Austin Airport Advertising Banner for Google Places… It’s BIG

What are the chances that after leaving PubCon’s internet marketing conference in Austin TX that I would get a glimpse of Google’s 10 Foot banner ad in the Austin Airport?

AUS.Airport Presidential Blvd, Austin, TX 78719 (512) 530-2242 ‎

 

Let me spell that out for you….

GOOGLE PLACES IS BIG

10 Foot Big in the case of this ad. So if you haven’t caught on yet, take note… Local Search is changing the game.

Internet marketers are scrambling like a bunch of Austin TX fire ants after their mound has been kicked. Local results are showing up for searches like watches, shoes, and costumes. The example of costumes shared by BlueGlass is a little far from what I believe Google’s intent is. Google constantly refers to “Plumbers and dentists” as their local examples. These are truly local searches. Most people that search for a local service, like pest control, have an intent to buy locally.  Restaurants would be the largest category here. The divide happens when we consider what is local? People in a rush to eat lunch are willing to pick up the closest burger. People looking to meet clients for lunch are looking for a joint with the right atmosphere.

Chiropractic did a quick study of what influenced real people in their dinner buying habits for local search.

1- Recommendation. What are friends or reviewers saying.

2- Recognizing the Name. This would be more on branding. When you’ve reached the status of the Salt Lick or Rudy’s BBQ and people from Phoenix AZ know of you, you are doing it right.

3- Location. How close or how far. Sadly the Salt Lick lost out for the PubCon conference because it was too far. Better reviews but too far for our crowd of friends.

So when it comes to searching locally for a restaurant those factors weigh in pretty heavy and search engine’s are not yet calculating your friend’s recommendations and are more concerned about “Location” then they are “Recognition.”

BUT WHAT ABOUT LOCAL SERVICES THAT VISIT A CUSTOMER’S HOME?

Yes. I have a little beef to pick with this one. A local service that covers the entire metro is totally different then a restaurant with only so much local pull. As good as the Salt Lick is, the customer must be willing to go the distance. Services that travel to your home, however, don’t require any more effort from a consumer. So as a consumer, if I am looking for an Austin pest control company, the 5 miles away or 50 miles away argument never really hits the table.  As a consumer looking for a local Austin service, I am more concerned about “SERVICE”. So local results that cannot be sorted by 5 star reviews, or number of reviews, are a bit of a nuisance.

Either way, the 1 ton Elephant of Local Search is on the loose…. and don’t call your local pest control guy about crazy roaming elephants …or gorilla’s.

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…. and FYI – Austin Airport hasn’t claimed their Google Listing yet.

Related article worth the read: Google Places : Local SEO That Influences Global Search Marketing

Post sponsored in part by:

Bulwark Exterminating 209 East Ben White Boulevard, Austin, TX 78704 (512) 291-1200 ‎

Game Changer from #BlueGlassFL

Google is now blacklisting websites on a per keyword base. Per Annie Cushing’s presentation on “Look before you Link”.

Annie presented the fact that Google now has trip wires on keyword linking and link building.  She mentioned determining the amount of inbound links on a per keyword base in comparison with the amount of brand links a site has.  “Quality vs Quantity” was also discussed as the conference was presented with “Brute force link building being thrown out the window.” Big brands are getting away with link spam because they have enough back links to their brand name…. Use SEOmoz for anchor text analysis.  “First thing you ask when doing a link audit is if they have a history of link building? Have they bought links?” Annie also gave a plug for MajesticSEO, and using their tools to determine if there were any changes in link building velocity.  Spikes in linkscape could get you penalized. Sitewide links are a big red flag.

A few of my Twitter notes:

Understand when you have tripped the filter wire. #BlueGlassFL

Hmmmm…. Is Google now open to bowling per keyword with the new filter? #BlueGlassFL

If all your links have the same anchor text then #YouMightBeSEOchallenged

–Thos003

If Google is as smart as the IRS then they will weed out the corrupt link building websites in the same way the IRS finds a bad accountant and then targets all his/her clients.  … I believe Google is at least as smart as the IRS… and probably smarter. … although I am still amazed that two national pest control companies went from under 10,000 links to over 100,000 links in one year… I know bedbugs have been a hot topic, but really? Should branding really be that important?