Learn all about Local SEO best practices, including basic on-site SEO for businesses, business profiles, directory and citation providers, duplicate listings, reviews, and more in this free PortentU webinar.

Watch the full video:

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See just the slidedeck here.

The post Get on that Map: Local SEO Best Practices [VIDEO WEBINAR] appeared first on Portent.

What’s the big deal about Facebook Graph Search? It’s a common question this week, and while it doesn’t warrant a Notre Dame think tank disaster group, we should all care (at least a little) about Facebook’s new “smarter” search engine.

From businesses and Internet marketers to everyday Facebook users, this new way of search should give us all reason to reevaluate how we plan to use this search engine. Check out these three examples:

Why Internet marketers should care

Facebook’s ultimate goal with Graph Search isn’t difficult to figure out. They want to keep users engaged on Facebook with the hope that they will no longer rely on Google to discover new stuff.

One minor detail that was mostly overlooked during Facebook’s announcement is that Graph Search is a product of Facebook and Bing. The two engineering teams have been working together over the past two-and-a-half years on the current, yet clunky Facebook search experience.

With the new Graph Search, marketers can expect Facebook search to change to a two column result page that combines Facebook friend results with Bing results. We can already expect Facebook to feature their sponsored pages in Graph Search, but what’s to come of Bing ads in Facebook?

Image from Bing

Our best guess

If we know anything about Bing PPC, we can guess that advertisers will have very little control over where their ads will be served on Facebook. The most likely scenario is that Bing will serve ads from a new content network shared between Facebook, Yahoo! and Bing. Ultimately, this will increase Bing’s opportunities for ad impressions, but don’t count on Bing to make advertising any cheaper.

Why businesses should care

Graph Search is Facebook’s version of a recommendation search engine. It relies on a plethora of signals that include self pics, winky face status updates, check-ins and “Likes” to determine relevant search results, which will have an outrageously strong impact on local search.

Many industry leaders, like Matt McGee, editor at Search Engine Land, believe Graph Search might succeed thanks to Facebook’s billion-plus user base, provided that users find the experience appealing enough to break their Yelp and Google habits.

Welcome to the popularity contest

How many people actually talk about McCoy’s Firehouse Bar & Grill on Facebook? They totally should because it’s one of the best places to get a beer in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, but if users don’t Like or talk about a business on the social network, it won’t show up in search results.

Facebook is already an important signal in local SEO and the only way for local businesses to win in Graph Search is to increase engagement. The more likes, comments, pictures and mentions they receive, the more often their business and products appear in search results.

Local businesses can get a jump on optimizing their Facebook pages before Graph Search takes affect by following some of our local SEO tips for social networks. At a minimum, Facebook pages should clearly display the name, address, phone number of the business, and any other signals of trust like links to the website.

After optimizing the page for local search, business owners should curate a content schedule to regularly update the Facebook page with news and pictures about the business, as well as encouraging fans to upload their own photos and reviews. For more engagement ideas, we highly recommend using Rafflecopter for contests. Their widget is dead simple to build and the Rafflecopter blog is full of awesome ideas for social media promotions.

Facebook’s user agreement

Facebook’s page guidelines are long and boring, but page administrators should know Facebook bans any promotions that require users to upload a picture or status update on a Facebook page. In other words, page admins can’t incentivize Facebook fans to make updates.

As a wild prediction, I think Facebook might bend these rules in the future. It would be in their best interest to create new features like an Instagram/Facebook app that rewards fans for taking pictures of food. If Facebook really had its act together, it would partner with restaurants to show menu options and calorie counts, and maybe it would even share geo-target information on Instagram. They could call it something goofy like YummyPics… it’s a half-baked idea, but something like this could work.

Why Facebook users should care

To the generic Facebook user, Graph Search is a game-changer when it comes to privacy. Facebook hides behind the claim that, “No one can see anything that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see.“

While that might be true, millions of Facebook will soon realize all the embarrassing pages they liked in college are now public information on Graph Search.

What’s a Facebook user to do?

Fire up the flux capacitor and take a trip back in time to remove yourself from any pages or groups that might prevent you from volunteering with children.

Keep in mind, there’s also the situation where you liked a page for some reason, and it’s not offensive, but you just don’t want to be a free marketer/advertiser for that company. For the sake of you and your friend’s sanity, remove those likes.

(In a follow up post, I outline the steps to find and unlike unwanted pages on your Facebook profile. Check it out. You’ll like it.)

Facebook thinks you can’t opt out of Graph Search

Zuckerberg calls Graph Search the “third pillar of what Facebook is all about.” Facebook is betting big that users will continue to take pictures of their fusion pad thai and make updates about their favorite organic baby food, but will they? Or will the changes inherent in Graph Search have an impact on Facebook user’s Liking habits?

Is it worth Liking something on Facebook if it could haunt you in the future?

TL;DR Recap

When it comes to Graph Search, marketers should worry about Bing, businesses should worry about local search, users should worry about appearing in ridiculous search results, and Facebook should worry about people abandoning their social network.

Facebook Graph Search is still in beta, but here’s a link if you want to jump on Facebook’s waiting list.

