Search engine evolution, new technologies, and rapidly changing consumer behavior are driving massive changes across the local search landscape. How can enterprise brands focus in on the most impactful local search tactics and strategies for their hundreds or thousands of individual locations?
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
How the biggest changes in consumer intent, search signals, knowledge panel and more impacted enterprises in 2018
How voice search, the mobile consumer’s journey, and conversational elements are shaping the way users interact with your brand
How to optimize your content to make it clear that your solution is the best answer for specific consumer needs and problems
Key areas of focus in 2019 and what is essential versus what you need to have on your planning horizon
Join us as we examine the local search updates that drove the greatest business results in 2018 and discuss what this means for enterprise brands and the consumers you’ll serve in 2019.
Rio SEO Webinar Deck - Guiding your Local Search Strategy to Drive Customers in 2019
1.
2. Guiding your Local Search Strategy
to Drive Customers in 2019
Search engine evolution, new technologies, and rapidly changing consumer
behavior are driving massive changes across the local search landscape.
How can enterprise brands focus in on the most impactful local search tactics
and strategies for their hundreds or thousands of individual locations
W E B I N A R D E S C R I P T I O N
BRAND
DECK
3. In this webinar, you’ll learn:
• How the biggest changes in consumer intent, search signals, knowledge panel and more impacted
enterprises in 2018
• How voice search, the mobile consumer’s journey, and conversational elements are shaping the way
users interact with your brand
• How to optimize your content to make it clear that your solution is the best answer for specific
consumer needs and problems
• Key areas of focus in 2019 and what is essential versus what you need to have on your planning
horizon
WEBINAR DESCRIPTION
4. Steve Wiideman
President and CEO
Wiideman Consulting Group
@wiideman
Brian Smith
Director of Local Strategy
& Data Partnerships
Rio SEO
@being_smith
PRESENTERS
Krystal Taing
Listings Management
Product Specialist
Rio SEO
@krystal_taing
5. Consumer Digital Optimization
“Today’s consumers do not buy just products or services — more and more, their purchase decisions
revolve around buying into an idea and an experience.”
6. CONSUMER DIGITAL OPTIMIZATION
1
2
OFF-PAGE
OPTIMIZATION
ON-PAGE
OPTIMIZATION
Two types of consumer optimization:
What is it?
– It’s about optimizing your digital strategy to
provide as much information at the correct places
for consumers to use and weight during their
decision process, so they want to do business
with you.
7. WHEN CONSUMERS ARE LOOKING FOR A BUSINESS
75%
UTILIZE A
BUSINESSES’
WEBSITE
OFCONSUMERS
87%
UTILIZE A
BUSINESSES’
LOCAL LISTING
OFCONSUMERS
Source: LSA and Acquisio
8. POWER OF SEARCH
Recent study by Sparktoro
found that 62% of Google
mobile searches resulted in
no-click search.
60:1 GMB listings
view to website visit
ratio on Rio Clients
Source: Sparktoro
9. ON-PAGE DIGITAL OPTIMIZATION
1
2 LINK STRUCTURE
STRUCTURED DATA
Three types of on-page optimization:
3 CONTENT
What is it?
– Optimization of any digital entity that a
consumer can interact with
on your domain.
13. OFF-PAGE DIGITAL OPTIMIZATION
1
2 CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
KNOWLEDGE PANEL
(Business Profile)
Two types of off-page optimization:
What is it?
– Optimization of any digital entity that a
consumer can touch or interact
with off your domain.
14. KNOWLEDGE PANEL (BUSINESS PROFILE)
- Google My Business
• Basics:
• NAP, Hours, Categories, URL
• Advanced:
• Posts
• FAQ
• Q&A
• Menus – Services & Restaurant
• Imagery – Photos / Videos
- Mobile Experience
17. KEY AREAS OF FOCUS 2019
1. Solve for Hands-Free
2. Study Your Buyer’s Journey
3. Map Conversation Paths
4. Measure Online-to-Offline
5. New Ranking Signals
26. Tools: Google Mobile-Testing Tools, User-Testing.com, mTurk
• Hold Your Webmaster Accountable
• Your Competitors are Racing You to the
#1 Position in Google
MOBILE-FRIENDLY Vs. MOBILE-OPTIMIZED
27. OKAY GOOGLE,
FIND ME A RESTAURANT
THAT OFFERS TAKE OUT
AND ONLINE ORDERING
….BUT NOT OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE
Source: Smashing Magazing
33. Ok Google, Flight prices leaving August 1st
Where are you looking to go?
