Author: Semantic Mastery

Local SEO Training – http://semanticmastery.com – Semantic Mastery

1. How does Local SEO differ from national or even international SEO?

Local SEO is optimizing for search queries and terms with local intent. Generally these types of searches are performed when someone is searching for a local business. For example, take out Chinese food, or plumbing contractor. Most people will also include the city name, known as the geographic modifier, to the query but that isn’t always the case. And Google has gotten really good at determining where the search is being performed, either through your IP location or, in the case of mobile devices, where you’re physically located at the time of the search. This is different than national or global SEO since the searches have a different intent.

2. What are some things you can do with Local SEO that you can’t do or won’t work in National SEO?

There are many sections to a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) depending on the search term. When it comes to local searches, there are 3 main sections: Ads, Organic, and Maps (with the occasional Carousel that appears at the top of the page commonly seen when searching for restaurants) The ads (A.K.A. AdWords) appear first, then usually 1 — 3 organic listings, and then the maps, followed by the remaining organic listings.

With local, you want to optimize to be placed in the maps listings. You know, the results with pins next to them, usually in a “7 Pack” and lettered A — G. Obviously you need a physical location to be ranked in the maps section.

Interestingly, when you search from a mobile device, the maps listings usually come up right after the ads with maybe an occasional single organic listing between them. This is important since more than 50% of searches are now done on mobile devices. This is why the best place to be is the maps section if you’re a local business.

Something else that’s unique to local SEO is citations. Citations are places where a business can list their NAP or Name, Address, & Phone Number. This includes local and national business directories as well as industry or niche specific directories. These citations are one of the primary ranking factors for maps listings. Some of the better known citation sources would be Yelp, Yellowpages, Angie’s List, etc.

3. Would you say local SEO is somehow easier?

It’s different. Similar, but still has its own challenges. In a way I would say yes, it can be easier but that truly depends on the market. Some industries are incredibly competitive even on a local level. For example, attorneys. They spend big bucks to be ranked at the top for their respective cities. But generally speaking, you can expect to see results from a local SEO campaign long before you’d see any for a national SEO campaign.

4. How can Semantic Mastery help SEO agents do local SEO better?

We provide training for all types of SEO including social and local optimization. Since I got my start in local and still much of my business is in the local realm, I stay on top of what works. We have methods that we use that can actually “blanket” a SERP with a client’s listings. Not just their website, but also their citations, YT videos, Hangouts, web 2.0’s, and social profiles like FB pages and LinkedIn company Pages. In our training, we show how to do this for clients for total market domination. It really is very powerful.

And with the new semantic web, there are ways to markup content using semantic markup such as Schema.org and RDFa that can really help a business to rank. These are some of the many things we cover in the member’s training.

To see all of our How To SEO training Q & A Hangouts, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1oO3mUVEcfrZXPVXbGZGXEb2h3YSWyNp

For more SEO training just like this, visit our site at: http://semanticmastery.com

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