LOC@L SEO GUIDE

Of course I haven’t figured out what this post is about yet.  I just couldn’t resist the title, or Paris.

I’ll only be there on Monday the 22nd.  If you want to connect please ping me at @localseoguide on Twitter or via some other medium.

On Tuesday the 23rd I’ll be at the Local Search Summit at SES in NYC.

On Wednesday the 24th I’ll be sleeping in late.

The most interesting info in the Real Time Search panel at SMX is how each of the engines looks at RTS data algorithmically and how it contributes to ranking in Web search results.  Some real-time blogging:

From BING:
Sean Suchter

The major types of data they look at in the real time search stream:

Meta Data:

• URL referrals
• Retweet counts

Primary Data:

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Google recommends that If you no longer sell a product, serve a 404.

Imagine my surprise when I checked out the Google Profiles home page and clicked on the “Matt Cutts” link only to get:

Is Google trying to tell us something?

Ignore this test: Angieslist San Francisco Roofing

Just posted the following list of local search api’s on SearchEngineLand.  I am going to be maintaining the list here and will be updating it from time to time.

Alcatel Lucent Open API Service Tap into network data to pinpoint a user’s location via their mobile device, enable geotargeting of ads & offers and finding friends nearby.

CityGrid (CitySearch) 15M+ business profile listings. 3M+ user & editorial reviews. 500K+ local advertisters (in other words they will pay you to use this API!).

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Last week Google launched a controversial new feature on local Place Pages - a list of nearby businesses that promotes local competitors on a business’ Place Page, even if that business has claimed their GLBC profile.  With this move Google has perhaps decided that the Yellow Pages industry is totally off their rockers - many YP sites show competitive listings on a business’ profile page only until the business becomes an advertiser.

As Matt McGee suggests, it would be a good move by Google to remove the Nearby Places list for businesses that have claimed their profile else Place Pages like the Buffalo jeweler’s found by Mike Blumenthal that shows 10 other jeweler listings will be the norm and those businesses that claim their profile and do the most work to make them more visible will also end up helping their competition the most.

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In my recent interview on SEOBook I mused that Google might create ways for agencies to get access to a business’ GLBC profile.  Matt McGee spoke with a GLBC rep today and got the following responses:

“agency access to LBC is unlikely”
&
“they may give biz owner a way to share account with one person”

Not perfect but sounds like a step in the right direction.

VanillaCoke, one of my fave readers, has done the honor of putting up an interview with yours truly on my fave SEO Blog, SEOBook.

I mean come on:

It’s all about relevance right?

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Matt McGee has put together a great list of the top online marketing posts from 2009.  There are a lot of great articles to dig into and I am psyched to see a few LSG posts from last year made the cut:

How To Get Your Site Indexed Quickly In Google & Other Search Engines (I Hope)
(in the SEO Category)

IYP SEO Rankings Report 2009
(in the Local Search Category)

Yellow Pages vs. Social Media: A Rebuttal to the Lazy, Lying Mainstream Media
(in the Rants Category)

Hint to judges, I am pulling for the Rant.

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My bud Tim Tevlin has just started video seo biz at VideoSEOShop.com. Tim has done some great SMB video SEO work with me in the past so if you are looking for some help in that area I recommend checking him out.

LSG has just come off another record year and if today is any indication 2010 is going to be uber crazy.  I am looking for someone who is interested in learning the SEO trade and helping service some of the biggest brands online, coolest startups and excellent SMB customers.

Skills required in order to be considered:

1. Basic understanding of search engine optimization, keyword research, site architecture and linkbuilding
2. Ability to set up and operate a wordpress blog

Skills that are nice-to-have but not necessary:

1. HTML, MySQL, php programming
2. Interest in sales
3. Good writer
4. Product management

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My how time flies when you are spamming improving Google’s results.  Time again for my take on what’s in store for all of you localsearcharati in ‘010. And check out how my seo predictions did for 2009. Drum roll please…

1. The Open Source Yellow Pages Will Emerge
   Business listing data online has traditionally been severely fragmented.  Different sites have different business names, phone numbers, website URLs, hours of operations, services, etc.  The backend data suppliers like Localeze, InfoUSA & Acxiom have done an ok job of trying to become the source of truth for business listings, but ultimately the world really needs a single source for the so-called golden record for each business.  Twitter looks like it’s about to become that source.  It’s recent purchase of MixerLabs and their GeoAPI product is the yellow pages API I have been whining about for the past year or so.  If this rolls out the way I think it will, Twitter will now become the central clearinghouse for a huge portion of local data.  The data providers, yellow pages publishers, ad agencies will still play a part, controlling what proprietary info they feed into the system, but pretty much any application that involves local businesses will use the Twitter system, so much so that if you aren’t using it, your product will seem deficient.  Mastering the inputs and outputs of this system will become a key differentiator for local marketers in ‘010.
2. [Read more →]

Happy New Year to all of LSG’s readers!

As per my custom around the holiday season I encourage everyone with a web site to give the gift of SEO by linking to their favorite charity’s site with on-the-money anchor text.  Here are some of mine:

Clean Water

Green Christmas Gift

Lymphoma

Orphans Charity

Nicaraguan Aid

And it wouldn’t be New Years without a few resolutions.  Here are some of mine:

1. Blog more
2. Launch at least one new business
3. Redesign this site
4. Provide search marketing help to deserving charitable organizations
5. Reclaim my #1 ranking for “soup nazi” in image search (a man can dream can’t he?)

Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year again and who really cares about the latest Google Maps announcements when there is a disgraced celebrity to ponder?

I am hearing from a lot of different sites that the whole Tiger Woods thing has been a like a big traffic Christmas gift, particularly for news sites and social networks that are generating a lot of articles and discussions on his night putting activities.  In my attempt to cash in on the craze I figured I’d see what sort of data Google is showing for “Tiger Woods”-related queries.

Google Suggest

If you read the list downwards in sequence it kind of tells the whole story doesn’t it?

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