How do you think this Facebook experiment is going to play out?

The post Who Should Care About Facebook Graph Search? (Hint: Everyone) appeared first on Portent.

Why are online customer reviews so important?

70% of consumers consult online reviews before purchasing. And positive online reviews can boost your search engine rankings as well.

Both search engines and customers are looking at your reviews to determine how you match up against the competition. Great online reviews benefit your business by:

• Building trust with potential customers.
• Allowing and encouraging customer feedback and relationships between customers and your brand.
• Signaling to search engines that your products are popular and high-quality (and deserve to be ranked about those pesky competitors).
• Boosting local search rankings for your business’s physical location(s).

Online customer reviews are a powerful tool many businesses do not effectively utilize when looking for a way to boost sales online.

Seven tips for earning killer online customer reviews

1. Make writing a review easy

   Do not expect customers to search for ways to leave your company a review (unless they have something negative to say). Make it as easy as possible for your customers to add a review. Having direct links to your review profiles in multiple places is a good way to go.

   You never know exactly when a customer will want to review their experience with your company. Don’t miss those opportunities when they present themselves. Once a customer is ready to write their review, don’t make them sign up for a profile on your site first. You can collect their information while allowing them to leave their comment in one step.

   

2. Ask for a review at the right time

   Why ask for a review right after a customer completes an online transaction? The customer won’t have much to review if they haven’t received their product yet. Wait a few days until your customer receives their purchase, then send a follow-up email. The follow-up email can be a thank you for purchasing message with a prompt for a review at the end.

   

3. Be careful when offering incentives

   Offering incentives can often produce less than whole-hearted reviews. Don’t let customers leave a review just so they can receive a promotional discount or giveaway.

   It is not very difficult to distinguish between an incentive-driven review and a review where a customer shared a genuine product evaluation. By not offering incentives, your review profile can achieve sincere comments from customers.

4. Ask a loyal customer

   If you are having trouble getting your customer review profile rolling, don’t be afraid to reach out to a former customer who you may have developed a partnership with over time. Especially in the beginning stages of your reviews profile, customers may be hesitant to leave the first review—nobody wants to be the first person dancing at a party.

   Reach out and personally asking a handful of loyal customers to create a strong base of positive reviews. You should stagger these personal review requests—it will look strange to potential customers (and the search engines) if you have four or five great reviews left on the same day after just starting your profile.

5. Turn a negative into a positive

   The likelihood of your company fully utilizing a reviews profile and not receiving a single negative review is unlikely. Negative reviews happen. Don’t panic when they do. Take a negative review as an opportunity to create a positive customer experience.

   Publicly respond to the negative review, then personally reach out to the customer and try to turn their negative experience into a positive one. It is not uncommon to see that same reviewer then post a positive review. By going through this process it shows that you actually pay attention to your reviews, reach out to your customer base, and provide service to unsatisfied customers which can be reassuring for prospective customers.

   

6. Provide review options

   Do not just have one or two places online for customers to review your business. Utilizing a large selection of review sites will help expand your reach when customers are looking to leave a review. Claiming your Google+ Local, Yahoo Local, and Yelp listings is a must when looking to jump start your customer review online portfolio.

7. Continue to engage your customer base

   It may become a time-consuming task to regularly monitor multiple review profiles. However, engaging with your customers through their reviews can grow loyalty and repeat business. We already touched on what to do with negative reviews, but do not ignore the positive ones either. Thank your customers when they help you out. Remember, a simple comment may go a long way for current and prospective customers alike.

Getting more killer online reviews can lead to increased web traffic and sales. It’s worth the time to develop your reviews profile. Share any additional tips you’ve got in the comments.

The post 7 Tips for Killer Online Customer Reviews appeared first on Portent.

The “local SEO busters” are inspired by our favorite band of paranormal investigators and eliminators, which had to have been the coolest local business in the 80s, amirite?

Who ya gonna call for local SEO help? By now, we hope it’s us.

Two weeks ago we made an open call for questions related to Local Search. Since then, we’ve discussed the meat and potatoes of local SEO: offsite factors, social strategies and the fundamentals of local search. Now, to wrap up our Portent Local Series, we give you All The Answers.

Portent’s Local Team

To answer your questions, we put together our rag tag team of search experts consisting of Doug Antkowiak (me, the lead social media guy), Nick Bernard (offsite SEO guy), George Freitag (local SEO guy) and Josh Patrice, our SEO Team Lead and presenter for our upcoming webinar SEO Tips for Small Businesses. So, with that, let’s get to the Q&A.

General Questions

We’ll start with the general questions about local search and go into specific parts later in the post.

Question 1: For businesses like doctors or lawyers who want to target a broad radius of cities surrounding their office, how does one effectively do this? Service area pages covering the same info seem spammy, but in most cases the information you want to provide your site visitors isn’t going to vary that much. -Mike Wilton

Answer: This is always tough since Google is going to have a bias against any business without a physical address in the city. The most successful strategies I’ve seen have been to try and target the localized organic results (the results outside of the lettered results).

