Local Search provides the latest news and information about the growing segment of local search marketing, including tips on how to take advantage of local directory providers and online yellow page listings, mapping tools and location based services to help users uncover real-world merchants, franchise locations, locally owned small businesses and community places. Columnists cover geo-targeting, zip code and map data being used by searchers and search engines to provide locally relevant results.

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Simplicity Is Key To Converting Local Consumers To Customers

Jan 16, 2012 at 9:55am ET by Myles Anderson

As more local consumers turn to search engines and IYPs to locate good businesses in their area, it's surprising how many local businesses have not updated their websites or, worse still, don't have a website at all! [caption id="attachment_107737" align="alignright" width="300" caption="You'd have to be it's mother to love this website!"][/caption] The majority of local SEO activities focus on reaching new, potential customers via Google Places, local directories, social media etc... But not enough consideration is given to what happens when you get a local consumer to your w [...]

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Predictions For Local Search In 2012 – Year Of The Dragon

Jan 2, 2012 at 10:30am ET by Chris Silver Smith

The last few years in local search have seen some unprecedented changes in online local business marketing, and you might think that the evolution would be ready to slow down. However, I don't believe that's going to happen yet, so enter 2012 -- Year of the Dragon! For the purpose of this article, I'm using a broader definition for "local search" which includes local services and related marketing technologies through which consumers might discover local businesses and those businesses' promotional efforts. Online options for marketing and distribution of local business messages expanded [...]

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Mobile: The Ghost Of Future Local SMB Marketing

Dec 26, 2011 at 11:11am ET by Andrew Shotland

"If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with 'Local Online Marketing" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!" - Ebenezer Scrooge Tis the season to contemplate the future of the local Web marketing for small businesses (SMBs) my friends. For all of you tight-fisted hands at the grindstone, 2012 is loaded with opportunity. But are you going to be a Marley, the walking dead bogged down by the chains of your past, or a reborn Scrooge, dancing in the streets in your pajamas? "There is never enough time to [...]

Top 50 Citation Sources For UK & US Local Businesses

Dec 19, 2011 at 2:19pm ET by Myles Anderson

Here is a little Christmas gift for all local Citation builders: a carefully curated list of the top 50 Citation Sources for businesses in the US & UK.* Over 1 Million Local Citation Sources Found Between March-May 2011, the research team at BrightLocal conducted a huge Citation Analysis project. Over 480,000 Google Places listings were analyzed across 40 business sectors and 100 locations. The Citation information was extracted into a database of over 1.1 million individual citation sources. This extensive list was filtered down, removing all brand and business ‘brochure-ware’ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

Five Steps To Capturing Mobile Customers In 2012

Dec 12, 2011 at 11:41am ET by Stephanie Hobbs

One of the top local marketing headlines this holiday season is that mobile is playing a much greater role in the average shopping experience. With a fast-growing and appealing consumer base now utilizing mobile devices throughout the purchasing process from pre- to post-sale, local businesses are taking note and investing in mobile marketing at an unprecedented rate. Here’s a five-step process to better understand the mobile shopping phenomenon to enable your business to influence customer decisions in 2012. 1. Recognize Mobile Is A Big Deal That’s Only Getting Bigger Early cons [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

How To Use Pinterest For Local SEO

Dec 5, 2011 at 11:41am ET by Chris Silver Smith

Looking for a little extra lift for your holiday season local search rankings? Instead of relying on some elf-magic, consider making your own ranking magic through using Pinterest, a young social media site that is rising in popularity faster than Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve! There's a growing buzz amongst search engine optimization (SEO) circles at the moment that Pinterest is rapidly gaining traffic and traction (see Pinterest Gaining Traction for External SEO and Pinterest: Link Building & SEO Strategies). You can see its virtually astronomical rise on Google Trends, compare [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

