What’s New with Local Search Marketing #smx
Moderator: Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence
Speaker: Mike Blummental, Partner, Blumenthals
- Huge growth for Google Maps – catching up to MapQuest
- Google maps is seen over a wide variety of devices (SMS, Smartphones, etc.)
- Check for your site in Google Local, Yahoo Local, niche local sites
- The “new” PageRank: location prominent score: explicit anchor text, score of website, number of links referring to the business, highest rank of linking site, NOT PR score)
Speaker: Tony Wright, CEO/Founder, Wright IMC
- Consumer reviews/local business links: Yelp, Angie’s List, Zillow, ServiceMagic, CitySearch
- Local reviews can make/break business
- Set up alerts: Google, Twitter
Speaker: Craig Greenfield, Director, Local Search, Performics
- Businesses with multiple locations: each location should have its own page, with main URL having sitemap for spiders
Speaker: Steve Espinosa, Director of Product Development, eLocal Listing
- Set up local profiles on sites
- A/B Testing is key
- Looking to the future: local listings w/ customized profile
- 5 star reviews are incredibly powerful
- Helpful to have keyword in business name
- Helpful resources: InsiderPages, Open List, Google coupons, Meetup
- When submitting at Google Maps, link videos – adds web reference
- Phone tracking through Google: pretend to make an audio campaign, “call reporting”, track phone numbers!
Q & A
- People are still ignoring modifiers (above regular google ten pack)
- H card format for Local
- Keep check with local reviews
- Google TV – distribution onto TV
- Synergize site with local listings
- Submit to Google
- Other speaker: Eric Stein, Director, Local Markets, Google
NOTE: These notes are the major points of the presentations, and do not include every point the presenter made.
Tags: Google Maps, local reviews, Local SEO, SMX East