Google Local Listing 3-pack: What Does This Means for Local Businesses?

Based on relevance, distance, and prominence Google may show one or more maps results for our search query. Traditionally the local maps results composed of 7 business information which we often call 7-pack. On Thursday, August 6th, we began to notice that the traditional 7-packs that frequently showed up in the google local search results were suddenly replaced with 3-packs in the search results.

The new local 3-pack results appearing right below the AdWords and the top of the organic results as usual, which users can click to view full business details with address, phone, photos, hours, reviews, and directions, or click ‘more + search term’ for a full list of business within the local area.

Why These Update?

Google’s focus has been shifting heavily towards mobile friendly search results over the past year and I guess 3-packs update is just Google local results display format changes to fit across various device. Google's 3-packs brings desktop the same user experience as mobile users have been getting in a while.

Here is how the new local pack appears on mobile.

What has actually changed in Google local SERPs?

• Only 3 businesses instead 7.
• No business addresses and phone numbers, click to call option in mobile device.
• Google+ Links Removed.
• Business Category Added.
• Business Hours Added.
• “Google Reviews” Renamed to "reviews"
• No flyout business cards. 

You can read about all the changes from my this post.

What Does It Means for Local Businesses?

This is going to be tough for Local businesses. It mean if your business are not listed in top 3 listing, the chance is very low to get leads from google local search results. Ultimately, I think it will result in more Local businesses looking to increase visibility via Adwords. I also heard a rumor that google want to push adwords ads (I read in WebmasterWorld and Warrior Forum) by this update as they heavily promoting adwords vouchers at the same time update took place.

Why?
Do you think google just made this changes overnight without their extensive internal research? No, I don't think so, Google's data team must found something interesting like local top 3 listing might get all the CTR. That's why google knocked out 4 out of 7 from the local results, What do you think?

How to Get Listed in Google 3-Pack

Want to Be Part of the Google Local 3-Pack and Stay safe? Read This Local 3-Pack SEO Guide.
These Local SEO Guide are for businesses who want to list their business in google local 3-Pack or stick to top 3 listing. You'll find this guide strenuous but ensure your local business placement in Google’s 3-Pack.

Depending on your business, Google Page, how your website is set-up and optimized, you might not be able to implement all of these tactics, but implementing even 70% of them is enough for most local businesses to rank in the Google 3-Pack.

1. Create, verify and Optimize your Google+ Local page
2. Optimize Your Website for Your Business
3. Get Local Business Listings (Citations)
4. Get Reviews on your Google+ Local page and on 3rd party websites
5. Create and Share Local Content
6. Find Local Link Opportunities
7. Constantly Test & Optimize

Tactic #1: Create, verify and Optimize your Google+ Local Page

Google+ Local Page is your direct connection to your customers, whether they’re searching for your business through Google Search, Maps or Google+.

Google+ Local Page dominate in local search results and your competitors are already there, so we want you there too. A verified and optimized Local Page integrates your online business presence to one easy place. Follow this steps to create and optimize your Google+ Local Page:

• Create, verify or consolidate your Business listings from Google My Business.
• Select your  business category carefully, The Business Category you choose for your listing is now showing in 3-pack right below your business title.
• Use a real physical address and a local phone number, not an 800 number.
• Put as much business information as you can including images and video as required to achieve 100% completion rating.

Tactic #2: Optimize Your Website for Your Business

An optimized website helps search engines identify and rank businesses by their geographical location in relation to a search query. This is not overly difficult, but many local business owners tend to overlook it as it require a great effort. Website On Page signals has 21.0% impact in local search as per Moz research.

My On Page optimization checklist for local business will help your business rank in google 3-pack as well as increase your website organic ranking. The following optimization techniques will ensure that your website is properly optimized for Google Local 3-pack.

• Include your business NAP in prominent place.
• Give your pages geo-specific, descriptive meta tags (meta title and description) including your zip/postal code.
• Make sure you have contact information, including your NAP, in text on every page of your site.
• Embed google map and driving direction on your website.
• Add your location to your image alt text.
• Add Schema markup in your website where possible.

Tactic #3: Get Local Business Listings (Citations)

Local Business Listings are defined as mentions of your business’s name, address and phone number (aka NAP) on other webpages—even if there is no link point to your website. An example of a citation might be an online local business directory where your business is listed, but not linked to your website.

When it come to Local Map Ranking, Local Business Listings (Aka Citations) are a key component of the ranking algorithms in Google and Bing Local Search. According to Moz 2014 Local Search Ranking Factors, Citation is the 3rd biggest ranking signal and make up 15.5% of the overall ranking factors.

Citation volume and the number of other business listings referencing your business location(s) are important in google local 3-pack; however, consistency and accuracy will always take precedence over volume. Here's a list compiled by Hubspot of the 50 local business directories to submit your business

Tactic #4: Get Reviews on your Google+ Local page and on 3rd party websites

Reviews are one of the major ranking perspective in your local rankings in Google and elsewhere, and they’re one of the very important factors (It hold 9.8% weight in local search) in getting customers to choose you over your competitor.

This is truly important that your business have some positive reviews on Google+ Local page and on other popular third-party sites. When your consumer want to read reviews, they usually visit Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yelp, CitySearch, Insider Pages, MerchantCircle, TripAdvisor, Better Business Bureau (BBB),  Foursquare, Manta, and Angie’s List.

Tactic #5: Create and Share Local Content

Create local content relevant to your business and the city you live in and share with the world via your website and social media. For example, you can write about an past local event where you participated or an upcoming event you're going to participating.

There’s endless opportunities when you use creative thinking about the events and businesses in your area of town. Just don't forget to include images, videos and link to the event site (If there's any website dedicated to that event). Want more Local Content Creation Idea, read Mike Ramsey Strategy.

Tactic #6: Find Local Link Opportunities

Moz found Link is the second important factor and has 18.3% impact in local search results. Links from local websites that point to your website impacts your sites ability to rank in 3-pack and make your website "authority" locally.

There are many ways to acquire local links like Sponsor a meetup group, Host a community event, donate to a local club or organization, from local newspaper site, etc. You can find an Interesting Local Link Building Guide from Casey Meraz Post on Moz.

Tactic #7: Constantly Test & Optimize

The previous six tactic that we have just discussed need to be constantly addressed. To dominate in Google Local 3-Pack you need to always be one step ahead of your competitors. There is always room for improvement, so don't be afraid to test and make changes. You would be surprised at how the smallest change can often result in the biggest change. What do you think?

What is Authoritative Google Map Citations for local SEO

When You Search for Something on Google Even Generic Search Queries, Google Frequently Triggers Map-Driven Local Business Listings, Delivering Users a Selection of the Most Relevant Local Businesses, While Dominating the Coveted First Page of Search Engine Results.

