harnessing the light and darker sides of on-page local seo | ungagged las vegas 2016

#UnGagged16 Vegas14–16 November 2016

James BavingtonStrategiQ

Harnessing the Light and Darker Sides of On-Page Local SEO

Things I’ve learnt this year, that our helping my local clients..

SMBs can have enterprise level, optimised websites without

spending loads of money.

On-page/technical SEO is still important

There are no silver bullets, but cumulative iteration of smaller best-practice techniques.

bavington.uk/28NCmTNBased on 1,973 Local SEOs participating in the survey.

Data courtesy of

As a local SEO, what impact does on-page SEO

have on search ranking in 2016?

bavington.uk/2016-local-factors

2016 Local Ranking Factors Study

#UnGagged16 Vegas14–16 November 2016 Data courtesy of

Local Marketing Investment

Links6.35

GMB2.84

Off-site Local2.62

Website3.49

PDF deck will be available at the end of the session

I love working with Small Local Businesses.

• Less red-tape. Work with the decision makers.

• Technical work can be completed quickly.

How long big-company SEOs have been waiting for the technical change they are most desperate to get implemented.

Survey by Will CritchlowMay 2016, Moz.commz.cm/1OscIyp

BrightLocal and I asked the same question in a survey to 2000+ Local SEOs.80% of technical changes within a week!

Survey by and IJuly 2016, Search Engine Land.selnd.com/2fLbmcd

37%16%

26% <1 Month

1-6 Months

6-12 Months

12-24 Months

Over 2 yrs

<24 Hrs

0-1 Weeks

1-2 Weeks

1 Month

2+ Months

I love working with Small Local Businesses.

• Less red-tape. Work with the decision makers.

• Technical work can be completed quickly.

• They’ll recommend you to their friends.

• You can make a real, noticeable difference.

• Develop amazing, intimate client relationships.

On-page & Technical SEO Alone…

However

Is the average monthly SEO retainer paid by local businesses last year.

$1,389 (£1121)

Data used with permission from ’s 2015 Local SEO Survey

bavington.uk/local_seo_survey

Small/local business owners are increasingly informed, expectant

and many have been burnt.

Google are trying’ to engage directly with small business

owners

A different kind of focus

• Small, local businesses are being educated.

• Small business owners need that warm fuzzy feeling.

• You have to get to know your client’s business.

• Discover their why, it’s our job to present this.

“Now, a local small business needs to worry about conversion and people walking through its door

rather than ranking.”

Mike Blumenthal@mblumenthalFeb’16 PracticalEcommerce

Site Speed & Hosting

2010Page Speed is a ranking factor albeit small, mainly targeting slow sites.

bit.ly/SL_speed_algo

Right now..Page Speed is abig usability factor for users, particularly on mobile.

May 2016Google finish rolling out their mobile algorithm which factors mobile speed.

2015Google have been experimenting with SERP Slow Labels.

bit.ly/SL_slow_labels

Most local/small business websites are slow.

where do I start?

The Obvious ?

• Use a good theme with minimal plugins.

• Compress, combine and minify your code.

• Compress your images.

• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)

• Reduce DNS lookups

• Compression via .htaccess

The Difference

• Use specialist hosting

• Use 3rd Party performance services

• But perhaps most importantly…

1. Create a culture that strives for performance

2. Specify performance as a technical requirement

3. Document, share and evolve best practice

get buy-in from your developers

http://www.brookelectricalservices.co.uk/

Seek specialist hosting

1. Migration tool

2. Staging environment

3. Git, Staging & Versioning

4. Automated Daily Back-ups

5. caching/security plugins

not needed

6. Fast EverCache architecture

7. Automatic WP updates

8. Built-in Redirect Manager

9. Built-in CDN

10. Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs (Oct’16)

11. HTTP/2 (Jul’16)

$10 (10 installs)Per client per month $4 (150 installs)

Per client per month>

We migrated 25 WordPress clients over 3 days from various hosts.

36%Average decrease in page load speed

(Based on an average of 5 tests taken before and after the migration for every site).

WordPress out-of-the-box and stripped back, isn’t that slow.

bavington.uk/H8dc2Y9

That’s great, but is there anything quick and easy I can do in the short-term?

CloudflareUser Your Server

Routing your site through CloudFlare

CDN Optimisation Security DNS

Integrated, fast DNS services.

Protection from advanced DDoS

attacks

Enterprise-grade Website Application

Firewall.

Fast caching for both mobile and desktop

users.

Distributed content that speeds up your

website.

CloudFlare’s free CDN & Optimisation example

2.71 sec

2.09 sec

1.67 sec

Shared Hosting

(Based on an average of 5 tests taken before and after the migration).