5 Tips For Responding To Negative Customer Reviews Online

Nov 28, 2011 at 9:06am ET by Andrew Shotland

It's holiday time and I thought I'd spread a little cheer by talking about negative reviews and how fun they are for local businesses. As Yelp says, "negative reviews can feel like a punch in the gut". Even better, according to a recent study by Cone Communications, four out of five consumers have changed their minds about a recommended purchase based solely on negative information they found online. But there's a lot of lemonade to be made from those review lemons. After all, negative reviews can increase sales. Negative reviews can help potential customers feel like they have "done t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

How Google Panda & Places Updates Created A Rollercoaster Ride For IYP Traffic

Nov 21, 2011 at 1:07pm ET by Myles Anderson

2011 has been a dramatic year for the local SEO industry. Our little world is growing faster than ever with more businesses, more SEOs and more money flowing into the market. But it has also had its share of drama too. Google has kept us on our toes with some fundamental changes to its Places algorithm, integration of local results and a major update to its Places interface. There have also been considerable waves from Google Panda with 12% of search results being affected by this new algorithm. By and large, local business websites have escaped the effects of Panda, but they were not th [...]

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3 Simple Steps To Get Siri & Her Friends To Talk Up Your Local Business

Nov 14, 2011 at 12:38pm ET by Stephanie Hobbs

Like many of you, I’ve eagerly been testing out Siri, the popular new voice-activated "personal assistant" on Apple’s iPhone 4S. Whether testing her functionality to complete basic tasks like setting a calendar appointment or checking the weather – or her responses to some rather ridiculous requests like, "Siri, do you love me?" – I’m quite impressed by her capabilities and the opportunities the feature presents across a wide variety of applications. Between Siri and Google’s Android’s Voice Actions – which offers many similar features including the ability to dictate tex [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

9 Common Ways To Bork Your Local Rankings In Google

Nov 7, 2011 at 9:46am ET by Chris Silver Smith

It's not surprising that small businesses make mistakes in Google Places when setting up and claiming their profiles. It can be confusing and the guidelines even change over time. So, here's a list of some common mistakes to avoid. This isn't the first time I've written a "what not to do" article (see What NOT To Do On Local Business Websites). But it's worthwhile to emphasize some of the things I still see local businesses doing wrong in Google Places, since some of the more common stuff results in needless frustration and delays. Nine Common Ways To Bork Your Local Rankings In Google [...]

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How To Find Local Influencers On Google Plus

Oct 31, 2011 at 10:46am ET by Andrew Shotland

Google has been making a big deal out of privacy lately, but Google+ just launched a slew of new features designed to make people easier to find. I am particularly intrigued by the new Ripples feature, which allows you to see who has shared a post and track it as it gets shared by others. It is, in fact, like watching a ripple. Ripples strikes me as much more of a feature for marketers than for consumers. I suppose Google+ wants to attract power users who typically have more of a marketing mindset than the average Joe. So of course the first thing I thought of was that Ripples would [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Social Search | Local Search

How Users Search For Local Businesses + 5 Tips To Optimize Local Listings

Oct 24, 2011 at 11:37am ET by Myles Anderson

In a recent staff meeting, it emerged that the most regular question our customer support agents get asked by our customers* is: "When we track our local search rankings, how much should we focus on search terms that include a local term (e.g. town name, ZIP code) vs. generic keywords without the local term?" From a local search optimization point of view, it’s essential for local businesses to include local terms (aka "geo-modifiers") in their site content and link building activities. Google needs to know where you’re located and which areas you serve in order to return your business a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

5 Considerations In Planning Your Small Business 2012 Ad Budget

Oct 17, 2011 at 11:05am ET by Stephanie Hobbs

Last month, I had the opportunity to join nearly 400 leaders from major local search companies for the BIA/Kelsey DMS ‘11 conference in Denver. The annual industry event -- which this year included speakers and panelists from the likes of AT&T Interactive, Eniro, Facebook, Local Matters, Microsoft Advertising, Telmetrics, Urbanspoon, Yellow Pages Group and Yellowbook -- explored the latest developments and future opportunities for small businesses in digital/online media, performance-based commerce and customer retention. Here are five key takeaways relevant to local business owner [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

