Google+ and Local SEO - #seopodcast 156

Welcome to the SEO Podcast, Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing. My name is Chris Burris, owner of eWebStyle. And I'm Charles Lewis, your internet marketing specialist. Thank you guys for tuning in. You are listening to podcast number 156. You may actually even be watching podcast number 156. As always, there is a tip from our previous podcast. If my iPad will cooperate, and it just did, the tip is when blogging for SEO purposes, be sure to include a social component. Yes, definitely. You want to make sure that your blog posts and articles, one of the things that you're blogging about is not only easily found, but easy to be shared. You want people to be able to plus it, to like it, to share it, dig it, and things of that nature. So if you're blogging, hopefully you're using WordPress, Go WordPress. They have plenty of plug-ins and options that make this very easy to do. So definitely make sure your blog posts are social. Excellent. You are listening to podcast number 156. We are the most popular SEO podcast on iTunes. That is because of you guys all out over there. 7,000 downloads a week. 64 countries around the world. Actually, my wife just took her oath for citizenship the other day. And here in Houston, it's a pretty interesting, huge stadium full of people. Yeah, yeah, special. Huge stadium, 2,000 new citizens. And I've got a lot of other friends who took their citizenship oath in places like Boston or Connecticut with like five people. Wow, but in Houston, 2,000 new citizens. So do they do, how often does the oath take place? I think it's at least every quarter or something. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It was a pretty cool ceremony. Also, they specifically recognized those people who had served in the military, in the U.S. military, and were taking their citizenship oath. That was really cool. You don't really think about that. You know, you can actually serve the military and not yet be a citizen. And so that was very cool. Remember, if

you're near an electronic device, we have changed our hash code, hashtag technology or thought process, or we've changed something. And so now grab your device and tweet. Hashtag SEO podcast. That's it. Do not tag which episodes you're watching. And here's the reason why. We'll share this with you. What we're trying to do, we are the best SEO podcast available. And so why not be the king of that term? Why not rank well for that term? And so one of our tactics to doing that in regards to social media is to go after that term with the hashtag. And so don't go hashtag SEO podcast 156 as you would probably like to do or want to do. Just go hashtag SEO podcast. Make sure you tag us in it, at eWebStyle. That way we'll see it and we can retweet it and do what we need to do with it. But we're really trying to take over that term. So help us out. Cool. Thank you guys very much. Remember, we are your friendly local neighborhood top position snatchers. Where our mantra is. Don't be a deuce. There is no algorithm cataclysm for today. And we've got some reviews. I knew something was different. I said, man, the face clean, no text, no anything. Yeah, I'm going to start with the one that sucks. Start with the one that sucks. Head to the back for the one that sucks. Yeah, there you go. This may require a kick in the shins. Lots of rambling about nothing. He gave us two stars. Literally, if you're rambling about nothing, why are you giving us two stars? I don't know. I wish they'd stay on task and discuss the actual point without rambling on about their day or how to add them on Twitter. Really? We're going to give away free information. You're not going to let us tell you how to add us to Twitter. I want to learn about SEO. Then maybe I would care to hear about their lives. Who is that from? This is from

Aaliyah. Aaliyah 01. Yeah. All right, Aaliyah. We'll file that in the list of, in fact, very, very, very short list of people who don't. I'll say this. You know, usually, especially on the web, anytime someone is providing free content, then there's usually some sort of action you need to take. You want to go download a free newsletter, you must leave your information. If you want to, especially in music these days, people download mixtapes and this and that, you have to like us on Facebook first or do that. And so, same situation here. We try to provide the best SEO content for podcast content out there. And all we ask is for a like, follow, or review a tweet. Your choice. You ain't got to do all of them. So, I understand you, Aaliyah. Appreciate your, you know, your review. Appreciate the feedback. But it is what it is, son. And now we'll end on a better note. This is from the UK. Podcast worth a listen. This is from Glenn Ricketts. I have listened in its entirety and enjoy the flow of the whole thing. What's up, Chuck? What up? Or I think that's, what's up, Chuck? I need some British there. Informative and a laugh. Good work, chaps. Thank you very much. Uppercut punch in the face. It's an across the pond punch in the face. Here we have a question on Facebook. I don't know if you saw this already. Adam Butler. He says, hey guys, just trying to send an email to support at e-webstyle, but it bounced back. We'll be looking at that later today. This is June 29th. So, I don't know. I hope this will get to us. Here's what he sent. First, just want to say how much. Dear E-webstyle. Dear E-webstyle. He wrote out dash. I just want to say how much I enjoy your podcast. And I think I'm spitting all over this email. Probably why the email lost it. Oh, no, go ahead. How much I enjoy your podcast. It's by far the best SEO

