Creating Killer Location Finder Pages (LocalU Advanced - November 2022)

Creating Killer Location Finder Pages: Making Them Better for Humans and Robots

Whether you have 5, 50, or 5,000 locations, you want to make sure your website is directing people to the right location page for their needs. In this presentation, we’ll explore tips, tricks, and best practices of building location finder pages that work for website visitors AND Google. Based on extensive research in UX and information architecture, Brandon will evaluate common mistakes people make on location finder pages, as well as improvements you can make to discoverability and user experience.

Presentation given at Local University Advanced held in November 2022

Transcript

1. Creating Killer Location Finder Pages #LocalU @localuniv @brandonschmidt Brandon Schmidt Making them better for humans and robots
2. Location Pages
3. How to Optimize Location Pages Claire Carlile BrightLocal Academy The Future of Local Landing Pages Amanda Jordan Mozcon 2022 Local Landing Pages Carrie Hill BrightLocal
4. Location Finder Pages
5. Location Finder Pages
6. Potential Customers Search Engines
7. Are there dedicated location pages? Are they indexed? Are there internal links?
8. Which location is closer? Is it open? Do they have what I need?
9. Discoverability Indexability
10. 10-50 Locations 100-500 Locations 1000+ Locations
12. Section Intro Slide - Dark
13. Heat Mapping Usability Studies Eye Tracking Studies
14. Nielsen Norman Group A leader in User Experience research.
15. Main Navigation Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
16. Section Intro Slide - Dark
17. Section Intro Slide - Dark Use map pin symbol for easy identification
18. Section Intro Slide - Dark
19. Don’t bury your locations link
20. Adjust CTA to match your brand
21. Section Intro Slide - Dark Avoid conflicting links or messages
22. Section Intro Slide - Dark Avoid using drop-downs for locations
23. Section Intro Slide - Dark Good for location selection, not discovery
24. Basic Components What ingredients do you need for a basic location finder page?
25. List of Locations
26. Links to Location Pages
27. Way to Find the Best Location
28. Information Hierarchy Let’s add some structure and good old- fashioned order to that info.
29. Section Intro Slide - Dark
31. Most common hierarchy is state/town
32. Section Intro Slide - Dark Adapt hierarchy to business
33. Section Intro Slide - Dark
34. Section Intro Slide - Dark
35. Section Intro Slide - Dark
36. Section Intro Slide - Dark Store Directory Find a Nike Store Show Map Albania (1) Algeria (1) Argentina (10) Armenia (1) Australia (55) Austria (6) Azerbaijan (2) Bahrain (3) Belarus (2) Belgium (9) Bosnia and Herzegovina (3) Brazil (21) Bulgaria (12) Canada (40) Chile (24) China Mainland (388) Croatia (5) Cyprus (1) Czechia (9) Denmark (7) Egypt (12) Estonia (3) France (56) Georgia (4) Germany (30) Greece (11) Hong Kong (6) Hungary (7) India (131) Indonesia (21) Ireland (2) Israel (29) Italy (45) Japan (34) Jordan (3) Kazakhstan (8) Kenya (2) Korea (Republic of) (219) Kuwait (5) Latvia (4) Lebanon (6) Lithuania (5) New & Featured Men Women Kids Sale Back to School Search | Join Us | Sign In Help 9/15/22, 8:55 PM Page 1 of 1
37. Section Intro Slide - Dark Hierarchy based on products/services
38. Section Intro Slide - Dark Use hierarchy to create landing pages
39. Location Information What info should you highlight about each location on the finder? What do you save for the location pages?
40. Section Intro Slide - Dark
41. Section Intro Slide - Dark Highlight relevant information
42. Section Intro Slide - Dark Show photos of locations
43. Section Intro Slide - Dark 1243 East Lisburn Road Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 P: (717) 409-4158 Email this branch » VIEW BRANCH Landscape Management Branch 12601 Rock Hill-Pineville Road Pineville, NC 28134 P: (704) 962-3331 Email this branch » VIEW BRANCH Charlotte, NC Landscape Construction Satellite 3521 Monroe Road Charlotte, NC 28205 P: (919) 596-0047 Email this branch » VIEW BRANCH Delmarva, DE Landscape Management Branch 28091 Nine Foot Road Dagsboro, DE 19939 P: (302) 537-2771 Email this branch » VIEW BRANCH Dulles, VA Landscape Management Branch 44898 Cabin Road Chantilly, VA 20166 Durham, NC Landscape Management Branch 3517 Angier Avenue Avoid stock or generic images
44. Section Intro Slide - Dark
45. Showcase your CTA
46. Clearly indicate closed locations
47. Coming Soon How are you building the hype train for new & soon-to-open locations?
49. Section Intro Slide - Dark
50. Section Intro Slide - Dark
51. To Map or Not to Map? When should you include a map for your location finder?
52. Section Intro Slide - Dark
53. Section Intro Slide - Dark
54. Section Intro Slide - Dark
57. Section Intro Slide - Dark Give users a choice on how to navigate
58. Section Intro Slide - Dark
59. Section Intro Slide - Dark
60. Section Intro Slide - Dark
61. Data-Ink Ratio Amount of ink conveying information vs. Amount of overall ink
62. High Data-Ink Ratio
63. Section Intro Slide - Dark
64. Section Intro Slide - Dark
65. Section Intro Slide - Dark
66. Section Intro Slide - Dark
67. Adapt maps to better show info
68. Section Intro Slide - Dark
69. Section Intro Slide - Dark Zoom in to show relevant locations
70. Section Intro Slide - Dark
71. Section Intro Slide - Dark Adapt map pins to limit clutter
72. Automatic Location Finder I don’t know who you are, but I will find you.
74. Challenges with Automatic Locations • Privacy concerns • Searching out of the area • Searching for someone else • Frustration when it is wrong
77. Filtered Results Can you show the user all the locations that really matter to them?
78. Section Intro Slide - Dark Avoid branded or unclear language
79. Section Intro Slide - Dark Align filters with user goals
81. Section Intro Slide - Dark
82. Map Pins Can you include more information – or at least enjoyment – by upgrading your map pins?
83. Section Intro Slide - Dark
84. Section Intro Slide - Dark
85. Section Intro Slide - Dark Connect map pins with location info
86. Naming Conventions How to name places without confusing everyone.
88. Section Intro Slide - Dark Avoid subjective names
89. Avoid duplicate or conflicting names
90. Section Intro Slide - Dark
93. Consider context when reading names
95. Create a consistent naming formula
96. Section Intro Slide - Dark Avoid unfamiliar ordering
97. Section Intro Slide - Dark
99. Show the Right Data Don’t frustrate your audience – and the robots – with bad information.
100. Section Intro Slide - Dark
102. Section Intro Slide - Dark
103. Make it easy to find your location finder Create a consistent naming convention Maintain a clear hierarchy & filter
104. Connect With Me: brandon@ydop.com @brandonschmidt