New York City
When would you like to return?
August 10th
Round trip flights leaving Aug 1 coming back Aug
10 start at $334. Should I email you if that price
changes?
Yes please.
You got it.
37. VOICE SEARCH GOAL #3
Earn Position Zero
By 2020, 50% of Searches Will Be Voice
38. THE FEATURED ANSWER BOX IS POSITION ZERO
Tools:
StoryBase
SERPSTAT
SEMrush
Answer the Public
39. “THE FASTEST WAY TO SEE
RESULTS FROM VOICE SEARCH IS
TO EARN FEATURED ANSWERS.”
Steve Wiideman
President, Wiideman Consulting Group
Share this: @wiideman @SEOSTEVE
40. Identify Keywords for Featured Answers
Tools:
StoryBase
SERPSTAT
SEMrush
Answer the Public
52. IDEAS FOR INSPIRATION
1. Allow people to order/buy things from your business
“Hey Google, buy two tickets for tomorrow’s show”
2. Allow people to book services using your business
“Hey Google, book a table for eight people”
3. Allow people to ask basic info about your business
“Hey Google, can I tune up my bike in your shop?”
Source: https://www.thedroidsonroids.com/blog/7-ideas-for-growing-your-business-with-google-assistant
58. BASIC 3-PACK SEO
1. Prove You are Real (Data)
2. Provide the Best Content
3. Be Found Across the Web
4. Be Improving Reputation
59. E-A-T / YMYL SIGNALS
1. Use a Fake News Checklist
2. Link Out to Source Evidence
3. Build Authority & Showcase It
4. Crowdsource A/B Tests on Trust
61. Steve Wiideman
President and CEO
Wiideman Consulting Group
@wiideman
Brian Smith
Director of Local Strategy
& Data Partnerships
Rio SEO
@beingsmith
Thank You
Krystal Taing
Listings Management
Product Specialist
Rio SEO
@krystal_taing
62. thank you
WIIDEMAN CONSULTING GROUP, INC
14241 Firestone Blvd suite 400
La Mirada, CA 90638
562.732.4417
RIO SEO
8080 Dagget St suite 220
San Diego, CA 92111
619.529.5005
Hinweis der Redaktion
Events, menus, products, services should be presented to users as a utility function and enhance the consumer journey
Website – Consumers enter a business branded experience, typically looking for more information on products and services
Local Listings – Name, Address, Phone, Directions & Reviews.
Reviews – Google understands the importance of these on the consumer journey and makes this front and center by showing populated reviews and pulling in other reviews form a variety of platform sources.
Source: Sparktoro, https://sparktoro.com/blog/google-ctr-in-2018-paid-organic-no-click-searches/
We have seen with our own research that GMB listings get a 60:1 view over a brand's website. An astounding number of views about your business that are not even branded. To further exemplify the importance to manage your information outside your website, Sparktoro (Rand Fiskin) published numbers back in October / November 2018 shows that when it came to mobile, 62% of search didn't even result in a click to the brand's website.
Structured Data (Schema):
This includes areas like structured data, so that Google can understand they entity-based relations between you and your brand. This will affect your ability to have enhance rich snippets show within search results and the biggie, voice search
Solid Link Structure:
This includes how your site is structured and flows authority between all your pages. In addition, I would lump directory (external link structure) within this bucket, because these link matter when it comes to vetting your locations by search engines and help with key word ranking within search.
3. Content:
think of this as utility content really, which helps your consumers perform actions beyond obtaining the simple NAP information of each of your locations.
Rio has implemented within the past year and have seen measurable success has been improved and expanded schema. As shown on the previous slide, we understand that importance of how you can been seen / shown within the SERPS can help your bottom-line when it comes to search. Not to mentioned the benefits for the search engines to understand the entity based relationship between the content and your brand, specifically for voice search for which Steve will discuss more later
1. Q&A – gett answer boxes for specific queries on SERPs. this can add value for you to be seen as an expert within your field of business
2. Events – mark up your localized evenets and control the way they look when being shared on social media. There's nothing worse then seeing an event that has very little description, no image and general indformation like name, date and time.
3. Expanded products & services offerings: anything where a product or seervice can be assosicate with a local enetity, mark it up. this will help with with a specific location
All of these provide and expanded opportunity for a brand to become front and center during the consumer journey and provides additional utility functionality to boot.
When I think of link structure, I break it into two parts: 1) Internal Link Structure and 2) External Link Structure.
