If you asked me a year ago what the biggest letdown in the local search industry was, I would have answered without hesitation…tools. There are PPC tools, SEO tools, Social Media tools, and even construction tools, but local search seemed to be the odd one out.
That being said, local search gained more popularity over the past year, and several cool tools made their way into the space. Especially since the Oct 27th Algoween Update, there’s been a lot more coming. Here is a current list of local search tools that I simply can’t live without.
Citation Building/Tracking
1. WhiteSpark Local Citation Finder
This powerful tool queries Google for citation sources (business name, address, and phone number mentions) across deep Google search results and a list of competitors. You can even store your searches and check off citations as you build them.
2. SeOverflow Local Search Tool Kit
The Local Search Tool Kit dives into Places Page data to provide the exact citations that your competitors have, review counts, and a lot of other comparative data across the top 7 listings. It’s a great way to see the citation list that has definitely been recognized by Google as a trust source. This tool is fantastic for checking out competitors on key phrases.
3. Customized Google Search
While not a tool you would expect, search results give you a great citation source for tracking your business data. You can see what citation sources have been indexed in Google (and which ones are the most authoritative) by doing a custom NAP search using parenthesis and plus signs. (Side note: Parenthesis and Plus Signs would make an awesome band name if anyone is looking).
Review Monitoring and Posting
4. MyReviewsPage.com
Monitor the reviews being left about your client/company on major review engines. While Google can scrape most of them, you can see it before they do. Email updates and an easy user interface, plus a WordPress plugin. Doesn’t get much better for SMB reputation management.
5. Getlisted.org
David Mihm’s Getlisted.org has been a significant tool in local search. Beyond just an application, it has become a conference series for training SMBs across the US. Getlisted.org’s tool will walk a person through the entire listing process from claiming major profiles on Google, Bing, Yahoo, to monitoring reviews left about the company. This is a great one-stop-shop for a local business looking to get started in local search. Just make sure you attend a Local University Event while you’re at it.
6. ReviewBiz
This tool from BrightLocal makes navigation to multiple places for customers to leave reviews a breeze. Simply choose the review sites you want your dropdown button to include, and set it to display your business page. BrightLocal has a suite of tools coming out over the coming months, and they are going to be a company to watch in the local search tool space. Great ideas and great design—a deadly combination.
GEO-Tagging Tools
7. Geo Sitemap and KML Generator
Keyhole Markup Language is the way to speak local to search engines, and nothing builds trust like KML data. Couple that with a geo-sitemap pointing to the file, and you can direct search engines to your exact location and build major trust and prominence. While coding this yourself would be a nightmare, this tool offers a very easy three-step process.
8. Panoramio
Geo-tagged images will continue to be a growing user-generated field of local search, and Google currently scrapes Panoramio pictures for Places profiles.
Google Places and Maps Tracking Tools
9. MapTracker
This tool tracks Map rankings up to 70 positions deep. You can track generic keywords based on location or location + generic words. Designed for search marketers, it provides quick email reports of ranking movement daily, weekly, or monthly. The dashboard offers a quick overview of your average ranking position and how many keywords are in the top 7 listings. It is free, and I am proud of this first attempt at tool building.
10. AuthorityLabs
AuthorityLabs is the best quick-access, at-a-glance SEO Keyword Rank Tracking system I know of. It works perfectly for taking a daily look across a large number of domains. While it doesn’t go too deep into local search rankings, it will display a map symbol on keywords that bring up a 7-pack, and also give you the local pin letter position you are in. While I would like to see this tool expand for more local search information, it is a great start and a tool that I use frequently.
I would also like to mention that a few other rank tracking tools are on the way, though they are not yet ready to be mentioned. So stay tuned and keep pushing tool developers to continue creating local tools.
