review tactics for local rankings - searchfest 2013

Review Tactics for Local Rankings

SEMpdx SearchFest 2013

Darren Shaw@EdmontonSEOhttp://www.whitespark.ca

SummaryTracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Tracking Offline ConversionsCall tracking is expensive and problematic for local SEO

MUST use your actual numberon your website for NAP consistency

solution is to put the call tracking number in as an image then put your actual number in the footer in schema.org

Tracking Offline ConversionsNEVER use call tracking on citation sites

Using a call tracking number in your citations will massively mess up your NAP consistency

There is no automated solution for tracking these calls (unless the site is implementing an image or some kind of cloaking)

Tracking Offline ConversionsSolution: build a form on your site that pushes conversionsto Google Analytics. Ask callers how they heard about you.

Tracking Offline ConversionsOn submit, fire a conversion over to Google Analytics.

This is going to take a bit of technical expertise that many SMBs won’t want to bother with though.

Offline Conversion Tracker (free tool)http://www.whitespark.ca/offline-conversion-tracker

Tracking Form

Opens the search in a new window with the “near=“ parameter set to the location entered on the add/edit business page so you can visually check if you rank organically or locally (Google only)

Google AnalyticsTracks a breakdown of each source, keywords, caller, notes

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Why am I focusing on reviews?

Recently worked on research for a business with thousands of locations

Gathered ranking factor data for 100 locations

Rank, Location age, Competition, # Citations, # Reviews, Keywords in reviews, Categories, Links

Reviews were the key factor between locations that ranked and locations that didn’t.

Listings with reviews provide a better user experience

VS

Google is all about user experience

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Review Acquisition TacticsPERSONALIZED Email Follow Up

Review Acquisition TacticsFollow Up on your follow up

Review Acquisition TacticsThird time’s the charm

Review Acquisition TacticsSales receipt, email signature, back of business card

… leave us a review

Review Acquisition TacticsPut a sign on the counter

Review Acquisition TacticsPut a sign on the counter

XThat shit don’t work

Review Acquisition TacticsCreate a page on your site

Review Acquisition TacticsMatthew Hunt’s Review Funnelhttp://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog/

Review Acquisition TacticsIf they select “Excellent” send to this page

Review Acquisition TacticsClick Yahoo, get page with video and iFramed review page

Review Acquisition TacticsClick Google, go to page with video (can’t iFrame it)

Review Acquisition TacticsHow to review us handout

Developed by Phil Rozek“The Reviews Guy”

Review Acquisition TacticsHow to review us hand-out

WTF?

Follow him

Read his blog

Get on his mailing list

Review Handout Generator - FREE!http://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator

Review Handout Generator - FREE!http://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator

Review HandoutGeneratorPrintable PDF

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Business to Business Reviews

http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/google/plus-review-as-business/

Business to Business Reviews

Call your clients andmake a list of whothey work with. Askthem to think aboutthe invoices they pay.

B2B Review Exchanges - How To

Sign into G+ using your personal account

B2B Review Exchanges - How To

Scroll down and click More > Pages on the left

B2B Review Exchanges - How To

Click “Switch to this page”

B2B Review Exchanges - How To

You’ll see a status bar appear at the top thatSays “You are now using Google+ as a page”

B2B Review Exchanges - How To

You can now click the Local icon on the left side, find the business you want to review, and leave them a nice

keyword rich review.

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Finding Authority Reviewers

Click “Local” in G+, enter a non-restaurant keyword and city, and click search. Scan through the results. This pro

tip is courtesy of Mike Ramsey.

Engaging Authority Reviewers

Check out their profiles, learn about what they like, circle them, follow them on twitter, leave comments on their posts. ENGAGE with them in a positive, non-promotional, manner. After a relationship is established, you could maybe say

something like "I'd love for you to come by the shop sometime." Keep it simple.

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Review Filtering FactorsReview Velocity

Keep it natural, which will depend on your industry and past history. No spikes. No mass "please review us" mailouts to your mailing list.

Review Filtering FactorsReviews from the same IP

No review stations. Don’t take customer comment cards and post them as reviews from your office computer.

Review Filtering FactorsReviews that come from the same referrer

Google likely tracks the referring source on each review created. If you always send people to your “please review us” page on your site and all your reviews

come through links on this page, it can indicate that the reviews were solicited.

If you’re paranoid about referrer tracking…Review Filtering Factors

Review Filtering FactorsReviews that come from the same user agent

There are hundreds of different user agents that identify the browser, browser version, platform, and operating system version. If all your reviews are tagged

with the same user agent it could be a spam signal.

Review Filtering FactorsReviews that come from the same user agent

No iPad out in the field (“10% discount for a review on the spot?”). They might not use user agent as a spam signal now, but they could later.

