Local SEO in 2018: 12 Tips to Build Local Engagement

STAFF Angel Niñofranco 2.2K READS This year, local businesses need to step up their game to get online visibility. Competition in the local SERPs is getting more difficult and “your website doesn’t matter” anymore. Dana DiTomaso, President and Partner at Kick Point, recently spoke about local SEO in 2018 and beyond during PeepCon 3.0. DiTomaso explained why businesses need to focus more on optimizing for local search and how they can get better online visibility through local engagement tactics. This is a recap of DiTomaso’s PeepCon 3.0 presentation. Local SEO: Today & Beyond Local search is undergoing a few challenges, including review spam and listing spam. But Google is making steps to address them. “Spam is like whack-a-mole,” according to DiTomaso. “Spammers try new stuff, Google smacks it down.” To improve the quality of its listings, Google introduced the Local Guide program where people provide relevant information about local businesses to Google. When people search for businesses, visit their location and review them from your Android phone – all with your Location Services turned on, then Google knows where you’ve been. Most people only have one phone and searching for a business, going there, and reviewing it are all measures of local engagement taking place on mobile. What’s more, it’s hard to fake location data. Currently, local search comprises of about one-third engagement, one-third local data, and one-third traditional SEO. But in the future, DiTomaso said, engagement will become a more significant factor for local SEO – as it is the best way how Google can differentiate the quality of businesses. Google knows so much about people – from the topics you’re interested in and the videos you watched, to the places you went to, and the things you said. Through these bits of information, Google has a complete snapshot of...

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source https://andlocal.org/local-seo-in-2018-12-tips-to-build-local-engagement/