Formic Media, a digital marketing agency focusing on Local SEO marketing tactics for small-medium sized business and multi-location retailers, offers up a number of SEO stats and tactics to help ensure your business is able to begin the trek to achieving top local search engine rankings.

1. Local SEO Stats & Tactics
Presenter:
Date:
John McPhee, Vice President
September 4, 2013

2. Formic
• Launched in 2008 to service small business &
partners
• Specializes in search engine & social media
marketing
• 100% of Account Team Google AdWords &
Google Analytics Certified
• Strategic partnerships (Travel Portland, website
design/dev shops, agencies)
• Focus on education via monthly Seminar Series

3. A Look at the Search Results Page

4. Difference Between Organic & Local

5. Difference Between Organic & Local

6. • Location, location, location
• Organic/Paid search = “the what”
– Nike running shoes, Sony DSLR camera
• Local Search = “the what” & “the where”
– Nike shoe store Portland, Camera World Portland
Difference Between Organic & Local

7. The Evolution of Local Search

8. Blended Results (most recent)

9. Why is Local Search so Important?

10. • Roughly 30% of all searches have local
intent
• Google = ~12.5 billion searches/month
• Yahoo = ~3.6 billion/month
• Bing = ~2.6 billion/month
• ~18.7 billion searches/month
• ~5.6 billion searches have local intent
Local Search Volume by Month

11. How are Consumers Finding
Local Merchants?

12. Mobile Phone & Tablet Searches on
the Rise

13. Local Ad Spend Going Digital

14. • 97% of American internet users shop online (NPD
Group)
– 57% of these users say they purchase offline (NPD Group)
• 90% of online commercial searches result in offline
brick and mortar purchases (comScore)
• 82% of local searchers follow up offline by an in-store
visit or phone call (comScore)
• 80% of all budgets are spent within 50 miles of the
home (DMA)
Local Search User Stats

15. Local Search: Business Stats

16. Local Search: Business Stats

17. The Local Search Ecosystem

18. The Organic Search Ecosystem

19. The Local Search Ecosystem

20. The Local Search Ecosystem

21. The Local Search Ecosystem
Courtesy of GetListed.org

22. Top Criteria for Local Search Rankings
• Address in city of user’s search
• Claimed Google+ Local page
• Proper categorization
• Volume of citations from data providers
• Off-site factors (i.e. inbound links)

23. Open for Questions or Keep Going?

24. Local Search Components

25. Local Search Components
• Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing Local Listings)
• On-site Optimization
• Off-site Optimization

26. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)
• Claim & verify your Place page

27. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

28. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

29. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)
Courtesy of Category Preview Tool by Mike Blumenthal

30. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

31. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

32. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

33. Google+ Local Page (Yahoo/Bing)

34. Google Place Page (Yahoo/Bing)

35. Local Search Components
• Google Place Page (Yahoo/Bing Local Listings)
• On-site Optimization
• Off-site Optimization

36. On-site Optimization
• Still need to focus on website optimization
– Geo-specific keyword targeting
– Title Tags
– Meta Tags
– H1 tags
– Body Copy

37. On-site Optimization

38. • Structured Data is used to help parse out business
data for the search engines
• Types of Structured Data include:
– Person
– Product
– Event
– Recipes
– Full list: http://schema.org/docs/full.html
On-site Optimization

39. On-site Optimization

40. • hCard microformat
On-site Optimization

41. • hReview microformat
On-site Optimization

42. • Local phone number = Good
• 800 phone number = Not ideal
• Tracking phone number = Bad
On-site Optimization

43. • If you have multiple store locations, you
should:
– Create unique pages for each location
On-site Optimization

44. On-site Optimization

45. Local Search Components
• Google Place Page (Yahoo/Bing Local Listings)
• On-site Optimization
• Off-site Optimization

46. Off-site Optimization
• Web Citations & Inbound Links
– More citations/links = more trust + higher
rankings

47. Courtesy of GetListed.org
Off-site Optimization

48. Courtesy of ZipLineInteractive.com
Off-site Optimization

49. Off-site Optimization

50. • User reviews also help gain trust from both the
search engines and users
– Quantity is still more powerful than quality
– Engines are working to understand sentiment
Off-site Optimization

51. • Get reviews through:
– Email campaigns
– Encourage employees to ask for reviews
• Incentivize your employees if necessary
– Google window sticker
– Utilize in-store collateral
– Social media
– Use website widget by BrightLocal.com
Off-site Optimization

52. • Social Media Activity
– Be active within social media
• Post fresh, new content regularly
• Post interesting content that will be shared
– Increase Likes, followers, etc
– Engage with fans/followers
– Build authority/credibility
– Optimize social media accounts/profiles
Off-site Optimization

53. • Social Media Content
– Share interesting stories about your
industry/company
– Show your company’s personality through
jokes/humor (videos, text, images)
– Create polls/surveys; share the results and ask for
feedback/opinions
– ALWAYS stay within the brand’s voice
Off-site Optimization

54. Measuring Success

55. Measuring Success
• Google Analytics
• Google Places Dashboard
• Marketing Trackback Question

56. • Google Analytics
Measuring Success

57. • Google Places Dashboard
Measuring Success

58. • Marketing Trackback Question
Measuring Success

59. Thank you!
Contact John McPhee for more information
johnm@formicmedia.com
503.517.9059 x122