Junade Ali@IcyApril

Community Manager, CloudFlare

• Over 10M sites on their network

• 22 US datacentres, 100 Globally

• CloudFlare now serve 5% of all web requests.

• On average, 20K sites are added daily

Junade Ali@IcyApril

Community Manager, CloudFlare

“On an average HTML site it's possible to get

around a two-thirds performance increase

just by using HTTP/2 and Server Push.”

HTTPS://

Dec ‘15Google have started prioritisingindexing HTTPS:// over HTTP://

bit.ly/https_indexing

Aug ‘14HTTPs is a ‘slight’ ranking factor and increasing usability and trust factor.

bit.ly/https_signal

Jan ‘16Google are experimenting by shaming insecure sites in Chrome.

bit.ly/http_shame

Dec ‘15Chrome launches a dedicated security panel.

bit.ly/chrome_security_panel

Current http pages

Current insecure https pages

Current secure https pages

Chrome 56 (Jan 2017)http pages with sensitive fields

Date TBCLabelling ‘Not Secure’ in Incognito

‘Eventually’All non-secure content marked in red

You’ll need an SSL to utilize HTTP/2

What’s HTTP/2?

bit.ly/pete_http2

All businesses need to be serving their website over https

You can get them for free

User Cloudflare Server

SSL Off

Free Flexible SSL

Full SSL*

* Requires valid SSL on your server

Ecommerce still requires an SSL on your server.

CloudFlare’s free service includes a

Flexible SSL.

Proceed with caution

@filiwieseSSL Guide – Oct’16bavington.uk/FiliHTTPS

1. Do your research before implementing

2. 301 Redirect & Canonicalize

3. Don’t forget to sweep your local citations

Engagement & Conversion

Local businesses are not typically ‘known brands’

We work with our clients to discover their ‘why’.

"We champion the development of exclusive, high quality, hand-made limited editions. We support traditional craft and hand-made techniques with

the world’s leading street artists.

"We’re London’s original terror tour, established in 1982. Our limited team of four guides are

published authors and academics whos passion shows in every tour.

We’re your local, family-owned specialists who install the best equipment, coupled with

experienced workmanship for long-term comfort and value. What we do, we do in our own homes.

Landing Coverage Pages

Area/coverage pages DO still work and can rank for a variety of high

level and niche keywords.

Local area coverage pages can rank on page one below the Snack Pack.

“Drainage cambridge”only 70 monthly searches

But not all keywords will produce the Snack Pack

“Blocked Drain Cambridge”only 150 monthly searches

Three top organic rankings are ‘area coverage pages’

Google seems fit to rank four local companies

afterwards.

3 of these are Yellow Pages websites

Is it possible to learn this power?

A small local business client we’re working with now.

SaturatedMarket

MarketOpportunity

SaturatedMarket

MarketOpportunity

WP Custom Post Type

Design Visual

Video Content

Photography

Local Coverage Page

WP Custom Post Type

Design Visual

Video Content

Photography

Local Coverage Page

Don’t be greedy, start with a few areas.

Adequately research the niche keywords.

Be sure that you can differentiate how your

client operates in each area.

Discover and show ‘their why’

Produce a single page per town/city/locality

Link the area pages from the main navigation

The dosDon’t publish a fake or PO Box or virtual

Addresses. It’s against Google’s Guidelines.

Publish hard-coded tracking numbers or local

area numbers they don’t own.

Stuff pages with service/product keywords,

postcodes or multiple locations.

Hide your pages within sitemaps

Use the same templated generic content on

your pages.

The don’ts!

The don’ts

Link your area pages.

All area pages are clearly and

confidently linked from within

the primary navigation.

Area Photography

Area landmark which also

includes one of the

company’s vans.

Basic on-page SEO

Area H1 with supporting <p>

that covers the company’s

USP of being a family

business.

Area specific SLA’s

Accurate call-out times for

each area page are displayed

Clear ’Why us’ CTAs

Acting directly as a landing

page, you should display your

’why’ above the fold.

Great, unique content

Introduce your area page

with well written, unique

content that welcomes

visitors from this geographic

area. Include your standard

SEO best-practice.

Call to Action Form

Make it easy and obvious for

visitors to make an enquiry

directly on the area page

itself.

Facebook Widget

If your site has a fairly large

Facebook following, show the

faces within the widget.

If a prospective customer’s

friend is already a fan, they’ll

see their face (and approval!)

Filtered Reviews

Display reviews from

customers who are from this

area. Where possible,

reference their sub-location

or street name.

