{"id":103195,"date":"2017-02-09T02:11:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T07:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/local-seo-bringing-it-all-together-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:41:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:41:32","slug":"local-seo-bringing-it-all-together-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/search-optimization\/local-seo-bringing-it-all-together-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Local SEO Pt. 3 \u2013 Bringing It All Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first blog post of this three-part series<\/a>, I identified why together, mobile and Google will dominate the near-future of all online search for a physical business. If you think about Google search\u2019s current data set and mobile reach<\/a>, combined with their algorithms, processes, historical knowledge and machine-based learning, they\u2019re destined to determine a larger share of brands\u2019 new customers vs. any other platform, company or medium.<\/p>\n

Blog post one also dissected the anatomy of a Google SERP, and defined “local SEO” as the attempt of physical businesses to rank at the top of organic or maps search results, when a consumer looks for a business, product or service online, and the query is seen by the search engine as having local intent. Remember, Google searches, deemed to have local intent, have increased 34 times since 2011 and more than doubled since 2014<\/a>, following the growth of smartphone users and usage.<\/p>\n

Blog post two<\/a> examined the basic elements to winning at local SEO for Fortune 1000 businesses with physical locations, agents or franchises. I discussed why, for reasons unlikely to change, \u201cchains\u201d are at a disadvantage compared to small businesses in Google local (otherwise known as Maps and\/or 3-pack) results.<\/p>\n

Part three will look at local SEO tactics<\/a> for 2017 that can substantially elevate the rank of multi-location businesses in Google local results, dramatically increase customer acquisition efforts, and position the business to capitalise on three emerging trends:<\/p>\n

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  1. Mobile devices provide an incredibly unique opportunity for marketers because they offer\u00a0important information about what the consumer is up to, without the consumer having to do anything (besides leaving your location services enabled on your phone). The more comfortable the consumer gets with online tracking, data collection and attribution, along with advances in technology, GPS tracking and free wifi, the more that marketers will be able to serve smarter ads and more relevant content while spending less on that advertising by targeting a more tailored audience. Smarter marketing tactics mean that consumers will also come to expect that every reputable page that they read or click on is an up-to-date representation of that business, product or service.<\/li>\n
  2. Marketing departments of enterprise brands are breaking down their silos, realising the importance of brand consistency and an effortless user journey. There\u2019s no such thing as consumers following one path, going down one funnel, or only heading in one direction on the routes that lead to a \u201cconversion\u201d. Since consumers observe and engage through many channels, group efforts have the ability to further lift the metrics of all internal teams, brands and locations.<\/li>\n
  3. Native advertising has already started to blur the lines between content and advertising, but more importantly, Google is continually providing more trusted content in search results, shifting the paradigm from yesteryear, when SEO was only about getting link placement. While the traditional idea of Search Engine Optimisation was to optimise your website homepage to show up as a link in the search results, both Google and the consumer know that this is no longer the best or easiest route for a user to find what they\u2019re looking for online, especially when a majority of users are looking on smaller mobile screens. Between map results, local results, rich snippets, user reviews, critic reviews and knowledge graph results (to name a few), consumers will increasingly find what they\u2019re looking for without ever visiting a brand\u2019s website.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The key takeaway from these trends is that marketers shouldn\u2019t fight Google, or wait for the dust to settle before embracing the future of digital marketing and enacting organisational change. Instead of having line items in the budget and ROI tracking for each type of digital marketing individually (e.g. paid media, SEO, content marketing, social media), smart brands will invest in channels more equally and structure their departments and processes with a more holistic strategy in mind. This will, in turn, bring local marketing strategies more to the forefront of all large organisations with local extensions.<\/p>\n

    For example, in the future, digital strategies or investments that aren\u2019t seen as an \u201ce-commerce play\u201d, will still lead some consumers to be an active online customer, and will be credited appropriately. Or to cite a different example, brand advertising in the form of pre-roll, sponsorships or even OOH, will start to include effective local extensions or direct calls to action that convert more easily than ever before. Forward-thinking B2C brands will flourish, while enterprise leadership employing traditional marketing best-practices will falter.<\/p>\n

    So what are the local SEO 2.0 tactics for enterprise brands that will move the needle after a strong foundation has been laid? Four potent strategies are described below, that depending on the industry, will be crucial to implement in 2017, once a brands\u2019 location data is organised, and their whole organisation, down to the local level, is willing to buy in.<\/p>\n

    Local link building<\/strong><\/p>\n

    This tactic is not something that can be fully automated, but the idea here is to reach out to organisations, companies and websites that focus on your location and\/or industry, then correctly engage them so that they link to your website in a relevant location on their site. While I can\u2019t stress enough times over the success our agency has found by executing this for our clients, I can stress and link to the best article I have found, with a detailed blueprint for how it\u2019s done effectively<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Some examples of the strategies the author discusses include:<\/p>\n