Google Local Search Ranking Factors Summary

Google Places optimization experts were surveyed about what they thought were the most critical Place Page, website and off-site factors in Google Maps local search algorithms to influence Google Place Pages rankings – here are the highlights of the research.

The most recommended factors to focus on in the Local Search Ranking Factors were the following:

Physical address in city of search (place page): A physical business location rather than a PO Box was the number #1 recommended factor to focus on and was considered to be very important for Google Maps local search not only on the Place Page but across all Web properties. “No crawlable physical address on website” was also ranked at number 5 as one of the Negative Ranking Factors.

Manually owner-verified place page (place page): One of the most important factors was to manually verify each Google Place Page for local SEO rather than doing a bulk upload. This ensures that each address for the location is checked by the owner and confirmed to be correct. This is particularly relevant for businesses with more than one location. It is also important to remove duplicate listings.

Proper category associations (place page): Proper category associations were ranked as the third most important “On Place Page” factor to improve Google Place Pages’ rankings and were considered by some experts to be even more relevant than the business title when following Google’s guidelines. Categories linked to relevant keywords were thought to strongly influence search results.

Volume of traditional structured citations (iyps, data aggregators) (off-place/off-site): Citations are still considered an important trust point for local search by many SEO experts but some local SEO specialists like David Mihm believe that “citations have very little weight anymore”. There seems to be a consensus though that mismatching of NAP (name, address and phone number) across the Web is a negative ranking factor.

Crawlable address matching place page address (website): The local SEO strategists placed a lot of weight on the need for your NAP details to be consistent on your Google Place Page and website but also on other trusted sources across the Web. It was strongly recommended that if information was incorrect on these websites, to ask that the information be corrected.

Quality of inbound links to website (off-place/off-site): Again, the local search professionals agree that SEO best practices still apply for your traditional website and a website with a strong and natural link-building profile will continue to rank highly in blended search results. The same SEO rules apply and backlinks must be from websites that are trusted, credible and have high authority.

Crawlable phone number matching place page phone number (website): As with factor number #1, the local SEO experts agree that the phone number of the business must be the same across the Web whether it is your Google Places Page, your website or other online properties. Ideally you should have a local business number. As aforementioned, inconsistency of phone numbers is a strong negative ranking factor.

Local area code on place page (place page): There is also a strong emphasis by the local search specialists on having a local number listed on your Google Place Page to help Google recognize that the Web references are referring to a local listing. It is also mentioned in Google guidelines for Google Places to “Use a local phone number instead of a call center number whenever possible.”

City, state in places landing page title (website): The keyword of the report is ‘consistency’. For optimum local SEO, the Google Places’ landing page should have the matching city and state in the page title. This again should match the city and state listed on the Places Page, on your website and on other Web references.

My first reaction to seeing the Local SEO Ranking Factors Study data was that it was about time someone got around to doing this. We have done a lot of our own testing and we have followed the well-known best practices but this study has confirmed a lot of our suspicions about how Google’s Local algo works and offers some surprises as well. When’s the next one coming out?

– Houston Jayne, Marketing Director, Walmart.com

Join in Free Google Workshops Offered To Show 63% of Missing Local Business Listing Owners

Free Google workshops will be offered across the United States during the first week of May in an ambitious effort to help small businesses improve their online presence. Why? Because only 37 percent of small businesses claim or update their local listings on search engines — and Google wants to change that. Not only that, fewer than 50 percent of small businesses have a website.

Those are all things that can change for the benefit of small businesses. “Our target goal is to help small businesses get online and succeed thereafter,” said Claire Mudd, head of Americas SMB Marketing at Google, in a phone interview. Google sees education and free assistance as a way for that to happen cost effectively for small businesses. That’s why Google has partnered with local business organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico to host nearly 1,000 small business workshops during National Small Business Week.

Free Google Workshops and Training

Between May 1-7, 2016, small business owners and staff can attend one of the free Google workshops. Workshop training programs may vary. Sessions are expected to last from one to three hours, so you don’t need to devote the entire day to it. Workshops will be hands-on and practical, said Mudd. “During many of these sessions representatives will actually sit down with business owners in front of a laptop to set up their website,” added Mudd.

But Google is doing more than offering workshops. As part of its “Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map” program, Google partnered with StartLogic to offer free websites, domain names and hosting to small businesses for one year to jumpstart their online presence. StartLogic is part of Endurance International Group, which bought the Intuit Websites business back in 2012. That program has helped 250,000 businesses create websites already, added Mudd.

Workshops will be carried out by local city partners, including organizations such as SCORE and the Small Business Development Centers. Examples of some of the organizations hosting the free Google workshops include: Wayne Main Street in Michigan; Spearfish Chamber of Commerce in South Dakota; Newberry Area Small Business Development Center in South Carolina; and Garland Chamber of Commerce in Texas. But with nearly 1,000 workshops taking place, so there’s a good chance you’ll find one in your area.

