SEO mistakes abound

Here’s a look at MySpace Local, with some comments on the botched or ignored SEO on the new site.

MySpace Local currently uses ip Geotargeting to display a customized home page based on detecting your location. Obviously the SEO guys over at MySpace or CitySearch did not read Andrew Shotland’s article entitled Geotargeting Location by IP Address = SEO Death in which he explains that it doesn’t usually work to your advantage to geotarget users and display unique content based on detected location. Geotargeting is still an inexact art, and is often wrong at guessing the exact location of a user. Worse, it also screws up your link juice distribution in your website. When I visited MySpace Local for the first time it told me I was in San Diego, whereas I am not even in San Diego County (I’m slightly north).

I also noticed the nice feature that shows recent reviews section at the bottom of the page which updates as new reviews come in for your determined location. It moves the most recent reviews to the top while the old ones slide down. The bad part about this is that all the links and content are inside the java script, so no link juice is passed onto the recent reviews—therefore they won’t be indexed as quickly as they could be.

As long as we are on the subject of link juice distribution, you will also notice that MySpace does not use the nofollow tag anywhere on the page, including the footer.

In fact they do not even link to a sitemap that lists all the cities covered; they only link to the top cities in the U.S.  At first I thought that maybe this was a sign they have only launched in major cities but when I do a search for restaurants in Murrieta, California I get some Murrieta restaurants as you see by clicking here.

MySpace Local also shows the top restaurant categories on the home page but doesn’t actually use the word “restaurants” in the anchor text of the link to the “San Diego restaurants” page but instead the anchor text “All Cuisines” down at the bottom of the page.

It currently looks like MySpace Local is limited to bars, clubs, and restaurants.

City + category pages

City + category pages are usually the bread and butter for any major IYP. These are the pages that list the top plumbers, restaurants and so on in a city and can rank very well in Google, as we see below with the Yelp page for the search San Diego Plumber:

The first thing that stands out on San Diego Restaurants page is there is no H1 tag. This isn’t a disaster, but it is basic SEO stuff that they should be able to get right since, after all, they are MySpace. They did however get the title tag of their page right for “San Diego Restaurants,” but the fact they used “San Diego Restaurants” vs. “Restaurants in San Diego” makes a big difference in the search volume; 65,00 vs. 27,100. Even though they did get the title tag right it doesn’t mean they had an SEO go through and properly optimize the site. Getting the title tag right was most likely a coincidence instead of tactical move as we take a look at the botched URL as you see below:

The SEO mistakes don’t stop with the URL though, which can easily be fixed by implementing URL rewriting. They actually haven’t even implemented meta description tags but instead opted for the useless meta keywords tag:

The pagination is not much better. All the links to pages including the “next” button are in java script, so needless to say these pages will most likely not be indexed unless a user links to a page from an external website and makes sure to leave out the nofollow tag. The bad part isn’t that these pages will not be indexed. I actually would recommend  adding the noindex tag to all the page twos and beyond. The real disadvantage they have now is that the business listings on those pages will not be indexed since MySpace does not provide a sitemap for all the business listings it has.

Business listing pages

The business listing pages have serious problems with duplicate title tag issues. You can view an example of a Business Listing page here.  They have the current title tag set up as “%Business Name% Reviews and Ratings|MySpace Local.” Aside from adding a space in between the divider and the words “Ratings” and “MySpace,” they should add the city name and phone number of the business to the title tag. There will be cases where there is more than one business with a particular name in the U.S. and perhaps even in the same city.

They do, on the other hand, have an H1 tag in place which is the business’s name. MySpace Local does have one great feature where users can easily grade a business which is this nifty little slide bar:

I do have to admit that one of the best features I did find on MySpace Local was the fact that CitySearch did negotiate to have every single business listing page link back to the original CitySearch listing page. The button looks like this:

Most likely users will be expecting to the view the business’s website as the button does say “Visit Website” but what they get is the CitySearch listing page that looks like this. They do have a parameter in the referring URL that does track the referrer and adds a parameter “&placement=moneybar” which I imagine CitySearch probably does a revenue split on all ads clicked on from users sent over via MySpace. The best part of this is when you jump to the listing page, you get a big graphic that advertises users to share their reviews via Facebook.

MySpace Local has potential to be a useful local listings site, as well as a good competitor to Facebook—but only if they clean up their SEO act and fix some of the mistakes they’ve made with basic search engine blocking & tackling.

Of course search marketers were quick to try to capitalize on this new found way of marketing, and quickly social media optimization was born. The debates started just as quickly as this new marketing medium started on whether there was any true value for businesses in social media. Local search has proved there is great benefit from social media from a pure rankings stand point.

Recently at SMX West I spoke with fellow Search Engine Land writer David Mihm and I touched on the subject of using social media as way to gather web references quickly. Web references as we all know are the equivalent to links in the Google local search world, so being able to quickly generate quality web references is becoming an essential skill. Really good social media marketers are not just able to create web references but also have a good shot at controlling almost all the content on the page. With MySpace or even Facebook this is easily done.

