11 Reasons To Give Google+ A Try
If you’ve had one eye on Gogole+ and the other trying to figure out why you’d try it, let me give you 11 reasons why you should try it. You don’t have to leave Facebook and Twitter behind, and you don’t have to spend all your time on Google+ checking out your friends. But if you run a business, Google+ can be your friend.
11 reasons to try Google+ now:
- Every time you use Google+ your Google profile rises in search. Give yourself more search prominence.
- Because Google+ is owned by the largest search engine online you can bet there will be search benefits in some fashion.
- There is a built in local component with the tie-in between Google Maps and Google Places and Google+
- You can use your Circles for better targeting of your prospects.
- Google+ business accounts are soon on the way.
- Sharing YouTube videos is much easier through Google+
- Google Picasa allows you to share photos easier through Google+ and you have unlimited photo storage.
- Google Hangouts.
- Google+ allows you to add hundreds of new people to network with one click through Circle sharing.
- You can set the privacy for each component of your Google+ profile.
- It’s easy to use.
So how many more reasons do you need? Google+ offers you the best in search and social. Try it.
The Relevance In Google Maps’ Algorithm
Googler Jeremy Sussman explains in the following video how Google Maps uses location, relevance, and prominence to rank a business in Google Maps. Watch the video and we’ll talk about what the relevance factor means.
So what is meant by “relevance?”
Relevance in Google Maps means you have done everything you can do as a business to ensure that your Google Places profile matches the search queries that people use to find businesses like yours. Factors that determine relevance include the category you put your business into, keywords you use when writing your description, and other traditional SEO factors.
Of prime importance is category. If your business is a restaurant, you don’t want to categorize it as a butcher shop. That’s a no-brainer. But even subtle differences can make a big difference in Google Maps. For instance, an auto repair shop that does not do body work does not want to list itself as a body shop.
When you write the description for your business, be sure to use keywords that are naturally associated with businesses like yours. Don’t spam, but use natural writing methods to describe your business using the right keywords.
Other items that could affect relevance are how you write your offers within Google Places, whether your domain and business name have a keyword in them, and whether or not you use your business address in your listing.
Relevance is an important factor in Google Maps search. Learn how to make it work for you.
Local Search Is In High Growth Stage
Predictions show that local search ad revenue will increase by as much as 10% per year through 2015. Furthermore, 30% of all searches performed by then will be local in nature. That spells it out loud, if you’re listening: Get on now to get ahead.
By “local search ad revenue,” let’s be clear what we’re talking about. It’s a clear reference to pay-per-click advertising. And that leads us to an obvious question: Whose revenue?
The search engines, of course, will be profiting from that growth. However, that doesn’t mean that others won’t profit as well. Local businesses that learn how to leverage online advertising – particularly PPC advertising – will also profit. They will profit from the traffic they receive from that advertising.
Are you ready to take that leap into local search advertising? You should be. Historic studies show that PPC advertising pays. Advertisers who use PPC to drive traffic to their websites and who learn to harness the power of the written word on their landing pages do rather well.
Here’s the big difference between the PPC advertising of the past and the PPC of the future: It’s going local. All that really means is that local businesses are going to enjoy a lot more of the benefits that global businesses have been enjoying for the past few years. Are you ready to get in on that?
Is Local PPC Effective?
We’ve extolled the virtues of pay per click advertising over and over again. We’ve also praised the benefits of local search marketing. But what about local PPC? Is it all that?
Yes, it is. And a bag of potato chips too.
Our take on local and PPC marketing is that you should always drill down as far as you can in any channel you are trying to develop. If you are optimizing your website for search traffic and you are a business that caters to a local clientele, then you should be targeting your SEO efforts to local traffic. If you are using PPC, then you should be targeting your PPC efforts to local traffic as well.
This drill down is much more effective, believe it or not, than the alternative. Just think about it:
If you sell widgets and you write your PPC ads to appeal to people searching for widgets without a local geotargeting key phrase, then you’ll be paying for traffic that you may not want. But if you sell widgets in your local shop and you want to reach a strictly local business, then local PPC makes a heck of a lot of sense. Geotarget your ads and you’ll pay only for local clicks, not global.