You May Find That Your Business Doesn’t Show Up for Relevant Searches in Your Area. to Maximize How Often Users Find Your Business in Local Search Results, Ensure That Your Business Information in Google My Business Is Accurate, Complete, and Engaging.

These Days, Your Consumers Are Going Online to Find You. Local Search Engine Optimization Is Simply One of the Ways to Position Yourself to Generate More Leads from the Internet.

With Authoritative Google Map Citations, Your Business Listings Stand a Fighting Chance. 

Your Business Citations Typically Appear in Directories and Other Website Resources That Search Engines Use to Determine the Accuracy and Relevance of Your Business Location. the Most Authoritative Google Map Citations for Local Seo Are Those That Are Consistent with Your Google Business Page.

How Does a Citation Affect Your Search Engine Rankings?

Citations Help Internet Users to Discover Local Businesses and Can Also Impact Local Search Engine Rankings. Local Businesses Can Actively Manage Many Citations to Ensure Data Accuracy. 

The Most Authoritative Google Map Citations for Local Seo Are Those That Are Consistent with Your Google Business Page. the Way You Publish Your Business Name, Address, and Phone Number (Nap) on External Websites and Directories Should Be an Exact Match to the Nap on Your Google Business Page. Listen to Our Recent Podcasts on Citation Distribution.

Where Can I Find a Local Business Citation?

as I Already Mentioned, a Local Citation Is Any Online Mention of the Name, Address, and Phone Number of a Local Business. Citations Can Occur on Local Business Directories, on Websites and Apps, and on Social Platforms. Citations Help Internet Users to Discover Local Businesses and Can Also Impact Local Search Engine Rankings.

What About Local Business Directories?

There Are Many Prominent Local Business Directories Online, with Business Citation Opportunities You Do Not Want to Miss. in Fact, There Are Over 200 Local Online Business Directories Offering Free Listings to Your Business. Adding Your Business to These Online Directories Is Certain to Improve Both Local and Organic Search Results, and Is Highly Recommended.

I've Accumulated Years of Local Business Citation Building Experience for Various Countries Included but Not Limited to the USA, Canada, Uk, & Australia.

I Create a Local Business Directory Listing with Consistent Nap and Full Business Information Without Any Error. I Create Citations Manually and Personally So Your or Your Client's Information Is Fully Secured.

You Can Find My Citations Gig on Fiverr: Do 100 prominent local citations for google maps seo by Freshcitation | Fiverr

and on Upwork: Google Maps Citations for GMB ranking and Local SEO

Hope to Work with You Soon and Give You My Level of Best Service.

Sincerely

Sohel Parvez

Contact Me on Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/fl/sohelparvez

See My Fiver Gig: https://www.fiverr.com/freshcitation

Why Should You Attend This June's Local Business Marketing Summit?

All Digital Marketers and Local Business Owners are invited to participate in a free two-day Online Local Business Marketing Summit being sponsored by the Colorado-based Local Marketing Institute.
On June 27-28, 2017, the Local Business Marketing Summit will kick off – it’s a FREE two-day online event designed specifically for local businesses who want to jump start their marketing efforts.

Scheduled presenters include more than a dozen digital-marketing experts who have been regular contributors to “Forbes” magazine, Google My Business, Moz, Search Engine Land, Social Media Examiner, SMX and “The Wall Street Journal,” according to a press release.

Speakers For The June 27-28 Local Business Marketing Summit

1. Eric Shanfelt
   Founder and CEO of Local Marketing Institute
2. Myles Anderson
   CEO of BrightLocal, Search Engine Land Contributor
3. Bernadette Coleman
   CEO of Advice Local, Contributor to Search Engine Land, Forbes
4. Sean Daily
   Founder / Lead Strategist at Social Media Ninjas
5. Chris Davis
   Director of Education for ActiveCampaign, Former Head of Mkt Automation at Leadpages
6. Lissa Duty
   Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Rocks Digital, Social Media Trainer and Author
7. Joy Hawkins
   President of Sterling Sky, Google My Business Top Contributor, SMX , Search Engine Land
8. Collin Holmes
   CEO of Chatmeter, Former VP of Product Management and Marketing for V-ENABLE
9. Laurie Macomber
   President of Blue Skies Marketing, Local, SEO, and Content Marketing Expert
10. Marcus Miller
    Digital Strategist at BowlerHat, Moz and Search Engine Land Contributor
11. Phil Rozek
    Owner of Local Visibility System, Local Search Ranking Factors Contributor
12. Conrad Saam
    GM of Mockingbird Marketing, Former Director of Marketing for both UrbanSpoon and Avvo
13. Dennis Yu
    Chief Technology Officer of BlitzMetrics, Contributor for WSJ and Social Media Examiner
14. Phil Nicolosi

The Local Business Marketing Summit takes place Tuesday and Wednesday, June 27-28, and will feature 18 video sessions from some of the most well-respected local marketing experts in the world. The subject matter of the sessions will be centered around six themes: social media; local search engine optimization; online ratings and reviews; your website; email marketing; and online advertising.

The Local Marketing Institute was founded by CEO Eric Shanfelt, who has more than 25 years experience in digital marketing. His background includes serving as senior vice president of digital for Penton Media and HarperCollins. The goal of his company, he says, is to teach businesses, marketers and developers how to successfully market a local business online.

The two-day summit would normally be nearly $500, but Shanfelt is extending a special offer to Sign & Digital Graphics readers to enjoy all 18 video sessions free of charge. Click HERE to get your free pass.

What You'll Learn From Local Business Marketing Summit?

• The Local SEO Checklist 2017
• How To Get the Most from Your Google My Business Listing
• Social Media Tactics That Actually Work
• Digital Advertising 101 for Local Businesses
• A Complete Local Business Digital Marketing Strategy
• Tips and Tricks to Build Email List
• Marketing Automation
• About Paid Local Listing Service
• Content that Works Well for Web, Email and Social Media
• Anatomy of a Well-Designed Local Business Website
• How to Get the Most From Your Local Business Facebook Page
• Which Local Business Review Sites Work Best for You?
• Keys to Successful Facebook Local Advertising
• How to Get More Reviews for Your Local Business?
• Keys to Successful Google Local Advertising

Google Local Makeover: Local '7 Packs' Gone!

Old Google Local Search Result

7-Packs Now 3-Packs

Whether you call it Google Map Listing, Google Places Listing, Google Local Listing, Google Plus Listings, Google My Business Listings, or the Google '7 Pack', the set of seven listings that frequently appear at the top of Google local search results has changed notably in recent weeks.

It was predicted that sooner or later Google will switched to 3-pack from 7-pack layout when google first rolled out 3-pack listing for restaurants, nightlife, entertainment and hotels, back in November 2014 in the US search.

