Dinkum Interactive » Local Search

Local Search Tips: Hack Your Way to the Top

Bill — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:26:34 +0000

Ok, maybe “hack” is a bit strong, but small businesses can dramatically improve their ability to be found in their local area by doing a couple simple things.

Sign Up for Local Business Directories

There are a wide variety of local business directories that offer SMBs the opportunity to list their companies for free. Of course, the “800 pound Gorilla” is Google Local, but Yahoo!, Yellow Pages and YellowBook are nothing to sneeze at either. Businesses should be prepared to provide a complete profile, hours of operation, a photo, etc… Here are a few links to get started:

Geotag Content

Businesses should make every attempt to occupy as much of the first page for their business location as possible. This is particularly helpful for B2C businesses, but it can also be helpful to B2Bs too. Briefly, Geotagging Geotagging is the inclusion of geographic information when posting content. This can include the town, a street address or even longitude or latitude information on sites like Flickr, YouTube and Google Maps .

These are just two examples of how businesses can help themselves by spending a modest amount of additional efforts in their online marketing efforts to dramatically improve their online visibility.

We’ll offer more tips in the near future. In the meantime, can you offer any of your favorites?

Bill Rowland

Twitter Geocoding: How Will It Help Your Business?

Bill — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:58:51 +0000

I’ve always been enamored with the use of location-aware services, like GPS. In my opinion, they will be a game-changer for small business. That’s why I was really interested to hear that Twitter will be adding geo-code information to Tweets.

What does this mean? Conceivably, businesses will now be able to focus on Twitter users in their geography. The result could be much more impactful and contextually relevant communication for location-based businesses. In the past, businesses were dependent on following users that have included geo-information in their profiles, which was inefficient and only marginally useful. This expansion of functionality could make it this social media tool much more productive for applications involving:

Restaurants & Bars
Local Services
Concerts
Community Events

Though exciting, it may be some time until we see this feature. Twitter is currently just giving access to developers so it may be some time until we see this functionality.

Here’s Twitter’s Blog Post: Location, Location, Location

Sidebar: Functionality like this could be attractive enough to warrant businesses paying a fee. Could Twitter use this as part of a premium services monetization strategy?

Bill Rowland

Google, Your ISP, and Search Implications

Paul Mo — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:22:53 +0000

Recently, Google has placed more importance on your local IP address when producing natural search results for certain broad search terms. Google is showing a map and the top 10 local listings within the organic search results. You don’t have to add a city name or zip code to find local listings as before. Here’s a sample search for “lawn mowers.” I live in Morton PA.

From a Marketing Perspective

Local businesses who target local markets can now be exposed for broad queries. Any SEM plan done for small businesses needs to incorporate local business inclusion through Google’s Local Business Center. www.google.com/local/add I’ll discuss more details on this in a later post.
Google local business algorithms change frequently, but to increase chances of being in the top 10 of the local business listings, follow the following rules of thumb within the Local Business center:A) Make sure listings are complete and comprehensive.
B) Make sure all relevant terms are listed.
C) Ask customers to write positive reviews, and use relevant keywords in their reviews.
D) Upload photos of a storefront, products, even happy customers.
E) Register your site within local directories (SEO factor) such as online yellow pages, and specific category directories like Yelp.com.
In the past, users would get frustrated by generic 1-2 word searches due to result relevancy. With local results showing for generic terms now, this should influence people’s search behavior over time.
For Adwords advertisers who are affected by local business results, we are now recommending some generic broad match terms. The importance of long-tail specific keywords will always be a priority, but if I sold lawn mowers, and I wasn’t in the top ranking of the local business results as above, I would consider bidding on the term “lawn mowers” so that my message would be shown alongside the local listings.

In summary, for those looking for local businesses, this allows a real benefit for users who can now bypass national companies or directories in the organic search results and instead go right to local companies through the local business listings or through an accompanying sponsored link text ad.

Paul Mosenson

Yearning for Local Search

Paul — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:27:54 +0000

One of the biggest movers in search this past month was CitySquares.com which indicates that people really want more from local search which is getting pretty interesting. With so many of our clients strictly targeting the local marketplace, many have been having problems gaining traction online and services like Superpages.com and Yellowpages.com don’t come cheap…having to scramble a little to fill the void of their print directories. They are trying, believe me, I get hounded with new ideas and initiatives from PPC management and free print listings to 2 for 1 deals. According to Alexa, and Quantcast and compete and whatever other tool you want to use to figure out traffice numbers, these sites are holding fairly steady despite massive advertising initiatives for some.

So it’s interesting to see that another player to join the fray has blown up in popularity, particularly as it currently only serves New England and Manhattan. I think the key here is that it’s more than just listings and reviews. It’s news, events, suggestions all centered around your zip code. Called hyper-local, this is a model that actually might have an impact on local search. More like facebook and less like a directory. Keep an eye on this space.

PaulFleming is co-founder and VP of Interactive Services for Dinkum Interactive. A trained teacher, Paul has worked in a variety of forms of Internet Marketing but with a focus on SEO. Originally from Australia, he now resides in Philadelphia with his wife and 2 ankle-biters.