Not only is local PPC effective, but it is often more effective.
On Google’s Efforts To Make Local Better
Say what you will about Google, but they are clearly a company that seeks to improve. They may not always succeed, but the effort is there.
According to an article in Marketing Pilgrim, Google’s latest effort to improve local search involves sending real live human beings out into certain markets to “touch base” with local small business owners. I think this is awesome and it shows some promise of good coming of it.
The Pilgrim article mentions Google’s three goals with regard to improving local search:
1. Introduce them to and educate them about Google Places and local search in general
2. Claim their Place Page and give them tips about managing that page moving forward
3. Introduce them to and educate them about the NFC (near field communications) window decal that Google would like to see in every merchants’ window across the land.
I think Frank Reed makes a salient point when he says that Google should reach out to small business consultants in local markets too. After all, small business owners often consult these consultants with regard to local search marketing measures. Much of Google’s business will likely come from consultants who sell their services to the small business owners and it will likely lead to more business for Google.
If you haven’t learned local search is the future of search marketing and that Google and Bing hold the keys to success in that channel, well, let me be the first tell you. I’m excited about the future of search.
What Is A Web Citation?
Internet marketers don’t talk about web citations very often. But there is such a thing as a Web citation that doesn’t involve a link. It can be helpful in obtaining decent local search engine rankings.
If you look at your Google Place page as well as your Yahoo! Local and Bing Local listings, then you’ll notice that your business address and phone number are included in those listings. As they should be. But what if your business name, address, and phone number appear on other pages around the Web without a link pointing back to your website. Would that help you?
I believe these types of Web citations do, in fact, help you if you are a local business seeking local search rankings. It means that local businesses do not necessarily have to have a load of inbound links in order to rank for local search terms.
So where can you find these Web citations?
First and foremost, you should have your contact information on your website. Secondly, industry or niche business directories, as well as local community directories, can be a big help. Your local Chamber of Commerce website can also provide a link. If you are a travel-related business, then the local visitor’s information center could list you as a resource. General directories like YellowPages.com and Superpages can also provide the information.
In those listings, of course, a link can help you – it will never hurt. I am simply saying it isn’t necessary to give you a respectable local search ranking. However, you still want to be competitive.
Here are two scenarios to illustrate how links and Web citations work together to improve your local search visibility.
- You have 100 Web citations of equal relevance to your closest competitor’s 50 Web citations. All other search criteria data are equal. You will likely rank higher than your competition.
- Both you and your closest competitor have 100 Web citations of equal relevance. You have 100 inbound links of high quality and relevance while your competition has only 50 inbound links of equal quality and relevance. All other factors are equal. You will likely rank higher than your competition.
So, as you can see, Web citations are important for local search positioning, but so are links. If you have both, then you are going somewhere.
Using Professional Directories For SEO
Professional directories and search engines pose a terrific opportunity for any professional to increase their search engine optimization benefits.
Such directories often allow you to add a link to your website. Sometimes you have to pay for this link, but it can still benefit you as Google often does not penalize directory listings. However, they can, so make sure you are using a reputable directory and not a spam farm.
When it comes to profession-specific directory listings, there are two types. The first type is the official old-fashioned directory where you submit your listing and it is either approved or unapproved by the directory owners.
The second type of directory really isn’t a directory at all. It’s a search engine. You don’t have to submit your website because the search engine will list it automatically.
An example of the second type of directory is MyVeterinarian.com. Their search engine is powered by Google, which means if you have a website indexed by Google, then it will appear in the profession-specific directory as well. This benefits you in two ways.
First, if someone conducts a search for a vet in a specific area at that search engine, then you could be found there. Secondly, the link to your website from the profession-specific search engine could pass on some link juice and help your website rank better for the right search term. Presto! Two benefits.
I highly recommend using profession-specific search engines. There is not a lot that can go wrong.
Recriprocal Hotpotting With Google Places
The Law of Reciprocity states that if you do something nice for someone, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you, and they will.
Imagine being a business owner in your local hometown and discovering a new restaurant. You tell your friends how wonderful it is through a service called Hotspot, which, by the way, has recently been rolled into Google Places.