Google has been testing a new local listings format and officially launched the new format a couple of weeks ago. In the language of a Local Search Engine Optimization Expert, the 7-pack is now a 3-pack. The local pack is not just showing fewer business listings, It is also eliminates the address and phone number from individual results and redesigned to fit more with the mobile user interface.

Here is a picture of the new local pack, displaying only three results:

New Google Local Search Result

Exact Addresses Removed

Google has removed specific addresses from their local listings, instead only showing the street name. This requires a searcher to either click through to the website or the map listing in order to get the exact address.

Phone Numbers Removed

Google Searchers will no longer have easy access to the phone number of the business. They now need to click through the listing or get the number from the website. The mobile version (detailed below) doesn’t display the phone number but does have a “Call” option for each listing.

Google+ Links Removed

Google has also removed the Google+ links that we have all become familiar with. Because Google has pushed for local businesses to claim their page officially, this change is pretty interesting.

Business Category Added

The Business Category you choose for your listing is now showing in local search right below your business title. Category is critical to being considered relevant on any given search result and should be chosen carefully.

Store Hours Added

They have also added in store hours, including opening and closing times, depending on the time of day of the search.

Reviews No Longer Labelled “Google Reviews”

Gone are the labels on the reviews listing them as “Google Reviews.” Now they are simply called “reviews” with the number of reviews for each business still included.

No Flyouts

We are used to being able to scroll over local listings to see the local card for the business displayed on the right hand side. This no longer happens, to see the “Card”, you have to click through to the secondary local page.

Why The Change?

According to a Google spokesman: "We are constantly exploring the best way to bring a better search experience to our users. This update provides people with more relevant information, including photos, reviews and prices, for searches that have multiple results for a given location."

Where Clicks Go?

Unlike the previous layout, clicking the business name no longer takes you to the business' website. Instead you are redirected to an new expanded view of the local listings with the selected business' profile highlighted.

It should also be noted that while desktop results provide icon links for directions and the business' website, mobile searches provide a 'click to call' icon instead.

Mobile Google Local Search Result

How it Looks on Mobile?

Mobile also sees the complete address moved, with “Call” being the notable option here.

What Does This Mean for Local Businesses?

Well, that depends on how heavily your business relies on Google Local Listings and where you ranked before the change. If you relied heavily upon your local listings and were ranking fourth or lower, you may see fewer leads.

On the other hand, if your business ranks in the local top three listings, Google has effectively removed four of your nearest competitors and that could earn more clicks, calls, and visits for your business.

This also means that if you’re not in the top 3 listing, then you better start working on your local SEO Contest. I believe the update will now place an even higher emphasis on getting reviews and building out your citation profile.

Summary

If you are entirely relying on Google's local listings to drive traffic to your website, you're doing it wrong anyway. The businesses that are most successful with generating leads from search are those that are ranking well in local as well as organic listings. While Google's local listings used to be an option for those who ranked well, they now represent nothing more than a degraded user experience for your customers and Google's.

How To Properly Use Schema Markup For Local Business?

How To Properly Implement Schema Markup For Local Business Website To Improve Search Visibility?

Today I Came Across Quora and Found a Question About How To Use Schema Markup For Plumber and HVAC Business Website To Improve SEO?

I answered the question and I thought It would be great, If I publish my answer here at my Blog.

Google's search result pages support Semantic Markup that allows local business owners to provide information about their business by using schema.org vocabulary. By providing with a mix of required, recommended and optional properties with values for the https://schema.org/LocalBusiness class, a business can now provide Google with information about things like the business's name, address, telephone number, physical location and hours of operation in a machine readable way.

This also called structured data markup, and can be eligible to appear in two categories of Google Search features:

Rich Results Snippet: Structured data for things like recipes, articles, and videos can appear in Rich Cards, as either a single element or a list of items. Other kinds of structured data can enhance the appearance of your site in Search, such as with Breadcrumbs, or a Sitelinks Search Box.

Google Knowledge Graph Cards: If you're the authority for certain content, Google can treat the structured data on your site as factual and import it into the Knowledge Graph, where it can power prominent answers in Search and across Google properties. Knowledge Graph cards appear for authoritative data about organizations, and events. Movie reviews, and movie/music play actions, while based on ranking, can also appear in Knowledge Graph cards once they are reconciled to Knowledge Graph entities.

Google has supported the provision of local business information with schema.org since April 08, 2014, but this is the first time they've published prescribed property specifications for Local Business.

You can provide structured data markup in your HTML and AMP pages. Google Support Following Structured Data Markup Formats:

Microdata: Microdata is a WHATWG HTML specification used to nest metadata within existing content on web pages. Search engines, web crawlers, and browsers can extract and process Microdata from a web page and use it to provide a richer browsing experience for users.

JSON-LD (Google Recommended Format): JavaScript notation separate from the body of the HTML itself. Markup is placed inside a script tag in the head of the HTML page. The markup does not have to be interleaved with the user-visible text, which makes nested data items easier to express, such as the Country of a PostalAddress of a MusicVenue of an Event. Also, Google can read JSON-LD data when it is dynamically injected into the page's contents, such as by JavaScript code or embedded widgets in your content management system.

RDFa: RDFa (or Resource Description Framework in Attributes) is a W3C Recommendation that adds a set of attribute-level extensions to HTML, XHTML and various XML-based document types for embedding rich metadata within Web documents. The RDF data-model mapping enables its use for embedding RDF subject-predicate-object expressions within XHTML documents. It also enables the extraction of RDF model triples by compliant user agents.

How To Implement Schema Markup For Local Business Website To Improve Search Visibility?

Make sure your Plumbing and HVAC Business Contact and Geographic Information is implemented correctly on your website should be the first step when it comes to implementing schema markup onto your website.

The Local Business section of https://schema.org/LocalBusiness has a variety of categories that businesses can implement as part of the footer or contact page of their website, including address, phone, fax, operating hours, and even accepted payment types.

Microdata Example For Plumbing Service

The microdata schema markup is displayed via div tags and isn’t displayed on the live version of the website. The div tags designate the information that applies to the chosen schema markup:

<div itemscope="" itemtype="”https://schema.org/Plumber”">
<span itemprop="”name”">ABC Plumber</span>
<br />
<div itemprop="”address”" itemscope="" itemtype="”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”">
<span itemprop="”streetAddress”">123 Main Street</span>
<span itemprop="”addressLocality”">Phoenix</span>,
<span itemprop="”addressRegion”">AZ</span>
<span itemprop="”postalCode”">85001</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop="”telephone”">555-555-5555</span>
<a href="http://googlemapsurl.com" itemprop="”maps”">URL of Map</a>
</div>

In this example for an Plumber’s Business, the only information that is displayed on the public-facing side of the website is the information between the span and div tags. Visitors won’t be able to tell that a business is using schema unless they view your website source code.