How to Attend Free Google Workshops

To sign up for one of the Google workshops, just go to this website: Google.com/smallbusinessweek Once you are there, your browser should detect where you are located. It will show you a map with free Google workshops in your local area. Or, you can search nationwide for workshops.

nce you pick a location, you will see a form where you can register right online. If you can’t attend one of the free Google workshops, no worries. According to Mudd, some session information will be available online. Google’s Claire Mudd emphasized how important it is to get online as soon as possible — and make sure your presence is mobile optimized, too.

“We are in the midst of a big shift for small businesses and that’s the shift to mobile,” Mudd said.

“Four out of five consumers go online to find information. In everyday life people are grabbing their smartphones to find small businesses. Local searches have doubled in the last year and not surprisingly, 80% of local searches in the fourth quarter of 2014 happened on mobile devices. The unfortunate part is that small businesses today are behind the curve. So we really really want to help small businesses not only get online but be mobile-friendly,” she pointed out.

She added one additional tip for brick and mortar small businesses: not only should you update your Google My Business listing and make sure information is accurate, but add photos. “Photos are compelling,” she said. “When businesses make these kinds of changes online, it makes a difference,” Mudd concluded. Don’t wait to seek help (or you may get busy and forget). Sign up for free Google workshops here: Google.com/smallbusinessweek

How to Target Multiple Local Locations with SEO

Local SEO is a great way to get your business in front of the people that matter the most – those around you. If you are a local business, you don’t really have a need to be reaching people all across the globe. If you are an attorney in Atlanta, you probably don’t have a need to reach into San Francisco or Chicago. Instead, you want to reach people in your local area.

But how do you do this when you have a company that does have many locations? Well, you have to optimize for it. Ranking with local SEO is very different from organic search. It is highly specific and must be locally targeted with strong signals. There are many ways that you can do so, but, unfortunately, there are also a lot of penalties if you do it the wrong way. Here is how you can get all locations of your business out there with local SEO.

How to Target Local SEO For Multiple Locations

The first thing that you need to do when targeting multiple locations is create unique URLs for each location. Make sure that you also include the URLs on your site map. After your location has a URL, you want to focus on creating content for the page that is local and highly optimized.

When creating your SEO-friendly landing pages, there are four things that you want to make sure you optimize for: title tag, meta description, H1, and your content. All of this needs to be optimized for the local keyword phrase. Your title tag should include the local keyword phrase in front, the title of the article, and then some sort of branding – maybe your company name. Your meta description should also include the target location keyword phrase. You might also want to consider including your phone number as a local signal. You can also count this as a point of conversion. Having the keyword phrase in your meta description doesn’t help with your rankings, but it will help prove a local relevance.

Your H1 also needs to have the local keyword phrase, but you want to make sure it doesn’t come off as spammy. Instead, it should be short and catchy. Since each location has its own URL and landing page, you also want to make sure that the content on the pages is unique for each location. You can’t use the same content on every page. The content must be suited for the location that you are talking about, and it needs to be quality work. Generally, longer is better – at least 400 words.

If you don’t already have a Google My Business account, you need to get this setup as soon as possible. This is crucial so that your business information will be shown in other Google channels like maps, search, and Google+. You want to make sure that your name in Google My Business is the actual name of your business. Do not include a location or a keyword. For example, Visiture has two locations, one in Charleston and one in Atlanta; however, for GMB, we would just list our name as Visiture, not Visiture Charleston.

Your address should also be as accurate as possible. One thing to take into consideration is consistency. If your address has NE in it other places on the web, then you want to make sure that is included in your address. One other point you want to make sure you include in your account is your phone number. This should be a local number that goes directly to your company. Each location should have their own number, and all of this should be the same information that is found on your website.

Social media can greatly help your SEO efforts and can improve your business’s local search results. Google crawls social media sites just like it does any other web page. It will look at the number of Facebook likes, shares, and posts that include your website; Twitter followers and tweets; and more. The more engagement that you have on social media, the more you look better in Google’s eyes, and this will help you go up in the SERPs.

Social media is something that every business should be incorporating into their marketing strategy. Make sure that you are putting your content on your social sites and promoting it to your audience. If you have multiple locations, it is important to create separate pages for each location so that you can get more authority for each. This will also help you to be more visible and help people who are searching to find the correct location. With Facebook Locations, you can easily set up and manage multiple pages for all of your locations.

Local SEO should be a vital part of your digital marketing strategy, especially if you are a brick and mortar location. You need the people around you to know about your products and services. However, you must remember that local SEO is very different from average SEO, and you have to optimize it accordingly. With these tips, you should be set to get your business ranking in the local SERPs.

What Is a Google Places Citations & Tactics To Get Google Citations for Your Local Business

One of the most asked questions I get from local business owners in quora trying to get top rankings in Google Local Search results is;

I keep hearing that I need lots of Google citations to get better rankings in Google Places. What are they, and how do I get them?