If you are a company, a golden rule to follow while taking ownership of your Google local listing is to fill in the URL of your listing and point it to the location specific page that is corresponding the Google local listing. Obviously, if you have a single location business you can point it to the home page of your website. After you have taken over the listing just follow these simple steps:

1. Point listing URL to corresponding location page
2. Link to business Facebook page
3. Link to business MySpace page
4. Link to business Twitter page

Make sure to include your business address in hCard format in MySpace so that search engine crawlers can easily make out the address. On the other social media sites, clearly display you addresses in the about me sections of the pages. Don’t do an update page, because you want Google to pick up web references from the business pages rather than the individual update page. You should end up with some Web References looking a little like this:

After you have linked your individual location page, you should incorporate past tips and maybe throw an event and post it on Yahoo! Upcoming and make a coupon on Google maps and link to those pages from your social media pages—not from your website, as this will conserve link juice for pages that actually have a potential to rank for brand name searches while still allowing Google to find and connect your web reference pages with your business.

When you have done all the above steps you should have a linking structure that looks something like this:

This is a simple way to quickly and efficiently take advantage of social media for local business that helps not only with brand recognition but actually increases rankings for searches that actually generate business.

The web references effect

Google indexes tons of local content a day and tries to match this information up with a local listing. This is called a “web reference” which helps increase rankings in the Google Onebox. One thing you may not know is that a page can be counted as a web reference and not have to be about just one business. Here you see a web reference from the Yodle Local directory:

As you can see, the page indexed as a web reference is a category page for “Male Waxing” which is a child category for the directory underneath “Day Spa”. Getting in many categories which put you on multiple category pages can result in multiple web references.

The results effect

Writing good content and getting good web references isn’t always enough to get your listing to the top of the local results. I recently spoke at the Kelsey ILM:08 show in which I spoke on Local Search Tactics and Video Optimization. A few companies and I were dealt the same business to market on the internet to show the industry the different types of companies available.

The client given to us was Dr. John Vellequette, a Cosmetic Dentist in Sunnyvale, CA. One of the keywords he said he would like to rank for was “Emergency Dentist in Sunnyvale, CA” because he tends to make a nice profit on emergency situations.

When his listings went live I checked Google, and yep #1. Then I checked Yahoo!, but wait, he was #2, and the person in the #1 position wasn’t even in Sunnyvale.

The #1 position in fact wasn’t even a dentist but simply a Dental Referral Service. The fact that the business name had the word “Emergency” in it and added the category “Dental Referral Services” may have been enough for Yahoo! to rank them over the client.

This shows that by simply adding a few extra categories that you may not always think about can easily shoot you up to the top of the rankings with little or no content and web references.

Stephen Espinosa is a Local Search Expert and the world’s biggest Chicago White Sox fan. He writes regularly at www.StephenEspinosa.com. He and his dog Carl live in Winchester, CA with his wife Stephanie. The Locals Only column appears weekly at Search Engine Land.

I deal with thousands of local listings a month and many of the problems mentioned in the earlier articles. Here are my thoughts on improving the overall experience for local busines owners and searchers:

1. Serve multiple cities - Some companies create fake listings and fake addresses because they can only appear in the city their address is in. Google Maps filters by city to ensure the integrity and relevance of the results. Here are some possible solutions:
   • Take into account if other cities are mentioned in the web references to the business.
   • Add a “Cities Serviced” field to enable local businesses to add, for instance, surrounding cities.
   • Make user and search-engine friendly permalinks so that people can link to the listings, and take into account the anchor text of the link.
2. Facilitate listing adoption – Business owners who find the internet difficult typically don’t have websites and don’t know they can adopt their listings. We as internet marketers, search enthusiast, and search engines have to accept this.  Yes, we as searchers may not find that very obscure perfect result for “Coffee Shop with Wifi Open After 10 that is dog friendly in Mountain View, CA” but we will not be susceptible to searches full of spam as we are today. A “Report Spam” button would be great, but all searchers aren’t as good samaritans and will most likely rephrase the search, or simply go to Yahoo!. So what is the solution? Be more open, as Android and Open Social are. Create an API where authorized agencies and/or companies can manage the listings for the plumbers and locksmiths of the world. The companies that will most likely be the first on board with this are yellow page and newspaper companies and they will probably charge a small fee.
3. Make management of multiple locations easier – I recently spoke at SMX Local and ran into an attendee who was an in house SEO and managed the online marketing for several hundred hotels. She was surprised that even though she used the Local Business Center’s (LBC) bulk upload she was still vulnerable to her listing being taken over. I explained to her she still needs to verify them manually in the UI and confirm by phone or postcard. Why was she confused? Here is what the LBC says about bulk uploads:“If your business has many locations, you can add or change the listings for all of them at once by submitting the information in a spreadsheet. This is called a “feed.”This gives someone the impression that the bulk upload will be enough to avoid listings being taken over, and it won’t. So what is the solution? This one is tricky and might require they just use the phone verification method or adopt the earlier solution I presented that being going through an Authorized Listing Manager.