Review Filtering FactorsReviews from inactive users

Someone signs up, leaves you a review, then never uses their account again.It’s filter time!

Review Filtering FactorsUnnatural review content

Pretty sure that those super smart PhDs at Google have methods to identify if reviews are fake based on the content.

http://reviewskeptic.com/

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Review Tips#1 – Get at least *some* reviews

Review Tips#2 – Get 10 reviews, get the Zagat rating in SERPs

Review Tips#3 – Get keywords in your reviews. They really help. Ask reviewers to mention the service.

Review Tips#4 – After you have 10 G+L reviews, diversify

http://getlisted.org/resources/local-citations-by-category.aspx

“Best” places for third party reviewsGetListed/Whitespark Study Best Citation Sources by Category

“Best” places for third party reviewsAdam Steele’s studyhttp://www.leanmarketing.ca/lean-top-50-best-local-citation-sources-in-the-usa/

He scraped 3rd party review sources from 45,570 listings and categorized them by city and category. I don’t think it says much about them being the best

citation sources, but it’s super valuable for identifying 3rd party review sources.

You have to get on his mailing list to get the data

Where to get third party reviewsPhil Rozek’s Local Review Ecosystemhttp://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/07/06/the-local-business-reviews-ecosystem/

Some sites feed the reviews to many other sites, so it’s good to know which ones will give you additional distribution and encourage reviews there.

Citysearch and Yelp stand out.

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

Yelp It’s one dang awesome site

Way more (and better) data on Yelp

YelpIt’s all over the local SERPs

YelpIt’s all over the local SERPs

YelpIt’s all over the local SERPs

Yelp often ranks abovethe local pack

YelpIt dominated the GetListed/Whitespark study

http://getlisted.org/resources/local-citations-by-category.aspx

NotJust

Restaurants!

YelpAnother reason to spend time on Yelp: Bing

YelpFurniture Outlet in Chicago

YelpFurniture Outlet in Chicago

Yelp

I called Andy to ask him some questions

Yelp“How has Yelp helped your business? How is business?”

It has helped a lot. A lot of people say they find me on Yelp. Business is great.

NOT ACTUALLY ANDY

Yelp“What percentage of your new business comes throughYelp? Just a rough estimate would be great.”

I would estimate about 70%

NOT ACTUALLY ANDY

Yelp“Are you doing other forms of online marketing, orjust Yelp?”

Nope. Nothing else. Well, we have a website.

NOT ACTUALLY ANDY

Andy’sWebsite

Yelp“How are you promoting your business on Yelp? Stickers?A sign in the store? On your website?”

I don’t do anything. It just happened naturally.

NOT ACTUALLY ANDY

Yelp“So what do you think is the secret to success on Yelp?”

Just take care of your customers and run a good business

Oh man! If only all our clientswere like Andy.

NOT ACTUALLY ANDY

YelpThis small business is killing it thanks to Yelp

Yelp#1 ranking with review stars and he does no SEO

DAYUM!!

Yelp

Are your SMB clients tweeting and facebooking to no listeners?

Try allocating some of that time to Yelp.

Tracking Offline Conversions

Google+ Local Reviews 1. Why I’m Focusing on Reviews 2. Review Acquisition Tactics 3. Business to Business Reviews 4. Finding Top Reviewers 5. Review Filtering Factors 6. Review Tips

Yelp 1. Why It’s Awesome 2. How To Improve Your Yelp Rankings

YelpCan’t ask for Yelp reviews. *Awareness* not solicitation

http://officialblog.yelp.com/2010/08/dont-ask-for-reviews.html

YelpClaim and fully complete your Yelp business page

http://biz.yelp.com

YelpClaim and fully complete your Yelp business page

http://www.reviewtrackers.com/yelp-help-ultimate-guide-optimizing-yelp-business-page-listing/

YelpPut up your stickers. *if you have them

These stickers have to be earned.you can’t request them. The company doles them out 4 timesa year to businesses with lots ofreviews and and average of 3.5stars

YelpAdd a “Find us on Yelp” badge to your website.Totally sanctioned.

They have a Flickr account where you can downloadimages, badges, signs, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yelp/sets/72157623054478330/detail/

YelpPut up a sign in the office/lobby/whateverTotally sanctioned.

YelpAdd a link to your Yelp listing in your email signature.Totally sanctioned.

http://www.wisestamp.com

YelpUse a badge to show off your Yelp reviews on your websiteTotally sanctioned.

http://www.refmobworks.com/yelp.jsp

YelpUnfiltering reviews

YelpUnfiltering reviewsGet them back on Yelp. Respond, friend, compliment, message

YelpFinding people you know that are on Yelp

Welp, that was easy!

Thanks!

Darren Shawhttp://www.whitespark.ca@EdmontonSEO