1) Internal Link Structure: would be anything the can help make a bots crawls more efficient and ability to share the authority of more powerful pages with lesser pages within a local schematic.
Sitemaps provide a utility function for both, bots and users. One, it's a roadmap for bots to understand the important pages on your site. It also provides additional site structure for link equity / authority to be share with lesser pages. Two, it also helps users to understand important links within the site and quickly access each portion of the site.
Site Structure expands even further the utility function that sitemaps provide, but also allows users additional paths for finding lesser pages within the site, also allows better navigation thru bread crumbing, all in which helps spread link equity / authority throughout your site to help lesser pages show for more long tailed search queries.
2) External Link Structure: is anything that can be a structure or unstructured link that attributes value or expertise for your local business an of domain entities.
Citations – provides a value for local search by synchronizing all data elements to match your local business information, which helps with major search engines trusting your business and publishing and ranking your business, but these structure links can also add value to help accumulate authority to all your local pages. People don't often assign this value, which shouldn't be overlooked when evaluating the expense to get there.
Reference & Event Links – provides businesses additional opportunities to get in front of users and provide exposure that may not be there other wise. Besides, there is the value of getting your links on authoritative links to your business
Utility content should be used to engage the consumer and offer them chances to engage with you as business and as a brand. The more oppomrtunitiy you present them for possible touch points, the better chance you have the ability to convert them into a customer. In addition, repeat consutmers can utlize this functionality with future uses, thus minimizing the posssioble distractions or barriers to the path of purchase.
Local Events: is a great to to get rich content about you as a business for opimtization and long tailed search. An interesting stat I always like to carry around with me is that 20% of searches comes from anchor terms, like insurance, auto insurance. But the 80% of searches are done through long tailed works either through the consumer finely tuning in there search with more gero specific terms or even voice search.
Menus: is another great exmaple or rich content that has tons of potential search value. If there's a specialty dish that you're know for, people can search that and find your locations in a jiffy.
Booking Engines: the motto here is to minimize the barriers to transact and people will come. What better way to connect with a consumer by providing an experience that is branded and seemeless for them.
Thoughtful Content: I've seen this go terrifically great or terribly wrong... When you are writing content for each of your locations, don't copy and paste it across all of them. Be specific, inlcude geograpphical relaenvent landmarks, highways, intersections, other estabilished business. All of this helps guide the user and search engeines love this rich content. Also, be thinking about your consumer profiles, write something that speaks to them and reassures them that you're an established local business they can do business with.
In my opinion, this is the most critical thing to get this right as a Digital Marketer. This should be your first step in the optimization process between, both, on-page or off-page optimization. Since this is typically the first thing that consumers view about your business in the consumer journey, Digital Marketers need to focus / expand on nearly everything. Don't cut corners or minimalize efforts here
Make everything as engaging and enticing as possible in order to catch to attentions of consumers and providing them with enough information about your brand / business to help inform their decision. Be sure to look beyond your basic elements (NAP, Hours, Category and Website URL) and be sure to utilize some of the more recently release features like Posts and Service Menus. Remember, this is your first change to influence the consumer journey and make the most of it. Also, do short side yourself on how this looks on mobile.
Also, be cognizant of that fact, that the majority of localized searches are done on mobile devices. Check out how it looks, see if there are any modifications that you would make to make your business profile more appealing to consumers.
Ok, so beyond the Knowledge Panel (Business Profile) be sure to optimize for the consumer journey outside of it.
Reviews: It's by no mistake that this is first on my list. Reviews play an integral part of the consumer journey, as 88% of people who use online reviews trust them as much as if they a personal recommendation (Google).
Events: People want to do business with a member of their local community. What better way for business to advertise this by adding events to various platforms for consumer to make that connection
FQ & Q&A: People are naturally lazy and don't want to hunt for information. Think about what are the most frequently asked questions or other genral questions that you receive as a business, and make it easy for your consumer to find the answers. This is a great way for people to see you in a positive light by supplying this information in a place where it can be easily digested.
Menus & Imagery: These provide information to the consumer at their fibger tips. Look beyond just Google My Business and seek to add this information on sites that are popular with consumers. Think about the vertical that you serve, so for restaurants I would focus on Yelp, Opentable and GrubHub. I you have a hard time identifying this, look at your referring sites and use that as your proxy to understand where people are looking for you at. You can also use great resources like to citation sources by vertical produced by Darren Shaw at WhiteSpark.