If you are a small business owner trying to get page one rankings in Google Places, citations are a very important element to getting your business listing up on top. In this article I am going to explain what a Google citation is, and why you need them to get top rankings in the Google local search results.

So, what is a Google citation?

A Google citation is simply the name, address, and phone number of your business as Google sees it listed across the Internet. More commonly known as NAP.

This means that when you claimed and filled out your Google Places listing you provided Google with a correct name, address, and phone number in your business listing. Again, commonly referred to as NAP.

Why are Google Citations important?

If you know a little about search engine optimization (SEO), you probably understand that getting back links to your web pages are very important to helping your website get higher rankings in the Google organic search results. A back link is simply a link back to your website or web page from another website.

If you receive enough back links using keywords in your anchor text as the link, you can easily achieve higher rankings for those keywords, even if your website on page optimization is not fantastic. Google views a back link as a vote for your website by another website.

How are Google Citations different from back links?

A Google citation, while sometimes a link, is a mention of your businesses name, phone number and address. In other words, a Google citation is more of a validation by the Google search spiders that your business is real and your NAP is accurate.

Does Google trust that your business is real?

Google is building the worlds most powerful and accurate local search directory. This is why they are constantly scouring the Internet for consistent information about your local business.

The more consistent NAP information they find the more they trust that you are a legitimate business in your particular industry and area. Remember, a Citation is a validation that the NAP information about your business listing is accurate and consistent.

The bottom line is… because of all Google Places spammers out there, Google does not trust your local business listing if it has NAP information that is not exactly the same everywhere you are listed.

A common trust killer is when a local business changes locations, business names, or phone numbers. Google sees different information around the web and will penalize your listing by dropping it lower in the local search results.

How to create citations that Google Trust?

Make sure that your website has your NAP exactly the same as your Google listing and create one standard listing for all your directories that you get listed in.

Simply put, a Google citation is a mention on another website that lists your name, address, and phone number. (NAP) Google is constantly searching the internet looking for local information that matches the business listing on that appears on Google’s local results. The more citations they pick up about your business the more credibility and relevance they will give to your business listing.

Let’s say you own a local restaurant, the Google spiders may pull NAP info from websites like Yelp, Urban spoon, and open table. If your NAP is accurately listed on these popular websites, Google will count that as a citation. The more Google citations you have the higher you will rank.

Here is where it gets tricky. If Google spiders a website and finds a NAP about your business, it must be 100% accurate to get credit for a citation. This is why it is so important to have consistent information on all your listings and your website.

Example: If Google finds your listing on another website and instead Road, you have RD. it will not read it as the same address. Even though you and I know that St means Street, Google sees them as different and it will hurt your listing.

Using multiple phone numbers will also hurt your listing: If Google sees your NAP info on another website with a different phone number than what is on their Google Places listing, it will also hurt your search results. If you use multiple phone numbers at your business, pick one to use in all your listings.

Changing your business name in the heading can also hurt your listing: I had a person that was complaining to me that he had listed his local business in numerous directories but was receiving no Google citations. After investigating, I found that in every local business listing he had changed his business name, adding different keywords in each listing. He thought he could capture more keywords by changing up his business name.

Google sees all those different business name listings and will not give him any valid citations. Remember, Google is looking for consistent NAP info! You should always use your business name and if you do add an extra keyword, keep it the same in every listing. DO NOT try to stuff extra keywords into your business name or Google may penalize you for spam.

How can you find out if you have inconsistent Google Citations out there?

Before I ever take on a client I do a comprehensive citation search. The tool I use is a subscription service that also offers a free version.

You can use https://www.brightlocal.com, whitespark.ca , or www.yext.com to find out inconsistent, duplicate & incomplete citations.

By doing a Google citation search first, I can see exactly what needs to be done for that client. If I see lots of inconsistent NAP info it will cost more to clean up the mess. Do not take on a new client without reviewing their current NAP situation or you may do a lot of work to their Google Places business listing and see little or no results.

Tactics To Get Google Citations for Your Local Business

So, the real big question is! How can I get more Google citations?

Before we go any further, let’s talk about organization. You absolutely need to keep track of all your Google citation listings and their URLs. A quick and easy way is to create an Excel spreadsheet and store them there.

Where can you find the best Google Citations?

First of all, all citation sites are not created equal. You will find that from Industry to Industry Google seems to prefer certain Citation sites more than others. Google pulls citations form many different websites around the Internet. Our research has shown that there are some places that Google favors over others. It differs from industry to industry.

Your ultimate goal should be to get as many citations as possible, but you should make sure you start with the ones Google uses the most often for your industry. There are plenty of Free places to get Google citations. always start there and try whenever possible to avoid paying for directories that charge for listings.

Here is a quick ideas to get google citations.

1. Data aggregators: In the United States, there are four primary aggregators of local business data. Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual have all compiled unique indexes of approximately 20 million business locations across the United States. These indexes are typically compiled by scouring traditional phone books, business group membership rosters, banking and phone records, and databases from business registration entities.

