Here’s a quick way to introduce the impact of local SEO on a CMO or marketing exec using something familiar – their brand.

Choose a Prospect to Pitch Local SEO

There are different reasons to pitch local SEO. You should pick a prospect who is greatly lacking in one or more areas, whether it be reviews, lack of map listings, lack of brand presence (or prominence as Google now refers to it), etc. This example works for all of them.

Perform a Variety of Brand Searches

Search just the brand. And search the brand plus modifiers. Depending on the brand, it may trigger a Knowledge Panel or it may simply display standard web search results.

Take screenshots of the results (BTW, my favorite screenshot tool is Snagit). Determine based on the listings and Knowledge Panels whether Google is inferring local search intent. You can spot local search intent when you see your city or region appear throughout the listings.

Highlight Results with Local Search Intent

Make a list of brand keywords that do not show local search intent and those that do show local intent. If there is already some brand presence, it will be easy to spot local brand searches by the Knowledge Panel and everything it includes (map, images, reviews, see inside, address, phone, etc.).

If they don’t have decent brand prominence, you may need to dig through results and find clues to show locality included in them. This is how to identify local search intent. I am in Atlanta. So when I search keywords that may have local search intent, Google is going to include local results – even in the regular web listings. So I’m going to look at the Knowledge Panel, as well as terms like Atlanta, Georgia, GA, and Peachtree (a common nickname in Georgia). Also I’m going to look for “Peachtree” because it’s a common nickname in Atlanta. Your region may have a nickname like lowcountry, capital, buckeye, bayou, tri-state, big apple, or mile high that clues you into a hidden local result.

Here are some of my searches.

BKV
No local intent.

• Knowledge panel from Wikipedia
• Brand social channels and reviews
• Brand PR & events
• Other organizations, products, technical terms with same initials

BKV atlanta
Yes: local intent…but with a heavy mix of other results on the brand

• Knowledge Panel with business info
• Job postings
• Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter
• News & events
• Articles

BKV agency
BKV marketing
BKV advertising
Yes: local intent (similar to above).

But the reason these have local intent is that Google recognizes the specific business and gives you the local info needed to find it.

SEO Analysis Conclusion:
This brand does not have enough local signals. The brand only search, BKV, does not give all the business details, photos, reviews. Google is not sure if you want the specific marketing agency in Atlanta without giving it more descriptive modifiers. However, the Wikipedia page, links, articles and PR does give it enough prominence to display a Knowledge Panel powered by Wikipedia.

As a disclaimer, I’m the director of SEO here, so I already know the progress and challenges we have, such as building customer reviews while most clients have NDA and cannot publicly say much about their marketing efforts, let alone give reviews for their agency.

This is key SEO insight to know, but it’s not your approach to the pitch.

Pitch a Brand Solution

Here’s what to present to the CMO or marketing executive.

• Provide your examples of brand search.
• Highlight all local elements you find.
• Highlight where it lacks local SEO elements (reviews, photos, see inside, biz info, etc.)

But keep all your examples and highlights BRAND oriented. Don’t talk about SEO. Thoroughly illustrate the problems with the brand online. Regardless of what marketing executives understand about SEO, they always care about their brand.

That’s the key to selling Local SEO. Sell the brand problem first.

Close the Sale

Then you know the rest. If you are in SEO, then you are a problem solver, and you can illustrate that you know how to solve this using your local SEO services. I call this approach Local “Brand Building” SEO.

The post Quickly Show Local SEO Value with Search Intent appeared first on Blend SEO.

Local Search Listings Appear in 2 Ways

This includes local listings that appear in the map insertion as well as regular website listings that only appear when the search is done from a location in the same city as the business.  To further explain the second type of listing, you can specify your location by selecting search tools button under the search bar and typing in a city and state.  This simulates you being in a different city and conducting a search.  For example search restaurant from two different cities and you will see local restaurants from whichever city on the map insertion as well as in the regular website listings.

