Find the Weird in Austin:Find the Weird in Austin:

The How and Why of Local Searchy

Cory Barbot: Senior Natural Search Specialist, Apogee SearchIan Strain-Seymour: Director Product Strategy Apogee SearchIan Strain-Seymour: Director Product Strategy, Apogee Search

Introductions

Agendag

What is local search & why you care:

Definitions, Facts, Figures

How to take advantage of local search:

Turning Thought Into Action

Where is this all leading?g

What Next?

WHAT & WHY

Terminologygy

Graphic created at www.wordle.net

Map Searchp

Map Searchp

Map Searchp

Map Searchp

Map Searchp

Map Searchp

Universal Search

Universal Search

Stretching the Boundariesg

Stretching the Boundariesg

Stretching the Boundariesg

Going Mobileg

Mobile ads = web ads + user location

HOW TO

Google Local Business Centerg

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Google Local Business Centerg

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Google Local Business Centerg

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Google Local Business Centerg

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Additional Optionsp

• In addition to Categories and Hours of O ti f t l ddOperation features, you can also add:– Payment Options– Photos of your product or storefont (limit of 10)

• Tip: Host photos on Flickr and geotag images

– Videos (limit of 5)• Tip: Host videos on Youtube and optimize

Additi l D t il– Additional Details

Listing Validationg

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Listing Detailsg

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Tagginggg gGoal is to...

Accurately describe content of pageCreate unique tags for each pageC eate u que tags o eac pageKeep tags short when possibleInclude city within tags to improve association and local ranking

Title tags – very important to SEO. Inform both search engines and users about the content of your It' th i t bit f i f ti t i h lt page. It's the irst bit of information to appear in search results.

– <title>Keyword City, State | Company Name</title>Meta tags: keywords and description – like title tags, provide information about content of page. Keywords viewed by search engines, description sometimes pulled in search result.

– <meta name=”description” content=”Located in City, State, Company Name specializes in Keyword...” />

– <meta name=”keywords” content=”Keyword” /> Header tags – on-page elements provide information about content of page as well. Given extra eade tags o page e e e ts p o de o at o about co te t o page as e G e e t a

weight by search engines

– <h1>Keyword</h1>

– Vary from H1 to H6, most important to least importantAlt text tag – specifies text that will appear to search engines since images cannot be renderedAlt text tag – specifies text that will appear to search engines since images cannot be rendered

– <img src=”images/Keyword.jpg” alt=”Keyword”>URLs – not a tag, but can be tagged. Use static URLs and include keywords in URL along with dashes,

not underscores: /austin-custom-software, not /austin_custom_software

Title Tagsg

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Meta Tags: Keywords and Description

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Header Tagsg

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Alt Text

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URLs

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On‐page Optimizationp g p• Keywords – important content of each page

contains its targeted keywords contains its targeted keywords. – Do not overdo inclusion of keywords, though.

Content should be interesting enough to entice Content should be interesting enough to entice users to link to website

• Address – make sure each page of your website Address make sure each page of your website contains the address of your business – use both regularHTML d hC d• HTML and hCards

• Internal Linking – it's inevitable you will use keywords on a page it does not target Don't keywords on a page it does not target. Don t fret! Turn that keyword into a link pointing at the page it does target.

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Internal Linking Red ToysgToys

Toys

Red Toys

Blue Toys

ToysRed ToysBlue ToysGreen Toys

y

Green Toys

Toys

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Microformats

• What are microformats?b b d h k• A web-based approach to semantic markup

that seeks to re-use existing XHTML and HTML tags to convey metadata and other HTML tags to convey metadata and other attributes. The take the calc lation o t of meaning • They take the calculation out of meaning. – In laymens terms, it means: the content contained

in this bit of code is without a doubt my address in this bit of code is, without a doubt, my address, my telephone number, my URL...

For Local Search we'll discuss hCards• For Local Search, we'll discuss hCards

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Microformats

hCards (HTML vCard): Microformat for publishing contact details about a person place businesscontact details about a person, place, business...Contact information in HTML

MicroformatsContact information in hCard microformat:

<div class="vcard"><a class="url fn" href="http://www.themagiccamp.com"></a>

di l " " Th M i C /di<div class="org">The Magic Camp</div><div class="adr"><div class="street-address">7306 Scenic Brook Drive</div><span class="locality">Austin</span>, <span class="region">TX</span><span class="postal-code">78736</span></div><div class="tel">(512) 288-1596</div></div>/

Hcard Creator: http://tantek.com/microformats/hcard-creator.html

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Citation/Link Building Strategies

• Citations Explained

• Incoming Links

• Major Local Search Data Centersj

• Local Search Sites

• Local Business Directories• Local Business Directories

• GetListed.org

• Google Analytics

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Citations Explained

• In local search, a citation is a mention of your business d dd b i if i i ' li kname and address on a website, even if it isn't a link

• Search engines do not only look at incoming links to help determine local search rankings, but also citations

• Citations help search engines validate information they p g yhave about a business

• Improving the number of citations to your business'Improving the number of citations to your business  website consists of submitting your site to a variety websiteswebsites

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Incoming Links

• Acquiring incoming links with keywords as anchor text is j f h i i i ia major component of any search engine optimization 

campaign

• Acquiring links with the your target location included in the anchor text is especially important for local search engine optimization

• Submit website to industry related directories – often yallow you to choose your anchor text

• In case you wanted to know• In case you wanted to know...

