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Posts Tagged ‘LSO’

The REAL Ranking Factors for Local Search

Posted on: February 28th, 2012 by Cody Baird 3 Comments

Google Inside Search Update

The REAL Ranking Factor for Local Search

Yesterday Google  announced 40 search updates on its official Google Search Blog.  3 of the announcements were related to local searches so I thought I would discuss one of those changes in this post.  I have personally noticed some of the effects of these changes for months now throughout various client accounts and research.  Even though the announcement just happened, these changes have been taking place for quite some time now.

Improvements to ranking for local search results

“Improvements to ranking for local search results. [launch codename “Venice”] This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal.”

Google is implying here that rankings the Local Algorithm will be influenced more by the traditional organic algorithm.  This shouldn’t come as a big surprise.  The first signal of this would have been Google introducing the Blended Algorithm and Blending results back in 2010.

Since the introduction of blended results many Local SEO experts have questioned, speculated, blogged, discussed why some queries trigger Local results and others trigger Blended results.  In some cities “dentist” triggers pure local results and other cities “dentist” triggers a blended result.  Why? The most common speculation is that it is random, that Google was trying or testing the algorithms.

#1 Ranking Factor – Centroid

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Google + Google Places = Future

Posted on: January 19th, 2012 by Cody Baird No Comments

Google + Google Places = Future

and my rants about my “Search plus World”

Back to the FutureThe sound of a  rooster crowing went off again at 5:30 this morning.   Really, that’s my alarm.  Funny, but it works.  Rolled out of bed.  Stumble downstairs.  Start pot of coffee.  Open Laptop.  Start reading my RSS feeds.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about how important it is as a inbound marketer and SEO to keep up on the latest trends.  And more importantly to read/follow the right blogs.  Doing so gives you a tremendous advantage over the competition.

Mike Ramsay at Nifty Marketing has been a leader in Local Search since the dawn of local search.   My first read today was Mike’s latest article about Google + and    Google launching Search, Plus Your World.  Usually by this time of the morning (and a pot of coffee later) I have already blown through 10 + posts.  But today I am sitting here thinking about all the recent changes with the Google search results, Google +, & Google Places.

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List & Claim Business with Superpages

Posted on: January 11th, 2012 by Cody Baird 1 Comment

List & Claim Business with Superpages.com

Superpages LogoListing and claiming your business properly with Superpages.com is another important step to improving your local search rankings.  Superpages.com is 1 of many secondary local search engines where you will need to list/claim and verify your business.  The amount of traffic that your website or business receives from Superpages.com will depend on your industry and city.  However, having a verified listing with Superpages.com should help improve your Google Places ranking.

In this tutorial you will learn how to:

  • See if your business is listed with Superpages.com.
  • Add and/or claim your lisitng.
  • Update your NAP (name, address, phone).
  • Choose proper categories.
  • Add other business attributes.
  • Verify your listing.
  • Claim, verify, & remove duplicate listings.

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List & Claim Business with Yellow Pages

Posted on: January 11th, 2012 by Cody Baird 6 Comments

List & Claim Business with Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages LogoListing and claiming your business properly with Yellow Pages is another important step to improving your local search rankings.  Yellow Pages is 1 of many secondary local search engines where you will need to list/claim and verify your business.  The amount of traffic that your website or business receives from Yellow Pages will depend on your industry and city.  However, having a verified listing with Yellow Pages should help improve your Google Places ranking.

In this tutorial you will learn how to:

  • See if your business is listed with Yellow Pages.
  • Add and/or claim your lisitng.
  • Update your NAP (name, address, phone).
  • Choose proper categories.
  • Add other business attributes.
  • Verify your listing.
  • Claim, verify, & remove duplicate listings.

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Google Places, not your Father’s Yellow Pages

Posted on: January 10th, 2012 by Cody Baird 12 Comments

Google Places, not your Father’s Yellow Pages

Early History of Yellow Pages

In 1876 the world became a smaller place as a revolution in communication took place.  Alexander Graham Bell registered the patent for the telephone changing communication and business operations forever.  Shortly after, in 1878, the New Haven Telephone Company of Connecticut published and distributed the first phone directory.  There where fifty subscribers total with each subscriber’s contact information neatly listed on a white card.   The phone directories divided the listings into commercial and residential sections. It wasn’t until 40 years later, in 1909 that the first coupons appeared in a St. Louis directory.      
          
new_haven_directory_1878
                 

Why Yellow

Phone directories appeared in yellow for the first time in 1883.  Know one knows for sure, but according to telephone lore, the printer ran out of white paper and substituted yellow instead of waiting for the next shipment of white paper.  Many believed that reading print on a yellow background was easier on the eyes and the substitution became permanent.  Yellow Pages were quickly accepted and soon after became the trademark of telephone companies and their services.

