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Dummy Links: Part of a Smart Local SEO Strategy
What I like to call “dummy links” are links that you can get with a little commitment of resources, but without having to think too hard. You’ll need to earn some good links (from other, relevant...
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Yelp Shows Phone Numbers in Local Search Results
Either Yelp or Google – or some combination thereof – has decided your phone number should show up in the search results, rather than just on your Yelp listing. Here’s how a typical listing might have...
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5 Years of Local Search Blogging
My first blog post was 5 years ago today. 276 posts ago. Time sure flies. I’d already been in “local” for a couple years by that point. But my posts are the heart and lungs of this thing, so I...
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Review-Site Sitelinks Just Got More Local?
You might be doing well on reviews, but can you see your business when you search for the review site? More so than I’ve ever seen before, Google’s showing specific local businesses in the sitelinks...
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Google Makes Local Knowledge Graph King – for a Day?
When you search for a specific local business, you may no longer see the knowledge graph appear in the right-hand sidebar. Google appears to be testing its position on the SERPs. The knowledge panel...
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10 Ways Local SEOs Can Start Helping Their Clients Get Reviews
Most local SEOs don’t help clients on reviews, much or at all. They can’t outsource it, it doesn’t look like a lot of billable hours on paper, it takes tough love, and they’re not even sure what...
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Google Places Visibility as a Decathlon
I apologize in advance if sports metaphors annoy you. But if you can tolerate them, I’ve got a good one: Getting your business visible in Google Places is like the Olympic decathlon. (You know, that...
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How to Divide up Your Time for Maximum Local Visibility in Google Places
The problem: you’re not visible in Google Places and are considering one of two things: rolling up your sleeves to try to get visible yourself, or paying someone else to help you do it. In the first...
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The 2011 Google Places Slangbook
Fine, so maybe it’s not yet a book of Google Places slang. But “book” just sounds better than “compendium.” Whatever you want to call it, I’ve written it for two purposes: Purpose 1: To show that we...
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9 Secrets for Easier and Faster Local Citation Gathering
You already know citation-gathering is crucial to your local ranking in Google Places, and you know at least the basics of how to get citations for your business. That’s not the problem. The problem...
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5 Google Places Tests I’d Love to See
I discover a lot about Google Places by wrestling with it all day, every day. But I’m also constantly scratching my head at questions—things that I just started wondering about based on observations,...
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My Caveman Painting of a Local Search Engine
Fine, I guess our cavemen ancestors didn’t have search engines to help them find the closest woolly mammoth watering hole or the finest maker of custom wooden clubs this side of Bedrock. I’m afraid I...
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Best Local Search Tools – 2012
It’s possible to get a business visible in Google Places and other local search engines without using any tools…but why would you want to? Sure, you can drive a nail with a brick (or that poundcake...
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The 2012 Local Search Ranking Factors – out Today
Of all that’s been written and said about local search, there’s one single-most important piece: It’s David Mihm’s annual “Local Search Ranking Factors” study. The first one came out 4 years ago (at...
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Juiciest Comments from the 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey
The annual Local Search Ranking Factors study is always a pleasure to contribute to, and even more so to read. The numbers and charts that reflect local search geeks’ experience are more than worth...
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Google Places Visibility as a Decathlon
I apologize in advance if sports metaphors annoy you. But if you can tolerate them, I’ve got a good one: Getting your business visible in Google Places is like the Olympic decathlon. (You know, that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Divide up Your Time for Maximum Local Visibility in Google Places
The problem: you’re not visible in Google Places and are considering one of two things: rolling up your sleeves to try to get visible yourself, or paying someone else to help you do it. In the first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The 2011 Google Places Slangbook
Fine, so maybe it’s not yet a book of Google Places slang. But “book” just sounds better than “compendium.” Whatever you want to call it, I’ve written it for two purposes: Purpose 1: To show that we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
9 Secrets for Easier and Faster Local Citation Gathering
You already know citation-gathering is crucial to your local ranking in Google Places, and you know at least the basics of how to get citations for your business. That’s not the problem. The problem...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Google Places Tests I’d Love to See
I discover a lot about Google Places by wrestling with it all day, every day. But I’m also constantly scratching my head at questions—things that I just started wondering about based on observations,...
View Article