Webinar on local search optimization for clients of Solutions 8.
About Michael Cottam
In 2001, Michael co-founded TheBigDay honeymoon registry and travel company. Through that experience, he learned a lot about interesting ways to use the web to showcase resorts, destinations, and travel experiences to prospective clients. Since then, Michael has created the Visual Itineraries consumer travel planning website, the Bright Yonder travel agent tools, and most recently, a SaaS website for realtors called Realty Remotely.
Michael's traveled throughout Kenya and the Seychelles, and is an avid scuba diver. He's also spent time in Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, Hawaii France, England, and various islands in the Caribbean.
Tag Cloud
Michael Cottam
Freelance SEO Consultant
OzTech, Inc.
6 June 2019
Online Marketing
It’s everything
SEM
Search Engine Marketing –
means both paid search and
organic search
PPC
Pay Per Click, what most paid
search is made up of
SEO
Search Engine Optimization –
also known as “organic
search”
SMM
Social Media Marketing –
could be paid or unpaid;
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, Instagram
• Does buying Adwords Ads help you rank in organic search?
• Nope…it’s a myth
• But being on the page twice CAN improve your CTR
• What about social media buzz? Does that help you rank?
• Google says no
• Google lies
•
It’s pretty clear that Google is monitoring “buzz” on a
few platforms (probably Facebook and Twitter) and
action there impacts rankings
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
What
determines
whether
a 3-pack
appears at all?
Click history!
Some directories
with pages about
the topic in that city
Some businesses
that are actually IN
that city
• Must have a verified Google My Business listing
• https://business.google.com/manage/
• Used to be called Google Places for Business
Three/four key areas Google looks at:
• consistent name, address, phone # (NAP)
• Google My Business data exactly matches Facebook,
FourSquare, CitySearch, Yelp, etc.
• links to your website
• from other websites…the stronger the better!
• number & sentiment of reviews
•MAYBE user engagement metrics
Google wants to see lots of confirmation that the
phone number they’re going to give a user (or the
address) is correct
• Google looks foolish if Yelp has your new
address and Google Maps sends you to your old
location
If they think they might have the wrong info,
you’re not going to be showing up in the 3-pack
https://moz.com/local
“Check Listing”
It appears that it’s links to the domain overall that
matter
• this is a little different from regular organic ranking, where links to
the specific PAGE matter
• one really strong link can make all the difference!
Use the Moz Toolbar for Chrome:
https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar
• Newspapers
• Industry publications
• Other businesses you work with
• Conference websites
• Community events pages
• Other schools
• Sponsorships
• Paid link-builders
• Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
• Blog comments
• Forum comments
• Directories you’ve never heard of
• E-press releases
• Article marketing/syndication
• Widgets
• Paid link-builders
• Google reviews affect rankings
• the number of reviews matters
• the sentiment (i.e. average rating) matters…a bit
• Yelp reviews can have an impact
• if it’s a search term that doesn’t match a Google
My Business category, having that term in the text
of a review on Yelp has been shown to help you rank
in the 3-pack
Do…
Don’t…
Ask clients for reviews
Ask a whole bunch at once
Get reviews on Yelp
Get reviews from new Yelpers
Reward clients for reviews
Let Google/Yelp know you did that
Ask teachers/peers for reviews
Buy fake reviews
Social media posts: links are nofollowed
But…
Promoting on social media can get you noticed
by bloggers and reporters, who might link to you
Reshares of your posts can be seen by Google on those
accounts’ timelines
POSSIBLY click patterns affect ranking in the 3-
pack
• certainly they affect regular organic rankings
• have not seen a study testing this for the 3-pack
Content on your site matters A TON for organic
• Page title
• H1 heading
• ALT text on images
• Image filenames
• https://schema.org/School markup
• Video title in https://schema.org/VideoObject markup
• Thorough coverage of related words and subtopics
Does it matter for the 3-pack?
