Local SEO Training inside an agency

[Chaddow]

Hi Everyone

I was looking for some thoughts from the experts on here on the up coming training sessions I am going to run within my agency to give everyone an understanding of what I do day to day as the person who specialises in Local SEO
It is designed for all skill levels

Here are the topic headers I am going to cover probably in three separate sessions What is it & Basic, Intermediary and Advanced

[TABLE="width: 260"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]What is it

What is Local SEO[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Where can it be found

Basic
Google My Business
Bing places for Business
Apple Maps
Snack / Local Pack
Verifying a Business
Citations
Contacting Google and Bing Support
Structured Data
PPC Location extensions
NAP

Intermediary

Data Aggregators
Local traffic in Google Analytics
How to report on Local SEO
Linking YouTube and Google Accounts
Where do duplicates come from?

Advanced

Finding duplicates
Removing duplicates
Editing Data Aggregators
Fixing Suspended Listing
How to impact the knowledge graph
Resolving ownership conflicts

Tools
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]


Any feedback or advice would be most welcome if you think some things are in the wrong session or if you think some topics should be added or removed

Thanks in advance

Callum

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I think you should switch "Data Aggregators" and "Structured Data" topics. From personal experience it's been easier to tie data aggregators to a NAP discussion, which makes it easier to fit into the basic category. A lot of people have problem with structured data, especially if they're not as familiar with the coding/dev side of the world.

Without knowing what exactly you plan on covering, that's my thought on how to adjust.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Callum,

I think you have a decent framework. I would also include a section on how to leverage all the different GMB Support channels:

- GMB Forum
- GMB Support (Phone, E-mail)
- GMB Social Support (Twitter and Facebook)

As well as a section on how to leverage other communities such as this one

 

[Phil Rozek]

Some good points on that list, but you need sections on:

(1) researching link opportunities
(2) getting those links
(3) helping clients get more/better reviews, and
(4) beefing up the content on the site.

Citation/listings work alone won’t get most clients anywhere.

 

[PioneerMedia John]

Great start and brilliant additions. We're finding Reviews to be its own beast and then some, so I'd make that it's own section early.

 

[HangTenSEO]

I would also maybe touch on the differences between Global SEO vs Local SEO and PPC.

Also if you're interested, I wrote a book on Local SEO. You can find it on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Crandall/e/B01N3NRURS. I go into detail about citation building.

On Amazon you can also just look up local SEO books and check out the table of contents for free.

You could also talk about some of the companies that are out there. Moz Local, Bright Local, Yext, Synup and Whitespark.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Not really sure if you would want to dive into Global/International SEO if the training session is all about Local. Those are two completely different beasts to tackle, and it could really take the focus away from the main topic. Realistically you could spend an entire training on global.

The other thing to consider is if you're doing Local, you're most likely not going to touch international much at all. Is it really worth diving into training for something your team isn't going to use? It would make sense if the agency offered international, but I could see that happening as either a specialty agency or a large, well established agency.

PPC is a good topic to tie in (the OP noted "PPC Location extensions" in the Basic section). What else in PPC do you think would be worth covering? I think most people know about Adwords and FB, but does anyone know if there are other networks worth talking about? If there are local-specific PPC networks, that would be an awesome training section (and possibly a new thread to discuss niche networks).