L O C A L S E A R C H O P T I M I S A T I O N

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL

SEARCH

WHY LOCAL?

• 96% of PC owners conduct local searches and almost 90% of mobile

users search for local information.

• Local searchers possess more potential in terms of post search

activities: 80% of local-mobile searches result in an offline purchase,

with 11% of those being online.

• Exposure to local search ads often result in visits to stores and

purchases (32%), and even unplanned visits and purchases (19%).

Source: comScore 2013, Ipsos MediaCT 2014

LOCAL SEARCH RANKING

FACTORS

OVERALL LOCAL RANKING FACTORS

Source: MOZ, 2014

OPTIMISING LOCAL LANDING

PAGES

LOCAL LANDING PAGES

Build local landing pages for each location:

- Ensure the meta titles are well optimsied – “Your target keyword -brand + location”

- Create unique meta descriptions for each location – include a target location term and call to action to drive increased CTR

- Provide relevant, useful content for potential customers

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

OPTIMISATION

BEFORE: SERP ANALYSIS

Appear in search without branded

images

BEFORE: GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

- No Business Logo

- No Banner

- No backlinks to the key target pages

FULLY OPTIMISED EXAMPLE

- Ensuring that all listings have

business logos

- Uploading banners and images to increase engagement

FULLY OPTIMISED EXAMPLE

- Adding internal backlinks to the key product, service pages.

- In this example linking back to ‘Windscreen chip page’.

- Directing traffic to the booking system: ‘Book your appointment online now’.

OPTIMISED LISTING: SERP ANALYSIS

For branded searches the listing is appearing with

branded images in Google Search

OPTIMISED LISTING: SERP ANALYSIS

For generic searches the

branch is

appearing number #1 and #2 in

Google Search Results

OPTIMISED LISTING: THE CHECKLIST

- Business name – Your business name +

location

- Website URL – Link to your local landing

page

- Categories are important ranking signal,

so select them carefully

- Add hours to improve costumer

experience

- Introduction – your business description

with internal links to your key product/

service pages

- Photos – logo and high quality images

related to your brand

CREATING MOBILE SERVICE

LISTINGS

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS SERVICE AREA

To capture local searches in the areas where you offer a mobile service but have no physical presence you can create the mobile service area listings on Google My Business.

CREATING A MOBILE LISTING

- Fill in the business details

- Ensure you select “I deliver goods and services to my

customers at their location” and add mobile service

area

- Ensure you untick “I also serve customers at my

business address” if you don’t have a physical store in

the area

- Once the listing is fully verified, please optimise it by

adding website URL (local landing page or home

page), hours, images, introduction with internal links,

banner and logo.

OPTIMISED MOBILE LISTING: SERP ANALYSIS

For branded searches the listing is appearing in search with service area on

the map and branded images

OPTIMISED MOBILE LISTING: SERP ANALYSIS

For generic searches the

branch is appearing number #1 and #2 in Google Search

Results

INCORRECT LOCAL LISTINGS

PROBLEMS WITH LOCAL BUSINESS LISTINGS

Source: Yext, 2012

Local is important for business and customers alike, however businesses

aren’t in control of their location information online.

Business are missing out on a critical component of connecting online and

offline – people will switch to a competitor if they encounter inaccurate information.

LOCAL SEARCH ECOSYSTEM

Source: MOZ, 2013

In many cases business owners who have already claimed the local listings at major search engines continue to see improper information displayed

about their businesses. The reason this happens is that a

business information is being pulled from variety other sources – online

directories, review sites local sites etc.

REPORTING INCORRECT DATA TO GOOGLE

Submit feedback for review

LOCAL SEARCH SERVICES

LOCAL SEARCH SERVICES

Moz Local helps create and update business listings on the four major aggregators of U.S.

business location data as well as other sites that factor into local search results. Once you enter

your business location, Moz Local publishes it to its network of data partners, and helps you

discover and eliminate duplicate listings.

UBL offers small businesses and enterprise customers a one-stop location to manage business listings

on a wide variety of online directories, apps, and data providers. Their standard offerings in multiple

countries include syndication to the Factual database.

Yext lets marketers manage their local content, listings, store pages, social pages, campaigns, and

more through the functionally integrated Yext GeoMarketing Cloud. Over 250,000 businesses use the

Yext Cloud.

Rio SEO powers enterprise level local listing management software for business with more than 1,000

locations. Rio SEOlocal platform gives the ability to manage the store finders, search engine map

listings, and syndication to data aggregators from a single CMS. The award-winning software was

chosen as the best-of-breed technology by the Local Search Association.

Maintain accurate information for your business across majority of online sources and build

consistent local citations with one the trusted Local Services