{"id":3405,"date":"2018-03-27T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/local-search-hacks-you-probably-havent-seen-before\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:32","slug":"local-search-hacks-you-probably-havent-seen-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/local-search-hacks-you-probably-havent-seen-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Search Hacks You Probably Haven&#8217;t Seen Before"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Local search has seen an explosion of change over the last year. Tactics that used to work like gangbusters are now just table stakes. Darren shows you bleeding edge local search tips and tactics that you can implement immediately to boost your local search rankings.<\/p>\n<p>The main tips and tactics from\u00a0Darren&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.distilled.net\/events\/searchlove-sandiego\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SearchLove San Diego<\/a>\u00a0presentation are included below the slides.\u00a0For the full experience with animated gifs, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/ovh32n5pn2dg4mr\/Darren%20Shaw%20-%20Local%20Search%20Hacks%20You%20Probably%20Haven%E2%80%99t%20Seen%20Before%20FINAL.pptx?dl=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">download the PowerPoint file <\/a>or <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Darren-Shaw-Local-Search-Hacks-You-Probably-Haven\u2019t-Seen-Before.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here for the full PDF version<\/a>.==<\/p>\n<h2>The 6 Areas of Local Search<\/h2>\n<p>There are six main areas of local search based on <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/local-search-ranking-factors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Local Search Ranking Factors<\/a> where you need to focus your main efforts and that will have the biggest impact:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Google My Business<\/li>\n<li>Citations<\/li>\n<li>Website<\/li>\n<li>Links<\/li>\n<li>Reviews<\/li>\n<li>Behavioral<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Local-Factors.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Here are some simple hacks you can complete to elevate your rankings in these core areas.<\/p>\n<h2>Hacking Google My Business<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Find Competitors Categories<\/strong><br \/>\nYou can add multiple categories in your GMB listing, but you will only be able to see your Primary Category on your listing.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Primary-GMB-Category.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Find out what categories your top competitors are using by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Going to their maps listing,<\/li>\n<li>Right-click and view source,<\/li>\n<li>Ctrl-F for and search for the primary category (enter the category name that is listed on their GMB listing).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(Hat tip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sterlingsky.ca\/\">Joy Hawkins<\/a> for this tip. It comes from her amazing guide, <a href=\"https:\/\/localu.org\/experts-guide-local-seo\/\">The Expert&#8217;s Guide to Local SEO<\/a>)<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Category-View-Source.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Remove Spammers, Rank Higher<\/strong><br \/>\nThese spammers are the worst:<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Report-Spammers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Take spammers down:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Go to their website and confirm their actual business names,<\/li>\n<li>Find their listing in Google My Business,<\/li>\n<li>Suggest an edit (if you&#8217;re a Local Guide your edit may get approved quicker)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Report-Spammers-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Oh Snap &#8211; who&#8217;s laughing now?<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Oh-Snap-Spam-off-the-Map.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Citations<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Citation Consistency Shortcut<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you have multiple phone numbers across different important citation sources, this can have a negative impact on your local search campaigns and create bad data and information in the <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/local-search-ecosystem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Local Search Ecosystem<\/a>.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Citation-Inconsistency.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Update your GMB listing to include the additional phone numbers for a quick fix to citation inconsistency issues.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Add-Additional-Numbers-to-GMB.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Get Your Citations Indexed<\/strong><br \/>\nMany of your citations will not be indexed in Search Engines, with a little SQL injection to the index you can fix this.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a page on your website with links to the citation URL&#8217;s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Index-Citations.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Internally link to it,<\/li>\n<li>Then submit it for indexing through Google Search Console<\/li>\n<li>Once the fetch is done, request indexing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Index-Citations-Request.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Hacking the Website<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Get Stars in the Organic Results<\/strong><br \/>\nThose glorious golden stars in search results help increase your click-through-rates, add micro-data\/schema markup to your site pages. <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/how-to-use-aggregate-review-schema-to-get-stars-in-the-serps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for instructions<\/a> on how to implement them on your site.