The ‘itemprop’ in the span tag identifies the schema markup property for that piece of information. All available properties are shown on Home - schema.org in their applicable category.

JSON-LD Structured Data Example For HVAC Contractor

Below is an example of a common JSON-LD syntax which can be used to define a single HVAC Company Business Information:

<script type="application/ld+json">
     {
     "@context": "http://schema.org",
     "@type": "LocalBusiness",
     "address": {
  "@type": "PostalAddress",
  "addressLocality": "Phoenix",
  "addressRegion": "AZ",
  "postalCode":"85001",
  "streetAddress": "123 Main Street"
  },
   "description": "This is your HVAC Contractor Business Description.",
   "name": "ABC HVAC Contractor",
   "telephone": "555–555–5555",
   "geo": {
 "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
 "latitude": "40.75",
"longitude": "73.98"
     },
 "sameAs" : [ "http://www.facebook.com/your-hvac-company-page.",
"http://www.twitter.com/your-hvac--company-profile",
"http://plus.google.com/your-hvac--company-profile"]
   }
</script>

In this example for I created an HVAC Company schema markup by JSON-LD Format.

Once you have your markup/code placed on your website, go ahead and test it with Google Structured Data Testing Tool.

If you have little or no web development experience, it’s easy to run into error when trying to customize the code examples with your own business information. In this case, i advocate you to hire an Professional Consultant.

If you enjoyed the article, please share.

Do It Yourself Local SEO For The Small Business Owner

Learn How To Rank In The Search Engines As a Small Business Following This Step by Step Course.

Do you want to learn how to rank your business higher in Google Search?

Do you own a small business?

Do you just want to do the work on your own? 

This is the perfect course for you.

I've created a step-by-step course that walks you through everything you need to know about boosting your visibility in the Google local map pack.

In August of 2015 Google changed the "local 7 pack" into the "local 3 pack".

It's now more important than ever to be working on Local Search Optimization for your business.

Only 3 businesses are now shown within the local business pack when typical "service + city" terms are used in Google search.

In this course I walk you through the basics of:

• Setting up your website for local search
• Setting up your Google+ business page
• Adding your business to important website directories such as Yelp
• Setting up basic social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn for business.
• I walk you through several tools that can be used for tracking your rankings and auditing your business for search.
• I show you the importance of content and how to optimize it for your business
• I provide ways to generate more reviews for your business on Google, Yelp and others.
• I show you some other websites you can use to generate new clients for your business.

If you've been struggling with SEO for many years as a local business, this is the course for you!

What are the requirements?

• You will need a basic website built with either Wordpress, Squarespace or another easy to use content management system
• A willingness to learn, implement, read and take consistent action

What am I going to get from this course?

• Understand what Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is
• The Basics of setting up a small business website with Wordpress or Squarespace
• The importance of having a mobile friendly website
• How to setup and use Google+ for Business
• You will understand what important sites you should list your business on
• The importance of building business profiles across the internet
• Basic elements of on-page and off-page SEO
• How to outsource content writing for your website
• How to get more reviews for your Google business page

Who is the target audience?

• Small businesses who are willing to put in the work to rank locally
• Those who are interested in dominating the search results for their local city
• If you are a business owner that lacks time to take action, this course might not be for you but it will help you understand the concepts of local SEO if you are unable to implement.

Ways to Adjust Adjust Your SEO Strategy After Google Local 3 Pack Shake Up

Adjust Your Local SEO Strategy - Google Local 3 Pack Shake Up

In early August, Google made some major changes to its "Local Pack" search results by opting to show three results instead of seven. Here are some ways to adjust strategy in order to stay on top of local search.

Google's decision to show fewer listings seems to be motivated by mobile. "Three-pack" search results make desktop searches mirror those on mobile with more space for map results and reviews, but less contenders for top rankings. However, search results are hyper-localized, meaning that the three-pack changes pretty often.

Plus, there's an opinion that the top 20 sites listed in the map view seems to be unaffected by the upgrade. This leaves some opportunity for businesses that don't make the top three, though some opposite cases have also been reported.


Have a Strong Presence on Local Platforms

Local searches are optimized based on the user’s location, so that users see the highest ranked businesses in their areas. The first step to gaining this local search ranking is having a strong presence in local search platforms or relevant review websites. A few of the top ones to consider include;

Google My Business: Google My Business, previously known as Google Places, used to be the first stop for anyone looking to make a dent in local search. One thing that is hugely popular on Google My Business is Google Click to Call, which generates about 30 million calls a month.

Yelp: Yelp is a popular review site that allows your customers to leave reviews of your business for everyone else to see. Not only will Yelp give you an opportunity to get great feedback from your customers, it will also allow you to set keywords for your local area.

Trip Advisor: Trip Advisor is relevant to those in the travel or hospitality industry. It allows users to review your business, upload photos and give you a rating out of five. It also gives you the ability to address any negative reviews.

The list of local search platforms is ever-expanding, and is specific your industry and what is popular with your target market. To get the best out of your local SEO campaign, you should use local search outlets as much as you use global sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. When it comes to local search, 45% of all searches are specifically goal oriented; meaning these users are ready and willing to buy.

Localize Your Information

On your website itself, and on your social media platforms, your content should be localized. The first step in doing this is ensuring your business address appears in a searchable part of the page (for example: not as an image). Your content should be locally specific as well, with the location of your business occasionally referenced in the text.

Make Sure You Go Mobile

Another thing to consider isn’t just how heavy your local presence is, but how your site looks when you get those users there. About 61% of mobile searches result in a purchase. If these highly motivated leads can’t easily navigate your site, those purchases are going to your competitors instead. As up to 25% of all internet traffic originates from a mobile device, it is imperative that your website accommodates these users.

Fully integrating local search into your campaign requires three important steps. Your site and your social media sites should include some local information. You should have a strong presence on local search platforms. Finally, you need to have a site that is easily accessible on a mobile device. Those businesses that embrace local and mobile search as part of their campaign are the ones who will manage to stay competitive in the constantly evolving digital marketplace.

Reviews Matter

Google has removed phone numbers and exact addresses from search results, but starred reviews remain. Therefore, businesses hoping to both crack the top three and see traffic from that ranking need to make sure they've got a high volume of good reviews, according to Shotland.

"Based on the current display, particularly the local finder, it does appear that ratings and reviews are much more prominent in the UI," Shotland says. "So focusing on making sure your business has a high rating with a decent amount of reviews should be a priority."

Double Down on Link-Earning

Once you break into that hyper-specialized top three, Rozek says, you're going to want to stay there. And increasing link-earning efforts is one of the best ways to stay on top of local search results.

