Greg Gifford is a prominent local SEO and strategy expert, currently serving as the Director of Search and Social at AutoRevo. I recently asked Greg a few questions about local search, discussing strategy, his recommended tools, and how it can vary for businesses with multiple locations.
Greg is scheduled to speak at the upcoming SEJ Summit in Dallas on March 31st. The conference ticket cost is sponsored by Searchmetrics.
Searchmetrics offers enterprise SEO and content marketing analysis, recommendations, forecasting, and reporting to help companies get found faster by potential customers.
Want to attend? There are still a few spots open. If you’re in the Greater DFW/Houston area and want to learn from Greg and other influential speakers, sign up for an invite now. If you’re not in the Dallas area, don’t worry! The SEJ Summit will also take place in five other locations this year: Chicago, London, NYC, Miami, and San Francisco.
Even if you can’t attend the Dallas event, you can still learn something valuable. Below are Greg’s tips about local search:
1. Your SEJ Summit session is about enterprise local search. Can you tell us three takeaways audience members will be able to bring home from your session?
I’ll be discussing three critical areas of local search where most enterprise businesses face challenges. These are also the three most crucial signals in Local Search, according to the annual Local Search Ranking Factor study.
- Site Content: I’ll explain how enterprise businesses need more local content on their websites and how to optimize site elements to deliver better local relevancy.
- Links: I’ll discuss the importance of getting more links to local content pages and how enterprise businesses need to acquire more links from smaller local websites.
- Citations: I’ll cover how citations influence local rankings and highlight areas where enterprise businesses often fall short.
2. Do you think businesses need to pay for advertising (on Yelp, for example) to get more visibility in local results? Or is it possible organically?
Increased local visibility is definitely achievable organically. We’ve seen it repeatedly and have done it for businesses nationwide. Although scaling local content, links, citations, reviews, and social content is more challenging for enterprise businesses, it’s still the best route for visibility.
Depending on the vertical, potential customers often bypass large sites in favor of high-ranking local ones. Additionally, appearing in the map pack, the carousel, or the new three-pack is always the best way to attract more attention.
3. What is the top mistake you see businesses making when it comes to local search strategy for multiple locations?
The most significant mistake is the lack of local content on the site. As businesses add more locations, they tend to reduce the quality of local content. After the Pigeon update last summer, on-site content has become more critical than ever.
Businesses need to figure out how to add more unique and useful local content to their location pages and websites in general. There’s no substitute for this—it’s the reality of the new local landscape.
4. How is local search strategy different between enterprise and small businesses?
The basics of Local Search are the same, but the difference lies in scale. Enterprise businesses usually have one large site with a single page for each location, while small businesses usually have a website dedicated to a single location in a specific city, providing more local relevancy due to more local content.
Small businesses can also make quick decisions and changes to their sites. In contrast, enterprise businesses often involve multiple departments for site changes, extending turnaround times.
5. Can you recommend any free or paid tools for marketers wanting to increase their local search strategy presence?
Moz Local is an excellent free tool for a top-level view of major citation sources for any local business. For advanced citation work, I’d recommend Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder or BrightLocal. BrightLocal also offers valuable Local SEO tools to gain insight into local visibility and analyze competitors.
Using a link analysis tool is also essential. Therefore, Open Site Explorer, Majestic, and ahrefs are vital. SEMrush is great for keyword research and competitor analysis, especially for businesses engaged in PPC. Keeping updated with the latest in local SEO is also crucial, so following local columns in industry publications and blogs is recommended.
Thanks for the SEJ mention and your thoughtful insight, Greg!
Have your local SEO efforts been successful? Let us know in the comments!
Remember, you can still see Greg speak! Spots are still open for our upcoming SEJ Summit in Dallas on March 31st. The SEJ Summit will also be held in Chicago, London, NYC, Miami, and San Francisco later this year.