2. Local search engines: Local search engines like Google and Bing crawl the web for citations that will validate or correct the business information in their own indexes. Getting listed on sites like YP.com,  Yelp, Foursquare, Hotfrog, and others can shore up search engines' confidence in the accuracy of your business name, location, and website. Most local businesses will need to engage in a concerted citation building campaign that ensures that they are listed in as many relevant, quality local business directories as possible.

3. Local blogs: Local blogs are a great place to get your business listed. These will obviously vary by particular geography, but if you simply perform a search on Google for "[your city] blog" or "[your neighborhood] blog," you'll likely see good candidates.

The sites that show up for these kinds of searches are, by definition, very well-indexed by the search engines, and highly associated with a particular neighborhood, city, or region in local results. Businesses that are mentioned or linked to on these blogs are viewed as trusted, relevant results in the local search engines.

4. Locally focused directories: Like local blogs, local directories are well-indexed by the search engines and are highly associated with a particular city or region. Directories which are edited by a human are much better than those which are "free for all". Human-edited directories are less susceptible to spam, and are therefore more trusted by the local search engines. Two examples of terrific locally focused directories are Best of the Web's Regional Directory and Yahoo's Regional Directory. You can perform searches for things like "[your city] directory" or "[your state] directory" to find good prospects for these kinds of citations.

5. Industry-focused directories or blogs: If a website is focused on topics and keywords related to your products and services, it may be included among the sites that the local search engines count as citation sources—even if that website or directory is not focused on a particular region. For instance, the membership directory of your trade organization or a blog that is popular among readers in your industry will both probably be crawled by the local search engines for citations. Searches like "[your industry] directory" or even "[your keyword] directory" will give you some ideas of the kinds of sites on which to get listed.

6. Social Media Profiles

Given the expansion of data sources/types that Google's using, social profiles, where you can often add information about your business including name/address/phone/site/etc. make a lot of sense.

Sites like Twoo, About.me, Quora, Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, etc. all offer potential, and you can likely find many more social media site list here.

The Key to Local Marketing Success

Any business that believes marketing can be divided into neat little categories is destined for failure. There’s no such thing as an online marketing strategy and an offline marketing strategy. Local marketing requires a unified effort, regardless of the medium.

The Rule of Seven

The rule of seven is one of the classic principles of marketing. It says that, in order for a prospect to become a customer, they must see your offer at least seven times. In other words, once a customer has seen a brand’s offer on seven different occasions, they have everything they need to follow through with a purchase.

While the underlying principles of the rule of seven still apply, the number will be larger in 2016 and beyond. Jay Walker-Smith of Yankelovich Consumer Research points out that the average customer was exposed to just 500 ads per day in the 1970s, compared to 5,000 ads today. As a result, the rule of seven may as well be the rule of seventy.

But this is where marketers are going astray. Many assume that throwing a bunch of marketing and advertising campaigns against a wall in hopes that a couple stick is a good idea. “It seems like the goal of most marketers and advertisers nowadays is to cover every blank space with some kind of brand logo or a promotion or an advertisement,” Walker-Smith says. But should that be the goal?

If you want to satisfy the rule of seven(ty), the goal shouldn’t be to make a bunch of noise and hope that your message rings the loudest. Instead, you should be looking for ways to maximize your reach by going after both online and offline channels. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some specific offline and online strategies that will help your small business enhance its local marketing efforts.

Three Offline Local Marketing Tips

Thanks to the growth of the internet and ecommerce, offline marketing often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. So let’s start with this channel and discuss a couple of specific tips and techniques for getting your brand in front of customers in today’s saturated marketplace.

Spend on Signage

“As a famous quote goes, ‘A business without a sign is a sign of no business’ and so, signage should never be an afterthought. You should see it as an investment that will get you a good return in the long run,” says Luke Markey of ShieldCo. “A well-designed and smartly placed sign will attract customers and generate good profits over the course of time.”

Few investments bring as high of a return as physical signage. Think about it! If you’re trying to expose the same customer to your brand over and over again, a physical sign is the best option. People have routines and walk the same streets, drive the same roads, and eat at the same places. Thus, if your sign is on a street corner on a crowded city block, the same 5,000 people are going to see your sign every single day. After just a month, they’ve already been exposed to your brand a handful of times.

Make Sponsorships a Priority

If you’re looking to get the proverbial bang for your buck, sponsoring local events and programs is a fantastic way to get your brand in front of lots of people. Some of the more popular options include sponsoring school sports teams, nonprofit events, and cultural events. “There are so many other possibilities, such as carnivals, county fairs, beauty pageants, cook-offs, flea markets, walks/runs, concerts, business associations, and trade shows,” marketer Dana Zarcone suggests. “Not only do these sponsorships help get your name out there, you’ll also be building your referral network as you make connections within the organization or group you’re helping.”