podcast of all time. I've learned a lot from you. Woo-hoo. All these things. All time. Oh, yeah. I love the banter and general casualness of the podcast. Major punch in the face. So, I'm relatively new to SEO and he's dealing with a 301 redirect challenge. His understanding is that you should be directing to www and then a slash at the end. He's got four different ways to get to his site. He mentions site.com. With the slash. Site.com with the slash. Again, I think Facebook automatically added a slash or something. So, it was probably site.com without the slash. Site.com with the slash. www.site.com without the slash. And www.site.com with the slash. First, I would say there are actually four that you're missing. Depending on what technology you're using, it could be index.php or index.html or default.html. But you need to add one of those for each of those pages because site.com slash, okay, so it's only three, two, slash index.html is also another way to get to your homepage. And www.site.com slash index.html is a way to get to your page. So, he was having a debate with his web designer deciding where they should redirect it to. Great debate to have. Yeah, it is. And the reality is it doesn't matter that much. We tend to, you know, people are used to dub, dub, dub. So, we tend to point to dub, dub, dub. And just so you know, if you don't have a slash, it actually creates another server visit, right? So, the first thing that happens is the server says, hey, did you mean with the slash? And then so that extra traffic, which is next to nil, and should be avoided. So, make sure you do include the slash and also make sure that you have your index.html or whatever your default page is forward also back to the www.site.com. Slash. And that's it. It says, thank you. Keep up the good work. It's greatly appreciated. Adam Butler, a.k.a. DJ Adda. And he says, if you really like hip-hop, make sure to

check out our mix-up. And you know we like hip-hop. So, I'm here now. DJ ADA or DJ Adda? No, I don't know. ADA. What's that? Mixcrate.com slash silentwonderada. Silentwonderada. All right. So, mixcrate.com slash silentwonderada, A-D-A. And there should be another slash. Which is funny that Facebook didn't add it to the end of that one. That's kind of interesting. Excellent question. Thank you, guys. You can always send us a question. You can find us. You can follow us. You can follow us. Twitter.com slash e-webstyle. On Facebook, it's facebook.com slash e-webstyle. YouTube.com slash e-webstyle. You can email us at podcast at e-webstyle.com. That is the minus sign, not the word dash. Yeah, it's a hyphen. We appreciate Adam for typing that out. And a little bit of news. You trying to cut me off already? No. What are you, Gino now? We'll go through this real quick. Rumors of an Apple mini, mini pad. HTC did, according to the UK, a UK judge, not the UK in general, which really represents the UK in general, HTC did not infringe on Apple patents, most of them, like three out of four. There is a malware out there called DNS Changer. You will lose internet on Monday. So if you're listening to this, you may have already lost internet. They say that the guys who created this malware have probably made $14 million. They are in jail. And you can see if you have it by going to dns-ok.us. Again, that's dns-ok.us. By the way, when you go there, it says, it looks like everything's okay, and depending on your ISP, you could still be hosed. So, it's at least a good sign. If it showed red, then you know for sure you have it. Amazon is actually working on some smart phones. Yeah, that's a market to penetrate. I read the article, and that's kind of one of the deals where, do you really want to get into that? I think with Amazon, they may have a fighting chance only because of the success of the Kindle. And

