Originally presented at the IBD Summit April 2014 by Mike Belasco, President and CEO of Inflow. This presentation is focused on helping local bike shops succeed with Local SEO.

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Local
Search
Results
Page

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Mike Belasco
Inflow, President and Founder
facebook.com/mikebelasco
twitter.com/belasco
plus.google.com/+MikeBelasco
linkedin.com/in/miketheinternetguy

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Houston Pic

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Skiiing Picture

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I do know about internet
marketing…
• 12+ years internet marketing
experience, also founder of
ConversionIQ
• 2014 DBJ 40 under 40
nominee
• SEJ, Best Local Search Blog
2006
• SEMMY Award 2010

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• I analyzed the top ranking bike shops across
two keywords
• “cityname bike shops”
• “cityname bicycle shops”
• And across five markets
• Austin – DMA 40
• Portland – DMA 22
• Denver – DMA 17
• Houston – DMA 10
• Chicago – DMA 3
What I know + Bike Shops =
Bike Shops Study

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• What Is Local Search?
• Local Search Ranking Factors
Through The Lens Of Your
Competitors
• Tools and Other Resources
Today’s Presentation

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What Is Local
Search?
What does it mean to your business?

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• 61% of users call a business
after searching and 59% visit the
location
• 90% of these people act within
24 hours.
What’s In It For Your Business?

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Keyword Footprint: 238 (mult. locations)
Monthly Impressions: 32,940
What’s In It For Your Business?

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Keyword Footprint: 420 (mult. locations)
Monthly Impressions: 52,460
What’s In It For Your Business?

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Keyword Footprint: 420
Monthly Impressions: 84,770
What’s In It For Your Business?

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• SERP = search engine results page
• Localized Organic Results
• 3 pack
• 7 pack
• Pack/Carousel Results
• Maps Results
• Google Maps App
How Does Google Present
Local Results?

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Localized
Organic 3
pack

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Localized
Organic 7
pack

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Pack /
Carousel
Results

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Maps
Results

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Local Search
Ranking Factors
What it takes to rank well in local search results

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Local Search Ranking Factors
19.6% - Place Page
signals
16% - External Local
Signals
18.8% - On-page
signals (website)
14.4% - Incoming
Link signals
Source: http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
10.3% - Review signals
6.3% - Social signals
6.1% Behavioral
signals
3% - Personalization

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Google Places For
Business Page
Your business profile on Google
19.6%

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What Is a
Google Places Page?
• My text goes here if I need it

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• Ensure Correct NAP (name, address, phone number) is
absolutely critical
• Local Area Code In Phone Number
• Service and Local Keywords In Business Title (be careful)
• Service and Local Keywords In Description (be careful)
• Get Verified! (100% of top ranking bike shops were verified)
• Complete and Correct Categories
• Association of Photos and Videos with Page
• Complete Your Profile to 100%
Optimizing Your Google Places
For Business Page

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• Business Name, Address, and Phone Number
• Must Be Consistent Across the Web
• Be careful when abbreviating name or adding
modifiers
• Always be consistent with use of St. or Street, Ave.
or Avenue
• Consistent Phone Number (w local area code)
The NAP

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Business Details
• Ensure Correct NAP
(name, address,
phone number) is
absolutely critical
• Local Area Code In
Phone Number

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Complete Your Profile

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Get Verified!