Local SEO Algorithm Theories

Search Intent Shift

My initial theory for some keywords is based on shifting search intent, meaning that Google’s idea of what a person is seeking when using these keywords shifted to show more national results and fewer local results.

1. One way of checking this is to see if the 7 box map insertion is still displayed for keywords, or if it has been replaced with the 2 box or no map insertion at all.  I noticed for some keyword searches there is no map insertion where there was previously a 2 box.
2. Another way of checking if Google search intent changed is to perform a query and count the number of regular website listings that have a local city in the title or description.  This is how I decipher how much local search intent Google assigns a keyword. A client previously ranked in the local area with a regular website listing.  Now, when I check there are no local website listings.  To double check if search intent really changed and its not just something happening for listings in one city, I change my location under Google’s search tools to see if there are local website results appear for the same keyword when searched in other cities.

It turns out for one of the clients, shifting search intent did occur for the keywords that dropped rankings.  A next test to perform will be to ask someone in the city location to perform a search for the keyword from their mobile device.  Logical thinking would assume search intent on a mobile device would skew toward local results (this could be done with Brightedge, but its pretty costly once you start tracking local search engines and multiple devices).  If a mobile device search produces local results and our client is there, there’s a good chance they will pop back into desktop results if Google shifts search intent back for that term.  If local results appear and the client is still not there, we need to build some back links and local listing reviews.

Local Search Spam Filters

Some local SEOs believe the Google local listing SPAM filters are loosened (one part of the ranking algorithm) from time to time, allowing listings with black hat tactics to move up and generally shake up results.  The forum linked to above gives a great example of where an SEO consultant compared listings before and after the shake up.  She found a competitor take the top local listings that was not previously in the 7 pack at all.  Investigation showed the competitor had an obviously spammy local listing, violating several Google Places listing guidelines.  It is possible this explains some of the shifts for rankings where my clients moved out of the 7 pack featured on the search result page.

The post Why Google Local Listings Drop appeared first on Blend SEO.

Do SEO consultants expect their clients to want more leads?

Is it a good thing if customers seek you out?

Apparently local SEO is too effective for driving leads to some small businesses.  Once Google picks up the signals for a brand, the boost to visibility across all locations in Google’s database can be annoying or overwhelming for small businesses or franchises.  This issue has been brought to me three times in the past year or so. I head the SEO department for a full service advertising agency with clients who are usually national consumer brands or a sizable B2B business.  Some clients have local branches or franchises that operate like a small business, and sometimes we help out a friend of a client or agency with a small business.

Google Places Service Area Only, No Address

The first time I received a complaint about local SEO was from a national brand client that does 100% of its business through locally owned franchise offices.  We used Google Places’ bulk listing and verification to optimize and maintain all the franchise local listings from the corporate level.  We also created local SEO signals on the client site using microdata and in the Neustar feed aggregater service. Shortly after the listings went live, the client notified us that a franchise which was run out of someone’s house had a person come to the door.  That local franchise owner wanted to limit his leads to phone calls only.  He was not prepared to have customers knocking on his door.  We then had to identify any franchises that did not want customers at their door and set the configuration on those so that there would be no address listed in Google.

Closed Location Won’t Remove From Google Maps

The second time local SEO brought unwanted leads was for a meal delivery service that also has pick-up locations around Atlanta. After we redesigned and optimized the website, we used the Neustar local business listing feed service to boost brand signals and point some links at each location.  Shortly after, Google started displaying many locations, including one that had previously closed.  We did everything we could in Google Places and even Google Map Maker to remove the closed location.  But Google kept listing it because an old listing with a review was still out there on an obscure business directory, creating a signal for that location.  The final effort was to request the directory listing be deleted.

Corporate Headquarters Doesn’t Deliver

The third time local SEO generated unwanted leads was for a client of a client which was a Pizza company.  The corporate headquarters kept receiving phone calls of people wanting to order pizza.  They wanted advice on how to remove the location from Google.  But this is where I draw the line. In this situation, my advice was to to leave the listing up and try to relabel it or make it obvious that it was corporate headquarters and not a restaurant. Removing the corporate office may reduce an overall SEO signal for your brand that helps your website and other locations rank higher.

