5 Ways to Dominate Local SEO

 If you are not optimizing your business locally, chances are you are missing out on exposure while your competition scores customers. As smart phones continue to play a larger role in our mission to search for local businesses, it is less likely that we will be cracking open our Yellow Page directories. With that being said, local search engine optimization should be an important piece of any company’s marketing strategy.

Tandem Interactive has a few tips to get you started:     

1. Get Your Google My Business Page Created and Build it Out - You may think customers don’t run to Google+ for local business information; however, when searching for a specific business or service, this is often what results on a SERP (search engine result page). You want to keep your Google My Business page updated with correct contact information and posts about what is going on in your industry. Also, acquire reviews! These are not easy to come by, but if you can get them - the more visible your company will become.  

2. Create Your NAP and Stick With It - Your Name, Address, and Phone number identify your business and should be as consistent as possible. Each mention (known as a “citation”) on a local directory or website, is a feather in your business’ cap, as long as it is a relevant directory or site.

3. Good or Bad…Respond to Reviews - Consumers respond to both great customer service and businesses that are proactive about negative feedback. If a customer leaves a positive review, thank them for their support. If a customer is unhappy about your services, publicly apologize and try to rectify the issue, it could lead them to gain respect for your company.

4. Be Mobile-Friendly - Again, customers are likely searching for your business on their mobile devices, you don’t want to scare them away with an ill-equipped site.

5. Acquire Local Citations - The more accurate citations you have on other websites and local directories, the better your local search engine rankings will be. Use a local citation finder to optimize your efforts.   

Whoop Whoop! New Changes to AdWords

In the digital marketing industry, marketers understand that our space is always changing. With an awesome partner like Google, the innovation and design made to enhance search results and to help consumers find what they are looking for has endless possibilities.

Those familiar with AdWords knows that Google is always updating their system based on complaints and rolling out new features to help with better reporting – better reports mean better understanding of your demographic, which will allow you to serve better ads and HOPEFULLY result in more sales.

Here is a breakdown and explanation of the new features introduced by Google AdWords in the past 5 weeks.

Dynamic Sitelinks.

If you have seen ‘really long sitelinks’ appearing in your PPC ads that you didn’t create, DON’T PANIC! Dynamic Sitelinks, similar to traditional sitelinks, are pages within your site that you enable to show in addition to your PPC ads. When a search query is performed, Google will match your websites content to the search and link directly to the page. These dynamic sitelinks are not only relevant, but include many more characters than traditional sitelinks – consuming more real estate and therefore improving your chances of clicks and conversions.

You do not need to sign up for Dynamic Sitelinks, Google will automatically enable the feature when their algorithm believes it is a relevant fit.

True View Shopping.

If your company is currently participating in YouTube video ads and are an E-Commerce store get ready for YouTube’s newest roll out. In addition to showing a video ad on YouTube you now have the ability to feature your product as a Product Listing Ad within the video so your customer can purchase!

What this means is if you have a video running on “Best Make Tips for Contouring” by Sephora, Sephora now has the capability to showcase every item they are using in the video with a “Buy It Now” option in the corner.

Wayfair was among several companies that trialed the feature and showed 3x revenue increase per impression compared to their previous campaign; other companies have seen brand lifts as high as +80% and +54% in ad recall.

Enhanced MCC Reporting.

For agencies that manage multiple accounts, or franchises that monitor multiple locations within one MCC, your complaints have been heard! Google AdWords has recently released enhanced MCC Reporting that will allow high-level access and reports for up to 20 accounts.

Some of the formatting that has been enabled in this new reporting system are: columns, segmentation, and filter application. You are also able to make bulk edits to budgets and activating/pausing campaigns.