Google's Pigeon Update Solves Yelp Problem, Boosts Local Directories. Yext "Reinvents The Local Business Listing" With New Rich Content Options. Location data platform and provider Yext has introduced a range of new data types and rich content into its PowerListing local data syndication product.
The new offering is called PowerListings+ (Like Google+). Enhanced local data categories enable the inclusion of employee/staff bios, event calendars, product inventory and services (including prices). Yext said that the new content types would be available at the same fee structure (no additional charge) under its PowerListings product. Yext syndicates data to 45 local search sites, including Yelp, Yahoo Local, Foursquare, WhitePages.com, Local.com, Superpages and a range of others. The company says its data reach 150 million users online in the US monthly. How To Create Your Local SEO Roadmap Through Research, Benchmarking & Tracking. During the regular online training sessions which I deliver to our customers, I inevitably get asked the same question.
Actually this question comes in a few guises. What should I focus on more – citations or links? Are reviews an important factor for local ranking? How many citations should I build for my client? How do I know the best categories for my client to be listed in? 20+ Signals That Make Your Business Easier To Find in Local Search Engines. While we usually talk about how to rank well in Google, there are plenty of non-Google local search engines such as Yelp, YP.com, CityGrid, etc. that have a significant amount of highly-qualified consumer search traffic.
Each of these sites has its own proprietary search algorithms. It may make sense to study the algorithms of the biggest; but, in general, there are a number of standard basic ways to provide data about your business that can influence how you rank in any local search engine. Relevancy Signals These are signals that tend to be directly related to the phrases input into a search interface. How I Use SEOmoz for Local Optimization Today. Hard to believe it’s already been two months since I’ve been a part of the SEOmoz team!
We’ve made some great progress on syncing up our codebase with the SEOmoz development environment. Once that process is complete, the fun part REALLY begins, and we will start to build out additional Local functionality over the course of 2013 and beyond. I can’t wait to write Version Two of this post once we’ve got more of that functionality built. As an SEOmoz PRO customer since the service launched in February 2007, I thought I’d give a quick little tour of how I’ve used SEOmoz’s existing tools for Local optimization in my consulting role at David Mihm, Inc. over the past six years.
Throughout the last 18 months, I’ve been helping my cousin Tracy with her small business Group Insurance PDX, which I'll use as an example for this post. Keyword Difficulty Tool My Goals: Process: Comments: The keyword difficulty tool makes competitive research more efficient. OpenSiteExplorer.
The Worst Kept “Secret” in Local Search: My Thoughts on the Impending Plus-Places Merge. The inevitable integration of Google’s Plus and Places products, obvious since Day One of Plus, finally seems like it might be imminent.
We’ve seen several signals from Google in the last couple of months that this integration may be coming sooner rather than later: 1) Google completed a major backend infrastructure update this Spring, presumably in preparation for the near-real-time activity that a Plus page allows. 2) At our February SEMpdx meeting, members of Google’s street team here in Portland indicated to our attendees that they were now focused heavily on increasing business adoption of Google Plus in addition to Places (though perhaps this is because Portland already has an enormously high percentage of Places-engaged businesses). 3) We’ve seen limited evidence of Rel=author website information integrated with a Plus account AND tied to a Place Page. 5) Adwords Express disappeared from the Places Dashboard two weeks ago. Why Local Blogging Works. Blogging is great, but does local blogging also work?
If you’re a small/local business owner, that’s a smart question to ask if you’re thinking about using a local blog as a marketing tool. Note: I’m using the term “local blog” to refer to a blog where the main focus is local content. Real estate agents, travel- and tourism-related businesses, event-based businesses and more might be candidates to have a heavily “local” company blog. Google Plus SEO.
5 Often-Overlooked Local SEO Tips. In November of 2010, Google integrated local businesses into the search results for many queries.
Below is an example of an integrated search results page for “limousine service” in Los Angeles. You immediately notice that there are different types of information on this page. Maps, reviews, sponsored ads, a local 7-pack (A, B, C, D, E, etc.) and organic listings occupy this page, which makes getting prime real estate on it is more important than ever. Local Search Ranking Factors 2012. Didn’t want to get anything done today anyhow.
David Mihm’s latest edition of the Local Search Ranking Factors Survey is now out. As tradition dictates, I will summarize the findings and then send you over to David’s blog for the full Monty: Local SEOs Analyze Current Google Ranking Factors.