12 Tips For Using Press Releases In Local Online Marketing

Oct 10, 2011 at 9:55am ET by Chris Silver Smith

Press releases have long been a preferred (and now a patented) part of optimizing sites; when done well, they can be a good method for link building on steroids. Larger corporations often use the medium effectively, while it doesn't occur to many local businesses. Here's why you should consider it for promoting your local company online. I've written in the past about using press releases for improving PageRank, and as a vehicle to get reporters to promote businesses. Press releases are nearly a throwback to an older time period -- they follow a moderately standard format and have be [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

Top 10 Negative Google News Ranking Factors

Oct 3, 2011 at 1:28pm ET by Andrew Shotland

Last week, I released the results of a survey of Google News Ranking Factors with some of the top news SEOs in the business. While there has been plenty of response regarding the Top 10 Most Important Factors, I thought it would be helpful to take a closer look at the Top Negative Factors. In my work with local news publishers, I have seen many of them doing a lot of things which hurt their rankings. 1. Duplicate Content Just as in traditional Web SEO, duplicate content was determined to be the biggest negative factor. And while plenty of news sites create duplicate content on their own, t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: News | Google: SEO | Local Search

Harnessing The Power Of Online Customer Reviews For Local Business Growth

Sep 26, 2011 at 12:52pm ET by Myles Anderson

The local search market is a rapidly growing and changing area of search marketing. Local consumers are both more elusive and more connected than ever before and local business owners need to keep step with their customers’ online behavior in order to remain relevant and prominent in their local market. Smart business owners have already embraced the Internet and mobile as powerful ways to attract new customers, and the sheer number of innovative local sites, services and LBS apps that have sprung up to capture a slice of this market is staggering. Customer Opinions Lie At The Heart Of M [...]

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4 Tips For Taking Ownership Of Your Local Business’ Online Presence

Sep 19, 2011 at 12:39pm ET by Stephanie Hobbs

David Segal’s story in The New York Times earlier this month about the virtual closing of local businesses on Google Places and the significant and negative impact it has had on some real-world businesses – is the latest warning that losing control of your business’ online presence can have a detrimental effect on your ability to attract and keep customers. While Google has said it is working to fix the issue, the fact that local businesses’ presence can so quickly and effectively be compromised online raises a lot of questions about what businesses should be doing to preempt, iden [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

5 Tips To Get More Online Customer Reviews

Sep 12, 2011 at 8:40am ET by Andrew Shotland

Google's acquisition of Zagat last week and Yelp's excellent snarky response has brought customer reviews to the forefront of the news again, so it's a good time to start thinking about how garnering more online reviews fits into your business. In my experience, when it comes to reviews there are four types of businesses: Businesses that get most of their business from referrals, don't get any online reviews and could care less about them (perhaps the biggest chunk of businesses). Businesses that get most of their business from referrals, get online reviews and think that nobody [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

6 Key Findings From The 2011 Local SEO Industry Survey

Aug 29, 2011 at 3:46pm ET by Myles Anderson

If you ask any local SEO what the nature of our industry is like, you’ll get a range of answers from ‘exciting‘ & ‘high-growth’ to ‘ever changing’, ‘full of opportunity’ and 'challenging'. The local online advertising market has seen strong growth over the last few years and this positive trend is expected to continue. Research group BIA/Kelsey forecasts that local online ad revenues will double between 2010 and 2015 to US$45 billion (US market only). While SEO is distinctly different from online advertising, the objective for clients is the same. National and local [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

Recent Trends Should Guide How Businesses Grow Local Search Strategies

Aug 22, 2011 at 11:39am ET by Stephanie Hobbs

When it comes to online and mobile advertising, many local businesses are still getting their feet wet. Even for those who have dove head-first into opportunities online or via mobile, the rules and solutions are changing so fast, it’s often difficult to keep your head above water and stay ahead of the competition. As we head into fall, let’s catch up on the latest trends and developments in local search space – and what you should consider as you start to build out your business’s advertising strategy for 2012. Take Charge Of Social Media Social media is playing a significant rol [...]

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