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Snippets-in-Organic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Before you go crazy trying to get all the rich snippets, here are a few rules\/tips to making sure you do it right:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Doesn\u2019t work on the homepage<\/li>\n<li>Must be original content (no copying reviews)<\/li>\n<li>The page must have page authority of ~25 or higher<\/li>\n<li>Internally link with \u201creviews\u201d\/\u201ctestimonials\u201d in anchor<\/li>\n<li>Get external links to the page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Consolidate Your Content<\/strong><br \/>\nDon&#8217;t be like the hundreds of other businesses in your city that have 1 page with a little bit of content, that no one reads, set yourself apart and have the best page in the city on the topic. <a href=\"http:\/\/farzadlaw.com\/california-child-custody-laws-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Here&#8217;s an example of a business doing content right<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can take this even further by consolidating your content from your blog to your service landing page an d 301 redirecting it. Now you have an even better service page, that is more informative, and ideally more helpful.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Content-Hack.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Hacking Local Links<\/h3>\n<p>In local SEO it&#8217;s truly amazing the impact just a few links can have.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sponsorships<\/strong><br \/>\nSponsorship&#8217;s are quick and easy links in your city that help you and other organizations that are important to your community. It&#8217;s a win-win.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One Search to rule them all &#8211; <strong>intitle:sponsors &#8220;Your City&#8221;<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li>Add <strong>&amp;num=100<\/strong> to the query,<\/li>\n<li>Export to CSV with the <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/products\/pro\/seo-toolbar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moz Bar<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>Review results and find the best opportunity for your business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Sponsorship-Prospecting.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Hacking Reviews<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Get Your Keywords in Reviews<\/strong><br \/>\nReviews are not only critical to helping your rankings, but they are a must for reputation management. Take your review asking strategy to new levels, by simply adding more details to your request!<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Next-Level-Review-Ask.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>(If you want to learn more about keywords in reviews <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/how-to-get-keywords-in-your-reviews-whitespark-weekly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">check out this episode of the Whitespark Weekly<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ask For Yelp Reviews Without Asking<\/strong><br \/>\nYelp has a strict &#8220;don&#8217;t ask for reviews&#8221; policy. But you can create a check-in offer and get Yelp to do the asking for you (insert maniacal laugh here).<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Yelp-Check-In.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/>Muah-ha-ha-ha.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Yelp-Review-Ask.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Incentivize Reviews The Safe Way<\/strong><br \/>\nOffer incentives for Google reviews and they might <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/law-firm-used-contest-solicit-google-reviews-sees-one-disappear-292721\">all get removed<\/a>. Do it the right way by creating incentives for your EMPLOYEES, not customers.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Rob-Ousbey.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Rob-Ousbey.png\">Rob Ousbey<\/a><strong>Hacking Engagement<\/strong><br \/>\nThe future of local SEO is Entity Authority &#8211; David Mihm breaks it down for in his article on the <a href=\"https:\/\/tidings.com\/vault\/local-ranking-2020.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Difference Making Local Ranking Factor<\/a>. How can we impact engagement metrics?<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Entity-Authority.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Clicks from Search Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Optimize titles and descriptions for clicks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Clicks-from-Search-Results-Title-Tags.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get the stars, get the clicks.<\/li>\n<li>Emoji\u2019s in your GMB business name (Guidelines violation \u2013 use at your own risk!).<\/li>\n<li>Write a compelling GMB description (coming soon).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Clicks to Calls<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tons of glowing reviews = more calls.<\/li>\n<li>Responding to reviews shows you care = more calls.<\/li>\n<li>Have compelling photos and videos of your work on GMB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Link to this on contact page, email sig, footer, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Driving-Directions.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Branded Searches<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Link your email signature to a brand search.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Email-Signature-to-Brand-PAge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Link to a brand search in your newsletters.<\/li>\n<li>Sneaky: add a link to brand search in high traffic content.<\/li>\n<li>Billboard to drive brand searches!<\/li>\n<li>Ask people to Google your brand in TV or radio ads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Any-Questions.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Local search has seen an explosion of change over the last year. Tactics that used to work like gangbusters are now just table stakes. Darren shows you bleeding edge local search tips and tactics that you can implement immediately to boost your local search rankings. The main tips and tactics from\u00a0Darren&#8217;s\u00a0SearchLove San Diego\u00a0presentation are included [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Local search has seen an explosion of change over the last year. Tactics that used to work like gangbusters are now just table stakes. In this talk, Darren will show you bleeding edge local search tips and tactics that you can implement immediately to boost your local search rankings.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"classification":[],"class_list":["post-3405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3428,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions\/3428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=3405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}