Being a local SEO specialist, I'm concerned about being able to submit my sites and clients' sites to the major search engines. Yet each of Google, Yahoo and MSN have serious issues when it comes to Canadian local search inclusion! For starters, and this has been bothering me for a while, neither Yahoo local nor MSN (through InfoUSA...) allow you to submit a Canadian site to their local search engines! Consider these results from Yahoo local in a search for "seo" near "Montreal." They've just been edited to cut the URLs.
* Responsible Marketing s SEM / SEO Code of Ethics View Responsible Marketing Consulting Services Search Engine Marketing (SEM) / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Code of Conduct.
* Golden-Arrow.com Lake Placid Hotel, Lodging, Resort - Best Western ... Lake Placid Hotel & Lodging - the Best Western Golden Arrow Hotel located in Lake Placid, New York offers deluxe resort accomodations in a perfect
* Eight by Eight - Infinite Web Marketing Solutions 1-888-838-1828 How Do You Rank with the Search Engines? Do your title tags contain your most relevant keywords and phrases? Are those keywords and phrases repeated in your content copy? Does your description tag adequately explain what you do? You are not alone.
* Search Engine Optimization or SEO Web Design Vermont. Vermont Website design, Vermont Website hosting, Vermont Internet marketing. We are located in Burlington, Vermont
* Vermont Multimedia Design Company - Web Design, Search Engine Marketing ... Emjay Technical Studios is a professional, affordable multimedia design company based in Jeffersonville, Vermont. Nestled in the Green Mountains just minutes from Smugglers Notch, Stowe and Burlington, Emjay Technical Studios offers Web Design, ...
They're all American companies in Vermont! Responsible Marketing's description doesn't mention it, but they're in Plattsburgh. None of the others are any better. I'm glad that Yahoo has an idea what state is closest to Montreal, but the results are pretty much irrelevant if I'm looking for a business in Montreal. Maybe it's because you can't submit a Canadian business/site? (I have to admit that their "Indian-style driving directions" - we use the same type of directions here in Canada, but that's besides the point - are a neat feature.)
Just as nearsighted is MSN Live's Local Listing Center. You can't list a Canadian business, let alone any non-US businesses for that matter. Not to mention that there is some branding confusion out in Redmond because MSN local is officially called the Windows Live Local Listing Center. By contrast, MSN's main search offering is MSN Live, not Windows live. Go figure... Perhaps my friend Susan can help MSN get the branding straight?
Finally, Google's Webmaster Central has a new feature to let you associate your site with a geographic area. Yet, for whatever reason, Quebec isn't a valid province there. Weird... At least their local search submission center is in order.
As part of my regular reading, I've come up on some great interviews with SEO experts recently. I'm also preparing some of my own with local SEO experts, including Mike Belasco, Stoney deGeyter and others.
First of all, I need to link to LinkJuicy's interview with Michael Gray. Link Juicy is a solid blog and the interview touches on some excellent points. In particular, he has some good points on varying your methods for attracting links and discussed paid links as well, in some detail. There's some good tips on linkbaiting, though I heard the Stumble Upon advice from Muhammad Saleem first, who perhaps should have been credited. However, Michael might have known that stuff independently.
Second, SEObook's got an excellent interview with Eli of Blue Hat SEO. I've been reading Eli consistently and he's in my feedreader. There are some juicy nuggets in there, particularly a disagreement between Eli and Aaron on Google's algorithmic focus-du-jour.
Finally, I'm preparing a Local SEO Ranking Factors document, using much the same methodology as SEOmoz's document on the regular Search Ranking Factors. I'll be interviewing some of the top pros in the field. The two above have agreed so far, and both Sharon Odom Fling and Mike Blumenthal have expressed interest. I know this is going to be a huge thing if the other local SEO experts and myself handle the methodology and promotion right! Stay tuned...
This Montreal SEO's schedule has been fuller than Homer Simpson after a free all-you-can-eat buffet of late, and I've got some great news. First of all, Facebook Camp Montreal (like the Toronto event, but better), is being organized by Sylvain Carle and company. Second, a Youmoz blogger may have discovered an additional local SEO ranking factor. And third, there are some cool local SEO posts I've seen around that I want to share!
First things first: Facebook Camp Montreal is being organized on this wiki. Yours truly has put his name down to speak on the opportunities for advertising on the Facebook platform. I'm fascinated by Facebook's marketing opportunities and hope to give an interesting presentation! If you think you've got something interesting to say, why don't you put your name down too?
Second, a Youmozzer nicknamed Jaz thinks he's discovered a new Local SEO ranking factor: targeting the State-wide keyword to improve your ranking on the city-wide keyword. He's seen some results, but they're as yet inconclusive.
Similarly, I recently rewrote the copy and some of the code on the Hotel de Paris's homepage, which included using a provincial abbreviation in the title. I'm waiting to see what the results are with regards to city search. In the meantime, I've brought up rankings for other keywords we previously weren't on the first page for, which is always nice!
Third, there are some cool posts around the local SEO scene I should share. To begin with, I'd like to thank Mike Belasco, aka Mike the Internet Guy (and a savvy localmarketer himself) for helping me find some of these sources. One of them is Matt McGee's blog, who among other solid local SEO blogging, writes about a problem with local search: geography doesn't mesh well with current SEO models. Also, in something of a followup to his discovery of Google Maps spam, Mike Blumenthal reports on some changes in how Google handles bulk local business listing uploads.
Local SEO is an increasingly-important service as more and more searchers turn to Yahoo, Google Truelocal and other search engines to get information on local businesses. But this type of SEO requires more than just link-building, it requires knowledge of your locale. Like Montreal, for example, where French-speaking searchers are just as likely to look up référencement local as they are local SEO. A great way to
To optimize your site for local searchers, you need to know what sites they visit and who are the information hubs in your area. For example, my colleague Michel Leblanc runs a popular Montreal SEO blog, and he also talks about other internet marketing issues.
Similar sites in the Montreal scene are Montreal TechWatch and Techno Montreal. I heard about both of them - you guessed it - at a local event, Yulbiz! Yulbiz was started by Michel Leblanc and Philippe Martin.
This month's Yulbiz was a very fun event and I got to meet a whole bunch of new people, and see some old acquaintances again. Amongst other people, I met or saw:
The reason I mention these people whom I met at Yulbiz is twofold. First, it's to make the point that networking offline is just as important a part of your promotional strategy as online networking. Second, it's to say thanks for chatting, help their SEO a bit and hopefully develop a further relationship online! Local SEO isn't just about mastering Google Maps ... like regular search engine optimization, local seo is about networking (PDF). And knowing the people in your area offline is as important to your search marketing effort as it is to know them online.
Still at Bill's excellent site, we have word of new Place Rank and Interestingness ranking and scoring mechanisms. It seems that Google's taking more user generated content a la Gmail and Feedburner and using it to mark up maps and Google Earth.
Over at GoodROI we find out that Yahoo has modified their SERPs with some local data. On a search for McDonald's, Greg found a new link under McDonald's main site result that lets you find McDonald's locations near you! Yahoo've also done some other things to their SERPs, so go see what Greg has to say.
Still on the Yahoo SERPs, it looks like they've got more than "locations near you" added. There are also Flickr-based slideshows directly integrated into the results, OneBox style (I know Yahoo won't like me saying OneBox style, but what're ya gonna do, eh? hehe). Try searching for Montreal, Canada or as Yahoo Search's Lingxian Ding did, Phuket, Thailand.
SEO Montreal is a Montreal-based local Search Engine Optimization consulting company. Nous sommes une agence spécialisée dans le référencement. It is part of the SEO ROI family.
