Citationbait is the New Linkbait
I think that it’s time that we all have a discussion about Citationbait. Citationbait is just like linkbait but its affects your Google Places listing rather than your organic ranking. Linkbait, as you may well have discovered is just about anything that you can do to attracting attention and backlinks for your website. It includes contests, giveaway’s, and just about any type of self promotions that you can conjure up.
A good linkbait program can often help you acquire hundreds if not thousands of links back to your website. The problem with linkbait is that it is effective if your website has a blog. However, if your website lacks a blog it is much more difficult to set up an effective linkbait program. It’s not impossible just difficult.
I have attempted four linkbait efforts in the past two have been successful and two have not. But if you are a local business you are likely less concerned about about links and the organic side of the Google search results. Your main focus is likely on improving your Places business listing. To accomplish this you will need to acquire citations. Thus the need for citationbait.
First, you will need to understand a few thing before I proceed. The citations that I am referring too here have the ability to impact a business’s Places listing in the Google Places search rankings. These citations may appear as reviews placed on other websites about your business. They may also include reviews completed in your Places listing. Citations may be mentions on other sites such as local directories, blogs, or from information and referral sites.
What makes citations unique is that they do not require a backlink to be effective. It doesn’t hurt your listing but a url is not required. It definitely helps if the citation includes the businesses name, address, and phone number. This information usually will not appear in a review. But it is usually available in the business listing where a review can be placed.
Here are some basic ideas as we explore what works and what doesn’t work.
Your customers are the first place to start. And the easiest citationbait that I can think of its a no brainer. Simply ask your customers who like your business and who have had a positive experience to provide you with a review. Yes, this is more common sense than citationbait but you have to start somewhere.
You might also want to place a sign in your place of business that asks for a review. I would even create a flyer that explains the need for citations. Then I would place them somewhere next to your sign. I would even go a step further and create a discount coupon flyer. On that coupon I would also ask for a positive review and provide several sites where they can leave reviews. I would then provide this to every customer as they check out.
Now, this kind of thing only should be used if people really like your business. The reason for this is simple. Google tweaked its algorithm in December of 2010 so that negative reviews can hurt your rankings. Previously, all reviews were treated as a positive.
I am going to mention some other options that will be covered in a following post What Color Is Your Citationbait? You could ask friends, family, and business associates to write you a review. You could also write your own or pay for reviews. Yes, there is a white hat – black world when it comes to citations and citationbait.
The review part of gathering and acquiring citations is just like backlinks. It is also the area where there is the greatest potential for gaming the system. Google has already rolled out the Hotpot review service as an attempt to control fake reviews both good or bad.
Another source of citations and possibly citationbait is the local business directories or IYP’s. You will want to list your business on as many local directory sites as possible. However, I would not recommend using paid sites as there are way too many free ones available.
The citationbait part is this. If your listing is in a local directory and someone’s discovers they might leave a review. Google might also show your local directory listing under section more about this place in your Places account.
Another area where there is potential place to acquire citations is from blogs. Although I have not seen many blog citations it is possible. The post would need to include your business name, location, and telephone number for this to be effective. The businesses name should also appear in the posts title and page title for best results. However, you will have no control over this unless you are writing about another company.
I really hope this sparks a lively discussion as we all try to figure out how to acquire citations safely. If you have an interesting idea please share it with us.
I will be following up this post up with one titled What Color Is Your Citationbait?
What say you?
I provide SEO Local Services Tucson Phoenix Solutionss , Local SEO Services Tucson Glendale Arizona , and Google Places SEO Citations Blog from our Tucson, Arizona location.
This is part of a multi-part series that chronicles my adventures with video marketing. I have decided to write these posts as a way to motivate you if you are considering using video marketing to promote your business.
V2
It has been, an still is, an interesting adventure. I have been blessed to have a business partner that has supported me and provided the tools needed to prosper at video marketing. The rest has been all about desire, the desire to learn and excel. I had already laid the groundwork for video marketing. As part of my link building efforts I had already established hundreds if not thousands of social profiles.
Now, it was time to optimize these sites by uploading useful content in the form of video’s. This is part of what I like to call Scratch My Back Marketing. This requires adding quality content to website that provide user generated content. I provide quality content and the sites useful backlinks, marketing channels, and exposure.
I had been satisfied to merely use these sites to build backlinks through blog posts. It was my form of article marketing. This is a huge part of my Scratch My Back Marketing strategy. This method has proven to be extremely effective. But I was under utilizing these sites as I didn’t provide videos as well.
Well, that has definitely changed. These videos are also way cool on a person level as well. I grew up in small town rural and extremely mountainous western Pennsylvania in the 60’s. Our local YMCA had a disc jockey club. I became a member and was soon on the air doing a one hour Saturday morning radio show. Now, I’m back in front of a microphone and I’m really having fun again.
As part of my marketing adventure I am still using blog posting. I provide a transcripts of my latest video, Why Isn’t Your Website Ranking # 1?. I end the posts by linking to the video on YouTube. This provides more views, more friends, and more backlinks all of which can improve my presence and rankings on YouTube and in the Google organic results. I also pick up some useful links as well.
As a side fact, that I just discovered, I found out that YouTube is the second most used search engine in the US. Yes, YouTube is also a search engine, in this case, a video search engine.
To promote these videos I will use every website at my disposal from my large database of social media sites. This latest video will be the first in a series of videos that focus on providing non cost local SEO training.
While I have been promoting these videos on a wide range of video and social sites I have managed to use these sites to Crush The Competition for several keyword phrases. These phrases appear in my blog post and video titles. This has worked so well that I have ranked for ever position on the first page of Google for keyword phrases like Local Arizona SEO Solutions.