Keywords & Services

As this is an acting landing

page, briefly cover your

primary services – this also

helps the page rank for a

variety of secondary phrases

without trying too hard.

Local Team

If you have team members

who are based, or typically

service specific areas, filter

and introduce them on the

page to add further unique,

relevant content.

Local tip or news?

Here we’re adding unique

content in the form of advice

and considerations for

customers who live within

this area. If the business

owner can’t help with this,

consider filtering local news

or blogs.

Unique, quality local content that connects with the user is key for

local area coverage pages.

Show filtered reviews/testimonials for that area, with reference to locality.

Use photography specific to that area, if you can, with the business in the shot.

Display case studies or a portfolio gallery, filtered to the area.

Ask your client for a ’local tip’ that can help and connect with customers in the area.

Show filtered news/blog posts that reference the locality.

Creative, unique, local content

Show crew who are based or operate specifically within that area.

Display accurate, different response/call out times or distance/travel advice/directions.

Source a quote or reference from the company director about the area.

Differentiate services/products if they differ in anyway per area.

Write bespoke, unique content for the page, with insight from your client.

Prepare for the move towards paid, local Snack Packs.

@JoyanneHawkinsSMX Advanced Local Workshop

21 June ‘16

Screenshot by Ryan Scollon@ryanbowlerhat

Your local area pages should be

worthy and able to convert a paid click.

Think beyond organic local

rankings.

Google My Business (GMB)

domain.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=GMB&utm_campaign=Google%20My%20Business

Google’s URL Builderbavington.uk/28PbO65

@googlemybiz

Invest in professional photography

An even cheaper way…

Virtual Tour• Costs between $175-$300

• Compatible with Facebook’s new 360 view

• They take care of everything AND supply you

with 8-20 professional photos.

“Those who view a listing with a virtual tour are twice as likely to be interested in booking/visiting there”

What about adding virtual or fake addresses to GMB?

Trust Flow

Citation Flow

Trust Flow

Citation Flow

Competitor Our Client

1. It’s against Google’s guidelines

2. Building forged citations is hard

3. Reviews, adding photos and verification is hard

4. Your listing can be edited or reported

I wouldn’t…

Cultivating Reviews(on-page and off)

“Google reviews came in at the top of the list. The sites with the most reviews outranked other

businesses.

bavington.uk/2016-local-factors

1. 90% of consumers read less than 10 reviews to to trust a business.

2. 73% believe reviews over 3 months old aren’t relevant.

3. 70% of consumers will leave a review for a business if they're asked to.

Full Survey Results:bavington.uk/2fDalBG

Building good reviews is hard

“9/10 customers who had a positive experience would leave a review if they were asked.

Only 7% who’ve had a positive experience are actually being asked!”

David Mihm@davidmihmBrightonSEO. Sep’16

1. 5-6 Jobs completed per-day.

2. Manual email-based follow-up email.

3. WordPress based website.

4. Very happy customers

5. Only 2 natural third party reviews per year

A review experiment

Area Selection

Service Choice

Hyper Local Area

1. Initial 40% conversion rate on emails sent.

2. Averaging 3 responses per day.

3. Team are manually filling in the blanks and moderating.

4. Client is happy to read customer feedback!

Early results

Save time and stay in control

What can SEO’s use it for?

• Deploying Google Analytics

• Set-up event/click tracking

• Adwords Conversion & Remarketing

• Google Certified Shops Integration

• Add third party tracking tools

• Add custom HTML

Why bother?

• Manage your tags in a single area

• Preview mode & version control

• The snippet loads asynchronously

• Reduces external requests

• You don’t have to wait for developers

• Quick, easy access to your website

A simple, single location local

business JSON-LD boilerplate

A simple JSON-LD Local Business Schema Boilerplate.

bavington.uk/JSON-local

“Over time, I think structured markup is something that might go into the rankings as well”

John Mueller@johnmuSep’15

1. Use fast, specialist hosting and get performance buy-in from your devs.

2. Use CloudFlare to manage DNS and gain a performance boost.

3. Your site(s) need to be https. It can be done for free and will soon be mandatory.

4. Conversion is key – present and engage with ‘your why’.

5. Leverage well made area pages for organic and eventual paid snack pack ads.

6. Invest and leverage professional media like video and photography.

7. Build reviews not just off-page but on-page too

8. Save time, deploy schema and improve performance with Tag Management

Wrapping up..

Thank you.Questions?

@bavington / @strategiq

james@strategiq.co

https://bavington.co.uk

bavington.uk/UnGagged16

harnessing the light and darker sides of on-page local seo | ungagged las vegas 2016

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