Category: Local Listings
Examine the impact of maintaining consistent and accurate local listings on your local SEO strategy.
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Is the new local 3-pack the death of Google+ as factor?
Hey Richard, I'm sorry I didn't see this until today. Yes, Google definitely seems to be demoting Google+ in a big way. Recommended reading: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/08/07/thoughts-about-the-new-local-stack-display/ http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/08/06/7-pack-becoming-3-pack-with-mobile-like-snak-pack-rollout/ I'm not sure I'm totally following your last paragraph about the national agencies. Are you saying they no longer seem to feel G+ is as important as they used to? Sorry, not quite sure that's what you're explaining, but I can see why people would feel that way, given that G+ links have become so invisible. Nevertheless, the Google My Business dash remains as important as ever as the main source for the data now featured in the new Local Stacks/Local Finder and the other types of Snack-Pack style results. So, the dashboard is still important, but the front-end display represents a genuine departure from what we'd grown accustomed to. Many Local SEOs feel the Local Stack is a step toward a paid inclusion model and this could certainly be true. Glad you used my favorite little trick - looking up the business on Moz Local to get to the Google+ page. Works like a charm every time Thanks for starting a good discussion!
| MiriamEllis0 -
The Local Stack Rollout - A New Day In Local
That's a little odd. I'm still getting the old results.
| Travis_Bailey4 -
What is the ideal length of a business description for citations?
No amount of length is ideal, but make sure your NAP is consistent across all citations. Generally I work with a 200+ character description. I have not seen any ranking differences due to business description length. Also, if I was you I would not out your clients website like that here or anywhere for that matter.
| JoeMongan0 -
How does the new local pack change rankings?
Hey Sam, I started a thread on this over here: https://moz.com/community/q/the-local-stack-rollout-a-new-day-in-local Please, pop over.
| MiriamEllis0 -
Moz Local in the UK and the Rest of the World
Hi, I'm happy to say that Moz Local has launched in the UK. You may learn more about it here: https://moz.com/blog/moz-local-uk --Kelly
| kellyjcoop0 -
How to add a branch location to Google+ Page
Hi Mark, Google's rule is 1 listing per physical location. So, if you've opened a new office (congrats!) that means starting a second, totally separate listing on Google. I believe you'll find Google's guidelines to be a big help: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en Just be sure: This is a physical location with in-person contact with customers You have a unique local area code phone number for the new branch. Hope this helps!
| MiriamEllis1 -
Two businesses with the same adress
Whaha that's the goal actually Thanks for you responses!
| Bob_van_Biezen0 -
How long have to wait for Google verification pin?
Just hold fire - it normally takes 2- 3 weeks but I have known it to take a bit longer. If it takes more than another 2-3 weeks,you can always request another to be sent in case it's been lost. -Andy
| Andy.Drinkwater0 -
Google Plus Pages for Doctors, SUPER confusing..help!
Hey Miriam, Thanks for the clarification. I've been treating Ricky's situation as if everything was in connection to the practice, not the doctors. To me the doctors are just employees that seem to transfer from office to office a lot. If the pages are for the doctors not the practice than I agree with you completely.
| montana.marsden0 -
Question about remarketing
Hi Cornelius, Are you referring to remarketing with regards Google Adwords? If so, this is what it is and where you can read more: Remarketing lets you show ads to people who have visited your website or used your mobile app before. When people leave your website without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant ads as they browse the web, as they use mobile apps, or as they search on Google. https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453998?hl=en-GB I would also suggest having a read here: http://www.google.co.uk/ads/innovations/remarketing.html If this isn't what you thought it was, or not what it refers to, please let me know. -Andy
| Andy.Drinkwater0 -
SEO without a budget and Cheating Competitors
Hmm, $200 a month is a pretty small budget. In your client's market, it is a really small budget! His competitors are almost certainly spending 5, 7 or 10 x more than than that a month. Look at a respected service like LocalSpark (https://www.whitespark.ca/localspark-local-seo-service) Average budget for them is about $1500 a month, with a proviso that they may need to charge more if warranted. What can you do for $200 a month? Perhaps offer him a couple of consulting hours once a month to give him ideas for things he should then undertake himself? From personal experience, I wouldn't even begin to offer implementation at that price point, unless it was writing maybe one blog post a month for him, which just isn't going to get him far in that market. So, maybe you can be his ideas man for that budget ... or maybe he'd better go on EGOL's diet and save up some money to be able to take a better approach in future.
| MiriamEllis0 -
Techniques and tools to promote a lift chair store
I would love to get some tips. It is both a physical showroom and an e-commerce site. Cornelius
| corn20150 -
Why does Google only display a 3 pack of local business results for some terms?