So, if you can fit the target city in your title tag and homepage text, do that. If it’s a ton of surrounding areas, create a unique page targeting the nearby city and fill it with original content related to that city. You should even include directions to your business, if possible. If you can get some good links to this page, even better. You may never get in those lettered results, but at least you’ll show up on the results page.

Question 2: How do the Bing and Google local algorithms differ? -Skeeter Anderson

Answer: Google and Bing both serve localized results based on the query and the location of the searcher. The big difference is that Google’s local results are more incorporated with the organic results. So, apart from a few exceptions, Bing tends to give 5 numbered local results and 8-10 organic results below for most local searches. Google’s results, on the other hand, will typically vary from subject to city and everywhere in between. Secondly, Google tends to display business results from the company site, whereas Bing is more inclined to provide results for directory sites like Citysearch or Yellow Pages.

Question 3: How can I achieve anonymity in local search when everything is based on my address? I run my company out of my garage. -Skeeter Anderson

Answer: The best way to stay out of the local results is to not put your address anywhere. You can still target the localized organic results by mentioning your city and services in the content.

Question 4: Is there any way to advertise on local search? -Allen Yarguth

Answer: Both Google and Bing serve ads in localized results just as they do for any search result. You can bid on any local search phrase through their networks. On top of that, Google also has Google Adwords Express, which places ads as local results directly on the map.

Question 5: What is the best way to combat similar businesses that share the same exact address? -Kim Wetter

Answer: You’ll want to spend the time to make sure all of your directory listings are displaying their contact information in the exact same format. In some cases, you may even want to go so far as to help your competitor update their directory listings as well.

If you continue to encounter problems, you can try visiting Google Map Maker and editing your listing directly or report a problem to Google.

Question 6: How will iOS 6 affect local search? – @jana_obscura

Answer: Naturally, it’s too early to predict eveything about how Apple’s abandonment of Google Maps will affect local search, but the most significant change is that this takes Google’s local results out of most iPhones and replaces it with data primarily from Yelp. Because Yelp is also a content provider for Bing, this makes Yelp one of the most visible content providers for local business information. So businesses, if you were debating setting up a Yelp page before, now’s probably the time.

Local Directory Questions

Since directory listings are so important to local search, we decided to put all those questions together in their own section.

Question 1: What is the relative importance of directory listing? -Kevin Stevens

Answer: Directory listings are the best signal search engines can use to determine your business’s popularity online. These contain the citations that contribute to your business listing’s trust in the local results. On top of that, most issues related to duplicate map listings, incorrect business information and other local problems can be traced back to an inaccurate directory listing somewhere.

Question 2: What local biz listings (Google, Yahoo, etc.) are the most important to be listed in? Should you encourage customers to leave reviews of your business on review sites? If so, which ones are the most influential? -Robert Wall

Answer: You’ve already hit the most important directories, but I’d also include Bing and Yelp. After that, it depends on your type of business. For most businesses, Citysearch, Hotfrog, and the phone directory sites are appropriate, too. After that, however, you’ll really want to focus on niche directories like Urban Spoon for restaurants or Healthgrades for medical practitioners.

As for reviews, they are definitely important. On Google, they really are encouraging customers to use Google+ so a review there is ideal. Google will also link to most other review sites below the Google reviews on the +Local listing. I’d also recommend Yelp since, apart from having their own loyal users, they are also currently a content provider for Bing’s local listings and the primary content provider for Apple’s map system.

Question 3: We work with a lot of clients trying to direct their customers to one directory over another to write their reviews. Is this worth the effort? Is one directory, like Yelp or G+ local, better or worse for leaving reviews? -Jeff

Answer: In a perfect world, all the reviews would be counted. Unfortunately, Google places such a high preference on its own reviews, that your clients should direct as many reviews as possible directly to the Google+ Local page. Like we stated earlier, Google will still link to the other reviews at the bottom of the local page, but it just won’t be displayed as prominently. Bing, on the other hand, has many different partnerships and will display reviews from Yelp, Citysearch and other popular directory sites directly in its business listings.

Also, you should also be sure to consider niche directories for your industry. Restaurants, travel, medical and other industries have very influential review sites that are looked at by both Google and Bing.

Question 4: Is it worth it to pay for a link on a directory site? -Emily

Answer: This is always a tricky situation, but it ultimately depends on your business. The phonebook’s websites, BBB and even some local directories can often be worth looking into but you generally need to pay to be included. Going back to the Portent post about Local Business Directories, it is very important to focus on the niche directories available to your business.

Question 5
Johnny Wyatt had a great multi-part question that I’ve divided into separate parts:

1. When optimizing directories and local listings such as Google+ Local/Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Business Portal, Yelp, City Search, should the description field contain identical copy from site to site?

Answer: Ideally, you should write unique copy for each site since different sites often serve different markets. I do know, though, that this can be time consuming so I have not noticed any negative impact from repeating the same description on different directory sites. They should, however, be different from the copy used on your website.

2. Phone number… where we have multiple locations and where we desire tracking capability, should we have a different phone number for each location in the listings and on the locations pages of the website even if we have a central number? One example is a school with four locations. TIA/West, TIA/East and so on. One website, one central phone number, unique phone numbers for each location. Can I use a unique tracking number for each location that points to the actual number? Should that be the number on the website location page?

Answer: Tracking numbers should always be used with caution. The reason why the phone number is so important in local search is because of the importance of your NAP mention across the Internet. Referring back to The Brick and Mortar of Local SEO post, each phone number can potentially be indexed as its own business location, so if this is not what you want to happen, then you shouldn’t use tracking numbers or at least make sure they are not indexed by the search engines. Google and Bing will also allow you to use several numbers, so if you want to use a primary local number and use the main line as a secondary number, the search engines will typically understand that both are associated with your organization. Basically, only use a number if you want it to be the number you used in the phone books. If not, you should stick with the main line for everything.

Question 6: I have a client who says the road that their business is located on doesn’t even show up on Google’s mapping system yet and the pin is way off from their actual location. How do we go about fixing this? -Shaylee

Answer: The answer is the in the amazing, incredible Google Map Maker. This is a crowdsourcing site that Google uses to edit all information in its maps. You can add new roads and buildings, edit existing features and more. Pretty much any element of Google Maps can be edited through this. Changes are then reviewed by combination of peers, Google staff and automated bots before being published.

Social Media and Google+ Local

With Google+ and Google+ Local being so new, it’s understandable that we had a lot of questions related to these.

Question 1: Is there any benefit to adding custom attributes to Google+ local profiles? -Gyi Tsakaliakis

Answer: This is one of the less clear points of Google. There have been some mixed opinions on how much the content in the descriptions and additional details sections influence a listing’s ranking. My experience, though, has shown that the more information you give Google in your listing, the more legitimate your listing appears. So if anything, filling out those sections shows to Google that your listing is actively managed which adds to the trustworthiness of the listing. However, I strongly advise that you avoid any blatant keyword stuffing in any of the custom sections of your listing.

Question 2: Is there a connection between Google Plus Local rankings and Organic rankings? -Jason

Answer: Absolutely. Google looks at both the website and the local listing when ranking its local results. On top of that, it also looks for a strong connection between the two so it’s important that both support each other and use identical contact information, whenever possible.

Question 3: What are your thoughts on the Google+ Local pages transition? -Courtney

Answer: It’s currently quite a headache for businesses to have to update two separate pages – one Google+ Local page and one Google+ Business page – even if you migrated over your “Places” content. It’s changed before, and it’ll change again. For now, Google+ Local is where you want to focus your effort.

Question 4: Have you ever had to deal with Google showing a local business’s Google + local page with about 1000 reviews, the right NAP, but the wrong URL? -Joshua

Answer: This sounds like you might have multiple listings for your local business in your Google Places account. Check out our earlier post about optimizing your Google+ Local page for more information.

Question 5: In addition to connecting your social profiles to each other, you should customize each profile so that it better reflects the brand presence you have built on your website. Facebook Timeline and Google+ have allowed for larger banners, and Twitter just rolled out a more customizable profile page. The more consistent brand image you can project across your social media sites, the better brand awareness you can create. -Nick

Answer: While it’s not a question, Nick does bring up a really important point. Like I was saying in my post about optimizing social media for local business, it’s critical to reflect as much website information as possible on your social media assets. I think one of the reasons businesses overlook updating items like banners is due to limited resources and the constant changing landscape of social networks. You probably saw it, but we just profiled how to update your Twitter account with a new header image.

Question 6: When I log into FB as my PAGE I can’t Comment or Like anything on the entire web, whether within FB or on sites outside of it. If I log into FB as my PROFILE I can do all those things. Is this normal behavior? I want to add FB commenting to my website, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to reply to any comments!!!!!! Thanks for any insights… -Emily

Answer: Facebook tries to keep a strong separation between pages and profiles. Basically, pages can only comment on other pages within Facebook. To answer your question about installing Facebook commenting on your blog, Facebook allows you to moderate the commenting with your personal profile. You’ll have the power to block bad words and inappropriate users, but if you need to respond to a question you could comment as your personal profile. Another option might be to respond to a comment by posting a new update on your Facebook page wall. Check out this link for more info on the Facebook comments app.

Question 7: I “claimed” our page to update our address. Well the pin from Google finally came and I was able to update everything, but rather than fixing out-of-date info, it just turned it into an entirely separate Google+ local page which means the old one with the bad address still exists. I imagine if I try to claim that one, it will just create another duplicate. Google fail.

Answer: Try logging into your Google Places account. You should be able to see both Google+ Local pages on your dashboard. Update your original Google Places page with your new address and info. As for the new duplicated page, visit the Google+ Local page and click the “edit business details” button above the “manage this page button.” Under the headline “Is any of the following true…” mark the box that says “This is a duplicate.”

Question 8: I am thinking of hiring a guy to do optimization on my Google+ business local page. Is it worth it. He want to sign me in to a 1 year contract, with a monthly fee. Is it even possible to optimize the local page?

Answer: After checking out your site and your Google+ local business page, I can see you have a few optimization opportunities. However, I’m hesitant about the terms of your internet marketing contractor. The one-year contract sounds fishy to me, especially if he’s only offering optimization for your Google+ business page. If you’re going to hire anyone to help you do local business optimization, make sure that expert offers social optimization, directory submissions and onsite optimizations (which might be your greatest opportunity for improvement).

Question 9: Why are my reviews not posting/where did my reviews go? -Mark, Steven, Natalie, Beau and probably others online

Answer: This isn’t a specific question we received, but we tend to see enough posts related to this any time we mention Google+ or local search to make this worth mentioning. Basically, reviews on Google don’t always post and sometimes existing reviews can disappear. This is one of the more frustrating aspects of local and, unfortunately, there isn’t always a definitive reason. Essentially, Google is looking for reviews it knows to be real. That is, written by an actual customer for real life reasons. To do this, Google looks at information about the reviewer. Does he/she have a Google+ profile? Have they written reviews before? If they have, are all reviews for a specific type of business? Do they seem trustworthy? Google may even look at things like a reviewer’s Gmail activity, YouTube activity and other Google properties to make sure that the reviewer is a real person.

When reviews are removed or don’t show, it’s usually because they don’t meet one of these criteria or, for some reason, may seem untrustworthy. Maybe the business received a string of reviews from the same IP address. Maybe they got a ton of reviews from brand new users all at once. Maybe reviews seemed to be keyword stuffing. Again, these are just possible answers. The only strategy is to try and get reviews from people already active in their Google properties. I know this isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’s one of the only way Google can prevent it’s local listings from being completely spammed by fake reviews.

Did we leave anything out?

Thanks to everyone who asked their questions – I hope we were able to get them answered for you. But, if you think we missed anything, or you have any lingering questions about local, feel free to post them in the comments below.

The post Portent Local SEO Q&A appeared first on Portent.

As we’ve discussed during the earlier parts of our Local Series, directories and social networks are vital to getting your business found online.

Directories feed search engines the data that justifies your business’ inclusion in the local results. Social networks get the word out to your customers and let you connect with them online.

But, before all of that, there are two things that need to be in place: an actual business and an actual website. Here’s the foundation you need to have down before you get started on your online strategy, based on some of the most frequent issues I’ve encountered with small businesses.

Preparing Your Business for Local SEO

Before you get listed in directories and before your customers like/follow/plus/pin you on their favorite social network, you need to be consistent with the information you’re putting out there.

1. Know what your business name is going to be. Are you an LLC? A PLLC? An Inc? A TLDR? If you’re a firm or a medical practice, are you going by a business name or by single professional’s name? Are you going to use an ampersand or write out the word “and”? These small decisions can mean the difference between having a consistent, trusted online presence and having a dozen duplicate map markers pointing to different social and directory sites.
2. Know what phone number you’re going to use. If you have multiple phone lines, you need to pick one. The phone number is the most consistent identifier for a local business, so having multiple ones out there can cause some of the biggest headaches in local search. Ideally, you should use a local phone number instead of a toll free number. Search engines understand area codes and use this to determine how local your business is.
3. Know your address as it’s written in Google Maps.  Start by doing a search for your actual street address in Google Maps. Google will likely spit out a variation on how you typed it – use Google’s version. Now, if you have a suite number, add it to the address and write down. This is the exact address you want to use – always. If you’re located on a highway, you’ll especially want to follow these steps since highways are frequently listed in several different ways.
   

   I typed our address one way, but Google prefers it another.

Using Your Website for Local SEO

While there are businesses that occasionally show up in local results simply from their Bing or Google listings, it’s pretty rare and generally inconsistent. Your website is your home base online, and search engines will look to it to help define your local listings. Mark sure your website shows the search engines what they need to see.

1. Have one website. Singular. Nothing will confuse the search engines more than having a dozen microsites floating around claiming to be the official website for “Your Business, Inc” located at 123 Bob Villa Blvd. Especially in local, there seem to be a lot of companies that set up these microsites claiming it will allow a small business to dominate the search results. Don’t listen to these people. These small websites have no authority, send mixed messages to the search engines about your business and can create a ton of duplicate content concerns.
2. Mind the basics of SEO. Chances are you’re already targeting a specific town, community or neighborhood. So be sure to mention that area on your website. Name your city in the title tag and homepage content. And if you’re targeting multiple cities, know your limits. Google and Bing both go out of their way to only deliver search results within a few miles of the searcher. So if you’re targeting a city that’s 30 minutes away, you may want to instead focus on an area that’s a bit more realistic. To touch up on the other basics of SEO, you can start with this recent post.
3. List your NAP. Remember that stuff I mentioned a few lines up about choosing your name, address and phone number? This is commonly referred to as your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) and you’ll want to be sure to use it exactly as you wrote it down earlier. Google and Bing pay attention to how often your business is mentioned online. And the most important mention is on your actual website. Mention your full NAP on every page, especially the contact page. If you have multiple locations, give each location their own contact page so you can have one page devoted to each address individually. To be even more thorough, you can use semantic markup to specifically call out your business contact information. Schema.org is a great, nitpicky little markup that allows you to add some code to your website and label different parts of your content for the search engines. So by adding code like:
   

   <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">
<span itemprop="name">Portent, Inc.</span>
<span itemprop="description">An Internet marketing company in Seattle.</span>
<div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">506 2nd Ave, Suite 1700</span>,
<span itemprop="addressLocality">Seattle</span>,
<span itemprop="addressRegion">WA</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop="telephone">206-575-3740</span>
</div>

   You can tell the search engines exactly where to find your contact information. You can read more about schema.org for local businesses here.

