Link building to Google+ profile: any local SEO value?
-
Has anyone found value in building links to Google+ profile for local seo rankings? My gut tells me that it will, but I am not 100% sure.
If it does, then does that mean that all the traditional SEO factors that would go into ranking a site organically also work for ranking locally for certain keywords?
So far, I have found that the best thing for moving up rankings is reviews on Google+, but then does that make local SEO (from a high view point) just a race for high reviews and building the most citation?
I am feeling like the differentiator for local SEO is UN-structured citations and links to Google+ profiles. Any thoughts?
See you at MozCon!
-
Totally! What a great article. So glad to be able to share it here, Anthony.
-
He may have literally covered every question that could have been asked
Thanks for reaching back out and sharing the article!
-
Good news! Mike Blumenthal decided to write his follow-up piece on this. Check it out:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/07/02/should-you-do-linkbuilding-to-your-g-page-for-local/
I hope everyone who participated in this thread and all of our members who are into Local will take a few minutes to read this post. Well worth the time!
-
Hi Anthony,
Fantastic you are attending MozCon! Thanks for your follow-up comments, and do keep checking Mike Blumenthal's blog for more on this. I believe he may soon publish a piece on this topic that should be really good!
-
Mike over at Nifty makes a remark similar to the remarks made in the links you provided me above (reference question #21). Not only does he say that it will probably only help your map listing rank higher for your brand name, but he also flat out says: "The type of links that help your map listing rank higher are ones that point at your website."
http://moz.com/blog/40-important-local-search-questions-answered
Thank you for the resources above
I think in a weird way they validated what I am seeing with my small, single client lol. At a certain point, there are only so many "quality, niche, location-based" (all or either) directories that you can submit to, and if links to the G+ page are superfluous, then it becomes a matter local links/local unstructured citations for your website, and reviews for your G+ (along with any centroid bias you may be benefiting from, or having to overcome).
This is what I have observed, granted that this is one client in one region, and not nearly enough data to make a strong statement regarding the validity of this claim: I did all the NAP stuff, I submitted to all the directories, I optimized the website, I did all the stuff that we are supposed to do. Once all that was done, I told the client to adjust their business in order to easily facilitate reviews. They already had reviews, but they were kind of just stagnate in the local results. Each review they received after I was done doing my stuff gave them at LEAST 4 slot bumps, each time. They are now in the middle of page two of maps, and they have shown no slowing down in movement upward with each review (I assumed the shifts upward would slow down the closer to the top we got).
Now, we are competing against people that have one or two GOOD local links/ local unstructured citations, which appear to have been earned from good old fashion marketing.
I think this may be where things slow down a bit, but I have my local NAP targets and I will keep this thread up to date with what happens moving forward.
Thank you both for providing me great resources
I hope to see you guys at MozCon! (I already mentioned that above but I'm just really excited. If my summer school financial issue didn't occur I would not have been able to go!)
-
Hi Anthony,
I want to link to some resources for you to investigate here.
Back in early 2012, I had a conversation with Mike Blumenthal which prompted him to write a brief piece on the then-common advice of building links to the old Google Place Pages. He accurately summarizes why this practice was a poor idea:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/24/google-places-myth-linking-to-your-places-page/
However, a lot has changed in the past year. A lot! Here is a more recent conversation on this topic at Linda Buquet's Local Search Forum, presenting differing opinions on linkbuilding in the new +Local environment:
Your question has inspired me to ask Mike B for an update on his 2012 piece. I don't handle linkbuilding in-house at my company, and I think what you've asked about is really important. I'm going to suggest to Mike that he do a follow up (if he's not too busy) and let's both stay tuned to see what he says. Also, stay tuned for the new iteration of David Mihm's Local Search Ranking Factors 2013, which is coming soon (and eagerly awaited!) Hope what I've linked to helps, and I do plan to shoot Mike an email to see if he might have time sometime soon to do an update on his earlier much-cited piece.
-
Robert,
Thank you very much for the response. Yes, I agree that it is indeed its own animal. I also feel as though the ranking factors are very inconsistant, as you mentioned. I am going to follow those people, definitely. Thanks again!
One last thought, as I am just a little unclear. Do you think that Google authorship plays a role in the local SEO game (or "publishership")?
-
Anthony,
I am not sure I am even understanding your question, but I will try to help. First, Your Google + profile is not statically local. Are you talking a human Google + or a business Google + profile? Either way, think about authorship and being a contributor to various sites; that is linking and that does increase the value of your Google + site. When you have a G+ that is gaining authority and you link to a site, you provide link juice the site. But...
