Local citations | Local search
-
What is the best way to find local resources to gain reviews and citations from to help with strengthening your position in Google Places?
-
I actually try them too for a while about a year of so ago but somehow I forgot about them.
Thanks for the quick reply!
-
Hi Again Echo1,
I recommend you check out CustomerLobby.com. I think you will find some good review-oriented resources there.
I'll look forward to seeing your other thread!
-
Thanks Miriam
For citations I used Whitespark probably more than a year ago, with little success, maybe they fine tuned it since then, I will give it a try again.
As far as the reviews are concerned, we are already doing that, following up with the customers and asking them to post their reviews online . We figured Google, Yahoo and Yelp will help us the most so these three are the only options the customers have to leave reviews although I must say, I was expecting a greater number of reviews. Do you have any resources where I can learn how to craft those emails about reviewing our services?
On the other hand, I am not sure if even with lots of real reviews and citations we will be able to penetrate the 7 pack due to reasons that I just discovered, reasons which I will explain in a new question once I finish reading all the material. In short is about how Google is ranking companies in Google Places and what is it doing to verify that the information those companies are providing (and which helps them rank so high) is accurate.
-
Hello Echo1,
Thank you for coming to Q&A to ask your question. I have a several helpful resources for you.
Rand recently wrote a great piece on just the subject of citations, including commands you can use:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-research-local-citations-after-google-removed-them-from-places
That's a good place to start. If you are seeking a paid tool, Whitespark's is well thought of:
http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/
SEOverflow.com also offers some free local tools you might like to check out.
All of the above relate to citations. As for getting reviews, the first step toward understanding a successful campaign is to know what not to do. Begin with a close reading of all sections of Google's guidelines:
http://support.google.com/places/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=1656749&parent=1656875&ctx=topic
Your reviews must come directly from your clients (not from staff, marketers or any other third party source). Creating a plan for encouraging reviews in a manner compliant with the guidelines is the work ahead of you.
Hope these resources help!
-
It's a lot like anything else, start by researching your competitors are work backwards. Open Site Explorer will be your friend in this case and hopefully you will find a couple of resources that your weren't aware of.
Beyond just your competitors I also found it valuable to search for businesses in other regions/cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco to see where they are finding citations.
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
-
Force youtube video to appear in search?
Hi, I haven't done much Youtube optimization yet, and now I have a Youtube project. I was wondering if one can "force" Google to display a video on an organic SERP that originally did not include any videos at all? Thanks for thoughts!
Image & Video Optimization | | Valdo22220 -
Google Places, Google+ Local, or both?
I understand that Google is in the process of merging Google Places into Google+ Local, but the current state is very confusing. There are still two separate signup pages, and neither even MENTIONS the other. If someone is establishing a business web presence today, what should we set up?
Image & Video Optimization | | LunaGraphica0 -
Sat in a York Based Office but I get a Google Lincoln local listing :-(
Buongiorno from 27 degrees C Wetherby UK 🙂 Imagine this scenario... I'm sat in a York Based HQ law office and Google term Langleys and the Local listing is for Lincoln is rendered 😞 The lincoln office is the smaller sister site 75 miles south of where I'm sitting as illustrated here appears (this is wrong) -
Image & Video Optimization | | Nightwing
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/langleys-local-listing-jinxcopy_zps26e3492a.jpg I then do the same thing in a wetherby based office and get the York based local listing appears. So my question is please" what is influencing which local listing is rendered?" Confused,
David0 -
Internal pages targeted for local keywords
Hello, Simple question: how do you target local SEO with internal pages, where the home page may or may not be local?
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
How businesses get local citations without submitting them?
How do some businesses get listed in directories like YellowBook, SuperPages, MerchantCircle, etc. without submitting their information. For example, my dad's company listed themselves in YellowPages and Google Places years ago, but also show up in the ones listed above without having submitted the information to them or having paid anyone else to do it...
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
A lot of local SEO questions from a newbie...
I've been doing basic SEO for customers for quite awhile now in terms of on-page stuff, but am starting to move into the arena of local SEO services and had a few questions that I hoped you guys could help with. 1. What services besides Google+ Local do you list customers websites in, such as Yahoo or Bing Local? 2. When creating accounts at the services listed question #1, do you have to verify the phone number that's listed with the business owner or is there any extra type of verification needed? How do you deal with getting all that verified for the company? 3. Do you create all these listings at Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. from the same account? 4. Does anyone know of a list of the top 50 places to get local citations such as Yelp or YellowPages? 5. When creating citations do you normally have to verify the phone number or address that you list and how do you deal with that with business owners? 6. Do you use the same accounts to create all the local citations or are different ones required for each listing? 7. What companies would you recommend that handle all the above for you, such as a setting up accounts at Google, Yahoo, and Bing - and then also creating around 50 citations for you? Of course all the login information would also need to be provided for everything they create. Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I look forward to hearing back from all of you!
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
Local listing sites - are they better than directories and is there a list?
Do you guys know of any local listing sites that are better quality than general directories that still give you a link back. I know a lot of them for local citations, but I'm wondering if there is a list somewhere of ones that include a link. Thanks.
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Backlinks & local search?
I'm aware that local search is mostly based on citations, and how well your Google places page is optimized, and the landing pages are optimized. But I was wondering if anyone could tell me if backlinks have any relevance in the local search results? And if they do, how much would you say the impact the local search results? could you estimate a % of total value? Also if they do, does it help to have backlinks that point at your places page urls? or should the backlinks just point at your places page landing pages?
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg0