Win a Free 30 Minute Talk With Me Session
I’m offering a lucky winner to book a free 30-minute talk-with-me session! We’ll talk about anything you want for thirty minutes related to marketing your business online or getting started as an entrepreneur.
Simply enter your name and email address below and tell me why I should choose you.
[goal id=”2011″]
Do me a favor? Can you share this for me with others while you’re at it? Thank you in advance 🙂
Local SEO Expert Q&A: 7 Answers from Andrew Shotland
Last but not least, we feature seven tips from Andrew Shotland to wrap up our local SEO expert Q&A blog series featuring 56 answers from the top local SEO experts.
Q 1: What do you think are going to be the biggest changes in local search within the next year (2018) that small businesses should pay attention to?
A 1: I think the biggest change will be an increase in Google Ads where a lot of organic GMB results used to be. So SMBs will need to get better at buying traffic, find additional ways to squeeze organic traffic out of Google and start working new organic channels.
Q 2: If you were a small, local shop selling baked goods or beverages with limited time to work with your online marketing, what are the top three things you would focus on in order of importance?
A 2:
- Claim and update your profiles on Google My Business, Yelp , Facebook, Bing and Apple Maps. These will likely be the first point of online contact between you and your potential customers
- Create a simple, well-made website that clearly describes your services, answers your customers top questions and has a clear call to action
- Build an email/text message list and experiment with using it to bring customers in the door/help you get new customers.
Q 3: With the increase in mobile device usage, what do you think restaurants and online retailers should be doing as a minimum in regards to local SEO?
A 3: See above
Q 4: Do you think local SEO will get more or less important as time goes on?
A 4: More but I am biased but so is the AI that will often default to things that are near you when you ask it questions that imply local intent.
Q 5: How do you think the advancements in virtual reality will affect local businesses in search, if at all?
A 5: More people will be wearing those ridiculous goggles at the bar while I am trying to enjoy my beer.
Q 6: Do you have any suggestions for in-house marketers to get buy-in on local SEO initiatives?
A 6: Always start with a small test that when extrapolated out to a large number of locations shows potential for huge wins.
Q 7: How important is Google My Business and Reviews as it relates to restaurants in local search?
A 7: As important as golf is to Trump.
Andrew’s Bio:
In 1994, Andrew helped launch Showtime Networks first website. From there he joined NBC’s Internet division and ran NBC.com, launching some of the first TV to Web experiences. In 2003, Andrew helped launch InsiderPages which was acquired by CitySearch in 2006. Since then, he’s been helping clients big and small with this strange thing they call “SEO”.
Local SEO Expert Q&A: 7 Answers from Joy Hawkins
Today we feature Joy Hawkin’s seven answers to seven questions from our exhaustive local SEO expert Q&A featuring 56 answers from some of the top local SEO experts. Check it out below!
Q 1: What do you think are going to be the biggest changes in local search within the next year that small businesses should pay attention to?
A 1: Google Posts Beta will be huge for SMBs.
Q 2: If you were a small, local shop selling baked goods or beverages with limited time to work with your online marketing, what are the top three things you would focus on in order of importance?
A 2: Ask customers for reviews on Google, Yelp & Facebook, Update my website with rich descriptions and photos of the recent food/beverages I sell, Network with other local businesses & organizations and try to get links from them.
Q 3: With the increase in mobile device usage, what do you think restaurants and online retailers should be doing as a minimum in regards to local SEO?
A 3: Make their site work on mobile! I can’t get over how many businesses don’t even have their phone number set up as click-to-call. Also tons of forms and features on sites don’t always work properly or easily on mobile.
Q 4: Do you think local SEO will get more or less important as time goes on?
A 4: I think it will be equally important but get harder to succeed with if you’re using a cookie-cutter approach.
Q 5: How do you think the advancements in virtual reality will affect local businesses in search, if at all?
A 5: I’m not sure. This would be a better question for my husband 😉
Q 6: Do you have any suggestions for in-house marketers to get buy-in on local SEO initiatives?
