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.

The post What Agencies Should Know About Google’s 200 Ranking Factors appeared first on Advice Local.

Your agency is unique. It’s refined, a cut above the competition, and you choose style and wording carefully when interacting with customers and prospects alike. So, doesn’t it make sense that your sales tools for your website hold to the same standards?

At Advice Local, we wanted to develop a sales generation tool for agencies like yours, with total customization and control available from the get-go. That’s precisely what we did, and now we’d like to teach you how to better customize your new sales widget for everyday use!

Getting Started – A First Look at the Sales Tool Website Widget

Before we dive into a step-by-step rundown of the customization possibilities, let’s first look at Advice Local’s sales tool for your website. We’ll start with exploring its outward appearance and uses for the visitor to your website.

Shown here is the sales widget in its minimized and expanded state.

The sales widget is quite straightforward. Upon expanding the widget from your agency’s website or homepage, the prospect will be greeted with your logo and copy. Below that, they may fill in their business information and personal information before running a free online visibility report.

Once the prospect selects “Get a FREE Report Now,” the widget will pull in the necessary business information. The prospect will then select their specific location from the list of available options or select “My business is not listed.”

From there, the widget will begin the process of running the free online visibility report. On the screen, the prospect will be presented with an overview of the Visibility Score, and have the option to click to “See The Full Report” onscreen.

If they choose to view the report onscreen, a new browser window opens where they can examine the report. Otherwise, the report is sent directly to the prospect’s email – with your custom wording and agency information included. That way, the prospective client is prepped for future contact with your team.

The results of the online visibility report will also appear in your Advice Local partner dashboard, allowing your sales team access to key information needed to make a quick sale. The prospect will then receive an email with their visibility report and any other information that you provided within your email template.

Overall, it’s an extremely simple and effective way to gather sales information without wasting manpower or resources.

Now that we have covered the experience for the site visitor utilizing the sales tool we have created for your website, let’s discuss where you can access this sales tool to customize it to match your agency’s brand.

Accessing the Sales Widget Within Your Agency Dashboard

Before you dive into customizing your new sales widget, you’ll need to locate it within the partner dashboard. And by design, like everything else to do with the widget, it’s simple!

First, log in to your partner dashboard via the Advice Local website. You’ll start on the main page of the dashboard, which will look something like the example below.

Look to the top right corner – you’ll see your email address. Click here and open the admin panel drop-down box to access additional information, commands, reports and tools. Click the item that says “Widget.”

Once you click the widget function, you’ll have access to the sales widget editor. Here you can customize your sales widget, and access the code allowing you to implement the widget on your website.

Now, we’ll move on to customizing the sales widget step-by-step.

Customizing the Sales Widget for Your Agency Website

With a basic understanding of how the sales widget functions, let’s look at how to customize your new widget before pushing it live on your website.

Personalization and branding can be considered the most important features of the sales widget. For that, navigate to the “Global” category, where you can insert your agency’s logo and select the type of font you want to use. It looks something like the below image.

In the place that says Image Logo Link, add the link to your logo that you have uploaded to your agency website.

Now, let’s move to the “Header” tab. In this section you can select the widget’s primary background color. This color appears behind your logo at the very top of the sales widget itself. You can also change the font color if you’d like.

When you use the Chrome browser you’ll have more color preference options, including the ability to enter the exact color codes you use on your website. In Safari, you’ll have a color selector to choose from (or use the dropper to select a color from something else already on the screen).

In the “Header” tab, the text box is one of the more important components. You can insert custom copy related to your agency, mission statement, or how you wish to help customers. This message will appear on your website when the site visitor expands the widget to generate their free report.

Next, navigate to the “Body” tab. In this section, you’ll have a chance to edit the background color on the main body of the sales widget. We recommend choosing a color that’s pleasing to the eye and also easy to read, as prospects will enter text in this section.

Further, you can also change the font and the background color for the bottom section.

But what if you don’t have a specific color in mind? You can choose from popular color options by using the drop-down box. Click on the font color section and choose what works best for you from the color picker.

Once you’ve selected the important colors that set your agency apart from the competition and turn eyes your way, it’s time to choose the perfect wording for your sales widget.