Later, let’s say, you discover the owner of that restaurant is a big user of Google Places and Hotspot. So you friend him. He friends back and notices that you liked your restaurant. He comes to your bookstore to thank you and then saves your bookstore as a favorite place.
That’s The Law of Reciprocity in action.
There’s no better place to practice The Law of Reciprocity than in your own back yard. That is, in your own hometown where you can become friends with other small business owners that are local to you. You patronize their business and they patronize yours. Now, you can let all your friends know about your local connections and personalize your local search experience as well.
Google Places seems to be getting better and better. It’s certainly good for local small businesses.
How Bad Reviews Can Be Good
All the search engines have a place for local businesses to claim a local listing. Google Places, Bing, and Yahoo! Local are all tied to the Maps feature at the search engines and each one has a way for customers to write reviews of the business. All the reviews – positive and negative – have the potential to help your business rank in the search engines.
You’ve heard the expression “content is king.” What that means is any content has the potential to help your site, or your business, rank.
Let’s say, for instance, that your business listing at Google Places has 50 reviews. Forty five of them are positive reviews and five are not. Even those five negative reviews are helping your local business listing rank at the top of the search results for searches related to your niche.
But your website can benefit from negative reviews too. Add a reviews page to your website and allow your customers to write reviews on your website. The more reviews you get, the more likely you are to have that page rank in the search engines for searches related to your business.
While negative reviews can help, you can encourage positive reviews by providing excellent customer service and by asking your good customers to write reviews. If you add your Google Places listing and your website’s reviews page URL to your business cards, brochures, and shopping bag inserts, you’ll encourage customers to write reviews of your business. Provide them good service in the process and they’ll be good reviews.
Have You Caught On To These 4 IM Trends?
Some trends come and go. Some stick around. I think the following 4 Internet marketing trends may be keepers. At least for a little while. Have you discovered these trends yet?
- Blog Marketing – Blog marketing has been around for a long time now, but it took a little dip after Google killed inbound links. Nevertheless, it seems to be making a comeback, particularly for businesses that want to use it for marketing and branding purposes.
- Mobile Search – Mobile search is a trend that is sure to stick around. People not only read blogs and news with their mobile phones, but they update their social media accounts and make purchases.
- Local Search – All kinds of businesses are discovering local search. And unlike traditional SEO, you can be very powerful and effective on the local level within just a few weeks.
- Social Media Marketing – Facebook and Twitter are all the rage right now. You’d think they are passing phases, but they’re not. If you are running a business, social media is a must in today’s fast-paced marketplace.
Now is the time to hop on board these Internet marketing trends. Don’t just ride the waves until they hit the beach. Make them a part of your daily routine.
Anatomy Of A Modern Business Website
If you were to lift a website from ten years ago and dump it into today’s internet world, it wouldn’t cut it. Business websites of today can be complicated beasts, or at least, they may seem that way. However, a closer inspection will reveal that their anatomy is actually quite simple.
Today’s business website needs to address several factors. Get the design and mix right, and your website will be the least of your worries. So what factors does a modern website need?
Optimized for search – it goes without saying that search is still the number one source of traffic for most websites – this includes both organic, paid, and local search.
Optimized for social – optimizing for social involves a few simple modifications to a standard website. Social buttons are the first factor to consider. Allowing comments or user feedback should also be considered.
Optimized for the user - uncluttered pages, clear call-to-action triggers, easy to follow navigation, and the ability to communicate with you, the business owner, are all important user functions.
Optimized for the Internet – today’s websites need to be slick, fast, easy to follow, and fairly straightforward. Shopping baskets and checkouts need to be smooth processes that are not complicated by over form filling or confusing processes. Today’s website needs to be streamlined in the way it processes users and their data.
Optimized for information – what is the Internet all about? Information and communication. We have communication covered so all that is left is information, and for a website, that boils down to content. Relevant, unique, up-to-date, easy to read, and of value to users – content is what drives websites and its content that attracts visitors.
Does that sound too simplistic? Perhaps you are trying to over complicate what should be a straight out process. The hardest task in building a website to satisfy everything on that list is the seamless integration of each component. If your web design team can get that right, you website is ready to do business.
