As digital agencies and local marketers know all too well, online reputation is a critical driving force in the success of a business. Advice Local’s review monitoring tool was developed to empower agencies with fast, convenient tracking of customer sentiment. But for those agencies not yet monitoring reviews, or struggling to communicate their importance to clients, it’s absolutely worth examining why it matters so much.

Why Monitoring Local Business Reviews Is Crucial

Reviews have taken on greater importance as more consumers turn to Google and other platforms before investing in products and services. Here are just some of the reasons why review monitoring can drive local business success.

Consumers Check Local Reviews

When was the last time you made a purchase without first researching online? From checking the star rating on an Amazon product to browsing Facebook for customer reviews, we are constantly looking for signs of positive customer experiences. Monitoring reviews helps agencies track what consumers see when they research a business.

Trust and Credibility Drive Sales

According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2023, 87% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses last year. Most people feel some amount of resistance before making a purchase, and want to see signs of trust and credibility before taking the final step. By monitoring reviews, agencies can identify the friction points that could prevent sales.

Responding to Reviews Improves a Business’ Reputation

The same survey also highlighted that 88% of consumers are likely to use a business when they can see it responds to reviews. Responding to reviews clearly identifies an engaged company, one that’s focused on customer satisfaction. When you understand how to automate review monitoring, it’s possible to streamline responses and improve your client’s reputation.

Reviews Influence Search Rankings

Earlier this year we discussed the local search ranking factors that matter in 2023. The data suggests that of the 149 possible local pack ranking factors, reviews ranked as third-most important, with a weighted attribution of 17%. In short, if you want a business to rank in Google’s local pack, they will need a consistent stream of positive customer reviews.

Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace

While the need to monitor and respond to reviews is now more widely acknowledged, most businesses are still not doing it. Taking these steps for your business clients is an easy way to stand out in many local industries. Consumers have options, and displaying greater accessibility and engagement is one way to drive home your commitment to customer satisfaction.

Learn From Customer Reviews

Monitoring reviews offers valuable feedback that can help refine business decisions. For example, our Review Monitoring Tool provides a recency score, allowing clients to identify trends in customer sentiment (along with links to each specific review). By monitoring individual reviews and the big picture opinion, businesses can improve the customer experience.

Reviews Boost Local Citations

To increase local search visibility, businesses need a presence across a network of directories, social platforms and review sites. Our listing management services distribute business data to a range of popular platforms, while review monitoring can identify customer sentiment on specific sites. This process means that agencies can build and promote citations across a network of platforms that all contribute to increased visibility.

The Importance of Monitoring #Reviews for Your Clients by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Expert Review Monitoring Tool for Agencies

Advice Local makes it easy to track customer sentiment with our review monitoring tool for agencies. Try our dashboard solution for access to the leading local presence management solutions. For more information, call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo today.

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The long-term fate of businesses is increasingly influenced by their ability to build a local search presence. In the current climate, using listing management services, generating customer reviews – and increasing search visibility – will help businesses thrive.

In contrast, as consumers turn to their smartphones for recommendations and reviews, traditions like word-of-mouth just do not offer the results they did in the past. For digital agencies, the ability to recognize high-value strategies and communicate them to clients is more important than ever.

Why Local SEO Is Critical for Local Business Success

A recent study by BrightLocal indicated that the number of consumers using Google to evaluate local businesses in 2022 had risen to 87%. Both data and anecdotal experience all point to the same thing – that without a search presence, local businesses are destined to struggle. Fortunately, by tapping into the local search ecosystem, agencies are perfectly positioned to impact a business’ visibility.

What Local SEO Factors Impact Search Visibility?

As we have seen, local businesses need SEO to reach consumers. But foundational practices like on-page optimization won’t be enough to overcome tough competition. Let’s look at some of the approaches specific to local search marketing.

