Newsletter #23

Whitespark Local Insider

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderJanuary 2017

Join Whitespark at MozCon Local and immerse yourself in two days of intense local search learning.On Day 1, Darren will be presenting the 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey Results. You can also join him in the "Competitive Analysis" and "What We're Watching"sessions at the Local U Advanced workshops.Day 2 is a full-day of incredible speakers who will help you take your local search marketing to the next level with tips and tricks on content creation, growing your reviews, website optimization, PR and outreach, implementing analytics and more. Darren will also be presenting The New Local Search Ecosystems and Citations that Matter in 2017.Don't forget to come and say hi at our partner hub, we love meeting fellow marketers and Whitespark subscribers!Cheers,Team Whitespark

Win a Ticket to MozCon Local!

Whitespark wants to send you to MozCon Local in Seattle on February 27 & 28. You'll also get a one-on-one 30 minute consultation with Darren after all of the talks on Day 2. Bring all your Local SEO questions while they are top of mind and discuss any current local search issues you may be experiencing. Enter our sweepstakes for your chance to win. Contest ends January 31 at 11:59 pm GMT.

From the Blog

New Pricing for our Citation Audit & Cleanup ServiceWe’ve recently reworked the pricing structure for our Citation Audit & Cleanup service making it more flexible for businesses, and breaking down the Top Citation Sources into tiers based on the importance of each source. With this reworking, we've also updated the Top Citation Sources for the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.

Learn more about why we've broken down the Top 50 list and how the new pricing is structured for our Citation Audit & Cleanup Service.

Local Citation Finder Improvements: Verify Your Citations and Narrow Your Search AreaWe’ve revamped the design of the Local Citation Finder and added new features to help you get even more functionality out of the tool.

Key Updates to Note: New feature, Citation Verifier (beta) that confirms the presence of a citation in search results for a business search and when setting up a project. Zip or Postal Code search function to find citation sources within a specific geographical area of a city or neighbourhood. We have also made some updates to the design and user interface.Read more about these updates.

Around The Web

Breakdown of Page 1 of Google’s Local Organic Search Results: Who Dominates?

Phil Rozek and Sydney Marchuk studied 500 local markets - 500 first-pages of local search results (city + keyword searches) in order to breakdown local SERP results. From directories, to business websites, to news results, see who is dominating.

Video: Local Search Ranking Factor Survey Interview with David Mihm & Darren Shaw

In anticipation of Darren's keynote, Local U interviewed him and David Mihm about the past, present and future of the Ranking Factor Study.

Essential Voice Search Strategies for 2017

Voice search is on the rise, are you prepared? Sherry Bonelli discusses the impact voice search will have on local businesses, and how small changes can help small businesses be more successful in a voice search world.

Google Releases GMB API 3.2 With Insights

Google has updated the Google GMB API to version 3.2 providing full access to 18 months of Insights data. The calls include values for how customers find your listing, where customers find you on Google, customer actions, and driving direction requests.

Should You Copy and Paste Your Online Reviews onto Your Site?

You've worked so hard for your reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook and other sites, your website visitors want to see them. You may have refrained from putting them on your site because of one fear or another, but Phil Rozek has 8 reasons why you should.

The Importance of Local Authenticity

Consumers choose to support businesses that they know and trust. As a local business owner there are many ways in which you can cultivate a strong image within your local community to foster trust. In this article Brian Smith shares some tips on how to provide your customers with local authenticity.