Everything I’ve mentioned here is based on issues I’ve seen multiple times with small businesses. Even though some of this might seem basic, problems at this level can take months to resolve. By simply spending the time to make sure these fundamentals are in place, you’re giving your business a distinct advantage over countless other small businesses online.

If you have any lingering questions about local search, take advantage of our Local SEO Q&A and post your question in the comments below. Remember, we’ll be compiling all of the questions and responses on October 2nd in a special blog post!

The post The Brick and Mortar of Local SEO appeared first on Portent.

Why You Can’t Ignore Social Optimization

You can’t afford not to create a social media strategy for three reasons:

1. Reputation Management

As a rule, you should claim as many social media listings as you can now, so someone else can’t do it later. Even if you never make an update, controlling your business name on a social account will prevent someone posing as your brand.

Use Knowem or Namecheck to see what you might have available.

2. Search Engine Optimization

We’ve said this many times before, but Google and Bing both confirm that Twitter and Facebook influence SEO. So do Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others.

When customers search for brand names, social profiles create more opportunities for clicks and traffic because they occupy valuable space on search engine results pages.

This is a personalized search result. If you’re logged into Google+, you may see something similar.

If you don’t create and optimize these profiles, you’re leaving referral traffic (and money) on the table.

3. Secondary Contact List

Social media fans are a valuable commodity. If you can make your brand interesting and create an active social media routine, you can foster an engaged audience that will willingly allow you to advertise to them FOR FREE.

Social Audience + Social Strategy = Referral Traffic/Assisted Conversions/More Money

Align Your Social Networks with Your Website Information

There’s a lot of information out there about optimizing each individual social network, but the main rule to follow is to never leave an information section blank. When filling out your profiles, you should focus on including the following information:

• Business name

Try to use your official business name as it would appear in the phonebook. Also, don’t include keywords or city names, unless it’s a part of the official name.

• Phone number

This should be a local phone number. If you don’t see a spot to include your phone number, add it into your business description as a call-to-action.

• Website

When you add a link to your website, make sure you include the “http://.” Most of the time, this will activate the link in a social network description.

• Location

Take any opportunity to include your complete address. Social networks like Facebook, Google+ and Foursquare provide map listings for business locations. If there isn’t enough room for your address, include your city, even if it’s in the profile description.

• Link to other social networks

When possible, link to your other social accounts. For instance, certain social networks will have a field where you can enter your Twitter handle. Always make sure these fields are filled in if they are presented.

Where to Start Your Local Social Optimization Strategy

If you’re just getting started, I took the liberty of highlighting the location information in each of the most popular social networks. I recommend the average business owner create the following business accounts:

Facebook

Everyone has a Facebook personal account. Facebook Pages are different because they represent a company, organization or public figure. Most importantly, Facebook pages allow you to advertise your company on Facebook.

Google+ Business Pages

Just like Facebook, Google+ for Business is different than a Google+ personal profile. Google+ pages do not have advertising yet, but page listings do often appear as blended Google search results.

Google+ Local

If you created a Google Places account, you now have a Google+ Local account. It might be the most important local/social account because Google+ Local pages display Zagat reviews, which pits them head-to-head against Yelp. Google is slowly integrating Google+ Local with Google+ Business pages, so keep a close eye on your business page over the next few months.

LinkedIn

This is the current LinkedIn Company Page, but keep an eye out for changes that should be rolling out soon.

Twitter

Twitter is a must for most businesses. At the very least, you can add your location and website to your bio.

Pinterest

For businesses, it’s simple to connect your Twitter account to your Pinterest profile. However, it currently isn’t possible to link a Pinterest account with a Facebook Page.

Foursquare

Here’s a look at the web-based version of Foursquare. This information will also show up in the mobile app.

You might have noticed we’ve been answering questions about local SEO this month. Do you have any questions about optimizing your social networks for local SEO? Post them in comments and we’ll answer them on October 2nd in our Local SEO Q&A blog post!

The post How to Optimize Social Networks for Local SEO appeared first on Portent.

Local search is like a gyro sandwich: it’s delicious when it works, but the process and criteria for the result can be mysterious. What exactly is the spinning mass that guy is shaving slices from? Is this pita gluten-free? How old is this tzatziki sauce?

Like the myriad meat products in a gyro sandwich, directories are one of the primary ingredients that influence local search results.

The Major Search Engines

At the core of local search is your company’s listing on each of the major search engines’ local platform: Google+ Local, Bing Business Portal, and Yahoo! Local. It’s essential to claim and verify these listings in order to ensure your brand and business details are complete and accurate.

Business owners, however, will be the first to say it’s not always that easy. Making changes to your listing can be a long and frustrating process—especially if your business has more than one location.

