A Trip To Venice! Melanie Morrison MEB Management Services. Xxxxxday, April XX, 2012

Transcription

1 A Trip To Venice! Melanie Morrison MEB Management Services Xxxxxday, April XX, 2012

2 View from Above Local Search Local Search has changed the way people find goods and services. Including apartments!

3 What is it? Definition of Local Search The use of specialized search engines that allow users to submit geographically constrained searches against a structured database of local business listings.

4 Why has Local Search Become so Prominent? It combines: The usefulness of the phone-book The convenience of the internet The trust-factor of word-of-mouth marketing with consumer reviews

5 Why has Local Search Become so Prominent? (Source: 540 SE)

6 Google s Venice This Update Changed Everything Related to Local Search Dramatic improvement in Local Search results Relies more heavily on local rankings

7 Post-Venice Benefits to Local Search - Cost NO COST! Local listings can be posted on various sites for free. These free sites include: Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, CitySearch and Google+

8 Post-Venice Benefits to Local Search - Trust (Source: DVX Marketing) 67% of consumers have consulted online reviews of local businesses to determine whether or not that business is a good business.

9 Post-Venice Benefits to Local Search Competition ILS services are not able to create local listings When you compete locally, your competition pool is now simply your neighbors next door instead of the big boys (or girls) of the ILS world

10 What s Driving Local Search? Key Areas Better Targeting Increased Mobile Usage Improved Product Integration Word-of-mouth Trust Factor

11 Don t Miss Out! How to Take Advantage of New Local Search Opportunities Study the methods of companies that do well in the SERP rankings There is one common trend they do MORE than the competition

12 Go Above and Beyond Tactics to Maximize Results Build Local Search Citations Use Images Site Architecture Unique Localized Page Content

13 Go Above and Beyond Build Local Search Citations Citations are directory type web pages that list your company information Google, Bing and Yahoo crawl these directories for new content Increased Local Search Citations = Increased relevance to Google s algorithm Each listing should match exactly to your Google Places page according to your NAP.

14 Go Above and Beyond Top Directories 1. Yelp 2. Foursquare 3. Merchant Circle 4. Manta 5. CitySearch 6. LocalEze 7. LinkedIn 8. Whitepages 9. Supermedia 10. Yellowbook 11. Brownbook 12. Mapquest 13. SmartGuy.com 14. Local.com 15. YellowPages.com 16. ThinkLocal 17. CitySlick 18. USYellowPages 19. MyCity 20. Kudzu

15 Go Above and Beyond Use Images

16 Go Above and Beyond Site Architecture: Rethink Local Index your pages Localize your content

17 Go Above and Beyond Unique Localized Page Content Remove cookie cutter content Make each page unique Avoid penalties for duplicate content

18 Go Above and Beyond Some Additional Ideas: Location based reviews Unique testimonials for each market Gather Why I love my city user generated content Write out directions to each property

19 Travel Tips For Hard-Core Venetians Markup addresses in Schema and hcard Add a KML File and GeoSitemap to your website Authoritative Local Link Building

20 Travel Tips Markup Addresses in Schema and hcard Use: schema-creator.org and microformats.org

21 Travel Tips Add a KML File and GeoSitemap to your WebSite Most underutilized tactic but highly effective Use: Geo Sitemap Generator (Source: SEOmoz)

22 Travel Tips Authoritative Local Link Building Microsites: Build microsites for the submarkets of a large city. Local Guest Posting: Find hyperlocal blogs in your city.

23 Utilize your Local Connections Combine Local Search with Local Touch

24 Utilize your Local Connections Use Local in conjunction with In Person Promotions Social Media Craigslist Newspaper QR Codes Business Community Other Media

25 Don t Forget

26 Don t Forget

27 Don t Forget