Local SEO Signals Control Google Maps

Getting locations off Google maps can be hard once they are on.  Google collects data from multiple sources besides your Places dashboard when it chooses to display a listing… including government databases, review sites, Yellow Pages, business information aggregaters (Acxiom, InfoUSA, Neustar).  It’s easier to add info than it is to remove it, because you have to remove your footprint from multiple sources, which requires tracking down those sources, creating accounts, claiming the listing and sometimes making phone calls or emails requesting the listing be removed.  That’s why in the third example we recommended adding info to make that location more obvious that it is the corporate office, and not a pizza delivery restaurant.

The post Small Business Owners Complain Local SEO Generates Too Many Leads appeared first on Blend SEO.

Update 6/15/2013: I had the microdata code in source code for this page, so it could be read by crawlers and you could see it in the microdata testing tool. However, I discovered it caused a glitch in Google+ sharing. I have now removed the schema.org microdata code from the source code of this page because it caused Google+ sharing to pull in the business name instead of the name of the article. You can still see the example code and use copy & paste to test it in the microdata rich snippet testing tool.

Schema.org microdata for an address is generally used for SEO to trigger rich snippets to appear in search results or to increase your local SEO signals.  However, schema.org is not very well explained and it takes some time to dig through the schema hierarchy and documentation before it starts to make sense.  Even then, there is more flexibility in what Schema.org provides compared to what Google requires to trigger a rich snippet.  In other words, you can follow Schema.org rules perfectly, but still not have your rich snippets appear in search results.

Schema.org Microdata for Local SEO

For example, let’s say you have a local SEO client and you want to markup the NAP (name, address, phone) on the website with Schema.org microdata so it matches what you are listing in search engines and data feed providers.  Great idea, by the way, that covers number 3 and 7 of the top on-site local SEO ranking factors according to David Mihm’s survey.  And, I’ve found this to pretty much be a must if you plan to change the business name in anyway, like adding a keyword.  Otherwise, even if you verify your Google business listing via phone or mail, Google will still come back and say they do not support that location when you click the link to see the live listing.   So the plan is to use Schema.org for local SEO.

Which ItemType Works for Google Rich Snippets and Local SEO?

Looking at the schema hierarchy you can do either a Place, Organization, or any of the items under each.  Scroll to the end to see the full list for each.  Or you can just skip all that and use Local Business.  That is the only item Google supports.  Google, Yahoo, Yandex and Bing all claim to support Schema.org.  But they don’t support every word of it.  Look at Google’s structured data markup helper and you’ll see the only places or organizations supported are Restaurants and Local Businesses.

Schema.org Example for Local Business

Here is an example of Schema.org microdata code for a business with two locations.  I am using the same name for each location.  However, you could infuse more local SEO by adding a local modifier like city or state into the name for each location.  Like I work at BKV Atlanta, and Andrew works at BKV Kansas City.  You then would use the branchOf to list the Organization, which might be the business name without your local modifier.  Which in the case of me and Andrew would just be BKV.

Microdata Example

This example shown below would appear on this website that sells adult diapers.

<NOSCRIPT>
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">
<span itemprop="name">Adult Diaper Dispatcher Store</span> - 
<a href="http://www.diaperdispatcher.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" itemprop="url">Adult Diapers</a> - Incontinence Products 
<span itemprop="telephone">1-877-221-0435</span>
<span itemprop="address" itemscope 
itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss"> -   
<span itemprop="streetAddress">9694 Poudre Canyon Hwy</span>,&nbsp;
<span itemprop="addressLocality">Bellvue</span>,&nbsp;
<span itemprop="addressRegion">CO</span><span itemprop="postalCode">80512</span>
</span>
</div>
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">
<span itemprop="name">Adult Diaper Dispatcher Store</span> - 
<a href="http://www.diaperdispatcher.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" itemprop="url">Adult Diapers</a> -
<span itemprop="telephone" >(336) 496-8026</span> - 
<span itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">308 Oakwood St</span>,
<span itemprop="addressLocality">High Point</span>,
<span itemprop="addressRegion">NC</span><span itemprop="postalCode">27262</span>
</span>
</div>
</NOSCRIPT>