You can do this through the local dashboard but, for Google, another option is Map Maker. Google allows users to update information about places they know through Map Maker, and updates are reviewed and approved. You can also see the history of changes to the listing. This could be a faster way to correct information if your local listings are in bad shape.

 Local Directories

If the end goal is visibility in the major search engine results, it follows that you could claim your listing and be done. But that’s not the case. Believe it or not, search engines can’t do it all themselves.

Third party data providers and local directories inform the search engines. The major search engines use this external data to confirm whether your business’ information matches what’s in their own index. If there’s a discrepancy, you could be in a world of hurt. I mean like bad lamb meat hurt.

Data Providers

It’s important, therefore, to ensure the signals from every local directory and data provider are correct and consistent. With thousands of local directories and search engines, however, where do you start? There are a small group of data providers that power the most and most influential services:

• Localeze
• Acxiom
• Express Update, powered by Infogroup

Other sites that feed the major search engines include Yellow Pages, Superpages, Citysearch, and Yelp. There are, of course, hundreds of other local directories that, even if they aren’t direct data providers, are still crawled by the major search engines. Your information should be accurate there too.

The deeper you dig, the messier it gets. Here in Seattle, for example, we have KING5.com, a local news website. The site has a business directory named LinkTown, which is powered by MojoPages—a national business directory. MojoPages, in turn, gets their data from Yellowbook and Localeze. So, the listing on LinkTown could potentially be influenced by 3 separate sources.

It’s great if they’re in concert, but what if your business moves and you need to change your address? You edit your MojoPages listing to correct the LinkTown profile, but MojoPages is getting conflicting data about your business from other sources, which also sends search engines mixed signals.

Knowing the source of the data can help you keep your listings accurate across the entire web. If you need to alter your business details, start with the major data providers first, then work your way down to the smaller directories and search engines. I recommend tracking the sites and dates you submit changes in order to keep everything organized, as it will often take weeks for changes to take effect and be indexed.

Citations and Niche Directories

In addition to third party data, search engines use the citations in their index as a ranking factor. Citations are mentions of the name, address, and phone number (NAP) of a business across the web.

Depending on your vertical, there are plenty of niche directories to get citations. Whether you’re a plumber or a lawyer, there’s a directory for that. If you own a Greek restaurant, for example, you’ll want to be listed in sites like Urbanspoon and Yelp.

In general, the more citations your business has across the web, the more confidence the search engines have that the information is accurate. Unlike links, however, the difference in value between one site and another isn’t necessarily quantifiable. Should you shell out for a premium listing on a dubious directory like www.bestnumberonedentistlinks.com (a fake example, by the way) just to get another citation? Probably not. Search engines won’t trust it as much as a well-established and authoritative site like the Better Business Bureau or Best of the Web. Use the same discretion you would for being associated any website.

Local SEO: It’s a Headache (and Probably Some Heartburn)

Maintaining your business listings can require a lot of time and energy. The most important thing is to keep your information consistent. The good news is that relatively few business owners have even claimed their listing.

Complete listings on search engines and relevant local directories are only one component of local SEO, but it’ll help put your business far ahead of the competition. Stay tuned for more in the Portent Local Series on other vital areas of local SEO.

Have any questions about local directories? Let us know in the comments and we’ll answer them in our Local SEO Q&A blog post on October 2^nd!

The post Local SEO Directories and Gyro Sandwiches appeared first on Portent.

Last week we announced our new referral program for our PPC Essentials Package. There was a blog post about it. The world changed. We decided we really liked that feeling and wanted to hold onto it a little longer. So this week we’re announcing a special for our recently revamped and reworked Local SEO Package. For a limited time, we’re taking $500 off our normal price and offering our Local SEO Package for a one time cost of $1500.

To celebrate, we’re launching the Portent Local Series! That means for the next 2 weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday we’re going to be writing a local-specific post, all about local search and search for small and local business owners.

Portent’s Local SEO Q&A

Kicking it off, we’re throwing an anything-goes Local SEO Q&A where we’ll answer all your questions about Local SEO. Want to know where your reviews go? Which directories you should pay attention to? What Google’s calling its local service these days? Post a question in the comments and we’ll collect them all for a blog post on October 2nd. We’ll also be digging through our microfilm records to find old blog posts and grab those questions, as well.

“How will I ever decide which business categories to choose for my listing?”

So, if there’s anything you’re dying to know about local, ask us below in the comments. Then check back next week where we’ll answer everything you’ve ever wanted to know about local. Because we love local and want you to, also.

And remember, if you’re a small business owner and you’ve been waiting for just the right time to give your search strategy a jumpstart, head on over to our Local SEO page and take advantage of our limited offer!

The post Get All Your Questions about Local SEO Answered! appeared first on Portent.

The new Google+ Local Search

Coincidentally, and equally newsworthy, Portent just happens to be moving to our new office tomorrow, so we were lucky enough to give the new interface an in-depth examination that we’re sharing here with you.

Ian is in the box on the bottom

So what do you need to know, as a business owner? Let’s go over the top 5 things we’ve noticed with the new Google+ Local.

