Presented in Partnership with



The top experts in Local Search under one roof with one goal... sharing everything.

Whether you run an agency that serves brick-and-mortar businesses, work in-house for a large brand or Internet Yellow Pages publisher, or are trying to find the hottest opportunity in the bloodiest of all bleeding edges in search marketing, you won’t want to miss Local U Advanced Training. All new content ipresented by thought leaders in the industry.

These sessions will be action-packed, presented at an advanced level and feature ALL of the most up-to-date information about what’s working and what’s not in Local Search Engine Optimization. Join Darren Shaw, Cindy Krum, Will Scott, Mary Bowling, Joy Hawkins, Mike Blumenthal, David Deering, Mike Ramsey, Aaron Weiche, Ed Reese and more for a great day.

The Hotel Indigo will be providing discounted room rates. Each guest must make your own reservations by calling the hotel at 504-522- 3650 and identifying yourself as members of the LocalU Advanced Conference prior to Sept. 19th.

Agenda Time Topic Presenters 8:00 - 8:30 Registration, Check-in and Coffee Kickoff and Conference Introduction A few very brief housekeeping items before we dive headfirst into a full day of Local Search presentations and discussions! LOCAL SEARCH Cindy Krum Keynote - Digital Marketing & The Age of Artificial Intelligence, Learning Algorithms & APIs Cindy Krum is the CEO and Founder of MobileMoxie, and author of Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are, which gets 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. She is the leading Mobile SEO consultant, and is thought leader in the search industry. Cindy works with many top-notch, internationally recognized clients, assisting with mobile SEO, Responsive Design, mobile site migrations and site-speed optimization.
Inside the Professor's Laboratory Semantic search, relevance and categories that influence local search. Improving your Local Link Building with Data The importance of links for local isn't going away anytime soon. What can you do to be more effective with your time? Mike Ramsey will walk you through some of the things Nifty has done to perfect certain types of tactics. 10:20 - 10:35 BREAK ENTERPRISE TRACK AGENCY TRACK
Solving Enterprise Data Problems Agency Link Panel Mo citations, mo problems. Massively parallel citations need massively accurate solutions.

Darren Shaw
Whitespark

A group discussion about tips and tactics around links and local.

Mike Ramsey
Mary Bowling
Mike Blumenthal
Will Scott

Advanced Schema Markup for Local Businesses How Small Businesses Can Win Their Battle Against Big Brands Learn how to influence local Knowledge Graph panels, attract more clicks and customers with rich snippets and use Schema Actions tied to other Google products to better promote your business online.

David Deering
Touchpoint Digital

Proven tactics for winning the war for more customers in your local market area.

Mary Bowling
Ignitor Digital

Enterprise Lo-Mo-SEO Awesomeness Reporting and KPI's That Clients Actually Pay Attention To Learn what you need to know to improve your brand’s mobile representation in your core locations. Understand what influences local mobile rankings, in and out of map results, and how you can make the most of your brand’s presence there.

Cindy Krum
Mobile Moxie

Mike and Ed will unpack high-level and detailed analysis techniques to help you really prove the value to your clients. Way more than just analytics, beyond ranking and traffic, this session is about THE PROOF.

Mike Ramsey
and Ed Reese

LUNCH: BIRDS OF A FEATHER ROUNDTABLES

12:05 -12:20 Google: Learn how the Google My Business team approaches the chains and agency experience, and the newest product improvements for people like you who manage listings in bulk.

We'll have lunch together and you'll have the ability to self-select among tables hosted by Local U faculty to help you troubleshoot and get advice on your most pressing local search issues. Creating A Review Culture A look at the strategy, the tactics, but most importantly how to create the "review culture" your business or your clients need into today's world or ratings and reviews. Troubleshooting Google My Business Problems Joy will go over the steps she takes to troubleshoot GMB issues along with what you can do to fix them. She’ll cover things like how to discover and report duplicate listings, how to use Google MapMaker to troubleshoot ranking issues, how to handle tricky practitioner listings, and what items influence your listing's appearing and ranking that are not in the GMB dashboard. Content Amplification Strategies for Local Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? Facebook stole the cookies, that's who. Used to be building and engaging an audience through content was as simple as hitting the "Share" button. These days, however, as the social networks look for ways to monetize, you've gotta pay to play. Paula and Will demonstrate some of the best tactics to leverage reputable brands to dominate your local market. 2:20 - 2:30 BREAK INTIMATE BREAKOUTS Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Breakout 1
2:30 - 3:00 GMB Problem Solving
Willys DeVoll, Mike Blumenthal + Joy Hawkins Agency Issues
Mike Ramsey, Will Scott, Darren Shaw Google Analytics & Attribution
Ed Reese Breakout 2
3:00 - 3:30 GMB Problem Solving
Willys DeVoll, Mike Blumenthal + Joy Hawkins Agency Citations + Links
Mike Ramsey, Will Scott, Darren Shaw Google Analytics & Attribution
Ed Reese Breakout 3
3:30 - 4:00 Schema Q&A
David Deering Paid Local Media for Agencies
Mike Ramsey, Will Scott, Darren Shaw Google Analytics & Attribution
Ed Reese BEER O'CLOCK Grab a beverage of your choice as we prepare to wind down the day with two highly interactive and informal sessions. Competitive Analysis Panel Session Open Q&A / Live Site Clinics