Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
in Local Search
Infographic: Owning Your Local Web Equity
When presenting at Get Listed Local University we talk with a large number of small business owners. Many that we have met are attempting to understand the big picture of internet marketing and how the pieces relate.
These SMBs are trying to make a decisions amidst the buzz as to where to focus their on-line efforts. The goal of this infographic was to provide a foundation for that understanding from the perspective of long term investment in their marketing efforts. It is not so much a guide to those marketing priorities as it is a guide to understanding the trade offs in loss of control as you move your efforts onto the platforms controlled by others.
This graphic was originally inspired by a Lisa Barone blog post titled 11 Reasons Your SMB Still Needs A Web Site and refined with the help of David Mihm, Mary Bowling and Matt McGee.
The infographic is available for embedding in various formats and layouts on this page for both web display and print.
I would love to hear your feedback about the graphic and would like to know if you find it useful in communicating to SMBs.
(Click to view whole graphic)
(click to go to the infographic page)
© Copyright 2025 - MIKE BLUMENTHAL, ALL RIGHT RESERVED.
Comments
32 Comments
Very nice, very descriptive. Covers most if not all of the issues; Great work, Mike.
nice @Mike…will include it on my own blog soon….
hey, if Local ever goes south for you, maybe a career as an infographic artist might be in your future, eh?
🙂
Jim
@Earl
Thanks
@Jim
I am usually not oriented to visual thinking so it is unlikely I will product too many of these.
But once this idea struck I wanted to see it through for both its inherent value to SMBs and marketers and to learn what promoting an infographic as a marketing technique was all about.
wow. this is great. printing it out and strategically posting in the office for when they are most captive 🙂
[…] Blumenthal developed the graphic below to help communicate some advice to SMBs about what they needed to “own” online. […]
Really great work & useful content, thx…
… but from a pure SEO perspective:
The size and the visual organization of the content (especially the 2nd Infographic) is not optimal from the view of linkability (e.g. Linkbait) on secondary websites:
– The font is to small to be viewed properly on even the bigger versions.
– The element of a circle also prevents the optimal readability of the 1st Infographic
– at least one of the “embed codes” should be stuffed right into this blog post and not on a second page, since web users are lazy and won’t click through to this second page to embed the code…
Greetings,
Sebastian
P.S. as @Trent wrote above this infographic perfectly suits for printing it out and hanging it into a SMBs office!
[…] Click image to view entire graphic complete with explanations, then head over to Mike’s blog for more info: Infographic: Owning Your Local Web Equity […]
Extremely nice work, Mike. Blogged about it here:
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=968
Nice work, Mike. It’s a lot to take in for an SMB, but the best framework I’ve seen bringing these online tactics together. It also quite effectively drives home the point that everything needs to tie back to the identical underlying core business data.
It would be interesting (and harder!) to somehow overlay on this some sort of prioritization framework – dimensions such as time cost, dollar cost, “efficacy” (though that’s probably too goal- and industry-specific).
This is a really useful visual reference indeed. I’m also printing it to hang in the office. Many thanks for producing and sharing this.
[…] Infographic: Owning Your Local Web Equity, Mike Blumenthal […]
@Sebastien
Thanks for the feedback. I wholeheartedly agree that the layout is not ideal for an infographic format. I came to that conclusion once I was too far down the path to really change direction. I have trouble trimming the information density as well… both are lessons that I will take into account if I come up with another idea… less content, more graphic and a layout better suited for horizontal screen.
@Matt
Yes it is too dense for an SMB by half… but if it is useful as a guide for marketers and their staff then it will be worthwhile. I realized that as I corrected, changed it and tested it on different readers. Maybe next time I can nail a content rich visual with the needed simplicity. Thanks for the feedback.
We are talking about overlaying a prioritization schema… we’ll see where it goes.
@Miriam
THANKS!!!
Great graphic! I’ve tweeted, facebooked, and will be emailing this to a number of my contacts.
It would be kewl if you could add a prioritization schema to this. I posted it twice today, blog and on my forum. Thanks again!
Brilliant Mike – you’ve been busy!
I like the inventiveness of this and nice to SEO represented in a pictorial view for once rather than just text & data.
It reminds me of an aura chart (http://www.phrizbie-design.com/aura-chart.html) or an ancient, pagan wheel. Are you thinking there’s a parallel between SEO and the ancient, mysterious, ‘dark arts’!
Maybe you turn this into a board game – you have to move your pieces through each section gathering ‘SEO points’ along the way. Claiming your directory listings moves you forward; receiving a negative review can send you sliding back. Just watch out for the dreaded ‘Google Algo Update’ card that could turn your game upside down! I know some guys at Hasbro who could be interested…
This has made my day. Thanks Mike.
Nice work. A lot of small business owners will be able to get a grasp of online marketing much more easily. I can see this infographic becoming a staple part of presentations for online marketing seminars and QA’s for small to medium businesses.
@Sharon
Thanks
@John
Will keep you posted
@Myles
I hadn’t thought of the game angle… I think I will call it “Angry SMBs”. It will be a virtual dart throwing game and if you happen to hit Places it lights up and lets out a Bronx cheer. There should be a bias in the game to prevent that from happening very frequently (the dart will curve just before it hits the mark) and if it does, that section will show double (as a bonus of sorts). 🙂
Oh and of course it will need to be playable only on FB.
Great work! Looks like you’ve covered most angles here… oh wait it’s circular :p
[…] Mike Blumenthal is one hell of an SEO practitioner, and he’s just released a terrific new infographic on a topic that’s near and dear to all of us SEO types, entitled “Web Equity: Owning your Local Web Presence!” […]
@Mike..just posted myownself about this great infographic, eh!
thanks, bud! great way to inculcate the prospective client, eh!
🙂
Jim
that’s brilliant!
Wow, I saw this and all I wanted to do is share with my local business owners. I think it is a little deep for most people, although, if you want to understand what is going on, this is an awesome infographic that is easy to understand and comprehend. Thanks for all your hard work and making our lives easier Twitter @contactwsi
[…] up by Mike Blumenthal via a post about Owning Your Local Web Equity. From the post: SMBs are trying to make a decisions amidst the buzz as to where to focus their […]
[…] up by Mike Blumenthal via a post about Owning Your Local Web Equity. From the post: SMBs are trying to make a decisions amidst the buzz as to where to focus their […]
Thanks Mike! I’ve been showing this to business owners. Sometimes their eyes glaze over and their minds drift off a bit (probably to how much they are spending on yellow pages ads) – but that’s their own fault. This is a great resource!
@Jeffrey
I figured that would be the case…. thanks for the feedback
[…] The services evolves around location, and todays brick-and-mortar retailers must keep up with the many new digital assets. Below a nice inforgraphic that gives you an overview of the current assets. Read more at Infographic: Owning Your Local Web Equity.? […]
should business physical address be part of core business information?
Ah yeah this is awesome! I think it would scare the crap out of most SMBs, but great for us local SEO’ers.
@Mathew
Have you used it with any? Curious if it provides any help for you, your staff or the client in an actual planning session?
I have to admit that I had to really look at this for awhile before I understood it but once I did I loved it. The separation makes sense, and where you have things balanced works just as well. I’ve never really thought much about Facebook advertising because I hate it so much but I could see how it could work as you’ve shown. Nice job.
Mike,
I am increasing my drive into local search. Came across this post as part of my research. Very good.
I congratulate who ever came up with the disk design to display all the elements – very well thought out.
Thanks
Simon
Comments for this post are closed.