Leverage Data Aggregators

Data aggregators collect information about businesses and submit it to an extensive network of sources. By leveraging the power of platforms like Data Axle and Foursquare, a client’s business data reaches local search engines, GPS navigation systems, mapping apps, directories and more.

Why is this approach important? Well, one reason was made clear in a post by Mike Blumenthal at Near Media. A recent guidelines update from Google advised that they use third-party sources to check whether a Google Business Profile (GBP) is in good standing.

Mike notes that “this is the first time Google has essentially confirmed that they use trusted data sources such as DataAxle (varies by country) to judge whether a business is eligible.”

Data aggregators are an important pillar of a business’ local SEO strategy. We always knew this, and after all these years it’s great to see Google finally acknowledge that they highly trust the data from these sources.

Focus On Quality Directories

Countless directories accept business submissions, but the quality platforms with high domain authority will offer the best search visibility returns. At Advice Local, we submit to a collection of premier directories – called data enhancers – that are trusted by Google and have their own community of users. Examples of these quality platforms include BubbleLife, BrownBook and eLocal.

Expand Reach With Listing Distribution

Citations have been a key component of local presence management for many years. But submitting to data aggregators, directories and other platforms requires a systemized approach. Listing distribution typically combines manual and automated submissions to ensure accuracy across the network of sites, along with compliance with each listing platform’s guidelines.

Consistency Throughout the Local Search Ecosystem

Incorrect business data is a problem for local SEO, reducing trust in Google’s ability to deliver accurate information to searchers. Therefore, the ability to apply real-time updates across the network is essential. At Advice Local, we use technology to tackle the need for consistency. Our Enhanced GBP Tool for Agencies includes a client data sync, while our Data Amplifier Network incorporates real-time updates and modifications to client data.

Why Local #SEO Matters and the Factors Impacting #Visibility by @BernieColeman
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Leading SEO Tools and Services for Local Agencies

Advice Local develops SEO and local presence management tools for agencies and marketers. Our dashboard solution and Data Amplifier Network helps agency partners increase search visibility for local business clients. To learn more about our range of solutions, call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo today.

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Building a strong local presence online in 2023 is only possible with a comprehensive and personalized SEO strategy. Through the integration of listing management services, customer reviews, on-page ranking signals and other factors, local businesses can reach their ideal customer base and secure more sales. But for digital agencies, explaining to business owners why they need SEO services is not always easy.

The Main Reasons Why Local Businesses Need SEO

SEO for local businesses offers a high return on investment that shows no signs of slowing down. As an agency owner, the following reasons can demonstrate to business owners why they need your services.

Increased Local Presence

During the research phase of the buying cycle, consumers turn to search engines, review sites and directories. Agencies can help local clients get found at this stage through local SEO strategies and listing management. Essentially, with a high-quality, relevant backlink profile, local websites increase their discoverability.

Drive Traffic to Offers

Traffic is one of the key pillars of online sales. In order to drive consistent traffic to a sales page, the business’ website must be optimized. Local on-page optimization involves keyword research, title and meta tags, engaging content, internal linking and geographical indicators.

Increased Brand Awareness

The ability to build positive brand recognition is an important reason for owning local presence for a business. Agencies can help clients increase brand awareness by claiming and optimizing platforms like Google Business Profile (GBP), Bing Places and Yelp. With access to these popular platforms it’s possible to respond to reviews, monitor false information and build a positive brand profile.

Better Conversion Rates

As digital marketers know, incremental improvements can make a big difference to a business’ bottom line. On-page optimization is one of the first ways to improve a conversion rate. This involves testing different calls to action, speeding up loading times, adding social proof and other techniques. You can also increase conversions by successfully pre-selling consumers on GBP and other directory sites.

Lower Customer Acquisition Costs

On-page optimization, off-page optimization and local SEO require some upfront costs. However, through data analysis and optimization, agencies can gradually help businesses reduce these customer acquisition costs. Each stage in the sales funnel can be improved, thus reducing the overall cost of gaining a new customer.