As Google Maps evolves, it may want to consider adding these, or similar features, to ensure all local businesses are accurately represented.

Stephen Espinosa is a Local Search Expert and the world’s biggest Chicago White Sox fan. He writes regularly at www.StephenEspinosa.com. He and his dog Carl live in Winchester, CA with his wife Stephanie. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

One of the first things most local search marketers have on their to do lists is getting their listings to appear in a Google Onebox at the top of Google’s search results. To be in the box, you usually need to be in Google’s top local search results. And one of the major factors that influences that are "web references." Web references aren’t links, but in local search results, they act similarly to how links can boost a page in "regular" search results. Here are some ways of quickly accumulating some great web references and bump your local listing towards the top in Google.

What is a web reference?

Google crawls local sites, internet yellow pages (IYPs) and other sources to gather as much information as it can about all the local businesses it has in its index. When it finds a page referencing a business it knows of, it then places that page in the "Web Pages" section of the Google local listing and adds whatever data it has gathered as it sees fit.

1) The more categories the better

When creating your local listing in internet yellow pages or local search channels, make sure to add as many relevant categories as possible. Most typical IYPs will have City+Category pages made throughout their website for Google to index. So if you add your listing to two relevant categories, when Google crawls those pages, they will both be added as to separate web references as seen below:

2) Coupons are more than just an incentive

Google allows you to create coupons to add to your local listing to use as an incentive for customers to choose your business or help market current promotions. What they don’t tell you is that Google also crawls its own coupon pages and can also apply them as a web reference, as well as you can see at the bottom of this example:

3) Throw a party

After you have been successful in the first two steps and getting some great web references, throw a party. But wait, don’t forget to add this party to local event sites like meetup or Yahoo! Upcoming. Google also crawls these sites for local content about the businesses it knows of and, you guessed it, attributes these as web references:

Try these tips — there’s a good chance your competitor is not, and they might give you and advantage they’re missing out on.

Stephen Espinosa is a Local Search Expert and the world’s biggest Chicago White Sox fan. He writes regularly at www.StephenEspinosa.com. He and his dog Carl live in Winchester, CA with his wife Stephanie. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

If you have a site you want to optimize for local searches, you generally want the site to appear in the web search local listing (Google Onebox or Yahoo! shortcut). Creating a page for your local listing could be a determining factor in your listing’s appearance. Below, an easy four step guide to creating a great, complementary page for your local listing.

Step 1: complementary content

Of course we all know that content is king, but for local, consistent content is king. Keep your optimized business description content as similar across all listings and potential “web references” as possible. Google only allows you to insert a 120 character description in your listing so you will want to consider including an excerpt or short version of the description that will be on your website. Yahoo! Local makes you pay for an Enhanced Listing ($9.95 per month) to be able to add a description and it is well worth it.

Step 2: address and phone number

Whether you have only one location or multiple locations, when you are linking to a page from your local listing it is great for that page to have the address phone number of that location located on that page, preferably in hCard format. This may help the engines associate these pages with the listings and influence display of a “plus box” underneath the page in natural results as shown below.

Step 3: link to potential web references

The Google Local algorithm is different from the PageRank algorithm used for web results. It appears to me that the Local algorithm relies more on how often a business is referenced around the web instead of on links. You want to make it easy for Google to find these references for your business. We know that Google and Yahoo! Local both crawl the pages of the URL placed in the listing and take that into account for ranking. My research seems to indicate that Google follows outbound links on that page as well and sees if they can associate that page as a web reference with the listing. A nice trick is to link to your Yahoo! Local Listing and/or a YouTube video about your company if you have one and also anchor text the link with a key phrase you would like to rank for. You will not only benefit from potential natural rankings of these pages but your local listing will benefit from these pages being counted as web references as you can see below.

Step 4: title tag

Yes, we have all heard it before, use keywords in title tag. This is equally, if not more important when it comes to the landing page URL of your local listing. This page will no doubt become a web reference for your local listing. What has become obvious in my research through thousands of local listings is that the title tag of the web reference plays a factor in how much weight or authority is placed in the reference. Think of this as the difference between a PR 1 link and a PR 4 link. Although there are many other factors that go along with the ranking impact of each web reference, this is one of the major ones.

So there you have it, follow these simple steps and you will be on your way to a Google Onebox result in no time, or a Yahoo! Shortcut. I would also recommend making a page for each location the business has and add the URL for the appropriate local listing.

Stephen Espinosa is a Local Search Expert and the world’s biggest Chicago white sox fan. He writes regularly at www.StephenEspinosa.com. He and his dog Carl live in Winchester, CA with his wife Stephanie. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.