LOC@L SEO GUIDE

Tweet Thought it might be of interest to catalogue the different types of Google Local SERPs I am seeing: 7 Pack Lite Standard 7 Pack listings with map in right column above ads.  10 Web results below. UPDATE: 3 Pack Lite Standard 3 Pack listings with map in right column above ads.  7 Web results [...]

[Read more →]

Tweet So it appears that the new Google Local SERPs are imminent.  As you may recall, my initial take on this pending event was that it spelled doom for the Yellow Pages and local directories biz.  So I thought I’d take you for a spin through these new SERPs and see what we can see: [...]

[Read more →]

Just saw this in the wild Tweet

[Read more →]

Tweet Fire up an Incognito browser, do some local searches and you might see some new Google local SERPs. It looks like Google may have unleashed the new All-Google-Places local layout they had been testing in more cities (Update: I have reports that this is being seen in Burbank & Australia and others that it [...]

[Read more →]

Sometimes we SEO types forget to take our own advice. Several months ago, after not having touched my Google Places Page for years, I updated the photo. Immediately my edit was rejected and my listing was removed from Google Maps. I misinterpreted this as a problem with the new image and resubmitted the old one, [...]

[Read more →]

Faithful readers of this collection of pixels and code may recall last week’s post La Jolla Takes a Hit From Google Maps where we called attention to the plight of La Jolla, CA, the tony upscale oceanside resort town, which had been replaced in Google Maps with La Jolla Placentia, CA, the non-tony, non-upscale, non-oceanside [...]

[Read more →]

Jonah Stein forwarded me this missive from Josh Vickers, founder of TaskSquid, who seems to be in cahoots with Adam Harris of Calacles.com. Apparently Google has misplaced La Jolla: It is Official. The Jewel of San Diego, La Jolla, once nestled on a prime stretch of Pacific, has taken root in a new exciting? location. [...]

[Read more →]

Executive Summary: Who knows? But here’s a data point of one: The Main Street Meat N Fish Market recently opened in Pleasanton.  My wife asked me to find their hours so I went to Google and queried “pleasanton meat n fish market“.  At the top of the SERP was this result from Patch.com (congrats to [...]

[Read more →]

With all of the brouhaha going on about Google’s test of a new local SERP for category searches that will make it much harder for local directories to get traffic, I became almost willfully blind to the more subtle change that had occurred to the SERP for business name queries.  Thanks to Patrick Altoft for [...]

[Read more →]

Chris Silver Smith brings up a great point in today’s Local’s Only column about Google’s new local SERP design they are testing: …you might think that the newer, larger listing treatment might be beneficial for the visibility of these businesses. But, think again—for any of them which have been doing significant search marketing activities, this [...]

[Read more →]