Casey Meraz says, “In 2016, I predicted that ranking in the 3-pack was hard and it would continually get more competitive. I maintain that prediction for 2017, but I want to make one thing clear. If you haven’t done so, I believe local businesses should start to look outside of a local-SEO-3-Pack-ONLY focused strategy. While local SEO still presents a tremendous opportunity to grow your business, I’m going to look at some supplementary organic strategies you can take into your local marketing campaign, as well. In this post I’m going to address: How local search has changed... [...]

David Freeman says, “Search engines are advancing at the fastest rate we’ve seen in many years thanks to machine learning. These advances have allowed the search engines to focus on providing the most relevant results, not only in terms of content, but also in terms of user experience (UX). At the end of the day, what is good for the consumer is good for organic search performance — especially if we consider how machine learning is becoming ever more central to search algorithms and incorporating areas such as search sequence, as well as content quality, structure and sentiment. To... [...]

David Freeman says, “Google has recently updated the Google My Business guidelines to state that virtual offices are not considered service-area businesses and that you need to have the virtual office staffed during business hours. A new section was added under the “address” portion of the guidelines that reads: Service-area businesses — businesses that serve customers at their locations — should have one page for the central office or location and designate a service area from that point. Service-area businesses can’t list a “virtual” office unless that office is staffed during... [...]

Rank Hijack is Matt Garrett‘s new ground breaking tool, offered as an online service, that finds Niche, Keyword based ‘parasite’ sites that you can use to rank your own site quickly and easily in search engines. These sites offer an opportunity for the “little guy” to succeed online. This new tool, Rank Hijack, locates powerful “Parasite SEO” properties with high Authority in Google that can be leveraged to rank quickly for buyer keywords. Parasite SEO sites are websites that have high Authority in Google’s algorithm. And these sites also allow users... [...]

Darren Shaw says, “Have you noticed that a lot of local pack results don’t seem to make sense these days? Almost every time I search Google for a local search term, the pack results leave me wondering, “Why are these businesses ranking?” For most local searches these days, proximity appears to be weighted more than links, website content, citations, and reviews in the local pack rankings. Google doesn’t seem to value the traditional local search ranking factors when determining which businesses to rank in the local pack. The main consideration seems to be: “Which businesses are... [...]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “National — or even global — SEO was once the revolutionary way to gain visibility on the internet. Now, it has become incredibly expensive and brutally competitive. As a result, small businesses are turning to local SEO to increase their exposure to potential customers online. So, what factors into an awesome local SEO strategy? Truth is, there are many components that come into play. A great place to start is by signing up with Google My Business to create your free business listing on Google. Fill out your profile with as much information as you can to create... [...]

Marcus Miller says, “The UK Intellectual Property Office has announced what they call a “landmark agreement” between Google and Microsoft Bing for “reducing the visibility of infringing content” in the UK search results by June 1, 2017. But Google tells Search Engine Land that they are “changing nothing today as a result of the announcement/code of conduct.” Google already has a Pirate algorithm that is in place to deal with DMCA complaints and other forms of pirated content in the search results. So when we heard this announcement, we asked Google if they are changing this algorithm... [...]

Purna Virji says, “Here’s a question for you: Do you think a brand can influence your behavior outside of purchase preference? Put another way, will seeing the North Face logo make you want to take up hiking in the snow? A few years ago, researchers at Duke University conducted an experiment with 341 students. Their goal? Studying what makes a brand powerful and how we’re influenced by brands. As part of this study, the students were asked to complete what they were told was a visual acuity test. During this test, either an Apple logo or IBM logo flashed on the screen for a second, so... [...]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “National — or even global — SEO was once the revolutionary way to gain visibility on the internet. Now, it has become incredibly expensive and brutally competitive. As a result, small businesses are turning to local SEO to increase their exposure to potential customers online. So, what factors into an awesome local SEO strategy? Truth is, there are many components that come into play. A great place to start is by signing up with Google My Business to create your free business listing on Google. Fill out your profile with as much information as you can to create... [...]

Maryna Samokhina says, “Imagine a scenario: a client asks what they should do to improve their organic rankings. After a diligent tech audit, market analysis, and a conversion funnel review, you have to deliver some tough recommendations: “You have to redesign your site architecture,” or “You have to migrate your site altogether,” or even “You have to rethink your business model, because currently you are not providing any significant value.” This can happen when SEO is only seriously considered after the site and business are up and running. As a marketing grad, I can tell you... [...]