Speak at Industry Events

All B2B industries – and most B2C industries – have regular conferences and events that take place at different times all over the world. If you can find a way to earn a speaking engagement at one of these events, you can give your brand some much-needed visibility. In addition to being able to reference your brand and include your logo in print materials, you can also grow your reputation as an expert or thought leader in your niche. This also represents a great opportunity for a little online crossover. Most events and conferences these days are recorded. Get a copy of the recording and upload it to your website, YouTube, and social media channels to expand your reach.

Bridging the Divide Between Online and Offline Marketing Channels It doesn’t matter if you’re a brick and mortar business or an ecommerce brand, you can’t afford to only target online or offline marketing. Furthermore, you can’t totally separate these two channels. There needs to be some crossover between them. Otherwise, you’re missing out on a chance to maximize exposure in strategic and brand-relevant ways.

Holidays Are a Good Time to Boost Mobile Sales

Holidays can be a trying time for any company. While some companies see increased profitability and patronage during this time of year, other businesses struggle with marketing, consumer interest and increasing labor costs. However, many of these issues can be eliminated by adapting your ecommerce platform to the mobile-centric nature of today’s online shoppers.

How to Increase Mobile Sales During the Holidays Start Early

When it comes to offering steep holiday discounts, retailers are now starting their sales sooner than ever before. As such, it’s a good idea to begin your holiday planning as early as September. Apart from giving you the opportunity to tackle all of the approaching festivities, this also lets you begin your research into the latest consumer interests, needs and trends.

An early start such as this also gives you ample time to develop and rollout any pertinent marketing campaigns. Not only will this ensure your preparedness for the upcoming holiday rush, but it also gives you the chance to start pondering plans, including potential sales and advertising strategies, for the New Year.

Capitalize on Holiday Travel

Historically speaking, it’s always been difficult to advertise to consumers during their travels. Roadside bulletin boards and radio advertisements aside, there are few routes to connect with potential shoppers who are visiting family or going on vacation. In fact, approximately 64 percent of shoppers spent more on their overall travel costs than actual gifts in 2015.

With mobile marketing, however, retailers can now deliver messages, promotions and information on new product launches via SMS message. Moreover, consumers can use their mobile device to access the Internet, thereby allowing them to peruse digital flyers and place online orders.

Take Advantage of Popular Shopping Days

Black Friday is generally the busiest shopping day of the year. As a result, retailers from every niche suddenly find themselves offering massive discounts and sales that are unheard of at any other time of the year. While this trend still holds true at physical, brick-and-mortar stores, studies have shown that online shopping is just as popular on this specific date.

You might not realize that online retailers have their own counterpart to Black Friday. Cyber Monday, which takes place on the following Monday, is meant for armchair shoppers and those who don’t dare brave the madness that is typically associated with Black Friday. The concept of Cyber Monday has become so popular that some ecommerce sites cannot even handle the additional traffic.

If you’re expecting a sudden uptick in online visitors during this period, you might want to consider upping your bandwidth capacity and strengthening your ecommerce servers. Ensure the presence of a recent system backup and, if necessary, review your current disaster recovery plan. Not only does this ensure the stability of your site during the busiest time of the year, but it can safeguard the personal information, including credit card numbers, of your customers.

Give Your Website a Holiday Theme

A holiday makeover is a fantastic way to achieve continuity between your marketing tactics and your ecommerce storefront. This simple tactic can even boost brand or product awareness. Remember, you don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas to give your site a new look. In fact, companies who regularly change up their site’s aesthetics are bound to draw in even more visitors. The popular search engine Google, for example, frequently modifies their iconic logo to celebrate special events and holidays. On big holidays, a portion of the traffic to the site is just there to see what they’ll come up with next.

Just make sure that your new theme is compatible with most popular mobile web browsers. The smaller displays and limited functionality of today’s smartphones and devices might run into problems when translating large images or advanced coding. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a third-party web developer or IT specialist to test your site. You don’t want to encounter any bottlenecks or unexpected errors when the big day finally comes.

Synchronize the Online and In-Store Experience

Coordinating the customer experience both online and in-store is another great method when trying to maintain continuity and reinforce your brand’s image, culture and attitude. It can also save a lot of time when creating promotional campaigns, planning future sales and targeting specific demographics. Given the prevalence of mobile communications, as well as the growing amount of consumers who are constantly on-the-go, there are plenty of options to consider when synchronizing your customer’s ecommerce experience with that of the physical store.

Flash sales, which usually only last for a matter of days or even hours, work extremely well with mobile marketing tactics. Because details of such discounts can be distributed instantaneously, and since they can be distributed to certain demographics or even your entire mobile customer base, you’ll be able to meet the needs of your shoppers like never before. Some companies have even embraced in-store kiosks, which serves as an informational hub for customers. These units can display nearly any type of helpful information imaginable, including specific product details, sales deadlines, special offers and more.

