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Ranking in the Local Search Algorithms
presented at the sempdx hotseat september 9,
2008 portland, oregon
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Presentation Outline

• 1) Why Local Search Is So Important
• 2) Inside the Local Search Algorithms
• - The Local Search Ranking Factors
• - Cracking the Code
• 3) The Future of Local Search
• 4) Recap

1) Why Local Search Is So Important 2) Inside the
Local Search Algorithms - The Local Search
Ranking Factors - Cracking the Code 3) The
Future of Local Search 4) Recap
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Why Local Search Is So Important

• 40 of queries have Local intent
• 5 use the city and/or state name
• 2 use informal terms, like neighborhoods
• .5 use zip codes
• --Ian White, Urban Mapping

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Why Local Search Is So Important

• 100 Million unique visitors per month search
  Yahoo with local intent
• --Frazier Miller, GM of Yahoo Local, 7/24/08
• Yahoo has 15 market share.
• Extrapolation Half a BILLION unique visitors per
  month search Google with local intent

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Why Local Search Is So Important

• Local search engine algorithms are going to drive
  Mobile results
• (they already do with more sophisticated devices)

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The OLD Local Search

• Organic search results for location-specific
  queries
• Local SEO was the same as traditional SEO, just
  geo-focused
• These were the default listings for ALL searches
  on Google and Yahoo until...

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The NEW Local Search

• ...January 2008, when the following kinds of
  results were reported with increasing frequency

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Why This Is a HUGE Deal

• This is the default 1 (or 4) result for every
  keyword city, ST keyword search
• It appears even more frequently than that...
• (cyberspace interlude)

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Why This Is a HUGE Deal

• How to narrow the gap between the 40 of local
  searches and 7.5 of geo-modified searches?
• Google has started asking people to enter their
  ZIP code for non-specific searches
• Google shows Local results to signed-in users by
  default

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Why This Is a HUGE Deal

• Industry leader (Danny Sullivan) speculates that
  Local results will soon displace local organic
  results entirely by default
• SEOmoz Expert Seminar, 08/20/08

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Why This Is a HUGE Deal

• These Local results are driven by a completely
  different algorithm than the one that is
  returning organic results.
• This algorithm also drives http//maps.google.co
  m (more or less)
• Results do not match 11 in some cases there
  are dramatic differences

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A Quick Vocabulary Lesson

• 10 pack

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A Quick Vocabulary Lesson

• 3 pack

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A Quick Vocabulary Lesson

• Authoritative OneBox

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A Quick Vocabulary Lesson

• (Yahoos search results look more or less the
  same.)

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Presentation Outline
1) Why Local Search Is So Important 2) Inside the
Local Search Algorithms - The Local Search
Ranking Factors - Cracking the Code 3) The
Future of Local Search 4) Recap
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Time to Go Inside the Algorithms!
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Goal of the Study

• What helps businesses rank...

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The Challenges of a Local Search Survey

• Far less discussion of Local than of traditional
  algorithms
• Relatively few well-known experts and bloggers
  (20 included in the survey)
• Newness more shot in the dark factors
• Comprehensive scale no separation of negative
  factors from positive

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A Very Important Note!

• In general, there was a LOW level of agreement
  among the experts.
• Why? (my hypotheses)
• Variation by industry and location
• Newness of algorithms
• Larger grey area of best practice vs. spam than
  with traditional algorithms

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The Top Positive Factors

• General importance of claiming Local Business
  Listing
• LBL address in city of search
• Proper Categorization of LBL
• Product / service KWs in LBL title
• Proximity to centroid

• Validation with third-party providers
• Number of inbound links to website
• Location KWs - anchor text
• Number of customer reviews
• General importance of on-page criteria

contributors felt that Yahoo and Google might
differ
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1. Claim / Initiate a Local Business Listing

• https//www.google.com/local/add/
• http//listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.ph
  p
• BLEW away the other factors in terms of
  importance AND agreement.

The fact that there are businesses with no web
site who are ranking highly for local queries
simply because they own a listing at the search
engine speaks volumes. M. McGee
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Local Business Listing Yahoo
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Local Business Listing Yahoo
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Local Business Listing Google
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Local Business Listing Google
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2. Local Business Listing Address in City of
Search

• Obviously location is the biggest factor in any
  local algorithm. T. Coleman
• The problem is that, with some queries, there
  arent enough matches in the city. So a matching
  address is important, but not for some queries.
  M. McGee
• Factor 1 Factor 2 ? Claim your listing in ALL
  locations.