To preview what Google reads from this code, go to the Google Rich Snippet Testing Tool and paste the code into the form.  You should see two Local Businesses with the same name and different phone numbers.  Their postal addresses, item 1 and item 2 are also different.

Possible Schema.org Places

Possible Schema.org Organizations

The post Schema.org Microdata Examples for Rich Snippets: Place, Organization or Local Business? appeared first on Blend SEO.

Does our website pass for a mobile website?

…since it looks the same on my Blackberry as it does on a PC?

We were discussing local search marketing, which overlaps with mobile search marketing.  I gave a pretty quick response since we were whispering under other people, but here are the main questions to answer when deciding if you need to invest in mobile website design…

• Does your website use Flash?
  • Flash does not render on iphones or ipad.  If your website degrades nicely with an image replacing a flash banner, that will pass for a mobile device.  If you turn off Flash in your  browser and it looks like crap, you probably need a mobile version.
• Can you read and navigate the website on a mobile phone?
  • His website showed everything, but you had to zoom in and pan around to read anything.
  • Are the buttons and points of action easy to read and use?

Mobile Website Verses Mobile Friendly Website

Think less about rendering technicalities and more about if the interface is mobile friendly.  A mobile friendly website will generally have less text and big buttons for the main points of action, in a horizontal row that you can scroll through – no zooming/panning needed.  Points of action (phone number, address, button for map/directions, etc) are all laid out on separate lines with enough space to put a finger on each one.

Example:  look at a Wikipedia article on your phone.  You’ll see a paragraph of intro text followed by buttons to read more from the various areas.  You don’t just scroll through the whole article in one page.  Content for background, history, resources, etc is replaced by a big button for each.

You can create a free mobile website using the tools in Bing Business Portal.  It is a template based mobile website, branded with Bing where you control the colors and content.  However the options are pretty limited.  At least it gives a basic start for a mobile website.

Mobile Website SEO Technical Issues

JavaScript can be used to detect the browser. If it is a mobile browser, JavaScript can redirect to the mobile website.  A link/button can also be provided for the user to switch between mobile and standard website.  We can avoid duplicate content by using canonical tags on the mobile site pointing to the standard site.  If you use a sub-domain, like http://mobile.website.com,?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss search engines are working on eliminating duplicate content issues between mobile and standard.

The post Mobile Website Design: Do I Need to Create Mobile Versions of My Website? appeared first on Blend SEO.

Free Mobile Website and Local Listings from Bing Business Portal

The tools for local search marketing are changing quickly as mobile search explodes and overlaps with social media marketing.  Smart phone, Android phone, iPhone, tablet PC, and iPad popularity is growing the market for local search.

Throughout this article, I explain the new features of the Bing Business Portal compared to Google and Yahoo products along with SEO tips to maximize its benefits. The big WOW about the new Bing Business Portal is that it not only gives merchants an easy place to list local business locations (enabling exposure to local and map search), the new product area helps you create a free mobile website, mirroring the products you load into the Bing shopping engine and your local listing information.  This mobile website has its own shortened URL you can share in Facebook, and a Facebook Like button built in (later in this article, I’ll share an SEO secret about Facebook likes).  You can even generate your mobile website’s QR code to download and print onto a window sticker or distribute throughout your area.  Using a few tricks to detect the browser and redirect, or just a simple link, this mobile website provided by Bing can be integrated into your main desktop website – or stand alone if it is your initial entry into internet marketing.