"Even if you inhabit a smaller pond, you'll still want to become a bigger fish. So to that end, I'd suggest doubling down on your link-earning efforts," Rozek says. "Start with easy links, like joining at least one local Chamber of Commerce, joining an industry or professional organization, and maybe getting accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Of course, there's an infinite number of other good links you can get, but those are a solid start and often overlooked."

Make Sure Local Efforts Fit Into Overall Strategy

Changes like the three-pack updates are a given, and the best defense is a good offense, according to Mike Blumenthal, owner and local expert at Blumenthals. Local search efforts have to be integrated with a strong overall strategy to make an impact.

"I have long been a proponent of a mixed approach to local search that involves a strong website, a strong local presence, and strong locally-focused marketing campaign that keeps the brand prominence of your business high," Blumenthal says. "If you follow this tactic consistently, you will have the best on-going position to deal with the constant change."

For more about how to prepare your local business for the three pack upgrade, read our full Local 3-Pack SEO Guide.

How to Make Your Blog as Local as Your Business

Let’s face it, local SEO’s and business owners have given up on content and settled for SEO.

Now, I’m not saying that SEO is bad or that no local business can write. But what I am saying is that the industry has prioritized the SEO/ranking value of content over the audience value of our content.

The moment SEO becomes more important than our audience, we have a marketing problem.

Let’s take off our 1,500 word minimum with 2% keyword density blinders and ask ourselves a few simple questions:

• Would I actually read this whole post? If you can’t read the whole article there’s no chance your audience will.
• Would I send a new potential customer a link to my blog? If not, then potential customers visiting your website probably shouldn’t see it either.
• Do my blog posts receive engagement: comments or shares? I’m not talking about fake Gucci handbag comments, but instead, real comments or Facebook shares.

While this is a tough standard, if we don’t have something to aim for what is the point? As a local business or a online marketer working with local SMB’s, the goal for content should be to engage with your audience. Often times, the easiest way to do this is to be local. If your audience is local and you want to gain content traction, be local.

Step 1: Reallocate Your Time

Typically, we allocate the following percentages of time for our blog:

• 5% of our time preparing
• 90% of our time writing
• 5% of our time promoting

For your local blog to perform well, I am suggesting a reallocation of time:

• 20% preparation
• 50% writing
• 30% promotion

If an article was written, but no one reads it was it really written?

Frankly, we often mistakenly think search engines will find our content and then our audience will. This is backwards thinking. Instead, we need to identify the interests of our local audience, craft an exceptional piece of content, and promote the heck out of it.

Step 2. Take a Tour of the Neighborhood

What makes the city or county you do business in unique? What local things or attractions exist that someone from out of town wouldn’t know about?

Tweet this: The goal isn’t to be everybody’s cup of tea, the goal is to be your local audience’s.

Take a tour of the neighborhood and ask yourself, what does my audience care about? What would they share?

The content goal for a local business should be for your business to be the first thing people in your area associate with the service or product you provide.

Think of content as an awareness factor. What is the best way to make my local audience aware of my service or product? The answer: relevance.

We have found that with simply $20 you can promote your content to your local audience and drive hundreds of relevant visits to your website for less than $0.50 cents a click. Outside of relevant, localized content, there are few avenues to drive such traffic.

Tweet this: Set Up remarketing to market to the new audience you are attracting.

Step 3. Choosing and Promoting Your Content

We have taken a tour of the neighborhood and now have a pretty good idea of what makes our area unique. Next, we must decide how often to write and on what.

If we are going to add a little local flavor to our blog it’s important to understand what makes our audience tick. We often simply just write about what we do, but that is rarely the best way to engage with your audience.

The other option we often take is writing for thought leadership. While also fine, most local businesses will not increase sales by writing a post on how they have created a revolutionary new way to repair your fridge.

The core reason why these two approaches and many others fail, is because they are not relevant to your audience and cannot be easily promoted via interest targeting.

A general rule of thumb is that quantity is not as important as quality. Do not try to produce more content than you can produce well.

We want to impact our audience and thus influence our local rankings…not the other way around.

When selecting a topic to write on, back your way into it. Our favorite tool for content promotion and amplification is Facebook ads. So often, we choose our topics based on what interests us instead of what interests our audience. Let’s choose what to write based on who and what we can target.

So, before your write that next post head over to the “boost post” option from a previous post, and look at your audience options.

Ask yourself, what targeting options are available and how can I make sure that my topic fits with my targeting?

Once you have chosen your topic, finding a title worthy of promotion of tough. Luckily, the team over at Portent have created an awesome tool to help you with choosing that next title. Check it out!

If you are having a tough time getting the local juices flowing here are some potential topics:

• 5 Places in ___ that you never knew existed
• Highest rated taco joints in ____
• 10 ways you can tell you’re from ___

What do these topics have to do with your local business to consumer service business? Everything. Your local audience doesn’t care about your post on: “How to Do something in 5 Easy Steps.”

Instead, they care, share, and read about content that is relevant to them. Do you think they will call the plumber or hvac contractors who made them laugh or wrote something engaging about their area? Or do you think they will call the hvac contractors or plumber who they never heard of because their content wasn’t relevant enough to earn a click?

Be ruthless. Make your blog as local and relevant to your audience as possible. If a piece of content cannot be promoted to your local audience don’t write it. If you can’t think of five of your customers that would read it all the way through or share it, don’t write it.

Take a stand for the power of exceptional local content and make your blog as local as your business.

How to improve rankings on google maps; Top 10 tips for Local SEO

Local business owners we talk to love to embrace the do-it-yourself attitude, so we thought it would be a good post to present the basics for do-it-yourself online marketing for local businesses. We often here: “Why should I pay someone if I can do it myself?” Of course, that’s usually if we had all the time in the world. Unfortunately, Local SEO can become time consuming very quickly, especially due to the complexity of the fragmented local search market.

However, it is possible for owners to work on a little bit each month to improve their rankings on Google Maps for Local SEO, or improve their Yelp profile (Online Reputation Management) to reach new traffic, or add fresh content or a blog to their website (Search Engine Optimization) in order to improve their Google Search Rankings. Part of the do-it-yourself marketing strategy is to prioritize your efforts based on what you’re trying to achieve and the amount of work that goes into each effort. Many of our customers seem to ask a lot of the same questions, so we wanted to put together this list and prioritize it for those that are just getting started.

Local SEO in the context of this article is the activity of updating your company’s business listings and content (on both local search sites and your website) in order to improve your rankings on sites like Google Maps, Yelp, and other local sites and search engines. After you have mastered, Local SEO, then you can start tackling Social Media Optimization (SMO), but that’s for another time. Here we go, hope you’ve had your coffee today!

