SEARCHLOVE DAN DIEGO 2013-Darren Shaw

Audit and Fix Citations for Local Search Gains

Transcript

1. Audit and Fix Citations for Local Search Gains DARREN SHAW
2. Darren Shaw Founder at Whitespark darren@whitespark.ca @EdmontonSEO
3. What’s a citation?
4. A citation is a mention of your business on the web, typically in the format of Name, Address, and Phone number. This is called your NAP. For a more detailed explanation see: http://www.whitespark.ca/blog/post/13-what-is-a-citation
5. What’s the problem with inconsistent citations?
6. http://moz.com/blog/how-business-listings-made-whiteboard-friday
7. Public Company Filings Telco & Utility Information NCOA POI Compilation Merchant Submissions Government Sources U.S. Business Database Web Research & RSS Feeds Yellow Pages Content Partner Feedback Address Standardization & Hygiene Phone Verification Standardization of Elements & Duplicate Removal Quality Assurance Infogroup’s Data Compilation Process
8. 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors #3 = Consistency of Structured Citations http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
9. You know how you can split link equity by not 301ing or canonicalizing your www and non-www version?
10. The same thing happens with your citations Your Google listing ??
11. But there is no 301 redirect or canonical directive for citations So you must change the address on this listing to reclaim this citation and associate it with your Google listing Your Google listing
12. If there is enough conflicting data a duplicate will be created at Google Primary listing Duplicate listing
13. 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors Fifth most harmful negative factor http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
14. Don’t just create new listings, because that will leave the old listings lying around Your Google listing ?? X
15. Update the existing listings and those citations will now point to the correct listing at Google Your Google listing
16. Okay, inconsistent citations are bad. What are the benefits of making them consistent?
17. John Denny: NAP is Fundamental to Rankings http://johnhdenny.com/451/nap-is-fundamental-to-rankings His client had moved multiple times and had changed phone number multiple times. After citation cleanup: “they’ve gone from not showing up in the search results for any of their keywords to a #1 position for two and top 3 positions for another 4”
18. After cleaning up a mess of duplicate listings and incorrect NAP data in the local search eco-system for a client, we were able to take them from nowhere in the local rankings to page 1 local pack rank rankings for most of their target terms. Mary Bowling http://www.marybowling.com/
19. Our client had recently moved locations, but had never updated their citations. After changing the address in Google themselves, within a couple weeks’ time, they tanked. We started the cleanup in October ’12, in most cases contacting each citation source manually, and by Christmas, their listing went from the back of the bus, back to the front page. Adam Steele http://www.nightlitemedia.com/
20. CONVINCED? LET’S DO THIS!
21. STEP 1 Gather all current and inconsistent NAP data
22. Ask the business about: Business names
23. Ask the business about: Addresses
24. Ask the business about: Phone numbers
25. Ask the business about: Websites
26. Ask the business about: Other businesses
27. Also, ask the business for: Existing login information
29. STEP 2 Find and record all the NAP variations
30. Step 2 is just a discovery process to find all the NAP variations out there. Don’t start tracking all the citations just yet.
31. The correct NAP NAP #1 Stratford at Maple Leaf 9001 Lake City Way Ne, Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 729-1200
32. Listings with different phone numbers Query: “portion_of_business_name” -”phone_number” -”toll_free_number”
33. Use Linkclump (Chrome) Or Multi Links (FireFox) > Right-click and drag to select a group of links > Release > They’ll all open in new tabs (Hat tip: Ross Hudgens)
34. Listings with different phone numbers NAP #2 Stratford at Maple Leaf 9001 Lake City Way Ne, Seattle, WA 98115 (866) 344-4946
35. Listings with different phone numbers NAP #3 Stratford at Maple Leaf 18605 17th Ave NW, Shoreline, WA 98177 (206) 542-4556
36. Listings with different phone numbers As you discover different numbers, exclude each of them from the query to refine your results “portion_of_business_name” -”phone_number” -”toll_free_number” -”found_number1” -”found_number2”
37. Listings with same phone & different address Query: “portion_of_business_name” “phone_number” -”portion_of_address”
38. Listings with same phone & different address NAP #4 Stratford at Maple Leaf 5604 17th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (206) 729-1200
39. Like you did with phone numbers, as you discover different addresses, exclude each of them from the query to refine your results “portion_of_business_name” “phone_number” -”portion_of_address” -”portion_of_address2” Listings with same phone & different address
40. Listings with same phone & different business name Query: “phone_number” -“portion_of_business_name”
41. NAP #5 Sound Health Management 9001 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 729-1200 Listings with same phone & different business name
42. Listings with same phone & different business name Again, as you discover different business name variations, exclude each of them from the query to refine your results “phone_number” -“portion_of_business_name” -“portion_of_business_name2”
43. NAP #6 Salon Maple Leaf 9001 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 729-1200 Listings with same phone & different business name
44. Record each NAP variation in a spreadsheet
45. STEP 3 Determine which NAP variations need to be fixed
46. Don’t worry about these kinds of variations Street vs St Northeast vs NE Suite vs Ste Floor vs Flr. 98115-8222 vs 98115 Stratford vs STRATFORD (206) 729-1200 vs 206-729-1200
47. Google normalizes the address variations it finds around the web Check your normalized address with this tool. It uses the Google Maps API: http://aus-emaps.com/bulk_geocoder.php
48. These are variations you should worry about Different business name > Same address/phone Different phone > Same name/address Different address > Same name/phone
49. Go through your NAP variations and note which ones need to be fixed I don’t need to worry about this one
50. STEP 4 Clean up incorrect data at the most important data sources
51. Don’t start with the citation sites. They could be getting data from major data providers. Common Situation You click here and update the listing