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Select Categories

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Top Google Places Categories
For Bike Shops
Category Name Frequency
Bicycle Store 90
Bike Repair Shop 75
Bicycle Shop 75
Bicycles-dealers 64
Bicycle Rental
Service****
11
Bicycles*** 9
Bicycles-repairing* 8
Bicycle Dealers Repairs &
Rental**
5
Sporting Goods Store* 4
Make sure you
research and use
relevant categories for
your market on your
Google Places For
Business Listing.
* Only present in Houston
** Only present in Chicago
*** Only present in Austin
**** Only present in Portland

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Add Photos, Videos and More

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External Local
Ranking Factors
Citations and NAP Consistency
16%

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• Each instance of your NAP is a “citation” (ie
every time your NAP is listed on a webpage)
• Consistency is key
• Quantity and Quality also count
• Claiming listings where possible could also
help rankings
Citations

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Check Your NAP Consistency

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• The average count of Yext errors across
listings studied: 132.2
• The lowest count of Yext errors across listings
studied:110 (note Performance Bicycle had 0
since they are using Yext to manage listings)
• The highest count of Yext errors across listings
studied: 240
NAP Consistency Scores - Yext

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Here are the average number of
Yext errors per market
NAP Consistency Scores - Yext
Market Average Yext Errors
Denver 122
Houston 124
Austin 134
Chicago 140
Portland 141

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Check Your NAP Consistency

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• The average Moz Local score across listings
studied: 58.4%
• The lowest Moz Local score across listings
studied: 36%
• The highest Moz Local score across listings
studied: 75% (two tied in Houston)
NAP Consistency Scores – Moz
Local

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Average Moz Local Scores per market
NAP Consistency Scores – Moz
Local
Market Average Moz Local Score
Chicago 62
Houston 60
Denver 59
Austin 59
Portland 52

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Start At The Source To Ensure
NAP

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• Big 4 Data Providers
• Acxiom
• Neustar/Localeze
• Factual
• InfoGroup
• Big 3 Search Engines
• Google
• Yahoo
• Bing
Start At The Source
To Ensure NAP

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Average Number of Citations for Bike Shops in
our study: 127
• Austin - 161
• Denver - 138
• Portland - 116
• Chicago - 115
• Houston - 106
Average Number Of Citations For
Bike Shops

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Most Frequent Citation Sources
For Bike Shops
• yelp.com
• merchantcircle.com
• yahoo.com
• manta.com
• mystore411.com
• citysearch.com
• superpages.com
• yellowbook.com
• whitepages.com
• justdial.com
• nearyous.com
• facebook.com
• yellowpages.com
• yellowbot.com
• showmelocal.com
• switchboard.com
• salespider.com
• greatbikeshops.com
• local.com
• bundle.com
• privacystar.com
• mojopages.com
• staradvertiser.com

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Citation Sources Unique
To Bike Shops
• Greatbikeshops.com
• BikeRumor.com
• Fatsandbikes.com
• Velolet.com
• SportRabbit.com
• BicycleShops.us
• Localbikes.net
• LocalBikeShops.net
• SurleyBikes.com
• BicycleDealersUSA.com
• FindBicycleShops.net
• Mtbr.com
• Sportlegs.com
• MapMyRide.com

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On-Page Signals
Optimizing Your Website for Local Search
18.8%

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• Business name and keywords in title tag
• NAP present and consistent on all pages
• Embedded Google Map
• Address marked up using SCHEMA
Key On-Page Ranking Factors

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The SEO title tag is still one of the most
important elements for on-site optimization.
Google might choose your title tag to link to
your website.
Make sure it includes your primary
keywords and your location and keep it to
70 characters or less.
Optimize Title Tags

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NAP On Every Page
Place your business name address and phone
number on every page of your website. Mark it
up in Schema code if possible

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Embed a Google Map On Your
Contact Page

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Incoming Link
Signals
Building links to your website
14.4%

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Incoming Links

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• Have been important in “traditional” organic
search for a long time
• Google has cracked down on link manipulation
more and more over the years
• Becoming less important in and of themselves,
but still an important ranking signal
• More about quality than quantity
Incoming Links

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• Average number of incoming links among listings
studied:11,487
• Average domain authority among listings studied: 38
• Highest number of links among listings studied: 218,696 - REI
• Highest domain authority among listings studied: 86 - REI
• Lowest number of links among listings studied: 24
• Lowest domain authority among listings studied:17 (two tied)
** link and domain authority numbers skewed by bigger players like REI and Performance Bicycle
Incoming Links – The Data

