Every Web site owner needs to clearly understand the importance of search engine traffic – and for those who do business in a specific geographic location – especially Local Search traffic.
Kelsey Group U.S. Local Share Mobile Search Revenue Volume Feb 2009 - NOTE the increases in 2013 predicted Local Related searches and revenue on Mobile Devices
Seventeen months of data for Texas Gazebo Manufacturer Golden Rule Gazebo was captured to illustrate clearly that Google has a monopoly on traffic and the importance of using Universal Business Listings to get your small business into all the tiny Local Search Directories to which you would never have manually identified and submitted.
This first screen capture shows overall search traffic for this very small business from October 29, 2009 (when analytics were first installed on their new blog) through March 20, 2010.
Over that time Google sent 1,412 visitors
Yahoo sent only 11 and Bing sent only 7
Google sent over 98% of their search engine traffic!
Golden Rule Gazebo Search Engine Traffic Click Image to See Full Size
During that same period of time Golden Rule Gazebo used Google AdWords to send 1,293 visitors so of the above traffic, only 765 visits were from organic searches. Note that the time period shown above does not include the most recent year.
This next information adds the most recent full year, expanding the time from October 29,2009 to March 20, 2011. You can see a screen capture of that data full size here.
Google sent a total of 4,769 visitors
Yahoo sent only 96 and Bing sent only 71
Search (search who?) sent 45, aol 34, ask 10 and altavista 1.
Google sent just under 95% of all their search engine traffic.
In spite of such low search numbers their business – which would be expected to be as hard hit as other construction related businesses such as Millwork Companies and Contractors have in this economy – enjoyed a very good year last year and traffic is already picking up for spring which is their traditional strongest demand time.
Their sales are strong because of their many Local Search Directory Listings that send only a handful – or even one – new buyer at a time. This traffic converts much higher than traffic from a regular search engine because these types of sites are used by buyers when they are ready to hire someone or buy something.
Their Top Referring Local Search Directory Sites:
You can click on the image below to see this screen capture data full size or just check out the list below the image of the referral sites and number of visitors each has sent.
Referring Sites 1 thru 20 10.29.09 through 03.20.11 Click Image to See Full Size
None of these are major local search directories! I don’t recognize any as being on the previous list of Local Search Directories I found when I did a similar Case Study on incoming links generating by using UBL for Good Millwork.
All of these are sites we would not have manually listed with and none are among the Top Ten Local Search Directories by Importance.
Notice that Google does not break out traffic that comes from their Google Maps site separately so there is no way to know how much of the traffic they send comes from Local Search but it is likely to be a significant percentage.
LOCAL SEARCH DIRECTORY URLs – Number of Visitors
This list is from Oct 29, 2009 to March 20, 2010:
- localfindonline.com 92
- foundnearby.com 39
- easylocalonline.com 36
- easyshoplocal.com 34
- mydailylocal.com 34
- yourgreatlocal.com 33
- easylocalfind.com 32
- ad.yieldmanager.com 29
- ilocalnet.com 28
- localpages.com 28
- click.zipcodez.com 26
- alltruelocal.com 25
- click.entertainmentdirectory.com 25
- localonlysearch.com 23
- click.salondirectory.com 21
- click.ultimateyellowpage.com 20
- federalyellowpage.com 19
- finddozens.com 19
- click.yellowpageonline.com 18
- findcitylocal.com 17
Compare the first list above to the list for Oct 29, 2009 to March 30, 2011:
- localfindonline.com 105
- definitelylocal.com 90
- amazinglocal.com 89
- guidetolocal.net 88
- superpages.com 83
- foundnearby.com 75
- localsearchlive.com 72
- yourlocalticket.com 71
- tradecrawler.com 68
- local-md.com 63
- ilocalnet.com 61
- searchyourzip.com 58
- localpages.com 57
- backroadhome.net 47
- easyshoplocal.com 46
- switchboard.com 46
- click.localsearchguides.com 45
- easylocalfind.com 42
- easylocalonline.com 42
- yourgreatlocal.com 42
The sites listed in bold at positions #5 and #16 are major local search directories and the 10 sites shown in italics were not even on the list of top 20 referrers the year before. Notice that the top referrer has slowed, probably because they have either lost search engine position or have stopped promoting themselves as well.
As new niche directories and geo-targeted directories are created, their site is automatically added because they are in the databases distributed through UBL. Small businesses with listings in as many local directories as possible are less affected by Google’s changes because as one local directory loses traction in the search engines, others you are also listed in will rise to page one.
332 tiny Local Search Directories referred 3,430 visits
Compare that to Google sending 4,769
Like them, you can protect your business from dropping Google traffic!