Are You Using The Right Anchor Text For Local Search
Local search is not quite the same as organic search. Where for many years the preferred anchor text in links has been keyword orientated, local search is less keyword-based and more business or website name orientated. For local search, a link with your business name is often of more value than a link with a related keyword. In fact, there are many stories around suggesting that keywords in links are no longer the ideal – but that’s a story for another time.
When you think about local search, you have a distinct advantage over organic search. You can tell the search engines all about your business. In Google Places, for example, you can provide your official business name, your address, and your telephone number. You can also add tags and place your business into a category. With organic search, your search engine optimization program needs to use keywords to ensure the search engines know what your pages are all about.
The bottom line is this: Search engines don’t need anchor text to tell them about your business – you’ve already done that. Links that are in your business name have far more value than those with keywords as your anchor text. Add address details to the text around your business name, and you further reinforce your local search rankings. Local search is all about being local.
The more often your business is linked back to your site where your address is in plain view, or at the very least your town or region, the better. Are you pushing keywords in all your anchor text for local search? Try modifying some of your links to include your business and your town – or the service you provide and the town.
Local search is all about being local so shout your presence from the rooftops – or at least, from the friendly pages around you.
The Limitations Of Local Search
Local search has been a big help to smaller local businesses over the last year or so. They have been able to out-compete their larger rivals simply because the scale of size actually works for them rather than against them when compared to traditional marketing. However, those factors that are working for small businesses may also be working against other small businesses.
Mobile businesses that service an area that exceeds Google’s 50-mile radius can be at a real disadvantage. In today’s economic climate, small one person businesses that operate out of the back of a vehicle will often think nothing of traveling 100 miles to complete a job. Consider photographers, particularly wedding photographers – they travel to wherever their services are required.
The problem with local search is that Google, for example, has that strict 50-mile radius as a limitation to appearing in local search results. That 50 miles is measured from your business’ official address, not from the center of your town. If you want to appear in local search for neighboring towns, you will need to establish a physical presence in that town – an option that is not always viable.
While some businesses are trying to get around this by using fake addresses, Google is slowly weeding these businesses out of its local search results, even if they are legitimately servicing those areas. Google is aware of this problem, since it’s been raised on numerous occasions. However, even they have no recommendations to fix the problem, except for creating a physical presence in each location.
We do have to be fair to Google in this case, however. They are trying to provide users with the most relevant search results possible. Local search is just that – local. So for an out of town business to appear in those results, they would also need to convince locals that they do service that area.
Local search is great for local businesses. It certainly levels the playing field and may even give smaller businesses a real edge of national competitors. You do need to be aware of the limitations and how they may affect your business.
Maintaining A Stable Local Search Position
Local search was the big winner to come out of 2010 and there is a general consensus that 2011 will be even bigger. Growth in local search will no doubt be controlled to an extent by the uptake of mobile devices. If the uptake and use of these devices continues to climb, then there is no stopping the direction of local search.
For businesses serving a particular geographical region, optimizing their business for local search is a must. However, it doesn’t stop there. In fact, local search may prove, over time, to be one of the hardest areas of search engine optimization. Of course, Google may get a little smarter, but at present, their local search engine isn’t smart, and it’s quite easy to drop from the top of the search results to not appearing at all.
Data is the big issue and it’s an area that you will need to pay special attention to. Business owners, especially new ones, spend time quickly listing their businesses where they can. Ask them tomorrow who they have listed their business with, and many will have forgotten the precise details. This becomes a problem down the track when the business changes name, address, telephone number, or direction.
Google is not currently able to associate different data with the one business. If it comes across a similar business name, but with different data, it assumes there are now two (or more businesses). Effectively, links, reviews, and any other optimization strategies used are now divided between two (or more listings). The answer is simple enough in theory, perhaps not so simple in practice. You will need to ensure you use precisely the same data every time you create a business listing, directory listing, or social media profile. I also suggest you record every listing you make – you can then return at a later date and make any updates when necessary. Local search is important; don’t let stray data affect your position.