Bing Business Portal - mobile search marketing

Bing Local Business Listings Compared to Google and Yahoo

Bing has combined some really convenient features of Google and Yahoo that simplify your business’s launch into mobile search marketing, starting from square one.  You don’t need a website or a physical storefront (though you likely have one or the other), yet you can end up with a Facebook friendly mobile website, local map listings so you appear in map search results and product listings so you can appear in Bing shopping results.

Details

The Listings section starts with straight forward business Details tab similar to the Local Listing Center that was replaced, with a nice new interface.

Local Business Listing Details

Like Yahoo, you have a choice whether or not to display your business address.  This is great news for internet only businesses run from a private home or location without a storefront.  Like Google’s local listing process, you must first search for your business by phone number.  Either choose an existing listing to take over or create a new one.  Either way, you must verify ownership by phone or mail.

SEO TIP: This may not surprise you, but use keywords in the business name and in any other fields whenever possible.  Fill out as many fields as possible. Bing even tells you straight out in their Learn more infographic “…the more information you have added to your listing, the easier it will be to find your business online.”

Profile

Next tab is the Profile.  Like Google and Yahoo, you may choose categories (called Specialties in Bing) under which your business can be listed.  Bing lets you choose up to 5 specialties.  Unique to Bing, you may then use interactive sliders to prioritize the different areas. 

SEO TIP: if you don’t fit into 5 categories, try to find 5 that at least are related, especially if they contain any form of your core keywords.

Mobile

QR Code

Mobile, the next tab under Listings produces your FREE mobile website, as well as a QR Code.  The QR code is a bar code that people can scan with their mobile phone that will take them right to your mobile website.  It’s sort of like plastering your domain name on a sign, except there’s no need to remember the URL and type it into a browser.  The only downside to QR codes is that you can’t integrate a recognizable brand into it, like you do with a domain name.  Its an unrecognizable pattern of black and white boxes.  Now that would be something if you can customize your QR code to include your logo.  Let me know if you find out how to do that.  The upside for the QR code and its whole reason for existence is NO TYPING – one of the great enablers of mobile search.  On your way into a store, scan the QR code in the storefront window with your mobile device and the website pops right up.

You can start listing your categories and products here under the Mobile tab of the Listings section, but its probably easier to wait until you get to the Products section where you will fill out all the details.

Photos

Unlike Yahoo, you can upload up to 9 photos for your listing for free.  Yahoo used to let you upload 2 photos free and more for the paid listing.  Now, Yahoo reserves all photos for the paid listing.  Bing gives you 9 photos for your listing. 

SEO TIP: Use all 9 photos and don’t upload them.  Instead use the link option.  This lets you use photos hosted on your main website domain.  These each act as a link from an authority website (Bing).  They are not as powerful as anchor text links, but they are links from Bing.com nonetheless.

More Details

Bing Local Listing Details Influence SEO

The More Details tab lets you further optimize and fill in additional information using forms that you would recognize from Google local listings.  These include year established, company tagline, business description, languages spoken, hours of operation, payment types accepted, parking options, brands carried, professional associations and your marker location on the map. 

SEO TIP: Bing encourages users to fill out as many details as possible, since this is a way of optimizing your listing so that it can be accurately indexed in search results.

Publish

The last tab, Publish, gives you a preview of your local listing, links to your mobile site and a download for your QR code window sticker.  Also in this tab are tools to design the look of your mobile website.  The default colors are determined by the logo.  From there you can customize the colors and background texture.

Get Products in Bing Shopping Search Engine

The Products area is not as easy as you might expect.  Unlike Google Merchant there is currently no option for an RSS feed or spreadsheet.  Its up to you to painstakingly input each product and description into the fields.  Also, don’t get confused by what is intended as product categories and actual products.  The first step is to list your menu items or product categories, followed by sub-categories.  And be careful, this is still in BETA – I was not able to delete unused menu items.  Therefore I suggest editing the default menu items before creating new ones.  Once you fill in the title and description for the first menu item, it will be updated in the left column, where you can select that menu item to start adding its sub menu item, and then products for the sub menu item.  The point of entering this hierarchy is to create your navigable mobile website.