Meeting Increased Demand While Still Enjoying the Holiday

Despite the sudden uptick in business, the holiday season doesn’t have to be a stressful time for you or your company. By finalizing your marketing campaigns as early as possible, utilizing mobile advertisements to target specific demographics and ramping up your workforce to meet the increased demand, you’ll be better poised to take on the impending consumer rush.

This article, "Holidays Are a Good Time to Boost Mobile Sales" was first published on Small Business Trends

Bing Adds Holiday Hours for Business Listings

As the holiday season gets into full gear, businesses of all sizes are keeping odd hours. Whether you are shopping for a last minute gift or you just need to grab a bite to eat, the Bing holiday hours feature will let you know who is open and when.

Bing Includes Holiday Hours on Business Listings

According to Bing, it is collaborating with business owners and trusted partners in order to provide consumers with real-time accurate holiday hours.


All you have to do is search for local businesses on Bing, and if the hours of operation have changed for the holidays, you will receive the latest update. With Christmas and the New Year fast approaching, this can be a very useful tool so you won’t waste time searching for businesses that are open.

If you want customers to discover your business on Bing local, it only takes three simple steps, and best of all, it is absolutely free.

First, claim the listing of your business. In most instances, Bing probably has a listing for your business, and if it doesn’t you can add a single or multiple locations.

Second, complete your listing profile, which includes hours of operations amongst other details, such as services and contact information.

Third, verify your listing and you will receive a PIN on your phone, email or place of business to protect it from unauthorized changes, and you are done.

If you are a small business and don’t use Bing as part of your overall digital presence, you should consider adding it. According to Forbes, Google currently has 64.5 percent of the US search market share, while Bing, which also powers Yahoo, has 32.6 percent, so it is a considerable portion.

Bing has stated on its blog the business hour feature is now available on desktop and mobile for all of the holidays moving forward.

This article, "Bing Adds Holiday Hours for Business Listings" was first published on Small Business Trends

What is a Citation for Local SEO?

A Citation is any mention of a local business out on the web, with or without a link. It can come in various forms: Company Name, by itself. Company name & phone number. Company name, phone number, & address. Company name, phone number, address, & link. etc.

A Complete Citation should include the company name, address, and phone number. A citation that does not include all three of these is sometimes referred to as a partial citation.

Why Do Citations Matter?

Citations are a key factor in local search rankings. Citation related factors make up 25% of the top twenty factors in David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors.

In a recent presentation at LocalU Advanced in Baltimore, David Mihm presented the following breakdown of local ranking factors. He added a disclaimer that this is based solely on his opinion, but as one of the most prominent thought leaders in Local SEO, we take his opinion seriously around here.

Structured Citations: The most common local citations are found on business listing sites like yellowpages.com, yelp.com, superpages.com, etc. These are referred to as structured citations.

Unstructured Citations: Citations can also often be found on blogs, newspaper websites, event listing websites, job websites, government sites, etc. These are referred to as unstructured citations and can be extremely valuable to your local rankings.

Finding Structured AND Unstructured Citations: We occasionally get questions from Local Citation Finder users about how “useful” the results are. They’ll ask us why they can’t submit to some of the sites returned in the results. The reason is because the Local Citation Finder is a competitive analysis tool for citations. When you run a keyword search, it finds the businesses that are ranking locally, then finds their citations, both structured and unstructured. It doesn’t only help you find sites that have a simple “submit your business” option. It also helps you understand the competition’s citation building strategy by showing you where they are getting unstructured citations as well.

Not All Citations Are Created Equal: There is huge variation in the value of different citations. A mention of your business’ name, address, and phone number on whitehouse.gov is worth far more than a mention of your business on some spammy web directory that was created solely for low quality link building. For some advice on sorting the gold from the sand, take a look at this post on determining citation quality.

Do You Really Need to Clean up That Local Citation?

Local SEOs excel at nitpicking, trading in superstitions, and billing for busywork. Nowhere is that more true than when it’s time to clean up local citations.

You’ve got dozens (or hundreds) of local listings online, and not all of them have the correct business info. You’ve heard it’s important to have correct and consistent info on those listings. Do you have to take the time to fix all of them – or do you need to pay someone else to?

No. Not all local listings matter. Having the cleanest listings doesn’t mean you’ll outrank anyone or get any more customers. The danger of going overboard on your listings is that you feel burned-out after doing a bunch of work that doesn’t matter, and don’t have the time or the energy or the will to do the steps that do matter.

When should you bother to correct or to remove a business listing on a given site? If you answer yes to any of the following questions, go ahead and clean up the listing. (Skip it if you can answer no to all of the following.)