Protect Your Reputation By Treating Fads With Caution
If 2011 is like any other year there will be fads that come and go, perhaps even some that come and stay. What has been evident over the years is that some have proven to be good while others have proven to not only be bad, but to run the risk of getting your website removed from the search index. If you’re good at picking the winners and losers, then you don’t need to read on. If you want to protect your reputation, then the best piece of advice to offer is to be cautious.
The problem with fads is that they come and go. Some fads hang around, but they can still be dangerous. Some of the more notable include automatic software – the type that seeks out blogs to leave robotic comments; spins a document and then lodges it with hundreds of directories; and the type that automatically bookmarks pages in social bookmarking sites.
If automatic isn’t enough, there are still a lot of individuals offering to do the same by hand. Oh yes, they ‘hand pick’ the directories, social sites, and blogs – but ultimately, it’s still spam.
This past year we have seen groups touting local search as a ‘clever’ way to game the search results. Claiming a listing in many locations around the US, even though you’re sitting at home in the UK, or Australia, or wherever. Google will soon find a way to filter those tactics, then hit those websites that games the system right out of the ball park.
2011 will see new creative ways to get to the top of the search results. If they sound a little fishy, then they probably are. If you have spent a lot of hours building your business, and building your business’s reputation, then forget any of the fads as they come around – use a little caution to see if they are valid, and acceptable by the Internet at large.
Avoiding Small Errors In Local Search Listings
The big growth area in online search in 2010 has been local search. Google has been the driving force with their Google Places feature. They are not alone, however, with both Yahoo! and Bing having their own versions. Consumers are turning to the Internet in greater numbers to do their research prior to going on a shopping trip, so this growth will continue to be strong in 2011.
While consumers are turning to local search for information, local businesses have been slow to respond. When they do, they frequently make small errors, which in turn undo the potential that claiming their business could deliver. And sometimes they are such simple mistakes. Some of these small errors include:
Inconsistency – The most important part of any local search optimization program is consistency. It is worth the effort of creating a file, either in notepad or a spreadsheet, and using this to record the information you are listing. Then it’s a simple matter of copying and pasting that information each time you register your business. Inconsistencies in business name, address, and telephone number may result in your business being listed in search multiple times – effectively a duplicate listing. This will damage your business’s ability to rank highly in local search.
Local means Local – If your business services a local community, then be local. Include local place names in links and landing pages. If you service more than one location, then create landing pages for each location. Be sure each page has your business name, address, and phone number, exactly as it appears in your listings.
Directories – Register your business in as many directories as possible. These are not your standard Web directories, rather business directories such as Citysearch, Yelp, and Yellowpages, to name a few. Of course, make sure the data in your listings matches the data you have recorded elsewhere.
Creating a data file can make life easier. It’s impossible, and probably unwise, to register your business everywhere in one session. It could take weeks to slowly seek out relevant directories, create landing pages, and claim your business through the various search engines. It only takes a minor change, for example, leaving out a shop number, or abbreviating a name, or not including an area code, and that listing could become irrelevant.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the last 12 months, it is that of consistency and ensuring you tell the world you are local. Local search engine optimization is becoming a skill all on its own.
Is Google Ready To Implode?
While everyone is talking about the threat that Facebook could be to Google, one article caught my attention that has analyzed whether or not Google could be its own undoing. This is not a new theory, of course. Every time Google makes a major change to its search results, people (many of them from the SEO field) start to make noises about how they are slowly killing off their own golden egg.
The trouble is, people have been making that claim since day one. In the meantime, Google has just grown bigger and bigger. I do agree with the article’s point of view when it comes to changes. Google has made a lot of changes lately, and it seems that Google is really placing its faith in local search. That’s fine at this time of year. Everyone is in the process of preparing for the Christmas – New Year season. This means food, parties and of course Christmas gifts.
What about after the holiday season? Will local search still be as necessary? If you do a search for almost anything at present, the results are often dominated by local search and images – too bad if you are doing a research assignment. Where Google has made improvements that may help is in its Google Instant and relevant search areas. Whether a user’s history will be sufficient to help fine tune search results is yet to be fully tested.
