Posts Tagged ten pack
Some SEO Keyword Goals – The Small SEO Victories
Posted by richard in Local Search Marketing, SEO on June 22nd, 2009
Wow, when you’re up to your elbows in chasing leads on the Internet every day, managing a team of 15 SEOs and site tuners, and marketing 150-plus client and in-house Web sites, it’s easy to go off on some tirades about the inconsistencies of search marketing, and, of course, the cheaters who keep kicking it up a notch.
But enough of that. This is the positive side of SEO. A couple places where you can declare small victories.
The AdWords Plus (+) Sign
This plus sign, or Plus Box, is a great way to make your ad stand out. In the home services industry it helps build trust when homeowners can really see that you have a physical location. To see it expanded, click on one of my competitors Plus Boxes.
But before that, I want to also point out the Baby Site Links — another small win — that helps to add depth and more interaction with the listing. Of course being listed in the Ten-Pack is great also, and for this it’s the mother site basementsystems.com that is ranking and not connecticutbasementsystems.com — this is actually due to some managerial issues with the Local Business Listing and the two companies working out of the same building. At this search we had made changes and are awaiting verification from Google.
I’ll say this: It can be a real problem for Google to get the Local Business Listing correct when more than one company shares the same building. Google seems to like to merge the info into a single listing with elements from each. Be careful here and use the appropriate Suite numbers (although, I still can’t say that this will clear up the listing). This is an element that I left out of “Local Business Ten Pack Hell” and will have to go back and update.
Having the three listings above the fold is a nice win for SEO though. The next that most are familiar with are the Site Links as shown below.
Google Site Links
Site links are like capturing the flag… you simply dominate the keyword query. We also manage quality1stbasementsystems.com as well.
This next one, the SERP search box, is pretty much the Holy Grail of SERP domination, but I’ve only seen it for a brand search.
SERP Search Box
Rotten Tomatoes uses the on-site Google search and I’m not sure if that has anything to do with the SERP result or not. Hasn’t worked with the paid un-logo’d version of the on-site Google search box, but it could be that our site isn’t large enough or doesn’t have the strong brand.
If someone knows, please give me a heads up so I don’t have to waste my time tinkering with this.
Why Search Engines are Pushing More Traffic to Directories
Posted by richard in Local Search Marketing, Online Lead Generation on May 3rd, 2009
Search engines are in a conundrum. With more than 40% of all small retail and contractor businesses still without Web sites, the search engines need to figure out – before theses business do all get online – how to return meaningful results.
Is it possible? Of course it is. Print yellow pages have been doing it for decades using simple categorical listings. But can search-based queries deliver the results intended by the user.
Here’s an example search query: “Fairfield connecticut house painters”, with the intent being to find multiple painting companies from which to get three quotes to paint a house.
Let’s start with the One-box result.
In this case I got the 10-pack, with two results for Lowes, one MerchantCircle, one wild-card-content-switching (is this the common term?) lead-selling site (paintingservicedeals.com), and six actual contractors (two without their own sites). So really I got four contractors, not bad since all I want is three quotes.
OK, let’s say that of the four, I felt comfortable enough with two to get quotes. So let’s look at the natural results.
Uh-oh. I only picked up one more painter – rightcontractors.com. I did get two craigslist and two kijiji. The rest are all lead sellers.
Really, these results are ok, but not great. I could call a Craigslist or Kijiji ad, but in light of recent news, I think I’ll stick with a company with a Web site and real address.
Are there only 5 painting contractors that will service Fairfield CT? I’ll bet there are 10 in Fairfield, and at least another 30 that service this town. So what are they going to do to get leads? And what is Google going to do to help users find these contractors?
Directories.
The question then becomes, why would I start at Google if they’re just going to push me to a directory. Soon I’m going to have a favorite directory for services.
What does this mean for Google? It probably means less AdWords money. Google will still be a great tool for finding reference material, but that’s not going to pay the bills.