so, they've already penetrated some sort of mobile market, tablet market, and they did fairly well. Yeah. And so, I think coming out with the phone, you know, it'll, I think for the same reason Google did it, they have to do it, right? Because eventually, the phone device is going to control media. Well, and then, I think it's just, it's more financial. When you look at, when you look at Apple's iPhone, and we talked about this before, they have the device and the software. Right. And so, they're reaping all of the benefits of that. Yeah. While I use Droid, right, I'm on the Nexus, you're on the, um... HT, yeah, I mean, Samsung. Exactly. Yeah. And so, while Android is the operating system, the devices are diverse. Yeah. And so, Google can't reap as much of the money as they can without owning that device. Right. And so, I think that's kind of the curve here with what they're doing. Absolutely. Um, yeah, so I think, I think at the end of the day, it's a good move. I think they're going to end up doing well with it, um, just because of their, you know, their mammoth size. Uh, I thought this was interesting. Google banned weapons-related listings from Google Shopping. So... Now... Okay, go ahead. Yeah, so if you want to type, I don't know, they said, whatever, Magnum 57 padded hand gun, nothing comes up. And it used to, and I just think, I don't know, it's, I wonder what the logic is. Is it a social commentary? Is it liability? Well, no, what's interesting about that is because, um, I remember when that came out, when that happened, that was recent, and I was, um, uh, my boy Sal, over at TopSpot, he, he posted on Facebook that same exact story, but he showed an example. And I searched the example, and he was correct. If you go to Google, and you, oh, what was that search phrase? It was starter, pistol, something like that. Right, right. And then clicked on the

shopping tab, you had results. But it didn't show them on the initial SERP? It didn't show them on the SERP page, but you had to click the shopping tab first. And then there were all sorts of results. Okay. And so, that is contradictory to the article. Yeah, I think, um, may, my impression, because I think there was some examples, is that now when you go to shopping, it also says, because it literally said, none found. And that wouldn't happen on a SERP, right? They would show at least something organically. That would happen at the shopping. At the shopping. So, well, go check it out. And, um, man, if they're pulling all, that's just, this is America. You can buy a gun. Like, I don't know. Can you buy them online? Go online? Can you buy them online? I don't know. That's interesting. Should be able to buy accessories and bullets, I would think. I don't know. Maybe you can't ship them. Uh, and finally, we've got, uh, New Orleans. They've got two people in New Orleans who are, uh, uh, um, kind of petitioning Google and said, please update our street views. Get down the 2005 Katrina images from our street views. Yeah, I mean, I think that's almost a worthy complaint. You know, come on now. It's not, you know, 10 years have passed, you know. Yeah, update our views. All right. We have, uh, exceeded our geno time limit, uh, by one second today. So, we're going to start getting into content. Yeah. Three, two. Okay. Now, geno time limit exceeded. Okay. So, today I wanted to talk about, um, local. Local SEO. And more importantly, local SEO with, uh, Google+, um, because one of the recent rollouts that, that they did was they merged Google, Google local plus, which is the difference between Google plus page and your Google, Google, Google local plus page. You know, they, they did. They recently allowed, uh, businesses to go in and create a Google plus page. Right. And then they rolled out Google local plus

page. And now they merged your Google places listing with your Google plus local page. And so, if you already had a Google places page, if you visited it recently, you should notice that it's not the same as it was. Now, it's a Google plus local page. And so, I wanted to talk about that. Some of the effects it has on SEO and some things you can do to help, um, migrate successfully and don't get caught up without anything. So, I found this article here, uh, searching the journal. Pretty good article. And, um, um, we didn't have a list of tips. So, I had to go through it, but it was some pretty good information. Most of it, I was kind of aware of. We had been working on it, um, with ourselves and some other clients. And so, I figured we'd share it. Um, so, um, just to cover the basics. What they did was, uh, they converted all existing Google places pages into Google plus local pages. Um, so, basically in the past, um, you had two options. You either had a Google places page or you had a Google plus page. And so, the places page, and we've done thousands. Yeah. You know, we don't have a thousand, but thousands of podcasts on Google places. Um, you know, you want to go in. It's like a directory listing that showed up on the maps and in a local search and things like that. Um, but that page was not indexed. Number one, it was all based off what information you had already filled in. Um, number two, you had to upload the images and, you know, had the correct categories and make sure you had the right addresses. And more importantly, use the correct, um, local indicators that you were a local business like, uh, a local address and not a PO box or, um, a, and a phone number with the area code for the, for the area you're targeting. One of, one of our keys to that was make sure that

