Local SEO - Pack of 7 | Warrior Forum - The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace

9 years ago

Do you have a verified Google + local business page? You need that if you're talking about the local pack of 7, I'm not sure if you have that from your above post.

Thanks
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bartstop

9 years ago

Yes I do. I should have mentioned that. I have 2 reviews, which is 2 more than most of my competition. It's 100% complete and I have my service area set to 30 miles from my address.

Thanks
2 replies

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Catalyst eMarketing

9 years ago

Often when you rank well in organic but not in the pack, it's due to violations or other problems with the local listing.

If you care to share the link to your G+ Local page I can take a look for you and let you know if there are any issues.

Thanks
1 reply

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Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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bartstop

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Catalyst eMarketing

Often when you rank well in organic but not in the pack, it's due to violations or other problems with the local listing.

If you care to share the link to your G+ Local page I can take a look for you and let you know if there are any issues.

https://plus.google.com/100406973423606873785/posts

Thanks

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alvinchua91

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bartstop

Yes I do. I should have mentioned that. I have 2 reviews, which is 2 more than most of my competition. It's 100% complete and I have my service area set to 30 miles from my address.

Ok, assuming you do not have too many competitors and your competition has almost no followers, engagement and reviews on their local Google Plus business page, then it shouldn't be too difficult to get it ranked.

Just focus on getting:
- Local citations (with same brand name, address, phone / contact number)
- Links from local and related websites back to your Google Plus page

That should be more than sufficient if the above assumptions hold true.

Thanks

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Synnuh

9 years ago

Be prepared to look it up.

Get citations.

Get local backlinks to your GMB page.

Get your site into the big local directories. Yelp, YP, Angies List the others

Geo tag your images on the GMB page, and put them on your site with the Geo meta data.

Keep your categories consistent (directories, G+, GMB, meta data), and add them into the meta info of your images.

Get more reviews. Beg, borrow, don't steal, but get more reviews.

Thanks

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Catalyst eMarketing

9 years ago

Thanks for the link.

I don't see any problems with the G+ Local page.

And you rank #1 for Electric contractor Eudora, KS and scored a One-Box, which is as good as you can get for Electrician Eudora, KS and Electric Service Eudora, KS

So your G+ Local page is ranking just fine in your city, which is all you can count on. Looks like you are targeting Kansas City but you likely won't be able to rank there no matter what you do.

So looks like you are in pretty good shape, but I only had time to take a quick peek so not a complete audit by any means.

Thanks
1 reply

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Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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bartstop

9 years ago

Yes, I'm good with the Eudora results but it's a small town with no competition on Google. I'm trying to get on the 7 pack for "electrician Lawrence KS", which much larger. There are several other cities within my service area but right now I'm concentrating on Lawrence.

Kansas City is VERY competitive.

I rank well (organic) for "electrician Gardner KS" but can't get on the local results. I don't know if my back links are killing me or something else is wrong?

Thanks
1 reply

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Catalyst eMarketing

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bartstop

Yes, I'm good with the Eudora results but it's a small town with no competition on Google. I'm trying to get on the 7 pack for "electrician Lawrence KS", which much larger. There are several other cities within my service area but right now I'm concentrating on Lawrence.

Kansas City is VERY competitive.

I rank well (organic) for "electrician Gardner KS" but can't get on the local results. I don't know if my back links are killing me or something else is wrong?

Well here's the thing - in organic you can rank in other cities sometimes but the 7 pack is LOCAL results and will pull the strongest listings right in that city. If there is not much competition it will sometimes list other cities.

"electrician Lawrence KS" - check that pack. All 7 have addresses in Lawrence.

"I rank well (organic) for "electrician Gardner KS" but can't get on the local results. I don't know if my back links are killing me or something else is wrong?"

No it's proximity. Again check that pack. Top are all Gardner then a couple at bottom are Olathe, but nothing as far as you are. PLUS if backlinks were killing you, you would not rank in organic.

Thanks
1 reply

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Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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bartstop

9 years ago

So proximity obviously carries a lot of weight in the algorithm.

I have discovered that anchor text plays a role too. Check this out. When Footbridge Media built the website, they didn't make a page for Gardner, KS. Once I took it over, I made the Gardner page and created a few backlinks with "Gardner Electrician" as the anchor text. So when I search for "Gardner Electrician" I'm number 3 in organic and number 2 in the pack.

Little did I know at the time, people tend to search for "electrician" followed by the city modifier. So, when I search for "electrician Gardner KS" I'm number 4 organic but nowhere to be found in the pack and not in the 14 results when you click on the map either. So, anchor text does make a difference.

Thanks
2 replies

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bartstop 9 years ago

Here's something else I wanted to throw out there. My page specific to Lawrence, it used to show up in search results. Now it's nowhere to be found. I think I may have over optimized my backlinks to it. Could that be hurting the rest of the pages on my site?
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Catalyst eMarketing

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bartstop

So proximity obviously carries a lot of weight in the algorithm.

I have discovered that anchor text plays a role too. Check this out. When Footbridge Media built the website, they didn't make a page for Gardner, KS. Once I took it over, I made the Gardner page and created a few backlinks with "Gardner Electrician" as the anchor text. So when I search for "Gardner Electrician" I'm number 3 in organic and number 2 in the pack.

Little did I know at the time, people tend to search for "electrician" followed by the city modifier. So, when I search for "electrician Gardner KS" I'm number 4 organic but nowhere to be found in the pack and not in the 14 results when you click on the map either. So, anchor text does make a difference.

Anchor text can also get you in trouble and cause a ranking penalty.

Plus back links and anchors aren't as much of a factor in local.

I would venture a guess that "electrician Gardner KS" is harder to rank for because that's what more of the electricians are optimizing for, knowing that's what consumers search for. Therefore it's more competitive.

Thanks

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Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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LogoDesignerz

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bartstop

I'm a small electrical contractor. It's just me and the wife. We don't have a lot of money to hire a professional SEO so I've been trying to do it myself. I have managed to get on the first page of organic results for a couple small towns around me but I'm really struggling to get on the pack of 7. What is google looking for? I know business directories play a big role but is there something else that I need to be doing? About a month ago we signed up for Yext but haven't seen any change in our rankings yet. What else can I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Dave

There is nothing to worry. Just keep doing the way by listing it in the business directories. You will start watching the results soon. You can also start adding your business with 2.0 properties sites.

Thanks
1 reply

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bartstop 9 years ago

I should probably explain this. The site was originally built by a company called footbridge media. I wasn't happy with how they treated us so I discontinued their service. They built the site with Word Press (didn't know that until recently). When they sent me the website files all the pages were static HTML. So, I was using Dreamweaver to make changes but I have recently switched it back to Word Press. All my back links were ".html" so I had to install a plugin called ".html on pages" so the links would work.

So with all that being said, keep in mind I'm an electrician not a professional webmaster. There may be some very basic things I'm overlooking. I just noticed the static HTML files had schema.org markup but the WP template doesn't. Will that make a big difference?

Somebody mentioned geo meta data. Should I also include a geo meta tag in the template?
- Thanks
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