It is hard to imagine the Internet without a dominant Google, yet to many people, that is exactly where we are headed. I have my doubts. Google has weathered many storms over the years and only continued to grow. They are making it harder for SEOs to do their job, but search engine optimization is still delivering results despite the changes being made. Is Google ready to implode? Not yet – there’s still plenty of kick in the old girl.
Is Yahoo! About To Start A New Search War?
Now I know most will argue that Yahoo! is now out of search, and in the traditional sense, they are. However, the time is ripe now to step out of your safe ‘traditional search’ shoes and to start thinking laterally. Yahoo! has made several major announcements, all related to local search, and much of it designed with the mobile user in mind.
Yahoo! have announced several apps that will make it easier for people to access information on the web. For example, they can find restaurants close to where they are then book a table by way of OpenTable, the restaurant booking service. What should interest business owners is the launch of Local Offers. As the name suggests, users can click through to see what offers are currently available in their area. Some of the Yahoo! partnerships for this service inlcude:
- Groupon,
- LivingSocial,
- Gilt City,
- BloomSpot,
- BuyWithMe,
- DealOn,
- Zozi,
- CrowdSavings,
- Lifebooker,
- FreshGuide,
- Scoop St,
- Goldstar,
- HomeRun,
- Tippr,
- Coupons.com, and
- Valpak.
Users now can access their Yahoo! page where they can read the latest news, read what’s available at local business restaurants along with free offers from local businesses, all without having to enter a search term. Google have been working away at making local search (now Google Places) as user friendly and relevant as possible. In fact, they have made one or two interesting changes to local search themselves this week.
Will this change local search in any way? It’s a hard call, and it will depend on how well Yahoo! can sell the feature, and how well it draws he crowds.
Do Local Businesses Still Need Pay Per Click?
There has been an interesting change in the way local search results are being displayed in Google. Rather than a seven pack with map followed by organic listings, the seven pack has been taken out the frame and listed in a similar fashion to organic search results. The map has been moved to the sidebar pushing Sponsored Links down the page.
Having conducted numerous tests, the question now is whether or not a business still needs Google’s pay per click sponsored ads. There are points for and against and your decision will depend on your advertising motives. Let’s consider some of those points:
Points Against Pay Per Click in Local Search
The way local results are now being displayed, it is quite normal now for a business to have two free listings in search. The first listing is in the local search results and includes a link to your web site and a link to your Places page along with a Google map placeholder. The second listing could be located below the local search results depending, of course, on your search ranking for that key term.
If your paid listing is not ranked in the first three then it could be pushed down into the side bar listings. These now appear almost below the fold – not exactly a highly clickable location. This could result in a large drop in click-through rates.
Points for Pay Per Click in Local Search
Following on from point one in the arguments against, if your site ranks highly in search results, ranks highly in local search, and ranks in the top three for paid search then you could see your site (and brand) listed three times in a search results page. This may well increase click-through rates in both organic and paid search listings. That amount of exposure can also be good for branding purposes.
What will be interesting to see is the feedback from local businesses. Those that are not bidding for positions 1-3 may see a drop in click-through rates. Those that are bidding for those positions may well see a rise in those same stats. If that does become the situation, you will probably see those positions becoming more competitive, and more expensive. Have you noticed a change in your click-through rates?
Google Places Giving Pay Per Click A Real Boost
Local businesses are currently in the midst of a minor (r)evolution in search with local search receiving a lot of special attention from the search engines. Google have upped the ante somewhat with their rebadged Google Places offering small businesses more features on what seems a weekly basis. One feature that is being trialled certainly has a catchy name – Google Boost.
Although currently only being trialled in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago, it has appeal and should prove to be popular with small businesses, especially if they are already involved with pay per click marketing. So what is Boost?
As you may have guessed already, Google Boost is a pay per click option for local businesses. Rather than going through Adwords to establish an ad unit, business owners can log into their Google Places account and set up an ad through their dashboard. The ads are easy to set up requiring just a short business description and a monthly spend budget. Google Places does the rest. I have not found any reference for the need of an Adwords account either, so businesses may be able to trial pay per click marketing without going through the steps needed for an Adwords account.