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SEO Blogs Milkmen Follow

Posted on: January 6th, 2012 by Cody Baird 7 Comments

Milkmen Favorites for 2012

I write the milkmen blog for potential clients, current clients, do it yourself (DYI) business owners, for my interns, and new employees so that I only have to repeat myself a dozen times each day. : )  With that said, I read entirely different types of blogs daily that some readers may enjoy when looking for more advanced concepts & techniques.

Cyrus Shepherd inspired this post.  There is no doubt that keeping up with the latest changes in SEO requires daily reading and often for hours at a time.  With that being said you had better make sure that you are not reading SEO philosophy & strategy from last year, let alone strategies that are couple years old.

Following the right people & the right blogs will give you, your business, and your clients a dramatic edge over the competition.  Digest the info in these blogs regularly, understand the principals behind the concepts, and you will be headed in the right direction with your online strategy.

The answers to all of your questions or SEO issues are out there if you know where to look.  These blogs are listed in no particular order.  Select the image for a link to the blog.

 

SEOMoz

 

Mihmorandum

 

Search Engine Land

 

 

 

SEO by the Sea

 

 

Conversation Marketing

 

 

Blumenthals

 

 

 

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10 Commandments of Local Search

Posted on: December 31st, 2011 by Cody Baird 16 Comments

10 Commandments of Local Search

& the LSO Prophets

Why does one business rank higher than another in Google search results & how can you improve search rankings?  This is the million dollar question for thousands of small business owners in all types of industries.  Knowing the answer to Local Ranking Factors and being able to execute a plan to improve rankings can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for a small business.

Local Search Commandments

 In this article you will learn:

  • Why Local Search is so Important
  • Understanding Google’s Local Search Algorithm
  • Organic, Local, & Blended Search Results
  • The Prophets of Local Search
  • The 10 Commandments of Local Search
  • Understanding the Local Search Commandments

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Top 50 Citations Every SMB Should Have

Posted on: December 19th, 2011 by Cody Baird 11 Comments

Top 50 Citations Every SMB Should Have

and then some

Top 50 Local Search Citations

Not all citations are equal.  When it comes to citations the  local algorithm is factoring quality and quantity.  The purpose of the algorithm calculating or weighing citations is to measure which businesses are more credible and/or trustworthy.

Name, address, and phone (NAP) need to be listed uniformly across all mediums.  Mismatching information can cause trust issues and can negatively effect your search rankings for terms that generate local results.  I will cover this in detail in The 10 Commandments of Local Search. 

I like to do an inventory to find out where the business is already listed and to get a baseline at the beginning of a LSO project.  It is very common for new business or new locations for a business to have a very limited number of citations.  Businesses that are more seasoned will often have thousands of citations.  Overtime a seasoned business will naturally acquire more citations because data aggregators, search engines, data providers, and many digital portals all sharing information and all using spiders to index data.

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Listing your Business with Foursquare

Posted on: December 15th, 2011 by Cody Baird 18 Comments

Listing & Claiming your Business with Foursquare

Listing and claiming your business properly with Foursquare is another important step to improving your local search rankings.  Foursquare is 1 of many secondary local search engines where you will need to list/claim and verify your business.  The amount of traffic that your website or business receives from Foursquare will depend on your industry.  Dental Offices don’t usually see the same traffic as a restaurant for example.  However, having a verified listing with Foursquare should help improve your Google Places ranking.

Foursquare Logo

 In this tutorial you will learn how to:

  • See if your business is listed with Foursquare.
  • Add and/or claim your venue.
  • Update your NAP (name, address, phone).
  • Choose proper categories.
  • Add other business attributes.
  • Verify your listing.
  • Claim, verify, & remove duplicate listings.

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Insiders Guide to Yahoo Local

Posted on: December 9th, 2011 by Cody Baird 6 Comments

Listing & Claiming your Business with Yahoo Local

Yahoo Local LogoListing and claiming your business properly with Yahoo Local is another important step to improving your local search rankings.  Yahoo is 1 of the 3 major local search engines where you will need to list/claim and verify your business.  Yahoo usually drives 16% of your search traffic.  Even though Yahoo does not send as much website traffic as Google.  Having a verified listing with Yahoo will help improve your Google Places ranking.

Complete your Yahoo Local profile after I complete my Google Places listing and you can avoid setting up a Yahoo account.

In this tutorial you will learn how to:

  • See if your business is listed with Yahoo Local.
  • Add and/or claim your listing.
  • Update your NAP (name, address, phone).
  • Choose proper categories.
  • Add other business attributes.
  • Verify your listing.
  • Claim, verify, & remove duplicate listings. (more…)

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