For those who want to see all the other little Local Search sites that sent this Texas Gazebo Builder traffic and buyers, here are screen captures of the data from their Google Analytics:
- Local Search Referring Sites 1-20
- Local Search Directory Sites 21-55
- Local Search Directories Sites 56-90
- Local Search Directory Referrals Sites 91-126
- Local Search Directories Referring Sites 127-162
- Local Search Directories Referrals Sites 163-197
Besides all of the referring sites shown above, Google Analytics captured 135 more sites that sent one visitor each. No business is going to manually list on all these sites – and it isn’t necessary because there is a fast, easy way to make sure your business gets listed on existing sites and included in new niche and geo-targeted sites.
I encourage bloggers to create niche geo-targeted blogs and that post explains why that is important for both small businesses and bloggers. It also explains why some small businesses especially need to get the Local Listings explained in this post because their location makes them harder to locate in Google Maps or Yahoo! Local.
We offer Local Search Directory Listing Services for Businesses.
If you prefer, see our do it yourself Local Search Directory Listings instructions.
We will also teach others how to offer these services.
Focus on These Priorities for Small Business Internet Marketing!
Image Credit Proximity Search Marketing - Click Image for More Details
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The case study also provides me so many resources and information about local listings. I am working on my client’s website, he want to rank his website in local search results for USA. I am working on his local SEO campaign , this post is so helpful for me.
But Gail, were the keywords that was ranked for in Google, high-converting keywords(specific) or more general? I can easily get a lot of traffic for more general words, but then the conversion rate would be very low.
But still aside from that: those local directories are giving some great targeted traffic.
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Twitter: GrowMap
November 10, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Hi Danny,
If you write excellent descriptions that include your most important keyword phrases for the products and services you offer, directory listings can bring you very targeted traffic.
They also bring you people whose intention is to find a business that offers what they want so they DO convert well. If I go to Yahoo Local and search for plumber or auto parts or restaurants or a Bed & Breakfast my intention is clearly that I want to go buy something – and so is the intention of anyone else using a local directory.
They are BUYERS or at least researching something they need and not curiosity clicks like the ones you usually get from banner or content ads.
The primary reason for local listings is to make sure people who want what you have to offer can find you in a directory; however, those listings CAN and do often come up in the search results for organic searches.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
Twitter: ModernArtsPack
February 20, 2012 at 1:06 am
So, directory listings not only bring you very targeted traffic but it is also good for increasing your leads and sales as well.
I wish to see more case study like this. And it’ll be grest if you could show the traffic breakdown, revenue etc.
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Twitter: DamonDay
June 18, 2011 at 8:18 am
Wow, this is awesome. I haven’t done anything with local search for my site. Since I don’t do in person consultations it didn’t really cross my mind to much, but I still have an advantage for any potential clients searching for my service locally. I am not sure why I haven’t focused on local directories as well yet.
What are your thoughts on getting linked in all of the local directories vs how everyone is now talking about how link directories are no longer any good for SEO and you shouldn’t waste your time doing it. Do you think the local directories are looked at differently by google than the national and international ones?
Damon would love you to read ..Credit Counseling North Carolina
Twitter: GrowMap
June 20, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Hi Damon,
Even when a business can sell nationally or internationally it never hurts to sell more locally. Besides that, these directories are major sites and an easy way to get powerful incoming links.
As you can see by the stats in this post, while Google may almost own organic and ppc traffic they don’t own ALL the traffic from EVERYWHERE. Since we can not control what Google may do we need to make sure we get as much traffic from other sources as we possibly can.
Google changes like the weather and so much of what is written about SEO and them is disinformation that it is anyone’s guess how they will treat different directories because it will not be consistent.
Read my posts Google Fairy and the very end of my post about how dangerous Using Crowdsourcing is and how that applies to the new Chrome block data.
growmap would love you to read ..Blogging Collaborations Process- Benchmarking
Twitter: DamonDay
June 26, 2011 at 11:01 am
Thank you for the response. I was further reading through your website after I left that comment and I see you offer local directory service as well as provide resources if we want to take the time to submit our sites myself.
I am going to give it a whirl, but you guys certainly make a strong argument for outsourcing those tasks to you. Don’t be surprised if you hear from me after a few weeks of taking on the task myself
Mainly I want to get familiar with it. Thanks for the advice.
Its a Wonderful Article on Local Search Directory Referral Traffic, in my opinion you can get high rankings in google 7 box with the help of local directory listing.
If I was to analyse the success from these results, I would heavily focus on conversion from individual sources rather than total amount of traffic sent. Nice report BTW.
regards
Kashif.
Kashif would love you to read ..Criss Angel Levitation Trick Revealed
Twitter: GrowMap
May 2, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Hello Kashif,
In the case of this particular business that is not possible because they do not have an ecommerce site and sales are not made directly online. Their custom gazebos are custom and built to order and buyers order them primarily over the phone.
growmap would love you to read ..Local Search Directory Listings
Yes.. adding your business in local directory bring good visitors.
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