@DavidMihm @SLCSEM Local Search Ranking Factors 2012

© David Mihm / GetListed.org, Inc. 2012

Local Ranking Factorsca. Early June, 2012

SLCSEMJune 12 2012



Screenshot: Linda Buquet, Catalyst e-Marketing




We haven’t quite gotten there…


…but we’re pretty close!

We haven’t quite gotten there…


Today—Blended SearchAuthor markupWebsite informationPlace informationPlus page

Blended Localresults


“We want to show everything we know about a business.”

--Paraphrase of Joel HeadleyLocal University EdmontonMay 1 2012




30%


…the envelope please…



The Top Ten for 2012


1 Individually Owner-verified Place Page (PLACE PAGE)

2 Physical Address in City of Search (PLACE PAGE)

3 Proper Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)

4 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title (PLACE PAGE)

5 Proximity of Address to Centroid (PLACE PAGE)

6 Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators) (OFF-SITE)

7 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)

8 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)

9 Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text) (REVIEWS)

10 Product / Service Keyword in Place Page Description (PLACE PAGE)

2008 vs 2012


Many of the Fundamentals are still the same.

• Having a physical location in the right city is paramount.

• Categories are huge.• Citations and location data are still critical.• Quantity of reviews are still way more important

than quality.

…and yes, proximity to centroid still has influence.


Categories

…a little more difficult with +Local.


Citations- Importance of Local Ecosystem is NOT

changing anytime soon- Exclusive focus on Places is pure folly

- You MUST fix your data at upstream data providers- AND at Google Mapmaker




Check forProblems

NAP Audit – Getlisted.org


+




Duplicates are still an issue.


Centroid Bias


Centroid Bias


Centroid Bias

Some factors may be country or

region-specific depending on the

quality of Google's data.



What’s new?

Blended Search.


Ratio of Blended to Packs


Ratio of Blended to Packs


Remember this?


Remember this? (~October 2007)






But we HAVE come a long way!


What’s new?

Blended Search.It’s now critical that Google is able to associate your website with your location(s).

And for you large corporations…the ball is now in your court.


Blended Search

Advantages forLarger companies


Blended Search for Large Companies

• Optimized, indexable store locator & location pages

• Utilize Schema.org and KML*• Put some thought into your data strategy• Submit individual location URLs to +Local and aggregators

*not so much for ranking but to let your other factors work for you!


What Else Is New?


What Else Is New?


What Else Is New?

Every single one of these is interesting (to me at least).

(#31)

(#24)

(#18)


!




Unstructured Reviews

Hat tip: Michael Cottam


What Else Is New?


What Else Is New?


“It appears that sites, for which the backlinks anchor text style is mostly

“converting keywords”-rich, are regarded with much lesser value in the Google+ Local search results, compared to sites

whose backlink anchor text profile consists mostly of “branded” keywords (domain

name, business name).”

+Local less reliant on the linkgraph than Google.com?

@nyagoslav


@nyagoslav

‘There seems to be a trend (and it is not just in local search) towards decreasing the importance of “keyword” anchor text, and increasing the importance of “branded” anchor text.’


???

‘There seems to be a trend (and it is not just in local search) towards decreasing the importance of “keyword” anchor text, and increasing the importance of “branded” anchor text.’


What Else Is New?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Debutante-dress.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Debutante-dress.jpg


What Else Is New?

1 Individually Owner-verified Place Page (PLACE PAGE)

2 Physical Address in City of Search (PLACE PAGE)

3 Proper Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)

4 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title (PLACE PAGE)

5 Proximity of Address to Centroid (PLACE PAGE)

6 Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators) (OFF-SITE)

7 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)

8 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)

9 Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text) (REVIEWS)

10 Product / Service Keyword in Place Page Description (PLACE PAGE)


Other Interesting Tidbits

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.

.

.

.

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Putting It All into Perspective


Ten Blue Links.

Birth


Citations / First10-Packs.

The First Critical Period


Citations start to become a “sine qua non”

Reviews start to become a differentiating factor1 Review volume

2 Keywords in reviews

Early Adulthood

Generic 10-Packs -> Hotpot.


Recent History- Links

Mostly domain level for SMBs

Volume of linking domains

Strength of top links- Citations

Volume

Particular sources- Reviews

Volume

Particular sources


Where We’re Headed

(!)


Where We’re Headed


Where We’re HeadedWhat are the features / business evolutions where we haven’t seen [semi-permanent] interface changes yet?

Sentiment

Plus

Social Proximity

Authority Influencers

Offers

Mobile/Checkins

Wallet

The pace of evolution just continues to increase.


Putting It All into PerspectiveVisually



Title Tags+ Links


Title Tags+ Links

Citations +Location Data


Title Tags+ Links


Reviews


Title Tags+ Links


Reviews


Title Tags+ Links


Reviews

Social / Offline / +Local???



Vs.



The Bottom LineSEO’s like to focus on easy, discrete, technical items they can “check off their lists.”

Title tags with geo-keywords

Data syndication

KML / Geositemaps

hCard / Schema.org

Etc.

There is still plenty of value in these items, especially in less competitive markets. But…


The Bottom Line

The algorithm is getting frighteningly complex.

The reality is that you [will] need a holistic marketing

strategy in order to ensure long-term success.



The dust still has not settled(at least for me).


The good news:

More complex algorithm+ Frequent change Job security FTW!

Technology

@DavidMihm @SLCSEM Local Search Ranking Factors 2012