Categories ArchivesLocal Search

Why charities need to manage the online presence of their shops image

Understandably, charities have limited marketing budgets and need to maximise return on investment. Investing time and money to manage the online presence of a charity shop may seem unnecessary, but in reality, it is essential, not only to meet the changing habits of consumers but also as a means of driving footfall and growing brand awareness. Firstly, a bit about “local search” – When people search for “charity shop”, the results will appear in Google Places or Google Maps! How and where you appear is influenced more by your physical address than your website. In all likelihood, your shops will already be listed, but are they correct and are they performing to their full potential?     So what? Surely ...

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Why Franchises Need a Centralised Local Search Strategy image

Most Franchises are local businesses, so having a local on-line strategy is incredibly important. However, getting franchisees to implement and manage their own local online strategy is inefficient and will result in performance issues and brand inconsistencies, which frustrates the franchisees and compromises the brand.  It also creates significant complications if franchisees leave the network. We talk to many franchises about the benefits of local presence management. Many of them say “thanks for the advice, but we’ll get our franchisees to do this!”, but invariably the franchisees don’t do it, and as a result, the franchise loses as a whole. It is in both the franchisor’s and franchisee’s interest to manage all local digital assets centrally. A centrally administered local ...

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The Myth of Instantly Updating Listings Everywhere image

Some local listing services claim they can update every listing site instantly. This is not true and nor is it necessary, and here is why… Some facts about updating local listings: An effective local search strategy requires consistent NAP listings in local listings and local citation sites. There are hundreds of local listing sites, which work in different ways and at different speeds.   Very loosely, we group these into two types of sites:  On-Grid and Off-Grid. “On-Grid” sites pay to receive regular listing updates via a distributor such as Thomson.local or CentralIndex. However, very few On-Grid sites will update their data instantly, instead, they can take up to 6 weeks before a change takes effect.  Coupled with this, distributors don’t ...

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Concession Stores – Multiple brands listed at the same Address – Threat or Opportunity in Local Search? image

A growing number of brands are listing themselves as a concession store in a department store such as John Lewis, Debenhams, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Selfridges. Listing multiple concession brands at a department store’s address presents an opportunity and a threat in local search. An address is an asset in local search – so if you can list your brand at a legitimate business address it is more likely to appear in local search results.  However, the NAP (Name, Address and Phone number) must to be consistently listed in local listing sites and citations. The Opportunity – multiple brands (when set-up correctly) can be listed at the same address with different web links, presenting a rich local search profile and ...

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Why OFCOM changes to 08 numbers affects Local Search image

(Is your NAP Mobile Friendly?) On 1st July 2015 Ofcom enforced “The biggest change to telephone calls in years, affecting 175m phone numbers”. The good news is that mobile phones calls to 0800 numbers are now FREE, instead of the exorbitant costs that Telco’s have charged previously. The bad news is that mobile calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers could increase! What has 08 numbers got to do with local search? MiShop.local conducted a survey in 2014 to find out what people are looking for when they search for a local business. In the survey, 78% of people said they were looking for a telephone number to call. 50% said they use “click to call”, but less than 10% said ...

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Local Citation Building – Quality or Quantity? standard

We often get asked; which is better a few high quality citations or lots of citations, particularly as many local citation sites seem to be of low value? Our answer is “it depends on whether you are building citation for a new premises or a business that has been at the same address for years. Here’s why: Your NAP details may already be listed in multiple local listing sites (local citations), but if you are an established business are they correct? low value’ local citation site can actually perform very well in local search and are good for new businesses. 1. Your NAP details may be listed already Due to the way that the local directory ecosystem works, your branch address data will eventually ...

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The 7 Cs of Local Listing Optimisation – Part 2 image

The 7 Cs of Local Listing Optimisation is a simple structured approach to claim and manage local listings sites whether it is one location or thousands. It outlines the key components of local search, whilst providing a framework in which to prepare and manage the process. The 7 Cs of LLO: 1. Consistent NAP 2. Categories 3. Citations 4. Content 5. Coordinate & Control 6. Customer Reviews 7. Continue You can find more details on 1-4 here. Here we will address Customer Reviews, Coordinating & Control and Continue. 5. Coordinate & Control: Coordinate with key stake holders. In companies with a large local presence, it is often the case that the people responsible for local listings are different to the ...

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Old brands have bigger problems in local search then new ones standard

We’ve been performing local listing optimisation and local citation building for more than 5 years. In doing so, we’ve noticed that businesses that have been at the same address for years don’t tend to perform as well in local search as a newly opened businesses. Why is this? Why should a business that has been at the same address for years perform less well in local search compared to one that has just opened? The answer is simple; A legacy of uncontrolled NAP data! When we do a listing audit for clients, we look for consistency in Name, Address, Phone Number and Categories in multiple local listing sites. Ideally the NAP should be the same on all listings. A newly ...

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The 7 Cs of Local Listing Optimisation – Part 1 image

The 7 Cs of Local Listing Optimisation is a simple structured approach to claim and manage local listings sites whether it is one location or thousands. It outlines the key components of local search, whilst providing a framework in which to prepare and manage the process. The 7 Cs of LLO: 1. Consistent NAP 2. Categories 3. Citations 4. Content 5. Customer Reviews 6. Coordinate & Control 7. Continue This blog will address the first 4 and next week we will complete the 7 with Customer reviews, Coordinate & Control and Continue. 1. Consistent NAP NAP is king! Ensure your branch Name Address and Phone number are consistently listed across all local listing sites and that they map to NAP ...

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Why big brands have problems in local search image

Big brands that have had the same high street address for years are at a disadvantage in local search compared to new businesses that are opening around them. How can this be? Local Citation building is integral to an effective local search strategy; and core to that is consistent Name, Address and Phone numbers listed in local listing sites. Established brands already have multiple local citations by virtue of the fact that they are probably listed in every directory and local listing site, so why should they not perform well? The simple answer is – lack of NAP control! Inconsistent NAP confuses search engines and customers, having a negative effect on your local search presence and even worse, giving customers ...

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