Yes, that going 10 for 10! This videos highlights how I accomplished this feat. This actually almost became a bit absurd as I eventually held the first 19 positions for this search. Now, that’s what I call crushing the competition. Not only that but my business is the only one that shows in the Google Places maps listing.
My latest video that posted six days ago now has 68 views. It started out averaging 5 views a day. It then went to 9 and it is now up to 11 views a day. Yes, these are very low numbers but not in the markets that I compete in. This is really something in keep in mind…. More on this point in the next post.
Too be continued…
If you would like to glean from over 400 SEO related posts then I would like to invite you to visit my SEO Tucson Google Places Apache Junction Chandler Mesa Blog.
I provide SEO Local Services Tucson Phoenix Solutionss , Local SEO Services Tucson Glendale Arizona , and Google Places SEO Citations Blog from our Tucson, Arizona location.
I have recently begun to develop a series of SEO training videos and I am finding the challenges are extremely rewarding. As I have previously mentioned as I have been providing a running narrative of my experiences.
I have been able to successfully use videos to crush my competition. There are several keyword phrases were I hold every position on the first page. Yes, that’s 10 out of 10! In two short months I have placed videos on around 100 or so websites.
When possible, I link these video’s back to their homes on YouTube. I have also spent dozens of hours viewing video’s or reading about how the YouTube algorithm works. I am still scratching my head why others rank ahead of me. There are two specific videos posted around the same time as are mine did.
That is about the only thing we have in common other than we are both targeting the same keyword phrase, Local SEO. The first two videos have only around 30 views. They have almost have no activity in their accounts. All the things that the supposed to be major factors in the YouTube algorithm don’t seem to apply here.
Now, having said that two of my three videos are one the first page ranking around 8th and 12th for the search Local SEO. The first video out ranks the second but the second one has about three times as many views as the first one. The second video has been on YouTube about half the days as the first one. So I still attempting to figure this all out for ranking purposes.
The first video was a pat myself on the back video where I proved that I rank both # 1 and # 2 for my services in Tucson. The second video was a training video about using social media to crush the competition. It provided useful information about how to use social media to gain a huge advantage in the Google search results.
When I first started using YouTube things were very slow. I had a hard time getting anyone’s attention. Then I played the let’s be friends routine over one weekend and ended up with about 80 friends. You need some activity on your channel page (YouTube profile page) such as friends and subscribers before people take you serious. Now, I get an average of 5 friends requests per day and my three videos have been viewed (opened) by about 580 people.
That 580 number is a bit misleading as a video gets opened as soon as someone enters my channels page. It’s a nice little tool to inflate a videos views. But what I find very interesting is that opening a video has very little correlation with whether they finish the video. Everyone knows this, but it is still extremely important because this will greatly enhance your ability to get seen. The persons video that has 1,000 views is more likely to be watched than the one with only 150 views.
Another reason that views are important is the YouTube allows you to do advanced searches. And amazingly we will likely soon be on the first page when someone is searching for the most viewed video tagged Local SEO. Our second video currently has about 360 views. The video that sits in the 20th spot has about 450 views.
That video, the one with 450 views was posted some 10 months ago. Thus I like the position that I have found myself in. I am pleased to be targeting this search. Ranking well for views acts like a long tailed keyword phrase. It can be easy to rank well for niche markets. It also creates synergy. On YouTube mass matters. The more friends the more views the higher your video ranks.
Are you ready to give video marketing a try? If you think it is difficult think again. Take the time to watch some videos in your market niche. You will quickly see that you don’t have to be a video expert to post on YouTube. In fact most videos are not that good, so if you can produce an average video with great content you should do well.
Too be continued…
I provide SEO Local Services Tucson Phoenix Solutionss , Local SEO Services Tucson Glendale Arizona , and Google Places SEO Citations Blog from our Tucson, Arizona location.
I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa , Google Places SEO Phoenix Tucson Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Flagstaff, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Apache Junction Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.
For more SEO related videos and blog posts please do visit SEO Phoenix Internet Website Marketing Blog.
I also show you real Google results to make my point. Are you ready to crush the competition?
Local SEO Services videos on YouTube
I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Scottsdale , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Yuma, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Apache Junction from our Tucson, Arizona location.
Custom Home Builders Tucson – Green Valley – Marana, Arizona
As many of my regular readers all ready know I am very skilled at getting results for local businesses and industries. To show my skills I will be targeting this specific keyword phrase.
Custom Home Builders Tucson – Green Valley – Marana, Arizona
Over the last few years in business in Tucson I have talked with several Custom Home Builders. None of them ended up as my clients for a variety of reasons. Lately, they have gotten my attention as I have been noticing some new home construction occurring around the city.
So I thought that I would write a post to say directly them. I want them to know that I would like their business and that I am very good at what I do. If you are a custom home builder in Tucson and you have discovered this post it is because I have specifically targeted you with this post.
Think about this. If I was able to get an SEO blog post onto the first page of Google, do you think I might be able to get your website there as well? I know local marketing, so if you are ready to contract with a proven winner I will get your website high onto the first page of Google multiple times .
I have a 100% success rate getting my clients onto the first page of the Google results for multiple keyword phrases. If you are serious about getting your website noticed then we should be talking.
To read the updated post please go to
Custom Home Builders Tucson – Green Valley – Marana, Arizona
I provide SEO Local Small Business Marketing Tucson Solutions Services , Internet Marketing Tucson Niche SEO Services Website Solutions, and Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Services from our Tucson, Arizona location.