Like all things Google, there is a downside to this feature. Rather than selecting your own keywords, Google will do this for you based on the content of your web site. The second downside is that the link in the ad unit goes only to your web site’s home page (or Google Places listing) and not to any deeper landing pages. What will be interesting to see is whether or not these two areas affect costs per click and conversions.
The benefit to local businesses is that their ad unit will appear in the sponsored links area just above search results. How often your ad appears will depend on relevancy and ad quality. If you’re a small business that has struggled to find a foot in open pay per click markets, Google Boost may be a viable alternative. It will be interesting to see what feedback the trial cities offer.
Using Geo-Targeting To Slash Your Pay Per Click Costs
Have you considered geo-targeting your PPC advertising keywords? You can save considerably on your costs per click just by adding local area place names. For example, if you were selling and delivering pizza to the Wynnewood (PA) area, you have a number of options. You could target ‘pizza delivery’, ‘Pennsylvania pizza delivery’, ‘Philadelphia pizza delivery’, or ‘Wynnewood pizza delivery’. Targeting ‘pizza delivery’ is out of the question – there are over 90 million pages to contend with.
You may, however, be surprised to see what sort of results you received if you explored each of the geographical options. Pennsylvania pizza delivery returned almost 5 million pages in Google search results. The average cost per click was $2.86. Let’s narrow it down a bit and search Philadelphia pizza delivery – that’s a bit closer to home. That reduced the search results to 367,000. Even better, the cost per click came down to $1.44.
That’s still almost 10% of the cost of a delivered pizza. Let’s get even closer to our geographical area and see what Wynnewood pizza delivery returns – 32,000. That is certainly easier to compete with than the 367,000 for Philadelphia. Cost per click – just $0.05. That represents a huge drop in cost-per-click numbers and you are now targeting people in your direct marketing area.
Now here’s something that may surprise you. If someone accesses a search engine from Wynnewood and searches for a pizza delivery service (without mentioning their location), the search results will most likely include a local map with the top seven local businesses listed. If you’re not targeting that geographical term, you could miss out.
So there is a moral there. Number one – be sure to claim your business through Google Places (Google local search), and secondly, be sure to include terms that relate to your geographical service area. Cap it off by using those same geographic terms in your PPC marketing and you will see significant increases in your organic search placement for searches that count; that is, local search, and a significant cut in your costs per click. In fact, the costs can be so low that you can afford to geo target several areas. At $0.05 per click, you can geo target 10 areas and still save compared to using broader geographical terms.
If your business is a local business, then include geo-targeted keywords in all your online activities – particularly your local internet marketing.
Local Search – Competitive Edge Or Competitive Disaster
Local search has been a real bonus for smaller bricks and mortar businesses. Being able to claim your business through the search engine local search features and building even a basic web site has put many of these businesses on level footing with big business. In fact, for many small businesses, local search has given them a real competitive edge.
Having your business listed towards the top of a local search seven pack (the local search listings in organic search) means these businesses are on the front page, often above their larger competitors. However, in recent months some small businesses have woken up to find their listings have disappeared from these seven packs. One moment competitive edge, the next competitive disaster.
So what has gone wrong? The answer lies in consistency. If you have listed your business in several different places, like business directories, perhaps a Facebook page, and the various search engines, if you are not consistent with your information, you could be creating problems for yourself.
Google Places (Google local search) is one area where the problem is particularly noticeable. If Google finds your business on other sites, and it has different data, for example a different set of phone numbers, it is automatically assuming there are two business. This is creating problems that are similar to duplicate pages on web sites – ranking factors are being divided between the two pages, in this case, ranking factors are being divided between two listings.
The only way to rectify these problems is to ensure that every business listing has exactly the same data stored. It will make life easier for you if you create a simple template that has all your data listed. Then, when creating a listing on any web site, for example, a trade directory, you are using data that precisely matches that used on other sites. It is also important that you keep a list of where you have registered your business online, so that when data changes, you can go through and update every listing to show this new data.
Be consistent with the data you use in internet marketing and local search can give you a real competitive edge. Be inconsistent, and it could prove to be a disaster.
The Most Important Local Search Criteria
Local search is becoming more and more important all the time. As more small businesses come online and try to compete at the local level, local search will grow in importance.
