Mike The Internet Guy’s Blog

This was a very good session. Greg Sterling was a fantastic moderator, Justin Sanger from local launch explained the high level opportunites, challenges and risks involved with local search. Christine Churchill from KeyRelevance dove deeper into tactics and helpful hints for local SEO and Paid search. Gib Olander from Localeze professed there are two types of local search: discovery and recovery. Carey from WebVisible painted a picture of how local businesses can be categorized into different “levels” of local search. Read on for details….. 

Justin Sanger, Local Launch
-there is a tremendous inventory in local search - ppc, pure local search, IYP’s, local shopping sites, destination vertical search, classifieds, local media, social networking etc
-innovation is moving faster than advetiser adoption
-partnerships are critical and destinations must get comfortable being part of a larger product
-structured content is the future of local business information

Christine Churchill, KeyRelevance
-local businesses are confused by all the options, they don’t know how to choose
-paid search can be expensive for some small local businesses
-She takes a 3 phrase approach

-Distribute good profile data(or review already distributed data for accuracy)
-SEO
-paid search

-Distributing profile data, make sure to get it to

-Axciom
-Amcai
-InfoUSA

-Also distribute data to

-Google Local/Maps
-Yahoo Local
-MSN Local
-Ask Local
-Local.com
-TrueLocal.com

-In addition sign up and use free options on

-City Search
-SuperPages
-Switchboard
-IYPs(Internet Yellow Pages)

-For onsite SEO on local business websites

-make sure address and zip code are on appropriate pages
-include local phone number even when a toll free number is available
-use local descriptions in content and tags
-include local terms in link text
-include a map!

-For offsite SEO on local business websites

-get links from Chamber of Commerce, BBB, local professional organizations, local verticals(directories), niche verticals
-leverage off ”listing sites” already ranking, this is called vertical creep.
-sponsor regional forums and directories

-Paid Search for local businesses

-local search terms get low traffic, very high conversion rates(Superpages is saying 75% Click Through Rate, 45% Conversion Rate) that is incredible!
-check out Quigo for paid search distribution in local media
-use a local term in the creative and on the landing page
-use local filtering options like IP filtering or polygon filtering
-use neighborhoods and zipcodes in your KW list

Gib Olander, Localeze
-according to iCrossing survey 43% of SE users are looking for a local merchant to complete a purchase offline
-90% of people’s time and money spent within 5 miles of home or work
-there is a longtail of local search websites
-make sure you take regional idiosyncrasies into effect when making your keyword list(ie sneakers vs tennis shoes, soda vs pop)
-when an idiosyncrasy may be an issue simply do a quick search for each KW and see which has more listings
-”Recovery Search” is when user is searching for a know business’s information(phone, address, etc)
-”Discovery Search” is when a user is searching for a particular brand, product or service etc.
- For big business local search(ie Walmart, other nationwide retailers) use dealer locator pages to optimize for “local searches”.
-possibly use “microsites” with SEM best practices of course for hyper competitve local markets.

Carey(sorry didn’t get last name) from WebVisibile
- 3 stages of Local Search Advertisers(crawl, walk, walk faster)
- tactics for crawlers who need to understand opportunity and establish presence.

 

-create or re-evaluate website
-answer ‘what do visitors seek from me’
-place contact info on website
-place credibility info such as logos etc on website

-tactics for ‘walkers’

-add more search engines to mix
-start different campaigns for seasonality (ie heating and cooling repair service)
-optimize land pages for seasonanility

-tactics for ‘fast walkers’

-optimize for conversions
-extend reach
-continue customer conversations..

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