Free Mobile Website

Hands down the most exciting part of the Bing Business Portal, over Google or Yahoo is the promise of a free mobile website and its QR Code, compatible with Facebook, complete with like button.

SEO TIP: I’ve noticed a correlation between Facebook likes and rankings in Bing web search results.  Also, if your customers use the Facebook like function with location enabled, it creates a location specific search signal similar to the reviews you may see listed in your Google maps place page that are pulled from various websites that list your business name and address with associated reviews. Encourage your customers to Facebook like you.  Keep the QR code handy so they can scan it and hit the like button.  This could be as simple as a sign next to the register or tip jar: We accept and appreciate Facebook likes – just scan the bar code and hit the like button.

Why Buys

Bing Why Buys for SEO

Once you get past the product categories and into the products, you find name, price, description, photos and Why Buys.   In the Learn More area, Bing suggests using the Why Buys for search engine optimization (SEO).  Bing explains (in not these exact terms) that Why Buys are conversion messages about your product that help it appear in search results.  In a nutshell this is where you list your product benefits.

SEO TIP: In the WHY BUYS list the problems your potential customers are searching online to solve, as well as the variations of the product name or application.  This is the perfect example of combined conversion and SEO that must be compressed into ten concise statements.

As you build your product categories, products, descriptions and why buys, you are actually building the mobile website.  The seemingly unnecessary hierarchy  you are forced to provide for each product builds the categories and subcategories in your mobile website, allowing the user to drill down different areas to read more.  The mobile interface is limited to menu lists where you can select one item from a list of categories to see the sub categories, followed by  the list of products.  Select a product to see the name, description, price, photo and up to 10 reasons to buy.

Deals

Bing Local Listing Deals for SEO

Once you have the workings of an online store in mobile website format, you can set up deals.  The Deals area seems self explanatory.  List your sales.  A similar free feature like this is also available in Google places.  This is not the same thing as running a mobile pay per click ad.  The deals do not directly give you more prominence, however, this is an opportunity to grow your variety of keyword stemming to further optimize your listing.

People

The People tab is an area where you can manage account users for your Bing Business Portal.  Similar to the account management abilities in Google products.  Here you can add users and set their level of access, allowing your team members to input products, business locations, etc.

SEO and Marketing Conclusions about the New Bing Business Portal

Bing obviously wants to gain traffic.  Without going head to head with Google’s web search, Bing makes a move into mobile search as the Decision Engine.  Of course all these products still affect general web search performed at a desktop or laptop.  However, mobile and local signals not only influence web search results, but are often injected directly into web search results.  Bing put together some really great free tools that have otherwise been paid tools from Bing and Yahoo.  Certainly we can assume Bing is providing these free tools to merchants to encourage more use of the Bing online properties.  However that does not take away from the value they provide.  Admittedly by Bing, these new local SEO tools will help you in other search engines besides just Bing.  Your mobile site is created and branded by Bing, however it is still searchable in Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc.  The content you create in your local listing, the reviews you get, the Facebook likes and the mobile website are all crawled and followed by Google.  What’s good for one search engine is often good for them all.

The post Local and Mobile Search Marketing Services from New Bing Business Portal appeared first on Blend SEO.

Google Office in Atlanta

Google invited 150 search marketing professionals along with Bing, Yahoo, Razorfish and 360i into the Atlanta Google office for a mobile search marketing event.  Each of the major search engines sat side by side along with Razorfish to speak on upcoming trends in mobile search and to answer our questions from search engine optimization consultants, internet marketing companies, web designers, creative agencies and any company providing SEM and SEO services among the 150 first people to make it through the door in Atlanta.

I was one of those 150 people.

