Local SEO
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Summarize the history of local search and how new technologies have made it a reality
- Explain NAP (Number, address, and phone number) and its importance
- Give examples of directories that play a big role in local SEO
- List some of the top signals that affect local search results.
Local searches
The search engines have put massive resources into developing the visibility of local and regional businesses in the search results.
In addition, the massive increase in the prevalence of smartphones over the past few years has made location-based searches an expected everyday occurrence.
People expect to find results based on where they are immediate.
Here’s the basic idea behind local.
Now, for a long time in the past, search engines wanted to be able to provide results based on where you were in the world in a very precise way.
They were able to use this somewhat by using the IP address and they could approximate where you were but it wasn’t always that accurate.
What they really wanted to know is where you exactly were within feet or meters.
Now, this technology has evolved considerably and in a very short amount of time using location technology like GPS and Wi-Fi.
In addition, the prevalence of searching on smartphones accounts for more than 60% of searches every day.
These factors now enable the search engines to know your location and provide incredibly accurate and thorough options for your search.
NAP
So, what’s at the core of this?
Well, it’s the acronym NAP.
It stands for Name, Address, and Phone number.
This is the most critical factor for any business, not just local SEO, but for local, it is critically important.
All you need to do is, on your website specify one name for your business, one address, and one phone number.
And then when you put that into different directories like yelp or yellow pages or whatever you may be using, you need to make sure that you have exactly the letter for the letter, the same name, address, and number.
Unfortunately, this gets convoluted.
Because the search engine spiders index and classify information, business information can be classified separately all because of the slightest variation in business name or address making it look like a separate business.
Now, a human would easily be able to identify the difference and classify the variation as a single business.
Search engines can’t do that yet.
Start on your own website.
Specify one name for your business, one address format, and one phone number, and use that same identical name and format when you set up your accounts at different websites and directories like yelp.
You need to make sure you have the exact letter for the letter, everything is the same.
Unfortunately, this can be difficult.
There are a lot of different formats for phone numbers, certainly for addresses, and even for names.
Any inconsistency will cause problems.
Again, a human might be able to figure out this easily but using the examples, a search engine will consider these two separate businesses at the same address or because the address format is different, it may even be considered two different businesses and two different addresses.
Do you see how it works?
Therefore, search engines do not usually know that they are the same business and this causes all kinds of problems.
So, let’s pretend that your address is 123 Happy Street, Suite 3.
There are a lot of different ways you can write this. you can spell out “Suite”,
you can use just the abbreviation for it and there are actually two abbreviations for “Suite”.
Can also use “Unit” instead of the suite but suite numbers and abbreviations are where people lose their consistency.
Even with the road, street, parkway, or avenue, you need to pick just one version, spell it and format it exactly the same and use it consistently.
Then find all of the instances of different variations you have online and go fix them.
Directories
The last part of this is directories.
So, directories for a while now have been a bit of a bad word.
It used to be a great way of doing SEO until it got abused.
In fact, it got abused and abuse was that people would charge a lot of money so that you could be listed in a directory and now in modern days directories are not like they used to be and they are not that useful.
Getting links that way and doing link building through directories is not going to be greatly helpful.
However, the big exception to this is with local SEO.
There are important IYPs and Internet Yellow Pages.
There are also things like Yelp or Urbanspoon where people go and submit their local businesses.
Real human beings pick up their phone and they go to the yelp app and look for businesses.
And because real human beings are suing there, unlike directories of the past, this means that you want to have your business there.
Therefore, in some ways directories, at least in the local space, have returned.
So, in some ways directories, at least in the local space, have returned.
A great example of this is local or even national business associations.
Chambers of commerce, business associations, industry associations, and other directories can be good places.
Top Local Search Signals – A
Now, after all, that, let’s move on to some other local signals,
So, the first and most important signal is this acronym again,
NAP- Name, Address, and Phone number.
The key here is that consistency.
Keywords and titles
The next thing is keywords and titles.
This is extremely convenient because it’s something you should be doing for SEO anyway.
This is particularly for the title tag, which is something we’ve covered in the previous blog.
Domain authority
The next one is domain authority.
Therefore, if you have an important domain, an important business, Google is going to use this as a signal when they are doing a traditional local search.
So, when someone is on their mobile and they are looking for a good restaurant, and if you are an important restaurant in the city, you are going to be more popular in both local and traditional searches.
That’s domain authority.
Inbound Link Signals
The next one is inbound link signals.
This again sounds familiar.
The things that help you with traditional SEO do the same for local.
The first one is anchor text.
Therefore, this is one of the most important.
If you are a great restaurant, hopefully, you are going to have lots of bloggers, a lot of magazines, and local online entities that are writing about you and linking to you.
They are naturally going to use your name and the name of your business in the review about you.
These are the kinds of things that Google is looking for because these are what are effective online.
Review and citations
The last one is reviews and citations.
But in this context, these have very specific definitions.
It’s not just reviewed in general, like the ones I talked about, it’s reviewed on specific local directories or business listings and it’s both the quality of them, are you getting five stars, and the quantity of them.
Do you have a hundred reviews, do one hundred people care enough about your business
Top Local Search Signals – B
Schema markup
Now the next one is a bit more complex as it does require some programming on your website.
This is called schema microdata or structured data.
Schema is an agreed-upon programming standard by search engines, browsers, and device manufacturers that directs the markup and display of specific content.
It’s typically content that is repetitive by nature and therefore if it’s displayed in a consistent manner for all devices, browsers, and operating systems to know that content, then they can display it properly.
You find it in addresses, contact cards, dates, e-commerce products, reviews, people, places, creative works, and more.
What we’re most concerned with here are the address and phone number.
Using schema when you add your address or phone number to your website enables the visitor to use the click-to-call function on their phone when there’s a phone number on the website.
In addition, using the address schema can open a map when someone clicks on it to show the location.
Utilizing this schema provides clear data to the search engine that can be republished across a variety of channels.
Now, specifically for Google’s business listing, they give a very wide range of content for businesses to list.
So, fill out as many areas of the business listing as you can:
- Business hours
- Payment types accepted
- Phone number
- Description
- Reviews from Google and maybe even from your own website.
You can link your social profiles and any events or promotions you have.
Photos
One of the biggest signals that we’ve seen grow in importance is the number of pictures that you load into your business listings.
In fact, Google provides a report as to how many times the photos are viewed by searchers.
Many times businesses that have many photos will show up with more prominence than those that have little or no photos.
Therefore, take advantage of the listing opportunities that Google provides.
User behavior
Finally, the same behavioral signals that are used in the search are also used in the local search results and this is because the search engines, especially Google, can see how searchers interact with your local listing because it is in their system.
The behavioral signals start with how many people search for your business.
This is directly related to your local visibility and loyalty.
So, don’t forget about your local offline marketing.
Next, they measure how long someone views your listing.
They count how many times the phone number is clicked for someone to call or when someone clicks to find directions.
In addition, there’s a button there for directions to be sent to a searcher’s phone if they’re using a PC or a Laptop.
All of these engagement factors and buttons on a business listing are counted as engagement and task completion which increases the behavioral signals for your business.
As people save the listing, check in, or even visit, these all send important behavioral signals of popularity and loyalty which contribute to your business visibility in local search.
Key takeaways
Local SEO has gained prominence with the emergence of location-aware technologies and methods like GPS, Bluetooth, cell tower triangulation, and Ip address mapping.
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number.
Examples of important local directories are Google, TripAdvisor, and yelp
Local search results filter information like NAP, keywords, reviews, citations, pictures, searcher behavior data, schema, and business information that is consistent across pages.