Improve Local SEO?.. backlinks are useless

[Piscola]

Hello warriors,

A few months now i have been working in Local SEO for 2 business right know let say bussines A and business B, for A and B i have been trying to rank for 2 keywords for each business.

For A keyword 1 has no google maps in search results
For A keyword 2 has results in google maps

For B keyword 1 has no google maps in search results
For B keyword 2 has results in google maps

In both cases A and B i have ranked on the first page for keyword 1, with ni problem with standard onpage seo and social bookmarking and backlink creation.

On ther other hand i have made the same procedure for keyword 2 in A and B and the site does not move to page 1 , in the both cases it remain static in the second page, with 0 fluctuations. I have been creating more high pr backlinks , but with no changes what so ever.

So obviously the google maps in the search results have been affecting my SERP i have created local listings for A and B but noting has improved, so what can i do to improve my SEO in A and B for keyword 2..... i mean not local listing in google maps, i mean just the website on first page.

Need your opinion in this, thanks for the input.

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by Piscola

I have been creating more high pr backlinks , but with no changes what so ever.

So obviously the google maps in the search results have been affecting my SERP i have created local listings for A and B but noting has improved,

It doesn't follow. I doubt very much that whether or not Google maps are included in the search results for a given term has any effect on how the rankings for that term are calculated. I have no doubt that they are calculated based on backlinks.

Each keyword has its own competitiveness level. Rather than talk about the number of links, let's say that any site has a link score that contributes to your rankings for a keyword (that somehow combines link juice with relevance). Suppose the top sites ranking for a term are named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J. Suppose you own sites D and J. So suppose the links cores for one of your terms initially were:

A 1000
B 900
C 800
D 700
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 300
I 200
J 100

so you added 50 link score points for D and the same amount of J and now you get:

A 1000
B 900
C 800
D 750
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 300
I 200
J 150

and you are wondering: why has nothing changed? Do backlinks not work? The answer is: they worked for the other term because for that term the scores were different. No two SEO situations are ever the same. It may have been like this:

A 1000
B 900
C 720
D 700
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 120
I 110
J 100

and when you added 50 link points for each of your sites you got:

A 1000
B 900
D 750
C 720
E 600
F 500
G 400
J 150
H 120
I 110

So in this case the SERPs moved, but not in the other.

[tanay46]

Why don't you just try to appear in the google map results for those terms? Your clients will get more traffic from a google map listing on the front page of those terms than being just regularly on the front page.

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by tanay46

Why don't you just try to appear in the google map results for those terms? Your clients will get more traffic from a google map listing on the front page of those terms than being just regularly on the front page.

Why don't you just try -- I assume your "just" implies "get into Maps instead of trying to rank"? But by appearing in Maps you only capture a local market. If you are pursuing a wider market, Maps are no substitute for normal rankings.

On Google Maps optimization, I recommend this thread:
Google Maps Optimization and Local SEO - SEO Chat

[Piscola]

Originally Posted by PhilipSEO

It doesn't follow. I doubt very much that whether or not Google maps are included in the search results for a given term has any effect on how the rankings for that term are calculated. I have no doubt that they are calculated based on backlinks.

Each keyword has its own competitiveness level. Rather than talk about the number of links, let's say that any site has a link score that contributes to your rankings for a keyword (that somehow combines link juice with relevance). Suppose the top sites ranking for a term are named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J. Suppose you own sites D and J. So suppose the links cores for one of your terms initially were:

A 1000
B 900
C 800
D 700
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 300
I 200
J 100

so you added 50 link score points for D and the same amount of J and now you get:

A 1000
B 900
C 800
D 750
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 300
I 200
J 150

and you are wondering: why has nothing changed? Do backlinks not work? The answer is: they worked for the other term because for that term the scores were different. No two SEO situations are ever the same. It may have been like this:

A 1000
B 900
C 720
D 700
E 600
F 500
G 400
H 120
I 110
J 100

and when you added 50 link points for each of your sites you got:

A 1000
B 900
D 750
C 720
E 600
F 500
G 400
J 150
H 120
I 110

So in this case the SERPs moved, but not in the other.

Thanks for this input, i totall agree with you is this point, but i must say that what is happening for keyword 2 is not a coincidence i think there is something more to be done.

Originally Posted by PhilipSEO

Why don't you just try -- I assume your "just" implies "get into Maps instead of trying to rank"? But by appearing in Maps you only capture a local market. If you are pursuing a wider market, Maps are no substitute for normal rankings.