Several Internet marketers answered a poll and discussed which local search criteria are the most important. Interestingly, most of them agreed on the most important criteria. After that, there was more disagreement but, again, you’ll find a large number of the marketers agreeing on the most harmful local search factors as well.
The top 3 most important local search criteria, according to the poll numbers are:
- Claiming your Place page
- Your business address listed in the city of the search being conducted
- Picking the proper categories for your Place page
Another positive local search factor that is worth mentioning is the number of Internet Yellow Pages and directory listings you have. Many of the marketers in the poll seemed to think that was important.
Regarding negative factors, the following negative factors were chosen as important to stay away from:
- Multiple Place Pages with the same phone number
- Not showing your address on your Place page
- Multiple Place Pages with the same address
- Listing a PO Box on your website without a physical address
- Multiple Place Pages with the same business title
Interestingly, many of the marketers involved in the poll thought customer reviews were important as well. It could be that negative reviews might have an influence in your rankings, but that is subject to debate.
If you’d like to see the results for yourself, you can see them here. It’s quite a read.
Google Local Changes Name To Google Places
Yesterday Google announced that it was changing the name of Google Local to Google Places. If you’re interested in why Google doesn’t have a unique domain name – yet – for Google Places, you can read about that at Search Marketing Standard. It’s a good read.
But whether you think Google screwed up or hit a home run, this is an important step for all of us, especially local business. Google says that one in five searches are local so if you have a local business then you need to claim your business at Google Places. Don’t wait.
Here are some of the new features Google has added to Google Places:
- Claim your own service area and hide your address
- For select cities, you can add tags to your listing for $25
- Add photos
- Get custom QR codes
- Join the Favorite Places program
- Add real-time updates
- Track your progress with your own personalized dashboard
Seriously, this looks like a good deal to me. Could Google have rolled it out in a more strategic manner? Yes. But that they’ve done this and done it now says a lot about how serious Google is about local search marketing. I chalk it up as a plus.
Local Search Zeitgeist
Do you know what people in your city are searching for? Are they searching for the local sports team or hero? Or for the local elementary school?
Interestingly, in many of the largest urban centers in the nation, local searchers are searching for schools. Big surprise there, right? I mean, people do place a high level of importance on their children’s education.
Google publishes its Zeitgeist report every year around this time and this year they’ve got the most popular local searches for some specific cities. And you’d like to know the methodology behind it all, well …
To compile these local lists, we found the most popular searches for each selected city and then ranked them based on how unique they were to that city. A query is “unique” if it is disproportionately popular in a particular city compared to the rest of the country. This method explains why popular local searches (for example, for a specific movie theatre) may appear higher than a term for which people across the country are searching (for example, for a regional sports team).
The one theme that I do find recurring in most of the cities on the list is that people are searching for local high school and elementary schools and colleges. Beyond that, the searches are truly local.
Is Internet Marketing The Future Of All Marketing?
The world we live in has taken to the internet like a duck to water. For many people, they can’t survive without getting online at least once each day – and that is not just to check emails either. The old fashioned snail mail is steadily dieing when it comes to personal communication – but what about marketing? Is the future of all marketing heading towards internet marketing?
A simple answer would be to say yes and no. For traditional bricks and mortar type businesses, you will never totally replace traditional marketing channels. They have worked well for hundreds of years and will continue to work into the future.
What we will see is a move to a balanced marketing strategy. This will involve the more traditional offline marketing strategies together with an internet marketing strategy that is best suited to the business in question.
You don’t need an online presence to benefit from internet marketing. With a high proportion of shoppers now using the internet to search for businesses prior to a shopping expedition, bricks and mortar businesses need to be found in those searches. The starting point of course is claiming a business through local search.
Search is only the start and there are many other internet marketing avenues available to promote your offline business. This includes channels such as social marketing and perhaps creating a presence with a blog or static website.
For businesses that are prepared to consult traditional marketing consultants to promote their business in the offline world, the time has come to consult online marketing consultants to promote their business on the internet.
Whether it is claiming your business in local search, creating an online presence or undetaking some other form of internet marketing, consult a professional internet marketing firm.