it was a hundred percent complete. Yeah. So, if they gave you the opportunity for five videos, have five videos. They gave you the opportunity for 10 images, have 10 images. Mm-hmm. And so, um, the question got asked, you know, well, how will, um, how will Google plus local pages affect the SEO? And so, um, in a couple of ways, one of the things they did differently was the local plus pages now have a, uh, well, your Google plus page now has a, a local tab. And so, um, if you're like me, you probably don't frequent, um, Google plus that often. Um, I'm trying to make a more effort on that. Right. Uh, but now when you go there, uh, once you get over the new layout that they released, um, along the left side, there is a local page. And it's cool because the icon for it is the actual pin from the places page. Right, right. And so you, that's how you access the local page. So look for that and make sure all the information is complete there. Um, another thing that they changed, um, the Zagat reviews. Right. So there's no more, no more stars. Right. Right. There's no more one through five stars. They have the Zagat review data there, um, and that kind of replaced that whole five-star system. I wonder if they've used the Zagat reviews in the, in the appropriate places for like, you know, restaurants and, and I don't know, maybe tourist spots versus, you know, like our local places, Zagat is probably not writing a review about eWebStyle and they're probably not writing a review about tax attorney XYZ, um, if they're just staying with their own or they've just incorporated whenever there is a Zagat review available, they incorporate it. Well, what I understand is that the Zagat reviews are incorporated when available, but I believe it ties in to the Google user so you can update that Zagat database with your own review. Oh, wow. Because, um, again, that's, it's still a user generated

review. Right. And so, uh, you know, yeah, no one comes here. Yeah. So there wouldn't be a review for, for eWebStyle on Zagat. Right. Um, Google plus local pages are being integrated into the Google search, Google maps, and Google mobile. And so, um, this is, those three places right there are where you really want to be if you're a local business. And so you definitely want to make sure that, um, you have that Google plus local page set up. So how do you set that up? Let's get into some actions you need to take. Um, first thing, if you already have a places page, your old places page that was migrated, um, all of them haven't been migrated. It's a process they're rolling out. And so if you have one and it hasn't been migrated, then, uh, keep it up. Make sure all the information is up to date. Make sure all of your contact information is there. Make sure if you have multiple addresses, all of those are there. Upload as many images as possible because when they migrated, you want all of that information to come over to the new one. Um, if you haven't, let's see here. Be careful to set up your Google plus page using the, um, okay. So this is if you, if you have a places page already and it's verified, but you want to kind of go ahead and set up the local page as well. Then, uh, make sure you use the same email address. This is key. Make sure you use the same email address for that local plus page that you use for your Google places page. Right. Um, that way you won't definitely drop the ball. So, and if they happen to migrate before you complete it, all of the information will definitely go across. Now, if you don't have a Google place page, then, um, go set one up. You can still go to google.com slash places and begin setting that up. Um, I, I'm willing to bet, and I haven't even

