SMX Live: Hardcore Local SEO Tactics

12:46:31 PM Barry Schwartz: Successful local SEO is largely a matter of proper blocking and tackling. But you can take steps to gain an edge beyond Google Places. Boost your results with the advanced local search tactics shared in this session.
Moderator: Matt McGee, Executive News Editor, Search Engine Land (@mattmcgee)
Q&A Moderator: Rob Bucci, Founder, STAT Search Analytics (@STATrob)
Speakers:
Mike Blumenthal, Owner and Local Marketing Expert, Blumenthals (@mblumenthal)
Michael Dorausch, Owner, Planet Chiropractic (@chiropractic)
Mike Ramsey, President, Nifty Marketing (@niftymarketing)

12:47:37 PM Barry Schwartz: First up is Michael Blumenthal

12:48:10 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:48:18 PM Barry Schwartz: Local is about geo

12:48:42 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:50:20 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:50:37 PM Barry Schwartz: Linking is significant in the ranking algo

12:50:55 PM Barry Schwartz: There are two things that drive local rank:
(1) Location prominence
(2) Distance from Centroid

12:51:08 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:52:01 PM Barry Schwartz: - Reviews
- Citations with links on business name or with keyphrase links = citations

12:52:32 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:52:43 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:53:19 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:53:39 PM Barry Schwartz: Place page is now up on the SERPs

12:54:20 PM Barry Schwartz: Jan 26, 2012 is the biggest local Google change ever

12:54:34 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:54:40 PM Barry Schwartz: Much bigger reliance on blended results

12:54:53 PM Barry Schwartz: Page prominence takes a new role and personal authority also come into rankings

12:55:08 PM Barry Schwartz: Google also takes into account MapMaker into the algo and they use that data

12:56:17 PM Barry Schwartz: Google rewarded local pages in the rankings

12:56:55 PM Barry Schwartz:

12:58:50 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:01:10 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:01:24 PM Barry Schwartz: Google+ local only did was move URLs and broke more things

1:01:27 PM Rasmus: Any tips on handling MapMaker in countries where it is not yet available?

1:01:48 PM Barry Schwartz: @Rasmus see http://support.google.com/mapmaker/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=30028&topic=1094318&answer=155415

1:02:30 PM Barry Schwartz: Review stars are gone and author is kind

1:02:43 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:04:02 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:04:22 PM Barry Schwartz: We don't know how Google Places portal will change but we hope it is improved and we expect it in Google+

1:06:00 PM Barry Schwartz: Mike Ramsey, President, Nifty Marketing (@niftymarketing) is now up

1:06:20 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:06:37 PM Barry Schwartz: To talk about black hat SEO and he said there is a scale

1:08:05 PM Barry Schwartz: Fake Reviews: why do people fake reviews? because they matter

1:08:40 PM Barry Schwartz: and because they are easy and cheap

1:08:55 PM Barry Schwartz: it scales across multiple sites, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, etc

1:09:20 PM Barry Schwartz: He shows an example of resubmitting a negative review (by just editing their review)

1:11:06 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:11:36 PM Barry Schwartz: Now with Google+ Local, the reviews look different

1:12:00 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:12:21 PM Barry Schwartz: Now it just says "a google user" because the old ones are not from Google+.. Now you need a Google+ account

1:13:00 PM Barry Schwartz: Now if you are going to post a negaitve review, it shows up on your profile with all your reviews.

1:13:18 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:13:43 PM Barry Schwartz: Google+ Local raised the review bar so high that only spammers will bother.

1:13:59 PM Barry Schwartz: They now create fake personas on Google+ to do reviews

1:14:13 PM Barry Schwartz: You can get 30 Google+ accounts for $5

1:14:21 PM Barry Schwartz: Now it is harder to get "real" Google reviews

1:14:35 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:15:00 PM Barry Schwartz: You need to track your reviews and there are tools to do that

1:15:58 PM Barry Schwartz: Research the reviewer account (if you can)

1:16:57 PM Barry Schwartz: You can flag inappropriate reviews but it does not work to well.

1:18:36 PM Barry Schwartz: If that doesn't work, publicly embarrass Google

1:18:51 PM Barry Schwartz: If that doesnt work, carefully respond to the negative review

1:19:12 PM Barry Schwartz: The best defense is the best offense. So get good reviews so the negatives are outweight

1:21:47 PM Barry Schwartz: Another black hat technique is to try to submit fake data, competitor data, about your listing and Google may pick it up

1:22:20 PM Barry Schwartz: He showed this http://www.seroundtable.com/google-maps-poop-trick-13610.html too funny

1:22:45 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:22:55 PM Barry Schwartz: You can flag images as well

1:23:22 PM Barry Schwartz: Google Map Maker = Google Spam Maker

1:23:34 PM Barry Schwartz: You can hijack listings with this

1:24:03 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:25:03 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:25:27 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:26:03 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:26:08 PM Barry Schwartz: How to protect yourself

1:26:51 PM Barry Schwartz: Don't do these things to competitors - it is dirty

1:28:11 PM Barry Schwartz: Main thing, watch your listings...

1:28:24 PM Barry Schwartz: Last up Michael Dorausch, Owner, Planet Chiropractic (@chiropractic)

1:29:32 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:31:36 PM Barry Schwartz: He is mostly talking about photo-centric stuff to be creative about it

1:31:59 PM Barry Schwartz: Provide content for your local community

1:32:11 PM Barry Schwartz: Local content is predictable and repeatable

1:32:54 PM Barry Schwartz: Are there street fairs in your community? Street closures are important

1:34:42 PM Barry Schwartz: Marathons, people want to know when, where and how to get there.

1:34:47 PM Barry Schwartz: They want photos and results

1:35:32 PM Barry Schwartz: Make sure to throw in your citations in this articles

1:36:10 PM Barry Schwartz: He shows how these articles and the photos on those articles can drive tremendous traffic via Google News

1:36:48 PM Barry Schwartz:

1:38:12 PM Barry Schwartz: He likes Parades

1:40:06 PM Barry Schwartz: He loves taking pics of local places

1:40:46 PM Barry Schwartz: Post it to Panoramia

1:40:58 PM Barry Schwartz: Local Construction pictures and news is great

1:41:49 PM Barry Schwartz: Get brands and locations in your local content. How to find the monorail in Las Vegas

1:42:18 PM Barry Schwartz: Write about local activities in your community

1:43:21 PM Barry Schwartz: Local Art such as Graffiti

1:44:56 PM Barry Schwartz: Local Transportation

1:45:37 PM Barry Schwartz: Local History topics

1:46:19 PM Barry Schwartz: Get granular by showing local archives, old maps

1:47:25 PM Barry Schwartz: EDU sites love to link to old map content

1:47:33 PM Barry Schwartz: That is all for this session, more to come