• Not really – mostly only for obscure search terms
Use Google Posts
• publish your events, special offers, etc.
• posts only last 7 days
https://searchengineland.com/12-things-know-
succeed-google-posts-278051
The URL you list in Google My Business should
point to a page on your site that has
Schema.org/LocalBusiness markup
The NAP in that markup should exactly match
your Google My Business NAP
Freelance SEO Consultant
OzTech, Inc.
6 June 2019
Online Marketing
It’s everything
SEM
Search Engine Marketing –
means both paid search and
organic search
PPC
Pay Per Click, what most paid
search is made up of
SEO
Search Engine Optimization –
also known as “organic
search”
SMM
Social Media Marketing –
could be paid or unpaid;
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, Instagram
• Does buying Adwords Ads help you rank in organic search?
• Nope…it’s a myth
• But being on the page twice CAN improve your CTR
• What about social media buzz? Does that help you rank?
• Google says no
• Google lies
•
It’s pretty clear that Google is monitoring “buzz” on a
few platforms (probably Facebook and Twitter) and
action there impacts rankings
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
What
determines
whether
a 3-pack
appears at all?
Click history!
Some directories
with pages about
the topic in that city
Some businesses
that are actually IN
that city
• Must have a verified Google My Business listing
• https://business.google.com/manage/
• Used to be called Google Places for Business
Three/four key areas Google looks at:
• consistent name, address, phone # (NAP)
• Google My Business data exactly matches Facebook,
FourSquare, CitySearch, Yelp, etc.
• links to your website
• from other websites…the stronger the better!
• number & sentiment of reviews
•MAYBE user engagement metrics
Google wants to see lots of confirmation that the
phone number they’re going to give a user (or the
address) is correct
• Google looks foolish if Yelp has your new
address and Google Maps sends you to your old
location
If they think they might have the wrong info,
you’re not going to be showing up in the 3-pack
https://moz.com/local
“Check Listing”
It appears that it’s links to the domain overall that
matter
• this is a little different from regular organic ranking, where links to
the specific PAGE matter
• one really strong link can make all the difference!
Use the Moz Toolbar for Chrome:
https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar
• Newspapers
• Industry publications
• Other businesses you work with
• Conference websites
• Community events pages
• Other schools
• Sponsorships
• Paid link-builders
• Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
• Blog comments
• Forum comments
• Directories you’ve never heard of
• E-press releases
• Article marketing/syndication
• Widgets
• Paid link-builders
• Google reviews affect rankings
• the number of reviews matters
• the sentiment (i.e. average rating) matters…a bit
• Yelp reviews can have an impact
• if it’s a search term that doesn’t match a Google
My Business category, having that term in the text
of a review on Yelp has been shown to help you rank
in the 3-pack
Do…
Don’t…
Ask clients for reviews
Ask a whole bunch at once
Get reviews on Yelp
Get reviews from new Yelpers
Reward clients for reviews
Let Google/Yelp know you did that
Ask teachers/peers for reviews
Buy fake reviews
Social media posts: links are nofollowed
But…
Promoting on social media can get you noticed
by bloggers and reporters, who might link to you
Reshares of your posts can be seen by Google on those
accounts’ timelines
POSSIBLY click patterns affect ranking in the 3-
pack
• certainly they affect regular organic rankings
• have not seen a study testing this for the 3-pack
Content on your site matters A TON for organic
• Page title
• H1 heading
• ALT text on images
• Image filenames
• https://schema.org/School markup
• Video title in https://schema.org/VideoObject markup
• Thorough coverage of related words and subtopics
Does it matter for the 3-pack?
• Not really – mostly only for obscure search terms
Use Google Posts
• publish your events, special offers, etc.
• posts only last 7 days
https://searchengineland.com/12-things-know-
succeed-google-posts-278051
The URL you list in Google My Business should
point to a page on your site that has
Schema.org/LocalBusiness markup
The NAP in that markup should exactly match
your Google My Business NAP