52. Don’t start with the citation sites. They could be getting data from major data providers. Common Situation But the site gets a feed from Localeze
53. Don’t start with the citation sites. They could be getting data from major data providers. Common Situation Two months later the listing shows up on the site again
54. Public Company Filings Telco & Utility Information NCOA POI Compilation Merchant Submissions Government Sources U.S. Business Database Web Research & RSS Feeds Yellow Pages Content Partner Feedback Address Standardization & Hygiene Phone Verification Standardization of Elements & Duplicate Removal Quality Assurance Don’t even start with the data aggregators, as they receive data feeds as well.
55. So, here’s your order of operations 1) Government Sources 2) Phone Company 3) Utilities 4) Infogroup 5) Neustar Localeze 6) Acxiom 7) Other Primary Data Providers 8) Dun & Bradstreet 9) Factual 10) The rest of the web (including Yahoo) 11) Google & Bing
56. Government Sources Many (most?) states have a searchable business registry on the Secretary of State site. Use your list of NAPs and search for all variations of the business info. Contact them to fix any incorrect info.
57. Phone Company Double check your NAP information on file at the telco that the business deals with. Online billing is a good place to start.
58. Utilities Double check your NAP information on file at the utilities that the business deals with. Online billing is a good place to start.
59. Infogroup Go to http://www.expressupdate.com and search for all variations of business info on your NAP list.
60. Infogroup To edit a listing you’ll need to log in (or create an account) and claim the listing. They will phone verify, so coordinate a time to claim with the business.
61. Important: add as much info as possible to all the correct listings you find. Use our citation building intake form.
62. Neustar Localeze Go to http://www.neustarlocaleze.biz and search for all variations of business info on your NAP list. Claim and enhance accurate listings; remove others.
63. Acxiom Go to https://mybusinesslistingmanager.myacxiom.com/ and search for all variations of business info on your NAP list. Claim and enhance accurate listings; remove others.
64. Other Primary Data Sources: CityGrid, Superpages, Yellowpages, Yelp Go to the URLs below and search for all variations of the business info on your NAP list. Claim and enhance accurate listings; remove others. They will all phone verify, so coordinate the claims with the business. http://www.citygrid.com/   http://www.supermedia.com/spportal/quickbpflow.do http://www.yellowpages.com   https://biz.yelp.com/signup
65. Dun & Bradstreet Another important and commonly scraped source. Search for listings at http://www.dandb.com/businessdirectory then claim, update, and enhance.
66. Factual Factual’s location data is used by Apple Maps and a ton of mobile apps (which sometimes publish their listings to the web). It’s a great local data product that’s growing in importance.
67. Factual Search for listings at: http://www.factual.com/data/t/places If you find any inconsistencies, contact them here to fix: http://www.factual.com/contact?subject=data
69. What about Yext?
70. Great for: New businesses that want to build out key citations quickly. Standardizing primary information on some of the key citation sites. Making changes across dozens of citation sites near- instantly. Adding enhanced data to some of your existing citations. Problems: You only enter your existing info to create an account, so they miss many incorrect citations. They sometimes create new listings on the sites leaving existing listings as duplicates. Only 30ish sites (rest are apps) $499 yearly fee When you cancel, the majority of your listings go back to the way they were. [1] [1] http://www.ngsmarketing.com/what-happens-when-canceling-yext/
71. STEP 5 Find and record all the citations across the rest of the web
72. h#ps://getlisted.org/sta2c/resources/local-­‐search-­‐data-­‐providers.html   Used  with  permission  from  David  Mihm  
73. Search Google for all accurate and inaccurate NAP variations, but exclude listings that are not a problem. I don’t need to worry about this one
74. Search for all possible query combinations
75. Go through every result, determine if it needs to be dealt with, and record the listings in your audit spreadsheet. Hmm…
78. Put all your queries into a custom report on the Link Prospector
79. Set the depth to 1000
80. Load Whitespark’s list of 363 reverse phone lookup sites into the exclusions
81. Add “site:/intitle” searches for Phil Rozek’s Definitive List of Local Search Citations to find duplicates Press this button
82. Then go and relax for a while
83. BEHOLD! Your list de-duped, domain-grouped, PR & DA sortable, with titles and descriptions.
84. Someone (probably not you) will still need to go through them all and record listings that need attention into a spreadsheet Use our template!
85. STEP 6 Fix those citations!
86. Look for update information on each listing that needs to be updated. You're looking for things like: •  Update listing/business •  Correct listing/business •  Modify listing/business •  Claim listing/business •  Report listing/business •  etc
87. Google can help "update * listing" yellowbook "update listing on yellowbook" "update * business" yellowbook "update business on yellowbook" "claim * listing" yellowbook "claim listing on yellowbook" "claim * business" yellowbook "claim business on yellowbook" "edit * listing" yellowbook "edit listing on yellowbook" "edit * business" yellowbook "edit business on yellowbook"
88. If they have no claim/edit/update functionality, contact them Great outreach template here: http://www.leanmarketing.ca/the-advanced-guide-for-citation-audits/
89. Be sure to contact them from an email address on the domain for a MUCH higher success rate
90. STEP 7 Now, finally, check Google. Sure, Bing too.
91. Search Google Maps for duplicate listings
92. Search Map Maker too
93. Any problems that you can’t fix in the Places Dashboard, fix through Map Maker
94. Any problems that you can’t fix in Map Maker, get Google to call you! Make sure you’re signed into your Google account. Go here: https://support.google.com/places/contact/c2c_places Fill in the form Click the “call me” button.
95. Manage your Bing listings here: https://www.bingplaces.com/
96. I have some resources for you to download, but please don’t share these yet.
97. bit.ly/citation-audit
98. bit.ly/citation-audit
99. Thanks. Any questions? DARREN SHAW darren@whitespark.ca @EdmontonSEO