Since 2004, Google has been prioritizing searches based on local results and stressing that businesses optimize for a local presence. The idea is to connect small Mom and Pop shops, medium-sized chains, and websites that cater to the local customer with users who have a high intent to purchase.
It’s no wonder that a simple search for Local SEO brings up many checklists that provide valuable information, including relevant guides.
However, enterprise companies that target a large audience pose a challenge in optimizing for local searches. Sites like those that list activities, restaurants, and things to do in specific cities show that enterprise sites can properly optimize for local searches.
The key is using the right signals, adding off-site optimization for local, and developing content that makes sense based on user intent.
Authoritative Document Identification Patent
In December of 2004, Google filed the Patent for Authoritative Document Identification that kicked off their focus on providing local searches with quality local content. The abstract states:
“A system determines documents that are associated with a location, identifies a group of signals associated with each of the documents, and determines authoritativeness of the documents for the location based on the signals.”
The patent uses four main signals that determine a location for a business:
- The page is associated with a physical address and a legitimate phone number.
- The H1 matches the business name.
- The URL contains the name of the business.
- The page has many links pointing to it from other pages or websites that mention the location or the business name.
In 2005, Google announced their Maps feature with a launch to mobile later in the year. The goal was to continue to push for local results, forcing websites to optimize for searches around countries, provinces, states, and cities.
In 2008, I optimized a website to save the breakfast sandwich at Starbucks using the four signals from a database of cities for people looking for Starbucks in their city. The website was so successful that it was named in a notable book.
A few years later, while working at a car sales website, I discovered that the location-specific section dropped considerably with Google’s Panda and Penguin updates. Pages were developed for local searches like "used cars in…” plus each city. Each page included the four signals: addresses and phone numbers of car dealers with mentions of "used cars in…” plus city. The project contributed to over 60% of the revenue for the business from SEO by the time my two years there were up.
Merging Search Results Patent
In March 2013, Google’s Merging Search Results patent was approved and applied in full effect, forcing many sites to reconsider their local SEO strategy. The abstract states:
“Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for merging search results. In one aspect, a method combines search results responsive to a query that are obtained from a local search engine and a universal search engine such that the combined search results are ordered and presented in a way that emphasizes certain business entities in the results.”
With the authority results, the pages associated with the business entity in a local result will include the general and local page in local results. The authority page of the business is the homepage of the business. If an authority page ranks highly in both web results and local search results, that URL may be merged so that it only appears one time in the search result as a local listing.
For example, a project I developed while at a major retailer, a user searching for the retailer in a city will see the local store page as the authority page in the search results and connect to the results in the local pack rather than the homepage of the retailer.
Since the release of the patent, users are accessing search on their mobile devices. Google has placed an emphasis on more signals around “near me” and for general queries like “restaurants” or “shopping,” assuming that users are expecting local results. Claiming your business page on various platforms to add local link signals to your webpage is becoming increasingly important.
Services like Yext Local SEO and SweetIQ: Local Marketing Hub can:
- Manage local pages.
- Provide an interface to monitor and respond to reviews.
- Push information out to location sites.
The Enterprise Local SEO Checklist for 2019
- Establish authoritative pages for each location.
- H1 should include the location name with the business name (or topic).
- Content on pages should include addresses and phone numbers where possible.
- Local Schema around the local information
- URLs should contain location and business name (where applicable).
- Services like Yext or SweetIQ will provide local signals from other authoritative pages with inbound links to pages.
- Maps on pages with pin to the address.
- Unique content from:
- Customer reviews.
- Location-specific products and/or services.
- Links to nearby location pages.
- Hours of operation.
- Any events happening at the location.
- Location description.
- Images of location (better if location is mentioned in the text and alt text on the image).
- Subpages with additional information.
- Internal links pointing to pages where mentions make sense.
Targeting ranking for local SEO can prove to be extremely successful for an enterprise company. Enterprises leading the omnichannel experience with the latest technologies, like a project I started in 2018, have the potential to drive significant revenue.
If your enterprise site doesn’t have a solid local SEO strategy, it’s time to start.
More Resources:
- A Guide to Local SEO for Large Enterprises
- How to Build Authority in Local SEO
- 9 Essential Local SEO & Listings Management Tools