Authority Leads to Accelerated Growth

The time and resources you invest into growing a brand’s authority delivers compound gains over time. For example, by building strong GBP, Bing, Yelp and Google Search profiles, a business can build trust and become recognized as an authority. And from the earned trust of users and search engines, when you publish new content it automatically has an advantage.

Google Local Pack Visibility

Google’s local pack offers the most targeted traffic for a business – searchers are typically in the local area and have searched for a keyword in your industry. Agencies can help local businesses here by effectively maintaining and improving their GBP. Using our Enhanced GBP Tool for Agencies, agency partners can sync the profile to monitor data accuracy and analyze the Google Authority Score. This attention to detail can increase a business’ chances of local pack search visibility.

Why Local Businesses Need #SEO by @BernieColeman
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Access SEO and Listing Management Services for Local Agencies

Advice Local provides high-quality SEO and local presence management tools for digital agencies and marketing partners. Our listing management solutions and Data Amplifier Network can help your local business clients achieve greater search visibility and make more sales. Call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo today.

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In today’s world of hyperconnectivity and information on demand, owning a business’ local presence has never been more important. For digital agencies that run local clients’ search marketing, everything from a business website to listing management services must be accessible and adjustable in real-time.

In reality, any company that neglects this aspect of local marketing is unfortunately subject to the whims of Google, listing platforms, reviewers and bad data. Let’s examine why agencies should focus resources on owning local presence, and how Advice Local can help you achieve it.

Why Owning Local Presence Is Crucial for Local Businesses

If you represent a marketing agency, one of the first principles you likely instill in your clients is the importance of owning and controlling their local presence. There are several reasons for this requirement.

Accuracy and Consistency

Owning local listings and social media profiles ensures that the business information remains accurate and consistent. And consistent NAP (name, address and phone number) data is critical for building trust with consumers – and for local SEO.

Brand Image Control

When a business owns its online platforms, it can control its branding and messaging. The projected image will align with the company’s values and goals, and positively influence consumer perception.

Customer Engagement

Owning a local presence allows businesses to engage with their customers through reviews, comments and social media interactions, improving brand loyalty and providing valuable feedback.

Flexibility and Responsiveness

The flexibility to quickly adapt to changes helps your local clients respond to business and industry shifts. From rebranding or changing addresses to circulating up-to-the-minute information, you need to control a local network.

The Consequences of Not Controlling A Business’ Local Presence

Without question, local presence matters to local businesses. Sadly, we regularly hear from agency partners forced to spend valuable time regaining lost ownership of a client’s Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp and other listings. Here’s just a few of the downsides of not owning a local presence.

• Inaccurate data across multiple listings offers a poor user experience and potential SEO penalties.
• Brands suffer reputational damage if they can’t respond to reviews and customer feedback.
• Local businesses will likely lose sales if their local presence appears static and unresponsive.
• Third parties could claim listings and misrepresent the brand using incorrect information or false claims.

How Our Agency Partners Help Local Businesses Own Their Local Presence

As you can see, local presence ownership is simply a must for local businesses. But for an agency, claiming and managing an entire local network is a challenge – and here’s where Advice Local can help.

Our partner dashboard gives you access to a substantial network of data aggregators, directories and other sites, including our business listings sales tool. All the credentials for the listings we create are available in the partner dashboard (and can be downloaded via export).

For your security, we are never required to be the only admin of an account – you control access to a business’ Google Business Profile through your login, and access can be removed at any time.

In brief, we help your business clients to own their local presence – and put your agency in charge through our dashboard solution.

The Importance of Owning #Local Presence for a Business by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Professional Local Presence Management Tools for Agencies

The Advice Local partner dashboard contains the tools you need to help your local business clients succeed. If you want to take control of local presence management, Advice Local is here to help. And to try our partner dashboard, request a demo now or call (214) 310-1356.