A 6: Sign up for my Local SEO training if you want an advanced look at Local SEO and the ability to get updated as new things happen and old tactics stop working. If you are looking for a free way to keep on top of things, monitor the Local Search Forum.
Q 7: How important is Google My Business and Reviews as it relates to restaurants in local search?
A 7: Huge. Some of the highest-activity accounts I’ve seen for Google My Business were for restaurants. It’s one industry that isn’t very advanced at SEO usually due to budget constraints of restaurant owners who have a ton of overhead so if you get one player that comes along and can invest in SEO it can make a really big difference.
Joy’s Bio:
Joy Hawkins has been working in the Local SEO industry since 2006 and loves being a Google My Business Top Contributor. She also loves spending time managing Google AdWords accounts and has been certified in both Google Search & Display. She is also a speaker at various search engine marketing conferences such as SMX & LocalU and has a monthly column on Search Engine Land. She currently works as a the owner of Sterling Sky Inc in Uxbridge, ON, Canada. Joy’s daily responsibilities there include troubleshooting ranking issues on Google for the most complicated and difficult accounts, updating her training manual (The Expert’s Guide to Local SEO.), consulting on how to use Google products and SEO-related tools and tactics, selling and managing local SEO, social media and AdWords accounts for small business owners, and keeping up with new trends and processes in the local SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) world. You can connect with her on G+ or follow her on Twitter.
Local SEO Expert Q&A: 7 Answers from Craig Campbell
Today we feature Craig Campbell’s seven answers to seven questions from our exhaustive local SEO expert Q&A featuring 56 answers from some of the top local SEO experts. Check it out below!
Q 1: What do you think are going to be the biggest changes in local search within the next year (2018) that small businesses should pay attention to?
A 1: It’s hard to predict what changes will be made it is obvious that Google is wanting to show local business hence the map positions having a prominent position and the searches becoming more localized. For local SEO I would always have a process of setting up my business listing, get local citations, get listed on local directories and get Google reviews which all go some way to helping you with your local SEO.
Q 2: If you were a small, local shop selling baked goods or beverages with limited time to work with your online marketing, what are the top three things you would focus on in order of importance?
A 2: Local SEO works really well and doesn’t require a huge budget, doing the basics, a basic website, some local SEO, Map Listing, some citations and even trying out some basic stuff on social media to raise your business profile in the local area is always a good place to start. Even doing some local Facebook advertising can be done on a very modest budget.
Q 3: With the increase in mobile device usage, what do you think restaurants and online retailers should be doing as a minimum in regards to local SEO?
A 3: It surprises me that given over 60% of people are using mobile devices when searching that websites out there are not mobile friendly, any online business should have a nice easy to navigate website with some local SEO if they want to get that exposure. If they don’t want to do the basics then the competition will and some good business can be generated from a little bit of local exposure. Do the basics and get a website that shows exactly what the business has to offer, as there will be searches going on and you want to be in front of those people.
Q 4: Do you think local SEO will get more or less important as time goes on?
A 4: For small businesses it is very important, people are very specific when they search and very often will add a location to their search term when looking for services. For example, if someone was looking for a “Roof Repair” they are likely to search for ” Roof Repairs & their location ” rather than simply Roof repairs.
So, I think people are becoming more specific with their searches and I feel that having that local exposure is only going to become more important as time goes on.
Q 5: How do you think the advancements in virtual reality will affect local businesses in search, if at all?
A 5: It’s hard to say at this stage how it will affect local businesses, but the way things are going there is always going to be integration with new technology and businesses will be able to show off their products or services using virtual reality. Even on a much smaller scale local businesses are showing off their premises by using Google 360 images, and I can only imagine that with virtual reality that we will be seeing more advanced ways of showcasing products, premises and whatever needs to be shown in much more detail.
And of course, that will always help as all of this new technology improves what we can see, so it will improve online sales which is the main purpose at the end of the day.