Get ready to set up the “Button/Input” tab. This includes the background/border color of the button itself, the button font color, the text included on the button – and the text for viewing the full report. You can customize each aspect of this to best suit the wording your agency prefers.

Next, we have the “Notifications” tab, which features an email BCC, email subject line and email body. We recommend adding your email address in the BCC, so you’ll know right away when a free report has been generated via your agency website.

You can make the email body content as personal or professional as you like – it’s yours to work with and mold as you see fit.

You’ll note the email body begins with “Hi [business_name].” It’s best to include this code to ensure the widget pulls the business name from the information provided by the prospect.

If you don’t want to use “Hi,” change it to something more your style. You could throw in a “Hey,” or “How are you,” (and so on) to fit your needs. It’s very important to leave the “this link” text untouched, as we have code in there that will link the free report to your partner dashboard for the prospect.

And finally, we have the “Format”   tab. From this final tab you can choose whether or not to permanently float your sales widget on each page of your website. You can also change the positioning (from left, center, or right) depending on your space, and where you’d like the widget to appear to best catch attention.

Inserting Your Customized Sales Widget

Once you have fully customized the sales widget, it’s time to add the widget on your website.

From the Advice Local dashboard (in the same area as the customization tools), you’ll find the Sales Widget Code. This code changes as you enter your various customizations. Therefore, before you copy/paste the code to your website, it’s best to wait until you’ve uploaded your logo, finished selecting coloring and font, adjusted the other settings, etc.

As you can see, depending on the type of content management system (CMS) your website uses, you have a few options. For example, if you have a WordPress website you can install a plugin to handle the code implementation for you. Google Tag Manager is also an option for adding the code into the header.php file on your website.

An alternate method is to copy and paste the sales tool website widget code directly into the header.php on your website within the <head> and <body> tags.

And once you add the code to your website and click save, your widget will appear on your agency website, right on the homepage, for easy access! If you cannot see the widget right away, you may need to clear your website and browser cache.

How to Customize Our Sales Widget for Your #Agency Website by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Ready to Get This Powerful Sales Tool for Your Agency Website?

For current Advice Local partners, the new widget is already turned on in your partner dashboard. Please keep in mind that if you’re using the legacy sales tool, you’ll no longer be able to make customizations to the legacy sales tool or landing page. Please contact your account manager if you have questions or concerns regarding this.

If you are not yet an Advice Local partner, request a demo right away. You’ll definitely want to get our sales tool for your agency website! Call (214) 310-1356 today to learn more.

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As increasing numbers of businesses recognize the power of digital marketing, the demand for white label listing management services continues to grow. These businesses rely on the expertise of local agencies to gain search visibility and deliver new customers to their brand. But as agencies experience this growing demand, they face the challenge of meeting their clients’ needs. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution for scaling an agency fast – white label local listing management services.

What Are White Label Local Listing Management Services?

Local presence management has grown in importance as more consumers research businesses online before making a purchase. But while digital marketing was once fairly limited in scope, there are now countless channels and verticals that a business needs to target.

White label listing management gives agencies access to all the high-quality integrated services they need to best serve their clients. Here are some of the primary white label services available.

Local Listing Management Distribution

A crucial benefit of local listing management software is the ability to maintain consistent data across all platforms. At Advice Local, we achieve this consistency by using a combination of automated and manual listing submissions.

We can submit your clients’ data to our wide-reaching Data Amplifier Network and make fast adjustments to citations in real time. This distribution covers everything from popular search engines to GPS navigation and mapping apps.

White Label Widgets

Lead generation is a consistent challenge for agencies, and many businesses are in the dark about their online visibility. White label widgets offer a solution to this issue, delivering accessible, solutions-focused data to a business owner.

The development of our new listing management lead generation website widget  is a prime example of such a solution. Agencies simply add the customizable widget to their website, and visitors can generate a free online visibility report. As an automated sales funnel, this hands-off approach provides agencies and local marketers with a straightforward way to secure new customers.

Voice Search Readiness

According to data from Statista, 35% of U.S. consumers own smart speakers. And as consumers grow more comfortable conducting voice searches using mobile devices and smart speakers, agencies need to keep up with this trend.