1. How do I get on Google+ Local?

You’re probably already on Google+ Local. And if you’re not, you will be soon. This was an automatic update so all Place pages are being moved to the new Google+ Local format as it rolls out. If you’ve claimed your page, all the contact information, pictures and reviews (sort of – we’ll get to that in a bit) are now seen in the new platform. If you’re not seeing it, then you probably just don’t have the update yet.

2. What about my old reviews?

Google will be moving the reviews from your Place page to your +Local page. However, since the update pairs each review with a public Google+ Profile, they will show up anonymously as “A Google User,” unless the reviewer goes through a brief verification process to publish them publicly.

Publishing my Place reviews to +Local

3. What’s with the rating system?

If you’ve seen the update, you’ll notice that the 5 star system is gone. Replacing it is a new 30-point scoring system developed by Zagat. Each reviewer can rate a business from 0-3. Google then averages them, multiplies by 10 and gives the new score for the business. If you have enough reviews in different categories, you’ll get a score with multiple aspects. Otherwise, you’ll just get a single number.

Google+ Local’s new 30-point review system

4. What if I already set up a Google+ Business Page?

For the moment, Google+ Local and Google+ Business Pages are completely separate. So your Business Page and Local listing exist completely independent from one another with no sharing of information. For us, it meant we had to update our address twice; once for each Google page. I imagine that this will eventually change, but since Business Pages currently only allow for one address anyway, it could be a while before we see any changes with this, as many businesses have multiple locations. For now, though, you have two Google+ pages to manage. Yay.

5. Why the change?

As David Mihm describes it, this is primarily a user-oriented interface update. Basically it’s a new face that puts local businesses firmly in the Google+ social arena. The hope is that after everyone looks up businesses, rates them and gets directions, they’ll keep hanging out on Google+ and give it the attention it so desperately needs. This is why, again for now, the dashboard for business owners hasn’t changed. This is for the reviewers, not the business owners.

What have you noticed with the new Google+ Local page? And how is your “+” key holding up these days?

The post Goodbye Google Places, Hello Google+ Local appeared first on Portent.

If so, you’re hopefully working hard on your website and web presence.

That’s great! We love local businesses at Portent, and we’d like to help you out. Here are 3 quick and easy steps that you can take to update your website, and grow your web presence.

Put Your Address & Phone Number on Your Site

This is, to many, a no-brainer. You run a local business; you likely have your address or phone number on your site, right?

Sadly, not always.

Many sites have the company address listed, but it’s often hidden away on the Contact or About Us page. Sometimes the number is on the main page, but it’s in an image, and is thus invisible to the search engines. Once in a blue moon, I’ll see a site that flat out doesn’t put their address or phone number anywhere. I’m still confused at how a local business expects to succeed without their address on their site, but I digress.

The easiest and quickest solution is to put your address and phone number in either the header or footer of your site in search-engine readable HTML text. This way, your information is on every page of your site, and you don’t have to work it into the site content nor images.

Update Page Titles with Address, City, or Phone Number

Many local business’ sites are designed and developed cheaply, by people that don’t know enough about designing and developing. I know this from experience – before I came to Portent, I designed and developed some pretty mediocre local sites. But the one thing I did do was make sure that all my client’s pages had locally targeted page titles (the text within <title> in your html) featuring the business’ address, city, and/or phone number.

What we see a lot from local sites, is that the entire site shares the same page <title>s and sometimes never includes anything local.

The solution?

If your business relies on phone calls for appointments, orders, etc. then you should consider the following approach:

[service/product] – [biz name] [phone number] – [city]

Alternately, if it makes sense to target your locality first (home services like plumbers, landscapers, etc.) then I suggest this:

[city] [service/product] – [biz name]

When I write <title>s, I like to call out the business with a superlative, such as Houston’s Favorite Pizza, Atlanta’s Best Tapas, or Minot’s Only Acupuncturist. This will get the attention of your potential customers in the search results by helping you stand out from the competition – who wants to go to the local pizza joint, when you’re Houston’s Favorite?

Claim Your Local Search Engine Listings

Do you own your own place listing on the major search engines? Do you even know whether you have listings on the major search engines?

If not, you should. They’re the most important tools to your local business’ success.

It’s an easy process – it only takes about 30 seconds (depending on your typing speed). Each of these will have a step by step process that is very easy to follow. At the end of the process, the site you have submitted to will call you, mail you, or email you a PIN number to confirm you as the business owner. Enter that PIN, and your listing will be claimed. Submit your listing to the following sites:

• Google Places: http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter?gl=us&hl=en-US
• Bing Local: https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
• Yahoo: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

Google Local Listing Signup Process

Conclusion

For many of you, your local business is your life. For the rest, local SEO is the key to getting a leg up on the competition. We have a lot of experience in local SEO, and if you’d like a full review of what can be done to improve your local SEO efforts, we can help!

If you have any questions or comments, please add them below. We’d love to let you know what you can do to improve your local SEO.

The post 3 Easy Local SEO Tactics That Will Raise Your Rankings Today appeared first on Portent.