The event was simulcast from Google Atlanta to offices in New York and Boston.  Limited audiences were invited to attend the event in New York and Boston.  A live feed from each office was projected on the wall in the Atlanta office alongside the speaker presentation screen.  The speakers responded to questions from all three locations.

The mobile search marketing speaker panel consisted of:

• Bing: Director of Bing Mobile Product Management – Andy Chu
• Yahoo: Senior Director, Mobile Sales Strategies – Paul Cushman
• Google: Senior Account Executive (Mobile Ads Team) – Elliott Nix
• Razorfish: VP of Mobile – Paul Gelb

I showed up a little early to make sure I had plenty of time to explore the Google office.  The office in Atlanta is a satellite office for Google, and as you might imagine looks like a small version of the California office descriptions, decorated with big red, yellow, green and blue circles in the carpet, carved into the walls, in the ceiling and repeated playfully throughout the decor.

After networking for about an hour with other SEM and SEO agency, marketing and designer SEMPO Atlanta members we settled down for the presentations.  After introductions by various sponsors and SEMPO officials we got to the speaker presentations.  Razorfish went first, followed by Yahoo, Bing, then Google.

Whether intended or not, the reoccurring theme behind was how human behavior drives mobile search. Here’s a synopsis of their presentations.

Paul Gelb, Vice President of Mobile for Razorfish opened with entertaining examples of mobile search niches based on available search apps.  Search apps are catered to every behavior: shopping, finding restaurants, finding directions and even finding public restrooms (complete with user reviews and ratings on cleanliness), one of which provided by Charmin, the toilet paper brand. Paul Gelb relates that particular search apps are used based on human behaviors.

Yahoo Mobile Search Presenter

Next Paul Cushman, Senior Director of Mobile Sales Strategies for Yahoo presented.  Paul presented some fresh demographic information from Yahoo and insights on how to predict mobile search trends.

• The overall age is a younger demographic engaged in mobile search.
• The average number of keywords in a mobile query is shorter than on desktop.
• Day parting is shifted as mobile search volume starts earlier in the day and lasts longer into the night.
• iPads and entertainment related search increased as people search on iPads during TV watching

Paul Cushman presented a study of search volume during 2010 Academy Awards.  TV commercial breaks were tracked against mobile web user traffic.  Results show tendencies of “co-browsing”: spikes in mobile search traffic during commercial breaks.

An audience member asked how to persuade mobile paid search programs to prospects who are still new to the idea of mobile search.   Paul pointed out how search behaviors for mobile, unlike desktop, follow common sense.  In other words, think about how you search on your phone and the trends pretty much match.

• People search while in the bathroom, instead of using a magazine.
• People grab their phone before getting out of bed and search.
• People search products to read reviews while at store locations before making buying decisions.

These search trends are pretty easy to explain to customers, however it is new and if someone is not ready to shift funds into a new platform, than its probably not right for them yet.

Bing Mobile Search Presenter

Andy Chu, Director of Bing Mobile Product Management spoke next.  Andy provided data and case studies illustrating further opportunities in mobile search marketing.  Andy through out a few user statistics, skipping over those covered by Paul Cushman’s Yahoo presentation.  He did however mention the 18-20 year old demographic is growing fastest, up 65%.

Andy explores two types of search activity: task centric and local centric.

Task Centric Search:
Bing, a Microsoft brand maintains its market differentiators for search as visually organized, following task centric needs.  Task centric search sessions may last an hour.

Local Centric Search:
Local centric searches are geographic related and usually are infotainment related – learn about restaurants or movies in order to make a decision and find a location.

• It takes 21 steps to choose a restaurant
• Mobile searches have 1.5 times more typos than desktop
• 60% of adults rate alternate input as lead enabling experiences
• 70% of tasks are completed within 1 hour

Bing studies on money saving tasks indicate:

• 56% iPhone users compare prices
• 5.3% consumers reddem mobile coupons
• 39% of businesses intend to use mobile coupons

Bing opinion on search apps verses browsers:

Distribution of apps is a challenge.  Regardless of the platform, users are provided hundreds of apps to scroll through.  Most app descriptions lack meaningful content (hello, optimize your apps anyone?). Therefore the apps are not effectively searchable.