CLAIM YOUR LISTING

Everything starts with this. Claiming your listing can have an immediate impact on improving your rankings on Google Maps and others. Also, you need to have control of your listings for effective online reputation management. In addition, you don’t want anyone (especially a competitor) to hijack your listings. Be sure to perform a vanity search on Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Bing Maps, Yelp, Citysearch and Yellowpages.com. Add listings where you’re not listed and claim all the listings you found. You will need to go through a simple verification process.

DETERMINE YOUR RANKINGS

Where do you rank when you search for your primary category and local city? Are you in the first couple pages? Start by getting a good understanding of where you rank today in order to set some goals and track your performance. If you have a website, check your web search rankings for your category/keywords. If you don’t have a site, get one! Even if you don’t really need a site to drive business, it will help with validating your business and listings for local search optimization (Local SEO). You can get a very basic site up and running pretty cheap these days.

UPDATE/ADD CONTENT

Update your listings. Be sure your information is accurate and consistent. Consistency of your business details is important throughout the web. Avoid using call tracking numbers if possible. Add photos and videos. Create/add a video on YouTube and link to it on your Google Place Page. This content can help improve your rankings, but will also differentiate you from others and provide with control over your online reputation. This content improves how a potential customer sees you, hopefully motivating them to take the next step (call or stop by). Be sure to update your categories as well. Mike Blumenthal has a great tool to help you before you login and update your Google listing. You should try to add as many categories that are still relevant to your products/services. Complete as much info as you feel comfortable and maintain accuracy (Hours, Payment Types, Menus, Email). This will help you with both improving rankings as well as online reputation management.

ACHIEVE BUSINESS LISTING NIRVANA

Consistency is vital across the web when it comes to business details. However, there are so many sites with your listings today, it can become overwhelming. If you’ve ever moved or changed your business name, then you’re old data could still be moving around the web. However, you can start at the source. Most business listings come from 3 primary listing databases. This is a great way to add your listings and clean up old data. Consistency will help search engines aggregate all references to your business (establishing “trust” for your location and listing, which can help improve your rankings for your local business). If a site has conflicting information it can’t be tagged to your business properly as a citation, losing the value of that reference from an SEO perspective. Only with true consistency everywhere can you achieve business listing nirvana! Add/update listings on these top 2 databases. Axciom is the third, but they don't allow self-provisioning.

UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE’S CONTACT PAGE

Be sure that search engines can find your location data. At a minimum, your contact information should be in clear HTML (not an image or flash). To really comply and ensure that search engines can find you accurately, provide your contact information in an hCard or add a KML to the site. You can create a KML file (like a sitemap) to Google directly via the Google Webmaster Tools. For those of you that now have a blank stare on your face-ask your webmaster, local seo consultant, or your nephew to look into it. Here are some easy to follow blogs explaining each along with links to the tools.

UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE PAGE TITLE TAGS

On your home page and throughout your site, be sure to include targeted keywords (your categories and services) in the title tags along with your most targeted geolocation keywords (cities, neighborhoods, etc). This is very important if you are trying to improve your rankings and for General Web Search Results and optimize for your website. You may also want to have your internal site links/URLs updated to have some of these keywords integrated there as well. This will let search engines better understand what you do and what locations you serve, resulting in a greater relevance for these keywords. This greater relevance will results in higher rankings for the keywords you are targeting. Once these steps are completed and picked up by the search engines, go back and check your rankings again. For your contact page, be sure to have your business name in your title tag and listed on your page near your business details. This will provide greater validation and authority that you are the owner of these business details. If you have multiple locations, consider creating a separate page, URL and title tag for each location. (For example: www.tamaleheaven.com/contact/sanfranciscomexican) That way when a user searches for your services in that city, you’ll be highly optimized for that specific location.

GET CITATIONS/INBOUND LINKS

It’s time for you to tune your PR skills. If you’ve made it this far, then it’s likely you really are really intent on SEO. Citations are references to your business including your address or phone number and they can have a big impact on improving rankings on Google Maps. Inbound links are other sites that link to your site and this can tell search engines how important/respected your site is by others. This, in turn, can impact your rankings on general web search results. At this point, you have likely received inbound links by accident. Hopefully you’ve had some articles written about you or joined your local BBB. But for SEO, you need to kick in the PR machine. Effective SEO strategy today is often more about what is going on “offsite”. This means that search engines use content found throughout the web about your site/business to help validate it and increase the value of your site/service. For web search, this is called Page Rank. The other important thing to understand is that different sites that point to yours have different values. So if you have a New York Times review linking to your site or business listing, this is much more valuable than Mary’s Family Blog who just loves your Butter Cream Pie. The Times article is exponentially more valuable. But quantity is important too, so don’t spend all your time hounding the New York Times food editors. There are much easier ways to get started. For building inbound links and citations, take any of your competitor’s sites and see where they have links and ask for coverage. Yahoo’s Site Explorer is free and one of the most comprehensive. A well known paid tool is available from MOZ called Linkscape.

GET REVIEWS

If you don’t have any reviews, get some. If you already have some, get some more! Drive a review campaign either quarterly or monthly. If you have a customer database, send out an email. Or print some business cards with reminders on them for people to review when they get home. Put it on the back of your appointment reminder cards. Make it easy. You can try to offer an incentive, but this can be a delicate line, so be careful with this approach. I suggest you just give great customer service and just ask nicely! Be sure to have your reviews posted spread across various sites, including Yelp, Google, Bing, Citysearch, etc. Not only do reviews do have an effect on local search rankings, but more importantly, they create a positive online reputation for prospective customers looking for your services. Be sure to address any negative reviews immediately by reaching out to customer and try to turn that negative into a positive. If they have an iPhone or smartphone, get them to do it before they leave!

SCOUT THE COMPETITION

Once you’ve done some of the basic blocking and tackling mentioned above, you can start to scope out the competition in order to get some clues on what’s working for them. For mapping sites, review what competitors are in the top 3 on Google Maps. Things to look at include:

• # of citations (Quantity and Quality, such as BBB)
• Review quantity and quality (Overall Rating)
• Content (Photos, Videos, Hours of Operation, Email, Categories)
• User Content (# of times an end user has tagged the listing)

For general web search, you’ll want to look at some of the following. Keep in mind; this is just a place to start. There is a lot more analysis that can be done once you’ve mastered this.