tried this, but I'm willing to bet that that'll probably redirect you to Google's local. Yeah. Yeah. So go do that and, um, and then take the same steps you would do on the regular places page. Add all your images. Choose the correct categories. Make sure that those categories, um, or, or the right keyword rich categories. Um, don't, don't put a ton of keywords in your titles and things like that because, um, that kind of confuses Google in regards to what your company name is because that's what they're really focused on and what you do. So save your descriptions and categories for your keywords, brand your company, title name, things like that. Use your company name. Uh, make sure you use a phone number in your Google plus listings that controls the area code of the city you're in. Yeah. So for us, I always would have 713. Uh, we were in Houston and that, that day is, uh, coming up too. It's a Houston holiday, July 13th. I didn't know that. Yeah. Local underground rapper deal. Oh, cool. Um, so, uh, we'll make sure that you include the right area. We have three of them. 281. I guess that's not a real date. You can do 281. That'd be January 28th. Switch the one. Oh. Well, then it's not. Okay. Now I know more about the hip hop underground than I ever did before. Here's a cool one here that I wasn't actually doing. Um, we'll start doing, um, in the website field for your listing, instead of putting the link to your homepage with the slash, um, put a link to your contact page. Right. Or a locations page, more importantly, because it has a higher effect. Google understands that this page will likely contain an address that should match. And, um, if you've been embedding, let's say a Google map on your contact page, get the map that shows up from your places listing. And that way, they'll, they'll be in sync. Um, incorporate keywords or upload as many pictures as possible. Or,

and the last one on here was, uh, start beefing up your presence on the site. So, yeah, if you, if it's Google+, and you're probably like me and a few other people, although Bill uses it, I've seen you've been using it a lot more lately, you have to start using it. Yeah. You have to really start, um, adding people to your circles, um, getting in other people's circles, communicating, um, doing things like that. Um, and that way, um, you know, the more presence you have, the more information is on there, the more social it is, I'm pretty sure the higher your ranking will be. Um, one of the things that the article mentioned that I forgot to mention was that, um, over time, right now you can't merge them. Right. So, for some people have a Google+, business page, and now they have a Google+, local page. Two separate pages, and right now you can't merge them. And so, you have to kind of maintain both until Google allows that merge to happen. Um, and the good thing about having the local page is that it will allow you to be more social and tie in with other networks. Right. So, for example, um, a Foursquare check-in could happen on your Google+, local page. And so, you want that on your Google+, business page. Right. You can't have that until they merge. So, set them both up, um, use them, and, um, and then hopefully Google will roll out that merge, uh, pretty soon. So, that was it for today. Google local. Cool. And Google G+. Good stuff. Well, you know, Google's always changing. This is a major change. It's huge. Huge. In fact, this could be our, I don't know if we used it for our algorithm cataclysm. We'll use it next time, um, because it is, it's, it's that significant, uh, you know, the, the, the impact that Google+, places, local places, is going to have, is going to be significant. So, actually, we got a little blank stare. We got some blank

stare. Let's get blank first. That's a good blank. Blank at this guy here. So, this guy, um, Michael Shane Hager, dude, 34 years old, dude from New Zealand. Um, he's on the run for police, got warrants out for his arrest. So, the, the New Zealand police, they, they posted his picture on Facebook, and he liked it. Whoa. That's, that's, he was probably in the middle of a crime when he liked the police. No, he liked it and comment, and his comment was, hoorah. That's crazy. Yeah, so, um, um. I think I know that there was a subpoena about that like. Like, that's hilarious. Where did that, where did that like occur from? Yeah, that's what they, they said they haven't found him yet. He went and deleted it and everything else, but, yeah, once you do it, it's out there, man. So. That's crazy. All right. Blank stare at him for, for liking his, his warrant. It's the same as the blank stare on people, face, leave, it's like logging into their Facebook account while they're burglaring a house and then leaving, you know, leaving themselves logged in. We're coming to get you. We'll see you soon. Uh, you have been listening to the most popular SEO and internet marketing podcast. Yes. I think of all time is what Adam, uh, Adam told us. Of all time. Of all time. What is it? Boom-ba-yay? Was it, uh, Ali. Boom-ba-yay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was it. Um, so, thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for making us the most popular SEO podcast and internet marketing podcast of all time. Until the next podcast, my name's Chris Burris. Charles Lewis. Bye-bye for now.