Our Voice Search Readiness Test allows an agency to generate a report for their business clients, identifying opportunities for improved presence. We can then distribute your clients’ data to Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant and other platforms via our data network.

White Label Reporting

Agencies need to keep their business clients informed of progress using monthly reports. But maintaining and compiling digestible reports based on multiple data sources is no easy task. White label reporting helps agencies maintain close relationships with clients without the need for complex data management. Advice Local lets agency partners access detailed reporting from their user-friendly dashboard.

Enhanced GBP Tool for Agencies

While there are numerous platforms that can help increase local presence, Google is still the major player in the industry. Consequently, a Google Business Profile (GBP) will likely be the primary focus for agencies and their business clients. At Advice Local, we have developed the Enhanced Google Business Profile Tool as a white label listing management service for our partners. From our Google Authority Score to GBP syncing tools, clients have everything they need to run successful GBP campaigns.

Why Your Agency Needs White Label Local Listing Management by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Leading White Label Local Listing Management Services

Advice Local is a leading provider of white label local listing management services for agencies and digital marketers. If you would like access to the premier listing tools, GBP services and our Data Amplifier Network, request a demo today or call (214) 310-1356.

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Everyone involved in local search marketing is constantly looking for the next big SEO strategy. So, it’s really no surprise that citation building using listing management services doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. However, citations are fundamental to most local SEO strategies and have been delivering traffic, sales and search visibility for years. To understand why some agencies don’t prioritize listing management, it’s important to look at the varying quality of the directories that are out there.

Why Quality Beats Quantity in Listing Management

Consider this – if two separate businesses both pursue a strategy of citation building on directory sites, how is it possible for them to have such wildly differing results? In all likelihood, you can link the outcomes to the quality of directories being used to promote each business.

Essentially, Google and other search engines value consistent data on quality, relevant platforms. This is exactly why agencies need to submit their clients’ businesses to authoritative listings sites – sites that deliver results.

The Main Features of Quality Directories

From local and vertical directories to maps and premier quality platforms, there’s no shortage of places to build citations. Here are some of the main features found in quality directories.

Spam-Free Directories

As many agencies have discovered the hard way, listings management services are not created equal. Submitting to a vast number of low-quality platforms filled with spam listings will not benefit a business, and could even lead to less prominence in search results. Recognizing this, our Data Amplifier Network at Advice Local contains only reputable directories backed by analysis.

Niche-Specific Sites

Google places a significant weight on relevance when determining which sites get local pack and organic placements. In fact, along with proximity and prominence, relevance is one of the big three local SEO ranking factors. With listings on niche-specific sites, demonstrating this relevance is possible in many industries. For example, our network contains various legal and healthcare vertical directories.

Relevant Categories

Of course, many businesses will not have a wide choice of niche directories to choose from. However, they can still benefit from categories within broader directories. In the highest-quality platforms you can expect to find relevant categories – and a moderation team that prevents inaccurate classifications.

Location-Based Elements

As mentioned, proximity is a crucial metric in local SEO. Therefore, your local clients will benefit from directory features that pinpoint a business’ location. Integrating a map within the listing is practical – and a valuable sales tool. In addition, because consumers use platforms like Judy’s Book and Nextdoor to research local businesses, you need to ensure your clients are listed there.

The Problems With Prioritizing Quantity of Directories

There are many reasons to love local citations, but if the quality is lacking don’t be tempted by the quantity of directories.

• Low-quality directory listings build a lack of trust with the search engines.
• Consider the future negative impact of a mediocre directory without management.
• Managing a substantial number of listings is tough without a quality listing management service.
• A broad approach is more likely to result in bad data distribution that harms search visibility.
• Authority and relevance are hard to achieve when prioritizing quantity over quality.

All Directories Are Not Created Equal by @BernieColeman #SEO
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Access the Top Listing Management Services and Directory Network

Advice Local operates the best listing management services for agencies and local marketing partners. Our services include citation building, voice search readiness, white-label reports and the leading business data distribution network. To see for yourself, call (214) 310-1356  or request a demo now.

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