1. Page Titles (Do they include keywords for services and localities.
2. Page Description (Do they have a brief, but effective description of the site so searches are inclined to click when they see it in the search results page)
3. URLs (Do they have keywords included in any urls)
4. Keyword Density (Are they repeating keywords evenly throughout the copy)
5. Fresh Content (Do they have a blog and/or regularly post new articles)

TRACKING AND ANALYTICS

One of the most important aspects to any effecting marketing plan is to measure results along the way. We are big believer in the value of analytics to measure performance and learn what is most effective for your business. That is why we built chatmeter, so please sign up today if you have not already. The chatmeter will report your monthly rankings on both local and web search sites, measure customer feedback across multiple review sites, and indicate the amount of chatter you’re getting from blogs and social media sites. In addition, be sure to check your Local Business Center for reports on your Google listings. A great tool for your website is Google Analytics. It’s free, easy to use, and very comprehensive. If you are driving traffic to your site at all, then you must have a measurement tool in place. These tools can be great ways to measure the effectiveness of your do-it-yourself marketing strategy. If you’ve made it through this whole post, congratulations! Either now, you’re well on your way to a do-it yourself online marketing strategy, or your ready to call for backup.

If you’re interested in a FREE Consultation with an Local SEO Professional, then please contact us.

Why Your Local Business Website Needs to Be Mobile-Friendly

Are you still running your local business with a website that was designed in or 2009 or Before? If so, it’s time to update your website to meet google mobile-friendly algorithm released On April 21, 2015.

What Does “mobile-friendly” Mean?

“Mobile-friendly” means that your local business website delivers an optimum user experience, no matter what device a visitor may be viewing it from. If people who visit your site from a mobile device need to zoom in or pinch their screens in order to navigate, or if the exact same version of the site that displays for desktop computers shows up on a mobile device, then your site is not optimized for mobile use.

Why Should You Care?

US smartphone penetration is up to 75% as of the end of 2014. Late last year, mobile traffic exceeded desktop traffic for the first time. And according to Nielsen, 87% of mobile users used their mobile device for shopping activities like searching for a product or service, pricing comparisons, or brick & mortar address search.

Beside Usage, read what google says

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

What Makes a Site mobile-friendly?

• It avoids use of software that doesn’t work on phones (like Flash). 
• It makes links and buttons large enough and far enough apart to be easily clicked with a finger. 
• It uses text that can be easily read without zooming. 
• It sizes content so there’s no horizontal scrolling needed and no zooming required.

How do I know if my website is mobile-friendly?

It is actually really simple to test your local business website and check whether it is mobile friendly or whether you need to upgrade it. I recommends the following tools:

Google Mobile-Friendly Test – this is dead-easy, all you need to do is input the URL of the website you would like to check, hit the blue “analyze” button and the tool will determine whether your site is mobile-friendly, or whether you need to make improvements. It will also show you a mobile site preview.

Google Search Console Mobile Usability Report – you can use this as long as you have signed up for Webmaster Tools. The report will list any errors in mobile usability that your site has (or report none as below…). Related: How to Fix Common Mobile Usability Issues

Mobile Responsive Design Testing – This is a cool tool designed by StudioPress for checking your mobile-friendliness. Put in your website URL and see how it looks across different devices.

How to Get a mobile-friendly Website?

If you’ve done the tests as above and found that your business website is not mobile-friendly, here are a few steps for getting your site up to scratch:

Create a Mobile Version of Your Current Site: While this is a simple way to bring your site into compliance, it requires you to have two separate websites. It can be difficult to update two sites, and users may get frustrated if they find less content or information available on the mobile version versus the desktop.

Use Mobile Plugins on Popular CMS Platforms: The most popular website content management systems — Wordpress, Joomla, or Drupal — all have bolt-on solutions to make your site mobile-friendly without needing two separate versions. Some include additional ways to customize the mobile experience to not only provide the content, but incorporate other features best used on mobile devices.

Use a Mobile-first Responsive Design: The solutions above are just stopgaps until you can redesign your site by deploying a mobile-first strategy using responsive web design practices.

Designing the site with a mobile-first approach requires planning about how it will be used on mobile devices — an exercise that helps prioritize what content goes on the site. It also begs the question that, if it isn’t needed on mobile, then should it be on the desktop version?

Responsive design furnishes the best possible experience at the mobile level but allows for enhancements to the site’s design and functionality as it increases in screen size.

Final Thoughts

If your Local Business Website is fully optimized for mobile devices, you will likely to see some organic ranking and visitors. If you want to optimize your business website for local maps ranking read my Local SEO Guide.

How to Improve Your Local Businesses Yelp Ranking

Are you wondering How to Improve Your Businesses Yelp Ranking? If you run a local business like Restaurant or Home Services, Yelp should be an essential centerpiece of your local business internet presence.

Yelp was founded in 2004 by former Paypal employees, Russel Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman, at the startup incubator MRL Ventures. It was initially an unsuccessful email-based referral service, but was re-launched on the basis of unsolicited online business reviews in late 2005. Since Then, Yelp continues to be the go-to resource for millions of visitors looking for information about local businesses.

Some Interesting Yelp Facts

• Average monthly unique Yelp visitors: 142 million
• Number of Yelp monthly unique desktop visitors: 79.5 million
• Number of Yelp monthly unique mobile visitors: 78.9 million
• Number of Yelp monthly international (non-US) visitors: 31 million
• Number of claimed local businesses on Yelp: 2.1 million
• Number of local advertisers on Yelp: 90,000
• Yelp total revenue for Q1 2015: $118.5 million
• Number of Yelp reviews (cumulative): 77.3 million reviews
• Percentage of new Yelp reviews from mobile: 35%
• Number of deals live on Yelp: 80,000,
• Number of food orders Yelp is generating weekly: 10,000
• Number of daily calls to businesses generated from the Yelp mobile app: 200,000
• Number of daily directions to businesses generated from the Yelp mobile app: 200,000
• Largest reviewed category on Yelp: Shopping (23% of reviews)
• Largest age group in US on Yelp: 35-54 (36.4% of reviews)
• Largest education level demo in US on Yelp: College (60.2% of reviews)

Is your business doing all that it can to attract new customers from the ever-growing audience on Yelp? Whether you’ve been active on Yelp in the past or you’re starting a new business, this article will help you Improve Your Businesses Yelp Ranking.

Get Started on Yelp

Let's first go through the process of claiming a Yelp listing and filling out your business information.

If your business is relatively new, the very first thing you’ll want to do is see if it has already been listed on Yelp. Chances are it already listed on Yelp, If listed follow this steps to claim your business listing.

So go ahead and search for your business’s name. Once you find it, click the link that says “Work here? Claim this business.”

Take time to create a complete profile. Fill out all of the information fields including location/address, hours of operation, detailed business description, website address, and contact information. Enhance your profile with pictures. When things change (like seasonal hours or adding/eliminating services), make it a priority to update your Yelp profile.

If your business has not been listed on Yelp yet, go to: https://biz.yelp.com/signup/new

For more information on creating your business account on Yelp, be sure to visit the Yelp for Business Owners section of the site.

Here’s how to take your Yelp presence to the next level.