You follow that with:
_If it does, then does that mean that all the traditional SEO factors that would go into ranking a site organically also work for ranking locally for certain keywords? _The answer to this is No. Local and organic ranking are two very specific animals and they have many specific requirements. Yes, you want the same types of things as organic for local but then there are many more issues and requirements. Also, it changes about every ten minutes with Google. If you are not familiar with the Carousel "beta test" wink wink that Google is doing, do a search on your city and hotels or restaurants or service stations. That in itself will show you what people who handle local are up against.
As to this question: _I am feeling like the differentiator for local SEO is UN-structured citations and links to Google+ profiles. Any thoughts?_My thoughts are these: Start reading things from people like Miriam here on moz, Linda Buquet, Mike Blumenthal, etc. Don't "feel" as that is more akin to guessing. Follow the guidelines they put out and read all you can on local. If you do that, and if you work on about 50 to 75 local listings, make mistakes, learn, etc. you will begin to know a bit about local. Trust me when I say it is its own animal. Telling you how to rank for local in a Q&A setting is nearly impossible. I hope you understand.
Good luck,
Robert
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does Google automatically recognize pictures?
If yes, are there any methods to influence the image recognition?
Image & Video Optimization | | fduo0 -
Looking to hire an SEO for a Technical Review of my site
Hi I am new to SEO. I am the photographer and blogger behind the photography blog ShootTokyo. I am looking to make sure my site is optimized the best it can be for SEO. My site is a hobby for me but has really grown. I am looking make sure I have best practices implemented. I am not looking for quick fixes or try to cheat the system but to make sure I have a good solid foundation in place for SEO. I don't have a lot of experience nor a lot of free time so I want to make sure whatever free time I spend on this is really productive. I am looking to initially hire someone to do a technical assessment of my site and identify any fundamental issues I should address first. Once I have the assessment I am looking for advice on putting together a work plan on what I need to do and the best way to approach it. How can I best use the tools Moz is offering me? Which things are higher value that I should work on first, specific to my site? For more technical things I might hire this person to implement them or teach me how to implement them. If this is your business can you please let me know what your qualifications, experience, a link to your site and give me a range of what you might charge for something like this (you can email me details if you don't want to post here). If this isn't your business but have a recommendation I would love one. I am Tokyo based so ideally someone either in Asia, Europe or West Coast of US as it makes it easier to connect live if needed. Thanks Dave
Image & Video Optimization | | ShootTokyo0 -
On-page Local SEO
I'm wondering how to pull it off on-page local SEO for a financial institution website with 70 locations. However, they are broken in down in regions, which would make it easier to get our hands around. Would a viable solution be setting up regional pages? I don't know about our CMS capability, but it seems like it would be beneficial to have on each regional page aggregate local-centric press releases (example: a volunteer event or recognition) and local announcements such as paper shred days. Thoughts? Anyone else posed with a similar challenge?
Image & Video Optimization | | SSFCU0 -
Google Product Feed Results
Hi all, I am pondering whether or not to try the new model of paying for the shopping results. I was just wondering what results people had seen and your ideas/thoughts on it.
Image & Video Optimization | | KarlBantleman0 -
Reviews not showing up in Google Places
We have had several clients tell us their customers are giving them reviews on Google Places, but the reviews are either not showing up at all, or they show up for one day and then disappear. Has anyone else seen this happening with their clients, or with their own website? What can we do to get Google to post the reviews or find out why the reviews are not appearing on the places listing? Thanks for any help.
Image & Video Optimization | | GregWalt0 -
What are the best practices for Google Places for a manufacturer?
A manufacturing client has distributors around the world. Can I add these distributors to my client's Google Places account through the bulk upload feature? Is there a better way to ensure that people searching in the company's various territories see a Google Places entry for the appropriate distributor?
Image & Video Optimization | | joshfialkoff-778630 -
Local SEO - our company is in 2 very different locations
Hi, Our company nlpca.com is in 2 locations. It's doing really well in San Francisco, California But we've opened a 2nd location in Salt Lake City, Utah The problem is that our site is all about San Francisco, California. Utah is just as important as San Francisco to us and we need to start tailoring to both. People from Utah say they are confused because our site is so tailored to California. Even our domain name is the keyword "NLP" combined with the state initial "CA" for California. A new domain is not an option. One thing we are thinking of doing is changing our header to say "The NLP and Coaching Institute and the NLP Institute of California". It would say both of our company names and hopefully the first would catch the Utah people. But I don't think it's just our banner. Can you take a look at our site and tell us how to tailor to both locations and keep our current working optimization for San Francisco, California? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Local SEO: What is the largest Google Places bulk upload you have ever done?
Hi All, One of my clients recently requested my team at our agency to do a bulk up load of business locations. We did the bulk upload and it came to around 652 or so locations in the form. I have done some serious bulk uploads in the past around 500 locations but never this high. My question is to SEO moz what is the largest bulk upload or single upload you have done on Google Places?
Image & Video Optimization | | JamesNorquay0