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Incoming Links – The Data
Market Average # of Links Average Domain Authority
Austin 2097 38
Portland 14182 44
Denver 31954 39
Houston 7887 35
Chicago 1318 34

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• Get links from relationships (vendors, partners,
friends, bloggers)
• Get links on local and vertical directories (see
citation source list for some ideas)
• Sponsor groups and events (make sure you
get a link. MeetUp groups work too!)
• Join the BBB, get a great link and a citation
• Create a great resource on your website like a
buying guide, ride list, etc. Promote it on social
media.
How To Get Incoming Links

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Online Review and
Rating Signals
Building links to your website
10.3%

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• Average number of reviews across listings
studied:48.6
• Highest number of reviews across listings
studied: 249 – Bicycle Sport Shop, Austin, TX
• Lowest number of reviews across listings
studied:2 (but only 4 listings with under 10
reviews)
• NOTE – Reviews seemed to be a more
important than usual ranking signal
Online Reviews

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Online Reviews By Market
Market Average Number of Reviews
Austin 87
Portland 57
Chicago 42
Denver 36
Houston 21

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• Average number of stars across listings
studied: 4 (the average was 4 in every market)
• Highest number of stars across listings studied
(more than 10 ratings): 4.9 - Portland Bike
Tours and Rental
• Lowest number of stars across listings
studied:2.5
Online Ratings

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Reviews/Ratings are featured
prominently in Google Maps
Desktop searches and mobile apps
Like Google Now
Reviews Help More Than
Rankings

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• Create a detailed “How To Leave A Review” page on
your website with instructions etc. Link to the page in
your email signature
• Verbally get customers to “commit” to leaving a review
for you by asking them in person. Respond to
commitment by saying “thank you, I am looking forward
to your comments”
• Investigate tools like FiveStarReviewSystem.com and
BrightLocal’s ReviewBiz
• Get customers to leave reviews using Google Maps
App (it takes less than 60 seconds)
Online Review Strategy – Do’s

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• DON’T Send unsolicited emails requesting
reviews – this is SPAM.
• DON’T Freak out when you get a bad review.
Keep a cool head and respond/react
appropriately
• DON’T Pay for reviews
• DON’T Ask For YELP reviews
• DON’T Get a bunch of reviews all at once
Online Review Strategy – Don’ts

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Other Signals
Social, behavioral signals, and personalization

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• Claim and optimize your Google Places For
Business profile
• Claim and clean your NAP
• Build citations to your business
• Optimize your website for local search
• Build links to your website
• Plan and execute an online Review collection
strategy
Your Next Steps

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Meet Inflow
Attract. Convert. Grow.
Denver-based inbound marketing agency providing SEO, PPC, CRO and Content
Marketing services for eCommerce, Lead Generation and Local Search sites.
www.GoInflow.com
facebook.com/goinflow
twitter.com/goinflow
plus.google.com/109323918893578995526
linkedin.com/companies/208642

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• http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
• http://www.slideshare.net/fathomonline/local-101
• http://blog.sumall.com/journal/local-seo-basics-for-your-business-2.html
• https://www.distilled.net/blog/mobile/optimizing-your-local-presence-for-mobile-
search-and-vice-versa/
• http://searchengineland.com/how-to-rank-outside-of-your-physical-location-in-
google-places-159043
• http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2284954/Getting-Started-With-Google-
Places-for-Business
• http://veepopat.ca/google-local-page-optimization/
• http://veepopat.ca/google-places-listing-changes/
• http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/local-businesses-need-reviews-12-seo-
approved-ways-get/
• https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-citations-by-city.html
• https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-citations-by-category.html
• http://www.brightlocal.com/2013/09/11/top-50-local-citation-sites/
• http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/definitive-local-search-citations/
• http://www.leanmarketing.ca/lean-top-50-best-local-citation-sources-in-the-usa/
Resources