• Do you see the listing on the first page (or first couple of pages) of Google’s results when you search for your business by name? If the incorrect or duplicate listing shows up prominently for a brand-name search, fix it or remove it.
• Do you see the site on the first page of Google’s results for a search term you want to rank for? Maybe your incorrect YellowPages listing (for example) doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, but if YellowPages.com ranks for a local search term you care about, it’s worth bothering with your listing(s) there.
• Is it on InfoGroup, LocalEze, Acxiom, or Factual? Google and other sites in the local-search ecosystem trust these four sites – known as “data aggregators” – as sources of accurate business info. Make sure your listings there are accurate.
• Is it on a government site? It’s likely that Google Maps and the data-aggregators (see point #3) trust the business info on government sites (e.g. State Secretary of State). It may be a pain, but make sure your “official” record is accurate.
• Have you heard of the site? If so, I’d fix it. Unless it’s Yahoo. Yahoo is for the birds.
• Do you have reviews on another listing on the site, or plan to ask for reviews on the site? You don’t want customers to review the wrong listing.
• Has a customer ever seemed confused by info that’s on the listing? Easily the best reason to fix or remove an incorrect listing.
• Is it clear that you can update the listing with relative ease, and for free? If it’s controlled by Yext or otherwise requires you to pay to make any changes, I would say it’s not important to fix or to remove.

But let’s say it’s a free listing, and you can fix it or remove it easily if you want to. Should you? If it passes the other 7 tests I’ve described, I wouldn’t say you need to – at least not for citation-consistency purposes. Do it if it’s just gnawing at you, and if fixing one won’t cause your OCD to flare up and compel you to fix 100 other rinky-dink listings.

Do you have a local listing you’re not sure whether to clean up? Can you think of criteria for deciding when to bother with a listing vs. when to skip it?

BBB Dips a Toe in Answer-Box SEO, Highlighting Accredited Businesses

Love it or hate it, the Better Business Bureau has long been an SEO powerhouse. Though not splattered all over the local search results the way Yelp has been, the BBB often ranks well – both for broad search terms and when you search for a specific company by name. It’s also become a prominent review site.

Now the BBB may piggyback off of Google’s increasing tendency to show “answer boxes”:

I find it interesting that that category page on the BBB doesn’t even rank #1. It’s #4. (Sometimes that’s the case with these answer-box results.)

No particularly fancy footwork in the source code, either.

The answer box + BBB lovechild doesn’t rank for many search terms yet (that I’ve seen), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t start popping up for more. The BBB recently redesigned its business pages, no doubt with local visibility in mind. Perhaps they also made tweaks to their category pages, too, which is what’s returning an answer box in Google in the above example.

As I’ve written before, there are several good reasons to consider holding your nose and getting accredited by the BBB. This is another one. Classic barnacle SEO.

For more on Google’s answer boxes, see the excellent post by Dr. Pete at Moz. — Are you seeing the BBB show up in Google with answer boxes?

How about answer boxes for other local directories?

Improved DudaMobile Interface: New Website Builder

Today is a very special day at Duda, as we are releasing our new responsive website builder.
It’s been an exciting journey leading up to this moment. We’ve spent the past ten months with our collective noses to the grindstone to create something we are immensely proud of and feel represents the next stage in our mission to help small businesses and the web professionals that serve them.
We always strive to simplify technologies that were formerly only available to large enterprises, so small businesses can use them to find real success on the web. And that's why we’ve released features throughout 2016 like free, automated SSL certificates, advanced multi-language solution and flexible site overlays. We feel that these are important, and, as a Duda customer, you’re entitled to them.
The past year, was defined as the "good to great" year at Duda. We wanted to make sure that the core site editor product we're offering you is the best in the industry. We wanted to ensure you can build beautiful, modern sites and be very productive while doing so. And we wanted you to enjoy the site-building process by working with a fast, slick and intuitive platform.
This is the reason we invested heavily in the new Duda responsive website builder.
We started with a technology upgrade to our platform. We chose the React framework, which was developed by Facebook, as our core technology. This allows us to build better features faster than ever, find and resolve bugs more quickly, and, most importantly, lays the foundation for us to continue to innovate and release great new features in the coming years.
We then redesigned almost every element in the site editor so the experience will be consistent across the board and features will be more easily found.
Lastly, your feedback has been immensely important to us, and we felt strongly that much of it needed to be included in this release. So we added many new features, both big and small, that you have requested like background overlays, new photo galleries, more flexible design options and additional fonts that will help you build more beautiful sites.
In 2017, we will continue on our mission and provide you with even more features you can use to improve the experience on your website. We're already hard at work on projects like a new widget builder that will help you create custom widgets, a new image picker that will help you find and manage images more quickly, and lots more exciting stuff.
We really hope you enjoy the new site builder, and, as always, we’ll be happy to get your feedback so we can do even better in the future.

DudaMobile is a mobile-website builder at the top of its game. The New Website Builder is intelligent and effortless. The automatic website conversion warrants a look even if you already have a mobile website. There are stylish and thorough features to integrate images, video and social media with your business aspirations.

If you want to create a mobile website for your business that is professional, refined and personalized, Duda provides the best mobile-website builder.

YouTube Users, Would You Switch to Twitch?

Twitch’s plan to have a piece of YouTube’s pie is no longer a secret. The Amazon-owned video-streaming platform has been adding more and more services that have traditionally only been available on YouTube.