Q 6: Do you have any suggestions for in-house marketers to get buy-in on local SEO initiatives?
A 6: If an in-house marketing team was doing some local SEO there shouldn’t really be a cost, its time based so it really should not come down to budgets etc. There is no cost to get a map listing, it is completely free, this coupled with some local directories which are free and some local relevant links are all that’s required for some local SEO. It would always be the first steps when starting out getting some local traffic to the website.
Q 7: How important is Google My Business and Reviews as it relates to restaurants in local search?
A 7: My business is a massive part of local search and is one of the first things I would suggest someone does when setting up a small local business. Reviews are also important, mainly because people like to read reviews and seeing someone with 4 or 5 stars over someone who doesn’t is always likely to give a customer a good impression.
So it would help a consumer making a choice between your business and another, and there is also this debate as to whether there is a ranking signal from reviews, I’ve seen people claim they do also help your rankings in local search and Moz said it makes up 8% of the ranking signal for local search. It’s not a case of who gets the most reviews win, but I do firmly believe they do help you a little so you would want to try and get your customers doing them for you when you can.
Craig’s Bio:
Craig Campbell is a Glasgow-based SEO expert who has been doing SEO for 14 years. In this time he has gained extensive knowledge in the subject of SEO and has built up a wealth of experience in SEO and other digital marketing services.
Local SEO Expert Q&A: 7 Answers from Jason Parks
Today we feature Jason Park’s seven answers to seven questions from our exhaustive local SEO expert Q&A featuring 56 answers from some of the top local SEO experts. Check it out!
Q 1: What do you think are going to be the biggest changes in local search within the next year that small businesses should pay attention to?
A 1: Local backlinks. This isn’t new I just think more emphasis needs to be put on getting quality, authoritative links in your local market.
Q 2: If you were a small, local shop selling baked goods or beverages with limited time to work with your online marketing, what are the top three things you would focus on in order of importance?
A 2:
- Reviews – I’d make sure to get reviews from my customers. People are going to do a Google search for your bakery or look on Yelp so reviews will be a big trust indicator and can help increase conversion rate
- Local Directories – I’d sign-up for a local directory service like Moz Local or Aabaco. This will make all of your listings consistent and make it easy for your customers to find your business
- Facebook Ads – I’d serve Facebook ads to people living around my bakery – This is low cost and would help generate instant exposure
Q 3: With the increase in mobile device usage, what do you think restaurants and online retailers should be doing as a minimum in regards to local SEO?
A 3: Make sure your website is responsive on mobile. This should have been done years ago. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Make sure people can easily navigate your site on mobile. SEO does no good if people just immediately bounce from your site.
Q 4: Do you think local SEO will get more or less important as time goes on?
A 4: Local SEO will get more important. More people do research online before making a purchasing decision. Your local SEO can help people find you during that search phase.
Q 5: How do you think the advancements in virtual reality will affect local businesses in search, if at all?
A 5: I’m not an expert in virtual reality. I think we’re at least 5 years away from this going mainstream so I’m not too focused on that at the moment.
Q 6: Do you have any suggestions for in-house marketers to get buy-in on local SEO initiatives?
A 6: I think you just need to bring up Google.com and get your decision maker in front of a computer or their phone. Ask the decision maker how they are going to find a restaurant for this Friday night. Chances are, they will start on Google. This will prove the importance of local SEO within 30 seconds.
Q 7: How important is Google My Business and Reviews as it relates to restaurants in local search?
A 7: Very important. If people search for your brand or you populate for a coveted search term, this will be the first thing people see pertaining to your brand. Your business needs to focus on customer service and a review strategy that will compliment solid customer service.
Jason’s Bio:
Jason Parks is a proud Buckeye and the owner of The Media Captain, a digital marketing agency based in Columbus. Jason has been featured in the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Inc., Yahoo News, Search Engine Watch, The Columbus Dispatch and Entrepreneur.com. Jason has assisted in launching successful digital campaigns for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies to medium and small sized businesses.