Question from the audience:

What are the values of a mobile site verses desktop site?  Do you really need a mobile site?

Answer from Andy Chu of Bing:

Yes. Mobile sites have more interaction and click through.

Google Mobile Search Presenter

Elliot Nix, Senior Account Executive  of Google’s Mobile Ads Team presented last.

• 35% of Android search is via voice
• A study in Japan showed a mobile device is always within 3 feet
• Mobile search occurs in the bathroom
• 1 in 5 adults check their mobile device before leaving bed in the morning
• 79% of retailers do not have a mobile site
• Google Analytics can track mobile app activity after the app is downloaded

The process for a mobile search strategy

1. Create a mobile site
2. Think mobile
3. Be discovered
4. Track (mobile independently)
5. Iterate

Audience Question: Does a slate or iPad device render desktop websites or is a 3rd version required after mobile?

Panel Answer: Most websites render fine on iPad, however flash is a problem.

Audience Question: How does +1 (plus one) affect search results?

Google Answer: +1 is a personal consumer tool, so it may affect organic search for that individual searching while logged into the account where +1 was used.

The original presentation can be found here:

• Paul Cushman, Yahoo:
  http://www.slideshare.net/sempoatlanta/sempo-mobile-yahoo?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
• Andy Chu, Bing:
  http://www.slideshare.net/sempoatlanta/sempo-mobile-bing?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
• Paul Gelb: Razorfish:
  http://www.slideshare.net/sempoatlanta/sempo-mobile-razorfish?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
• Google’s presentation is not available online, but they have provided the link below.
  http://www.google.com/events/thinkmobile2011/livestream.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Links courtesy of Benjamin Rudolf, President SEMPO Atlanta.

The post Mobile Search Marketing Event: Google, Bing, Yahoo and Razorfish Live Presentations appeared first on Blend SEO.

1. Common sense says to optimize everything you can. Title (company/organization), description, categories, additional details, and coupons, etc.  Anywhere you can enter data – optimize it (but don’t spam).
2. Reviews – this is another easy one.  The hard part is making it happen. Come up with a way to get customers to write reviews.  This could be a contest, discount, freebie, etc rewarding people who write reviews (good or bad – just keep it honest).OK, but where?You can check the topped rank sites to see where they have reviews that get pulled into their Google Place page. Provide a list for your customers of places where they can write reviews.  Obviously, they can do it right in Google on your Place page.  That’s always a good option.
3. Citations – this is anywhere your business location is mentioned.  There does not have to be a link.  Google reads content and remembers.  If you business is listed on websites for your local chamber of commerce, your local newspaper, your local  phone directory, these are all good spots where Google can find you.

The post Local SEO: 3 Ways to Boost Your Local Business Rankings appeared first on Blend SEO.

This video tutorial shows the basics for using Yelp business tools.  However, leveraging yelp for local search optimization can be simplified to 3 steps.

Yelp can work against your SEO or for your SEO

….and it has nothing to do with whether you have good or bad review! 

Here’s the BIGGEST secret to make YELP help your local search optimization – CONSISTENCY!

1. Verify your business information is consistent on your website and your domain registration.  Beware… if you change your domain registration address, your Google PageRank may drop to ZERO for a few weeks until Google re-ranks you.  If you need to change your registration address, don’t make any changes on your website before or after.  This shows Google that nothing changed other than the registration address, and gives you the best chance for Google to quickly put you back at your proper PageRank.

2.  Visit biz.Yelp.com and create your free business account.  Follow directions from this video.

3. Claim your business listings in Yahoo and Google.  Be sure to provide Google and Yahoo with the same local address and phone number you have listed for your domain registration and published on your website.

The post 3 Step Component of Local Search Optimization: Yelp Business Tools appeared first on Blend SEO.