– http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html

– http://ilpubs.stanford.edu:8090/422/3/3/09

Major Local Search Data Centers

• A number of websites act as data centers, providing d l l h b i i h i f i bsecondary local search websites with information about 

your website– After Google Local Business Center, submit info to centers

• Universal Business Listing – For $30/year, will submit your business information to infoUSA and a number of other locally focused websites

• InfoUSA

• LocalezeLocaleze

• Acxiom – not able to submit online, search web on their own acquiring dataown acquiring data 3/3/09

Local Search Sites

• On one level, function as directories in that they help i b i b h i dcategorize businesses by their metadata

• Much more interactive than directories, social media directories: Send listing to a friend, social bookmarking, send to phone, write reviews, create a profile, acquire friends

• Provide incoming links and citationsg

• Examples: Yelp, Yellowbot, Local.com, TrueLocal, HotFrog 

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Local Business Directories

• Finding local business directories is as easy as searching f “[ i ] di ”for “[your city] directory”

• These directories are highly associated with a city/region and crawled often by the search engines

• Better Business Bureau functions as a high value, highly g , g ylocalized business directory

• Provide incoming links and citationsProvide incoming links and citations

• Examples: Better Business Bureau, TheCityofAustin.com, A tiAustin.com 

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GetListed.org

• Provides users with an overview of their local search i ll h h i l f h bpresence in all three search engines plus Best of the Web

• Not a magic bullet, but does help save time when initially setting up local search optimization efforts 

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Google Analytics

• http://www.google.com/analytics

• Not usually thought of as a link building tool 

• Helps a business track conversations that have already p ytaken place or are on‐going

• ExampleExample– Noticed a fair amount of traffic referred to client's website from bbc co uk in Google Analyticsfrom bbc.co.uk in Google Analytics. 

– Searched “client's URL” site:”www.bbc.co.uk” on Google 

– On the forums located within the site someone had mentioned– On the forums located within the site, someone had mentioned the client's UK website

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LOCALIZING PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGNS

Local Business Ads

“70% of US households now use the Internet as an70% of US households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services.”products and services.

‐ Google

Local Business Ads…

…are Google’s PPC ad format to promote specific business llocations

…use traditional keyword bidding structure

…are cost effective (PPC)

…promote both online and offline conversion

Targetingg g

G l M /M T t• Google Maps/Map Text– Traditional keyword targeting– Relevant, location‐specific queries (IP not considered)Relevant, location specific queries (IP not considered)– Ex – Any user searching “Austin TX breakfast tacos”

• Google Search/NetworksT l d l– Textual ads only

– Geographical targeting (IP considered), Customizable Radius– Triggered by user with IP near business listinggg y g– Ex – An Austin user searching “breakfast tacos”

• Google ContentE h d d t t l d t t l t ti– Enhanced and textual ads, contextual targeting

– Includes sites with Google Maps API + Google Content Network• Google Mobile

Text

aka Bruce Wayneaka Bruce Wayne

I’m BATMAN!I’m BATMAN!

Exposuresp

Informative

• Descriptive Titlel d/ f• Textual Ad/Description of Location or Service

• Phone Numberl• Display URL

• Specific Addressi l i• Exact Visual Location

• Interactive Geo‐Targetingll C i bl k• Fully Customizable Map Marker

• Enticing VisualDi Si Li k• Direct Site Link

Campaign Checklistp g

• LBL (Local Business Listing)

• Keyword List/Ad Copy– Current campaign

– Separate campaign for easy tracking

• <20k, 125x125 pixel picture of location20k, 125x125 pixel picture of location

• Google standard map icon or upload your own

L di P /URL• Landing Page/URL

• Tracking Codes

RE:  Uploadsp

Google’s InterfaceAdv:  All angles/visuals, immediate LBL approval

Adwords EditorAdv:  Bulk upload, some LBL difficulties

Use bothUse bothEditor for bulk uploads

Google interface for campaign refinementGoogle interface for campaign refinement

WHERE NEXT?

Future of Local Search

• Increased targeting based on viewers location

• Increased targeting based on behavior & likes/dislikes

• Increased targeting based on friends’ behaviorg g

• Google LatitudeLocation of individuals (like mobile)– Location of individuals (like mobile)

– Friend networks = expanded notion of likes

Q & A