Hey There, Your question is a great one, but unfortunately, the answer is likely known only to a few engineers at Google. Google's choice to vary from 10 packs to 7 Packs to 3 Packs and now Snack Packs for various industries over the years has long been a matter of speculation. There have even been mind-boggling times when only a one-box would show (and usually a spammy one at that) for queries for which there was plenty more data. Why is this? Some suggest it has to do with the competitiveness of a query in a given industry or geography. Others have suggested at times that Google was making a conscious choice to reduce the local footprint in the SERPs. What has been standard through all this is fluctuation. Google is constantly testing what they feel delivers the most value to users and makes most sense for Google. There is no known magic number for how Google determines which type of pack treatment a query deserves, including whether it deserves any type of pack at all. 3 Packs are tough. Giving an entire city/industry only 3 spots can feel kind of miserly and frustrating for everyone who isn't numbers 1-3. It means having to work harder, longer and with more creativity if you want to be among the chosen few. My personal view of this is that all pack results must be viewed as possibly transitory and as a test by Google, because they can change overnight, both in terms of the pack number and in the order of rank. One thing to remember here - don't forget to educate clients regarding the user-as-centroid phenomenon. There can be some hope in this, knowing that a client's customers are likely seeing different local pack results based on their physical location, again, both in terms of pack number and order of rank. I've trained people just one city away from me and have personally experienced how totally different their SERPs can be from mine for identical queries. Hyperlocal optimization and long-tail optimization may both be important considerations here. Sorry not to have an authoritative answer to your question, but I hope these thoughts help form a good mindset for you to share with clients.
| MiriamEllis1 -
2 Domains
Hey Adrian! Definitely keep this all under one roof, as others have said. Focus on building out super content about the different services and you should benefit the overall brand from all this work instead of divvying it up between multiple sites. *Do remember, one location only entitles you to one Google+ Local page, regardless of the number of services offered, unless you have a multi-dentist practice, in which case you can build a Google+ Local page for each practitioner. That scenario can enable you to do interesting things with the categories - optimizing one listing for a certain type of service and another listing for another service, provided you're adhering to the guidelines. Only proviso here is to be aware of historic problems with dealing with doctor/dentist duplicates in Google's system.
| MiriamEllis0 -
Local Citations Name
Hi there According to Google (who uses these citations to verify and validate information): "Name Your name should reflect your business’ real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers. Any additional information, when relevant, can be included in other sections of your business information (e.g., "Address", "Categories"). Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g., "Google Inc. - Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, store codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions, or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted." Judging by this, I would stick to Gray Marketing. In the resource above, under the "Name" section, click "Learn more" - they provide examples of naming conventions that work and do not. Since Gray Marketing is the legal name and that's what clients know them as, and more likely search, I would stick with that. That's my two cents! Hope this helps! Good luck!
| PatrickDelehanty0 -
Local Listings - where to manage?
Hi Jolie! Thanks for posting a good question. Moz Local guarantees your data on 7 specific platforms, which represent the 5 major US aggregators, plus 2 other important sites. These 7 partners are: Infogroup Acxiom Best of the Web Localeze Factual Foursquare Superpages We do not control the push beyond these 7 partners. That being said, it is typical for our partners to then push to their own partners. You can see an illustration of how data is typically shared in the link Patrick included in his reply. But, again, it's important for me to clarify that the movement of your data beyond the 7 partners is not part of our service. So, if there are specific non-partner platforms (like Yelp or TripAdvisor) that you want to advise your client to claim, you are free to do so.
| MiriamEllis1 -
My Evernote Notes showing up on Google Search page ?
Thank you so much for the quick replies. I hadn't see this before so it was "whaaa''' moment. Makes me want to sit down and create some good quality "clippable" content!
| AJFanter0 -
How to get Only 1 Keyword up for 5 domains
Hey Falguni, Your client is following a very bad approach here, you should guide him with the proper reasoning. I'd suggest you to go through this thread thoroughly to get the idea what I'm referring to, http://moz.com/community/q/will-multiple-domains-from-the-same-company-rank-for-the-same-keyword-search Hope this helps! Thanks,
| UmarKhan0 -
How long until an address changes after verification on Google My Business?
Hey there! Normally, a change of address on a verified Google+ Local page should happen quickly. If it's been a week, I'd suggest phoning Google (https://support.google.com/business/?hl=en&rd=1#topic=4539639). I would also recommend that you use Moz Check Listing to be sure there isn't more than one Google+ Local page in the mix here.
| MiriamEllis0 -
Hotel Local Listings Greatly Varying With Date
Hi Fastrack! That's very interesting - sounds, then, like there has been a change. Maybe what you were seeing was Google testing something? Thanks for updating this thread with your observation.
| MiriamEllis0