#1: Immerse yourself in Yelp—read the profiles of your competitors
Before you start fiddling with your own Yelp profile, I highly recommend you first get a lay of the land.

Search Yelp for your direct local competitors and click through to their profiles. Take a close look at those with 4+ star ratings and those with 3 and below.

Try to distinguish the differences between those who are thriving on Yelp and those who are not. Do their photos set them apart? Does their website link lead to an impressive site or one that turns traffic away?

Can you start to see patterns in the types of things mentioned in their reviews? Try to pin down what your local market values highly and what prompts them to leave a poor review.

Learn from all of your snooping around and leverage your competitive research to ensure your own success on Yelp.

#2: Start with the essentials: Complete your business’s Yelp profile
The first step to getting your Yelp presence on track is to ensure you’ve got the essentials nailed down. Having a fully featured profile that gives visitors all of the info they seek is a must.

Be sure to complete these essential pieces of your Yelp profile:

• Name and category: You’d be surprised how many businesses leave a typo in their name or mis-categorize their listing. Double-check this. It’s the most important piece of your listing!
• Detailed address and phone number: Include your street address, along with any important notes about landmarks or cross-streets. Recently changed address? Update your contact info right away.
• Include the link to your website and menu: This is crucial for converting more visitors into customers. If a Yelper clicks over to your website and likes what they see, they’re much more likely to become your customer. Restaurants: Make sure your website has an online menu. That can be linked here as well.
• Quality photos: Nothing hurts your Yelp profile more than a blank photo area. Populate this with quality photos. More on this in a moment.
• OpenTable.com reservations: Does your restaurant take reservations via OpenTable? You can connect this here.
• Important info: Be sure to accurately fill out all of the info here, like your hours, price range, parking info, outdoor seating, etc. This info can make or break a customer’s decision to choose your business over the competition.
• About your business: Although this tab is somewhat hidden behind the Reviews section, it’s important that you fill this out thoroughly. This extra info could be the tipping point that convinces customers you’re what they’re looking for.

#3: Create a strong photo gallery
Most businesses on Yelp only have a couple of poorly shot photos, usually uploaded by visitors. Some businesses don’t even have one photo posted. This is a huge opportunity for your business to stand out!

Hire a professional photographer to shoot a handful of engaging photos that inform visitors about what they’re in for when they visit you. Show off your décor, your food (or products) and the overall customer experience.

Important tip: Include a photo or two of the front of your business, or what your customers will see as they drive by and approach. This makes it tremendously easier for new customers to find you and walk in.

#4: Recognize the value of your customer reviews
We all know that positive reviews on Yelp add a tremendous amount of social proof for your business, not to mention increase your all-important star rating. But customer reviews actually hold much more value than that.

Positive reviews can be leveraged outside of Yelp. You can grab some of the best quotes and feature them on your website, citing the reviewer’s first name. This reinforces the social proof when visitors take that extra step to check out your website.

Believe it or not, negative reviews present a valuable opportunity for you as well. Whether you agree with the critique or not, negative reviews bring up points of concern about your business that you may have overlooked. Use this constructive criticism to improve your customers’ experience.

#5: Respond to reviews
I’m surprised more people don’t take advantage of this incredibly valuable tool Yelp has provided business owners. You, as the business owner, can publicly respond to any review placed on your business profile.

Now, before you start firing away at every bad review that comes your way, stop and consider a more strategic approach.

If you choose to respond to a comment, do it calmly and respectfully. The key here is to show that you care. Thank the reviewer for their feedback, and point out things they may not have been aware of, or explain how you plan to fix or improve whatever it is they were complaining about.

Respond to positive reviews as well! Thank them for coming in and for their kind words. Use this as an opportunity to highlight the hard work you’re putting toward a great customer experience.

The bottom line is, your visibility as the owner within the Reviews section will do a lot to set you apart from your competition—mainly because nobody else is doing it!

Yelp provides advice and info for business owners regarding responding to reviews here.

#6: Track and use metrics in your Yelp dashboard
Now it’s time to really dig in and take your Yelp presence up a notch.

Business owners on Yelp gain access to detailed behind-the-scenes metrics about their business’s performance on Yelp. These metrics were overhauled and improved in March 2012, so if you haven’t logged in recently, you should definitely take a look.

Here you can gather key insights about your Yelp presence. You can track the amount of traffic your Yelp profile receives and also see how many times your business showed up in search results on Yelp.

Tracking “User Actions” gives you an even closer look at how visitors are engaging with your business on Yelp. Actions include things like clicks to your website, mobile check-ins, photos uploaded, etc.

You can use the info gathered here to inform your decisions on things like “When is the best day of the week to run a special?” or “How important is having a mobile website for my visitors?”

#7: Try running a 'Yelp Deal'

if you want to both drum up new business and improve the visibility of your company's listing in Yelp's search results, consider running a "Yelp Deal." Basically, Yelp Deals function like Groupon or Living Social deals. You can offer a discount that Yelp users claim through the site (for example, a $20 gift certificate for $10). Yelp then promotes your profile to a wider audience in an effort to generate revenue via deal purchases, resulting in greater visibility for your company.

Although Yelp keeps 30% of the discounted price, Yelp Deals make your listing more attractive to visitors, and could prove to have a solid return on investment, especially when you use your Yelp metrics to guide the timing of your Yelp Deals.

#8: Take advantage of Yelp’s additional resources
You can find quite a bit of helpful resources on the official Yelp for Business Owners section as well as the Business Owner’s Blog, where you can stay on top of the latest tools as they become available.

You might consider advertising your business on Yelp. While I firmly believe you can find great success on Yelp using the free techniques described above, purchasing advertising placements on Yelp brings a few interesting benefits, like:

• Removal of competitors’ ads on your business page 
• Enhanced photo slideshow 
• Video on your profile

Closing your Business Yelp account?
There are some very simple steps that you can follow if you want to close your Yelp account.

• Login to your Yelp account. 
• At the bottom right corner there is a link called “FAQ”. Click on this link. 
• You will then have the option on clicking on “How to close my account?” This can be found in the Help section of the website. 
• Click on the words “Click here” that are highlighted in blue. You will be sent to a page that has a form for you to fill out about closing your account. This form will be sent to the Yelp support crew once you have filled it in. 
• Select “Help me use Yelp” then “Close my account”. Then you should write a short message about the fact that you would like o close your account. When you have done this you can click on the “Send” button and the information will be sent to the Yelp Support team. 
• Go to your email account associated with your Yelp account. You will receive an email notification at the email address that you specified during the sign up process. Click on this link. If you are unable to click on the link simply copy and paste it into the URL. This link exists to confirm the deletion of your account. Once you click on that the process will be complete.

What do you think? Has your business found success from its Presence on Yelp? Let us know in the comments section below!