On Google Maps optimization, I recommend this thread:
Google Maps Optimization and Local SEO - SEO Chat

Will take a look,thanks.

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by Piscola

Thanks for this input...
Will take a look,thanks.

You are very welcome, but that's what the Thanks button is for!

[Piscola]

Some additional info!

I use Ranktracker from SEO Powersuite to measure my SERP for keyword 2 in A so check this:



So i world wide Google i am second but for local country i am 14. Bakclinks where effective but not for Local SEO..to prove my point.

Another fact is that when i check this info (rank checker) in firefox or explorer, i got some local results without googlemaps where i am 4th but when i research it myself, google shows me the real results with google maps .. and then i go back to the 14th position....

Giving this new facts, there is definetly something more....

[Social-Media-Marketing]

Originally Posted by Piscola

Hello warriors,

A few months now i have been working in Local SEO for 2 business right know let say bussines A and business B, for A and B i have been trying to rank for 2 keywords for each business.

For A keyword 1 has no google maps in search results
For A keyword 2 has results in google maps

For B keyword 1 has no google maps in search results
For B keyword 2 has results in google maps

In both cases A and B i have ranked on the first page for keyword 1, with ni problem with standard onpage seo and social bookmarking and backlink creation.

On ther other hand i have made the same procedure for keyword 2 in A and B and the site does not move to page 1 , in the both cases it remain static in the second page, with 0 fluctuations. I have been creating more high pr backlinks , but with no changes what so ever.

So obviously the google maps in the search results have been affecting my SERP i have created local listings for A and B but noting has improved, so what can i do to improve my SEO in A and B for keyword 2..... i mean not local listing in google maps, i mean just the website on first page.

Need your opinion in this, thanks for the input.

Getting a site/URL to show up in the local listings (3pack, 7pack, 10pack with a Google map of the area) is TOTALLY different than ranking in the normal organic SERPs. You cannot use the same technique for both.

First of all, not every keyword phrase is going to have local listings like the typical 7pack next to a map. These are typically displayed when someone searches for some service in some city... like "dentists charlotte, nc". If I search for "toilet paper charlotte nc" I'm not going to get a local listing even though there are local companies who sell toilet paper on a wholesale basis. Local listings show up primarily for services in an area - dentists, restauraunts, etc.

Ranking well for local listings requires the site to claim its URL. The web site needs to have their local street address displayed prominently on the home page. And then you want to build links from other sites where you ALSO display the address of your company. A lot of people do this by setting up profiles for your company on other sites since profiles often have a place to display the name and street address of your company. The more confirmations that Google finds on pages on other sites that contain your street address linking to your site, the more likely it becomes that you will show up in a local listing.

So it's not just back links... but back links from pages on other sites where your company's street address is displayed and matches the street address you entered at Google and display on your home page.

Go to Google and search for "ranking in local listings" and do some research on how to do it.

[John Hocking]

Check out this article

Local Search Ranking Factors | Google & Yahoo Local SEO Best Practices

[JackPowers]

Originally Posted by Piscola

Some additional info!

I use Ranktracker from SEO Powersuite to measure my SERP for keyword 2 in A so check this:



So i world wide Google i am second but for local country i am 14. Bakclinks where effective but not for Local SEO..to prove my point.

Another fact is that when i check this info (rank checker) in firefox or explorer, i got some local results without googlemaps where i am 4th but when i research it myself, google shows me the real results with google maps .. and then i go back to the 14th position....

Giving this new facts, there is definetly something more....

Are the sites in the same language?

What I mean is, if your site is in English, then it's very possible to rank well in .com, but not in .cl where the language is Spanish (I presume?).

[Piscola]

Originally Posted by JackPowers

Are the sites in the same language?

What I mean is, if your site is in English, then it's very possible to rank well in .com, but not in .cl where the language is Spanish (I presume?).

Both sites A and B are in spanish with extension.cl

[tanay46]

Originally Posted by PhilipSEO

Why don't you just try -- I assume your "just" implies "get into Maps instead of trying to rank"? But by appearing in Maps you only capture a local market. If you are pursuing a wider market, Maps are no substitute for normal rankings.

I might be wrong, but the OP wants to rank for certain keywords for which Google Maps listings appear. They would appear to anyone who searches for that keyword, from wherever they search. So for the keyword the OP is trying to rank for, maps are probably the best option, since they will always show up. Eg: Google something like attorney new york. Wouldn't it be better to rank in the map results than the results below them?