Hey readers, Local SEO Guide is looking for help in the Bay Area from someone who has experience in “big SEO data” analysis – don’t be intimidated – we’re talking about taking data from various tools and interpreting it into actionable recommendations. You must be located in the Bay Area. We will not relocate you for this […]
NEW YORK — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that 19 companies had agreed to cease their practice of writing fake online reviews for businesses and to pay more than $350,000 in penalties. “Operation Clean Turf,” a year-long undercover investigation into the reputation management industry, the manipulation of consumer-review websites, and the practice of […]
UPDATE: Some of my better-read compatriots have pointed me towards Greg Sterling’s article from April about how Google is using the layout below to appease anti-competition complaints in Europe. So take my theories below as pure entertainment, as it should be. Nick Rink of Smart Local , a UK Local SEO firm, posted a screenshot […]
Google Webmaster Tools just launched the Manual SPAM Action Viewer which alerts webmasters to manual SPAM issues with their sites. Like a good SEO consultant, I quickly ran through all of my clients and here are the various messages I encountered – ok, perhaps it’s not so “ultimate” – disavow me if you want: Pure […]
In my SEL post 7 Things I Have Figured Out About The New Google Maps, I mentioned that businesses might want to try using ALL CAPS in their business name on their Google Places + Local (whateva) profile as I had noticed EXTREME PIZZA rocking the all-caps in the map result I was studying: A […]
David Mihm has published 2013’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey over at Moz. As is tradition, I will summarize it here and encourage you to head over to David’s post to soak in the data: “By and large, the primary factors seem to have stayed largely the same for the past couple of years: Proper […]
Based on the comments I am seeing on yesterday’s post, it appears that the new Google+ Local Reviews Pop-Up has gone global. Since it seems like this is a real thing and not a test, I started looking at it a bit more to figure out the implications. One question that popped up: @localseoguide What […]
Not sure if I am seeing a test or if this is rolling out everywhere but now when I click on the “[#] Google reviews” link for a business from the SERPs, I am seeing a lightbox type of pop up display instead of being sent to the Google Plus Page for the business. Check […]
Hint: Not this one…ripped off from Tumblr. I asked a bunch of Local Search geeks which company will Apple Maps buy next?.
Yext has just released the latest Yext Quarterly, a report on Social & Local search trends produced by Greg Sterling and yours truly. From Yext CEO, Howard Lerman’s intro: “If you had asked me five years ago how maps and local search would evolve, I would have said that the most important entity is the […]