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Local Business Listing in City of Search(yes)
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Local Business Listing in City of Search(no)
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3. Proper Categorization of Local Business Listing

• If youre in the wrong category...youre done.
  T. Coleman
• If you dont place yourself in categories, the
  Local SEs will pull them from other sources
  such as the IYPs. M. Bowling

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Improper Category(!)
(Hat tip to Mike Blumenthal, Blumenthals.com)
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Proper Category
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4. Product/Service KWs in LBL Title

• This probably depends a lot on how competitive
  things are. M. McGee
• Its working great for spammers, but leads to
  some pretty ridiculous results. M. Ellis
• See Chris Silver Smiths Extreme Local Search
  Tactics (NaturalSearchBlog.com)

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Effective vs Ineffective LBL Titles
YES
NO
NO
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5. Proximity to Centroid

• This used to be the entire algorithm in Google
  for Local, and now appears to account for 20 to
  40 percent. D. Klein
• Looking at the Universal SERPs its remarkable
  how tightly bunched the locations are. G.
  Goldenberg
• Centroid what Google/Yahoo consider to be the
  default center of town

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Proximity to Centroid
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6. Validation with Third-Party Providers

• Matters more for Yahoo than Google. B. Geddes
• Gives you control over your reviews and business
  information, and prevents competitors from
  hijacking your results. I. Lurie
• Specific providers and other citation
  sources vary significantly by industry and
  location

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What Are Citations and Where Do You Get Them?

• Mentions of your business name in close proximity
  to either your address, phone number, or both
• Business name needs to be consistent
• Used by both Google and Yahoo
• May or may not be accompanied by a link to your
  website.

(cyberspace interlude)
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What Are Citations and Where Do You Get Them?

• Check the Web Pages tab of your LBL for most
  complete information.
• Not all citations will necessarily be picked up
  by Google or Yahoo
• Google is probably not showing all the citations
  it knows about.
• Yahoo is definitely not showing all the citations
  it knows about.

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What Are Citations and Where Do You Get Them?

• Directories great citation sources
• Many are free
• Structured data is easier to crawl
• Often organized by industry or geographic
  keywordstrong relevance signal
• Mine your competitors citations
• See what sites rank well for your search terms
  organically

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What Are Citations and Where Do You Get Them?

• Hyperlocal Blogging
• The next big thing in Local
• High relevance
• Can also lead to links
• Use http//search.twitter.com to network with
  other tech-savvy local businesses

Read Matt McGee Hyperlocalblogger.com /
Smallbusinesssem.com
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What Are Citations and Where Do You Get Them?
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Presentation Outline
1) Why Local Search Is So Important 2) Inside the
Local Search Algorithms - The Local Search
Ranking Factors - Cracking the Code 3) The
Future of Local Search 4) Recap
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Cracking the CodeAn Empirical Study

• Follow-up to Local Search Ranking Factors
• Conducted by Mike Blumenthal, http//www.blumentha
  ls.com/blog/ with help from myself and others
• Attempted to quantify ranking factors
• Confirm what we know, find out what we dont know

Courtesy Mike Blumenthal, http//www.blumenthals.c
om/blog/
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Cracking the CodeAn Empirical Study

• Key Findings
• Distance to centroid explained 80 of the
  variance in ranking for low-signal data set
• Citation total and business title were also
  significant predictive factors
• Volume of reviews held marginal importance
• TBD
• Citation authority
• Traditional SEO techniques such as anchor text
  and on-page factors

Courtesy Mike Blumenthal, http//www.blumenthals.c
om/blog/
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Cracking the Code
Courtesy Mike Blumenthal, http//www.blumenthals.c
om/blog/
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Cracking the Code
Courtesy Mike Blumenthal, http//www.blumenthals.c
om/blog/
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A Few Words About Negative Factors...

• Associating multiple LBL's with same address
• Associating multiple LBL's with same phone
• Associating multiple LBL's with same business
  name
• Negative customer reviews
• Associating an 800 Number with LBL
• Listing multiple addresses on website

think in terms of both SPAM and CONFUSION
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Presentation Outline
1) Why Local Search Is So Important 2) Inside the
Local Search Algorithms - The Local Search
Ranking Factors - Cracking the Code 3) The
Future of Local Search 4) Recap
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The Future of Local Search

• Google in particular seems to be shifting
• On-Listing factors like proximity to centroid
  and keywords in business title seem to be
  diminishing in importance

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The Future of Local Search

• Off-listing factors seem to matter more
• Citations
• UGC
• Reviews
• Links
• Less vulnerable to spam
• Google is becoming / will become less transparent
  about these

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The Future of Local Search

• Might not be a shift in algorithm
• Data sets are becoming better
• More information to go on
• Richer detail
• Search engines better at determining authority

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Presentation Outline
1) Why Local Search Is So Important 2) Inside the
Local Search Algorithms - The Local Search
Ranking Factors - Cracking the Code 3) The
Future of Local Search 4) Recap
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Recap

• Claim your business listing
• Google and Yahoo for sure
• Other portals can count as citations
• Use keywords in your business title
• Be consistent with your title
• Choose the right categories
• Engage your customers and partners, especially
  tech-savvy ones
• More citations and links

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A BIG thank-you to all the contributors for the
Local Search Ranking Factors Study.
And thanks to SEOmoz for the insipration for the
study. http//www.seomoz.org/article/search-rankin
g-factors
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GET IN TOUCH David Mihm [phone] davidmihm
_at_gmail.com www.davidmihm.com
Slides and links to relevant blog
posts http//www.davidmihm.com/hotseat