Newsletter #18

Whitespark Local Insider

July 19, 2016

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderJuly 2016

At SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 21st

informed the Local SEO community about the 3-Pack becoming 1-Ad + 2-Pack (organic listings) in the not so distant future. 

Barry Schwartz of SEO Round Table did a great mock-up of what he imagines this could look like in the future,

:

Sadly while this news is upsetting, it's not completely shocking. Things got real last August when the local pack went from

7 to 3

. We also saw a dramatic change in ad displays with the removal of right-hand ads from desktop SERP results in February of this year.

With mobile search growing stronger and this movement to mobile-first and micro-moments, these changes to the local pack seem to support a stronger focus on mobile user experience and cross-channel/cross-device strategies. A quick glance at

supports this idea.

But let's also get real - Google is here to make money too (whether we like this or not). Finding a way to incorporate Local Ads in the Local Pack is also a strategic one on their part. As

(of

) has been saying, Google is making it a "Pay to Play" arena. There's no doubt that for SMB's it will be more costly and challenging to enter this kind of local pack structure. More ads may be needed to gain exposure, which may require a larger ad spend.

It's important to note that being in the local pack is not the be all and the end all. This should never be the main/only focus of a local SEO campaign, and if it is, you're too zoomed-in and it's time for big picture and next level thinking. Remember, there was a time when the local pack didn't exist and results were all local organic. We have seen the local pack go from from 0 to 10 to 7 to 3... 

In light of anticipated changes to the local pack, now is a great time to review your current local strategy. 

  • What are your goals? No seriously, and they can't just be to rank in the local pack.

  • Is your site mobile friendly yet? If not, get on this.

  • Is your site optimized for local (title tags, location pages, business name/address/phone number in footer or on your landing pages, have you added Schema markup).

  • How's your content? Do you provide answers to visitors question's about your services and products? Do you specialize in anything? (You know that term "content is king" was coined for a reason). 

  • Links, links, links. Link building, there's just no way around this, links are critical in local.

  • Reviews, you need them. Get them. Implement a strategy to get more. 

  • Are your citations accurate and complete? 

  • Ads - advertising can be an effective medium and it doesn't have to be through Google Adwords, there are a ton of channels available, you need to find the one that's the right fit for your business. 

Other great coverage on this emerging topic that we recommend you check out:

Cheers,

From Our Blog

Advertising with Google Adwords can be a mixed bag for small business owners. There’s tremendous potential for getting your products and services in front of targeted buyers, especially at a local level, but the options are overwhelming and it can be tricky to understand exactly what you’re getting for your money.

Google is quite content to have business owners fire up a campaign, set a daily budget, add a few keywords, and call it a day. You give them your budget, they give you some clicks… everyone’s happy. Right?

That’s what most small business Adwords campaigns amount to. It’s why they created Adwords Express after all, which simplifies the campaign creation process down to those very basic elements and removes all those pesky options. This is the easiest way to give Google your money, but all those pesky options are how savvy advertisers make the most of their campaigns.

You can do better. 

Click on the image above or this link and save $50 on your registration. 

Around The Web

The team at Local SEO Guide looked at over 100 factors across 30,000 different businesses to try and determine how local businesses can rank better in Google. You definitely want to see the results! 

If you're at an impasse with your current SEO campaign, then you've just won the lottery with this post from Brian Dean at Backlinko; 201, 100% actionable SEO tips.   

Joy Hawkins observes, "What are the differences between branded and non-branded local packs in Google, and how might ranking factors be weighted differently for each?" 

Nifty Marketing has developed a spreadsheet for competitor link analysis and it's free for the taking. Whether you're a newbie or at an intermediate level with your link earning skills, you may find this resource helpful. 

The Team at ahrefs have studied the correlations between on-page SEO factors with Google rankings across 2 Million random keyword searches and have found interesting takeaways (*correlation is not causation but there are some relevant recommendations in this article). 

One of the easiest ways to add Schema’s structured markup to a page is to use JSON-LD. Hall Analysis just made it even easier for you to generate your own code with this handy online tool.

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