In August this year, Twitch updated its video upload feature, allowing users to upload videos directly to the platform. This means that streamers can now apply their production and video editing skills to archived clips for their audiences.

The company also made it possible for Android and iOS users to create and share clips from live streams within the Twitch app. And now, the company has made things even more interesting by announcing a slew of improvements to the manual upload feature.

The content creators who have been testing Twitch’s new Uploads Open Beta are now set to enjoy new language settings, increased tag character limits and wider support for common video file formats.

In addition to the existing MP4 support, you can now upload H.264-encoded videos in FLV, MOV and AVI formats. These are, of course, only half as many as YouTube supports, but it’s definitely a step that will accommodate the needs of many users.

The company has also fixed a whole lot of glitches, including a bug that caused videos to restart near the end of their runtime and issues that kept users from uploading custom thumbnails.

While Twitch cannot boast of having all the features that YouTube has, its continuous updates of competitive features shows how serious they are in competing with YouTube. And though Twitch is mostly used for video gameplay, some entrepreneurs like Chris Pirillo already have a presence there.

YouTube or Twitch?
In your opinion, is it possible that Twitch’s moves to compete with YouTube might attract more business users — particularly businesses connected to the gaming industry?

This article, "YouTube Users, Would You Switch to Twitch?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Tips for Marketing Your Business This Holiday Season

The holiday season is upon us. And it provides many unique opportunities for all different types of businesses to market to customers in new and unique ways. Whether you own an online business, a local store, or even a B2B company, there are ways you can promote your business throughout the coming months. Here are some ideas you can use to market your business this holiday season.

2016 Holiday Marketing Ideas Include Coupons With Purchases
The holiday season is a great time to garner some repeat business. And you can do that by including a coupon or special offer in each purchase so that customers can take advantage at a later date.

Cross-Promote With Other Businesses
You can also use a similar strategy to attract customers from other local businesses. Just exchange coupons or go in on a special offer and give those items to shoppers at each store.

Host a Thank You Dinner
If you have some really loyal customers or clients, you can say a special thank you at the holidays by taking them out to a lunch or dinner.

Partner With a Local Charity
You might also want to do some charity work during the holidays. If you have a local business, you can invite representatives from a local charity to collect money or share their message at your location for a day.

Donate Money to a Cause
Or you could simply choose to donate a portion of your profits throughout the holidays to a particular group or cause.

Invite Santa Claus
People love visiting Santa Claus around Christmas time. So you can invite him to your store or business to attract some families who are out shopping.

Exhibit at Holiday Shows
You can also get your products in front of more eyes by showcasing them at special shows or events throughout the holiday season.

Offer Gift Wrapping
Whether you sell products in a retail store or online, your customers are likely to want some of their purchases gift wrapped. So you can offer that as an extra service or even as a complementary add-on.

Publicize Your Returns Policy
When people purchase gifts, they want to know that they can be returned if by chance it doesn’t work out. So you can create a flyer for your store or display your policy prominently on your website so customers know what to expect.

Hand Out Hot Chocolate
For local businesses, handing out hot chocolate or other seasonal beverages can be a great way to spread some cheer and attract passersby.

Create a Fun Lights Display You can also show off your spirit by creating a festive lights display that people will go out of their way to visit.

Create Holiday Window Dislays to Attract Customers
Or you could use your store windows to create a festive environment that also showcases some of your popular holiday products.

Let Kids Decorate Cookies
You can also get the kids involved in the holiday festivities. Host a cookie decorating party or give them a similar activity they can do while their parents shop.

Have a Party
for Another Holiday Holiday parties are incredibly popular around Christmas. But you could make yours stand out by celebrating a different holiday, like Bake Cookies Day on December 18 or Bacon Day on December 30.

Send Early Cards
If you plan on sending out holiday cards to customers or clients, you can also make those stand out by sending them out early.

Contact Bloggers Who Make Gift Guides
If you have products that could make great gifts, you can get them in front of more potential buyers by getting in touch with bloggers and asking them to feature your items in their holiday gift guides.

Give Away Free Samples
For those businesses that sell food items or anything that customers might want to try out before buying, giving away free samples can be a good strategy to encourage more sales and get more people through the door. Have a Pampering Station Holiday shopping can be stressful. So if you want to create a great experience for stressed out shoppers, you could offer some kind of pampering activity, like massages or guided meditation.

Hold a 12 Days of Christmas Sale
To keep people shopping throughout the holiday season, you can host a special sale where people can get specific products or deals for twelve days leading up to Christmas. You can even throw in some fun themed days to really get people into the spirit.

Give Away Stocking Stuffers
For those shoppers who are trying to finish off their holiday shopping, little stocking stuffers can be a real attraction. So you can give them away with each purchase or offer them at a discounted rate for people who spend a specific amount on other items.

This article, "50 Tips for Marketing Your Business This Holiday Season" was first published on Small Business Trends