure that your business info is consistent across all sites, because Google can interpret inconsistent listings as different businesses. Some of the more reputable online local directories include:

• SuperPages
• CitySearch
• Yelp
• InsiderPages
• BizJournals
• AreaConnect
• MagicYellow
• and SwitchBoard

Customer Reviews: once you have a Google Local Business Center listing, you’re going to need reviews. The more reviews you have, the more that Google will see your business as relevant for the keywords you’ve targeted in that review. So reach out to colleagues and customers about leaving such a review. But do not try to write 20 reviews yourself. If Google flags you as spam, there’s a good chance that it’ll hurt your rankings. Google will also pull local business reveiws from all over the web, so reach out to local bloggers and communities about getting reviews there, as well.

Because of the importance of reviews in local search optimization, you should use your site to build trust. First, devise a way to encourage happy customers to generated positive reviews. Second, link to your map listings so that Google has some indication that that listing is relevant to your business. And then, get links from local trust sites, such as the Better Business Bureau and any local chambers of commerce.

Backlinks: finally, whether you’re building links back to your site or your business listing, you want to pay attention to the anchor text of those links. While traditional SEO dictates that you want keyword sensitive anchor text, in local SEO, you want that anchor text to actually be the name of your business.

Onsite Optimization for Local SEO

If you do have a company website, there are also a number of things you can do to help enhance your local SEO efforts. First, make sure that your business name is in all your title tags. Second, having a domain name that includes your business name will also enhance your local ranking.

Finally, have a page that includes the address and telephone number of your business. The info on this page should also be consistent with your other listings on the web. For example, if you have separate phone numbers for tracking purposes, that can hurt your local rankings. So if you can’t avoid having different tracking numbers, try to keep them restricted to pages that you can tell Google not to index, such as PPC landing pages.

Think Global, Act Local

As Google continues to personalize search results, localized data is going to become more and more important. The web is evolving from local users getting worldwide answers to global users getting local answers. This is why local SEO is more about optimizing for locations, and less about optimizing for keywords.

What you should be focusing on to get included in the 10 Pack, then, is having your business info appear in multiple locations, and making sure that that info is consistent. And when building links back to your site or reviews, those backlinks need to have a strong geographic scent. Finally, because local search is about people searching for local answers, customer reviews are very important. So if you have a site, use it to build trust and encourage users to leave reviews.

Many local businesses are still unaware of local SEO. So by optimizing now, you can put yourself in a position to dominate the 10 Pack for years to come. After all, if your site is super relevant today, it’s easier to convince Google that it’s still relevant in several years when it’s still in business, and still serving its community.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Ranking Locally: Optimizing for the 10 Pack

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Popular Searches Unique To U.S.

Search using the city modifier:

In my opinion the 10-pack took up to much space. it hogged the top of the page making it impossible for a local website to get the #1 position. It still impossible for a local website to get the number one spot on the page organically but at least cutting down the 10-pack to 7-pack moves a few organic listing above the fold.

Search w/out the modifier:

I’d still like to see 3 or 4 local websites listed first in the results like in universal search and then the Lucky 7-pack. I think having organic results for sites that deserve it would only be fair.

The site owners have worked hard to gain the #1 position and should be prominently displayed towards the top in either search results.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Local Search Results – The Lucky 7 Pack

Thankfully the Internet and it’s ability to bring the world to me (and you) allowed me to round up a bunch of videos that are being posted from this years Local Search Summit:

Matt McGowan welcomes you to SES San Jose 2009, highlights a week of Search Engine Strategies

Lee Odden discusses the integration of social media and SEO at SES San Jose 2009

Matt Bailey uses Star Trek analogies to discuss Ecommerce at SES San Jose 2009

Matt Bailey and John Marshall debate the role of web analytics at SES San Jose 2009

Tom Murphy of Revenue discusses User Generated Content at SES San Jose 2009

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Video from SES San Jose 2009

Over the weekend I had a chance to  read David Mihm’s results from his 2009 Local Search Ranking Factors survey that was conducted in May 2009 with  27 prominent bloggers and practitioners in the local search arena.

They were asked to rate the importance of 49 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms (those that drive the 10-pack, 3-pack, and authoritative one-box search results; NOT the standard organic algorithms).

While all the points in David’s study are interesting I have found that there are 5 things that really have the most influencing on the position of your listing.

Claiming your Local Business Listing

I put this as #1 on my list. I can’t tell you how many unclaimed listing I still see in the Local search. Most businesses have not taken the 15 minutes and claimed their listing. As Mike Blumenthal said in the study – “You can’t see the game if you don’t enter the gate.”

Keywords in the Title

When I first claimed my business listing I just put my company name in the title. When I went to look for my listing I couldn’t find it unless I search for the exact company name. After adding a good targeted keyword to the title along with the company name my listing immediately showed up #2 in several 10-pack and 3-pack results when preforming a broad keyword search.

Keywords in the Description

While this might not be as important as having keywords in the title, leaving them out of the description does appear to have a negative effect on where your listing ranks in the packs. Adding targeted keywords, without spamming, somewhere near the beginning of the description can help to pull your listing deep from within the results into the 10-pack.

On-page Optimization

While most who participated in the survey agree that you don’t even need a website to rank high in Local search I’ve found that adding the City, State and Zip code along with a keyword-rich anchor text back to the site in the footer has definitely had an impact on my listing position.

Quality/Quanity of Inbound Links

In my experience the quality and quantity of inbound links has been  a huge  contributing factor in ranking well in Local search. As David Klein said – “from the beginning Google has judged sites based on the quality and quantity of inbound links. It is my opinion, that quality, and quantity of inbound links with the right anchor text will just possibly overcome everything else in doing well in Local search.”

Conclusion

Where there is a search engine involved you will always have a 100 different views on how to optimize the content to increase your chances of get listed on page one of the serp’s.

A lot of the information you find about rankings is aimed at trying to exploit the serp’s with keywords and linking. While this may be a contributing factor for organic search results when it comes to Local search listings keywords and incoming links don’t carry the same weight but do have a positive effect on the Local search results and where you will show up.

If you do any one thing make sure it’s to claim your listing.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Top 5 Ranking Factors for Local Search