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For digital agencies, identifying where to invest your resources into local SEO is a common challenge. At Advice Local, our Enhanced Google Business Profile Tool helps agency partners make the most of their time with streamlined solutions. However, doing more with less is not restricted to tools and services – you also need to understand the ranking factors that underpin the search results.

What Are Google Ranking Factors?

A ranking factor is a page or website element that increases visibility in Google’s search results. In theory, optimizing for these 200 or more factors should increase your clients’ search presence. However, in practice, the complexities of the search algorithm mean that interpretation of the critical factors is what will drive results for your clients.

7 Things Agencies Should Know About Google’s 200 Ranking Factors

Backlinko recently compiled a list of Google’s 200 ranking factors for 2023. Here at Advice Local, we want to give our agency partners some recommendations for the factors that will likely matter to local clients.

1. Think Beyond the Business’ Website

While many ranking factors are specific to a business’ website, they will also impact its placement in the local pack, organic search and Google Maps. Look to apply concepts like user interaction and brand signals to your client’s entire network of directory sites, blogs, social platforms and more.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• Rankbrain – Machine learning interprets true user intent using location, personalization and word choice.
• Local Searches – Local business listings usually take priority in a search with local intent.

2. User Interaction Matters

How users interact with a website or business listing will influence search results. If a searcher clicks on a listing and immediately leaves, this implies the result was low quality or irrelevant. To counter this, prioritize the user experience in design, content quality and usability.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• Content Depth – Pages covering a topic in-depth outperform less informative content.
• Dwell Time – Google tends to reward pages that keep visitors engaged longer.

3. Pay Attention to On-Page Factors

On-page factors are a quick and easy opportunity to improve your clients’ search performance. You may remember that on-page optimization was one of our local search ranking factors that matter in 2023. Thankfully, meta descriptions and titles are within your control, and can be optimized around a target keyword and the user experience.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• Page Loading Speed – Google and Bing expect fast-loading pages for an optimal experience.
• LSI Keywords – Related keywords on a website, Google Business Profile (GBP) and listing sites can help with ranking.

4. Freshness and Recency

Across many keywords, Google wants to deliver fresh results to searchers. For your local clients this means developing new, updated content on the business blog, GBP Posts, social platforms and more. In addition, make sure to audit old content and update information to add freshness and recency.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• Historical Page Updates – The number of updates to a page contributes to freshness.
• Page Age – Google often prefers older pages with fresh updates.

5. Consider E-A-T in Content Development

Google E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) are key factors in everything you publish online. From blog content to listing posts, Google wants to deliver accurate, insightful and reliable results. Across your client’s entire web footprint, think about how you are projecting expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• E-A-T – Google assesses E-A-T metrics across a range of industries.
• Link Authority – Think carefully about the authority of linking pages and domains when distributing business data.

6. Backlinks Are Still Essential

While there is still much debate about the importance of backlinks in 2023, they remain crucial ranking factors for Google. Prioritize high-quality, relevant backlinks and your clients can secure multiple search positions via the local pack and organic results.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• “Expected” Websites – Google uses data to assess websites they expect to link to a page.
• Co-Occurrences – Think about the words surrounding the anchor text to give it relevancy.

7. Take Directory Links Seriously

Directory links are an essential part of SEO, especially for local businesses. In 2023, low-quality directory links are considered webspam and could result in a penalty. If you need assistance with high-quality directory placement, our listing management services can help.

Ranking Factors to Consider:

• Low-Quality Links – Links from inferior websites may lead to a ranking penalty.
• Diversity of Link Sources – Don’t rely on a single backlink source for your clients’ platforms.

What Agencies Should Know About #Google’s 200 Ranking Factors by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Access Listing Management Services and GBP Tools for Agencies Today

Advice Local provides agencies and digital marketers with best choice local marketing tools and services. From our Enhanced GBP Tool to our Data Amplifier Network, we help our partners increase their clients’ local presence. Would you like to try our comprehensive dashboard solution? Then request a demo today, or call (214) 310-1356.

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