Brian Smith says, “Last year, Google introduced local search ads and promoted pins to wring a few extra dollars out of Maps. By extra, I mean potentially an additional $1.5 billion in 2017 alone. Maps inherently have local intent; local intent has a high likelihood for conversion. No surprises there.But ads run counter to a quality user experience.We as advertisers can perform all the mental gymnastics we want, but the truth is, ads are a nuisance. Especially on maps. When you’re looking for a location, the last thing you want to see is a map resembling a pincushion or a shotgun’s... [...]

MOZ team says, “You’ve got top-performing content on your site that does really well. Maybe it’s highly converting, maybe it garners the most qualified traffic — but it’s just sitting there gathering dust. Isn’t there something else you can do with content that’s clearly proven its worth?As it turns out, there is! In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Moz’s resident SEO and Content Architect, Britney Muller, shares three easy steps for identifying, repurposing, and republishing your top content to juice every drop of goodness out of it”.Refurbishing... [...]

Jacob Baadsgaard says, “Optimizing for local search is important, but if you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you’re going to miss out on your most important source of local traffic.For years, Google has been improving the relevance of local search, from its “Pigeon Update” to Promoted Pins. And since there are more searches on mobile than desktop, it’s no wonder that Google has put a big emphasis on mobile-friendliness in its ranking algorithms.Taken together, that means that Google is putting a high priority on mobile local search — and so should you.The fact of the matter is,... [...]

Sujan Patel says, “You might find it hard to believe, but content doesn’t have to be game-changing to perform well and achieve its objectives. In my experience, a lot of marketers are fixated on creating that “perfect” piece of content. They tell themselves they won’t settle for anything less, but the reality is that what they wind up creating is rarely as revolutionary as they hoped it would be.There are a few reasons why.Perfectionism isn’t healthyIt causes stress, which in turn can cause high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems, and increased susceptibility to infection,... [...]

Thomas Stern says, “With search marketing in a relatively constant state of evolution, refreshing competitive strategies is an exercise that is easily overlooked. As we enter a new year, it seems like a good opportunity to highlight a couple of the competitive strategies my agency, ZOG Digital, employs for our clients for both paid and organic search.1. Paid search conquestingPaid search conquesting is the act of bidding on your competitor’s brand and/or branded product names. What we love about conquesting is that it can allow for brands with less product awareness to siphon conversions... [...]

Emily Carrion says, “What if you didn’t have to wait months to find out how a new feature is resonating with your audience? What if you could hear from 25 percent of your audience on a regular basis — not just the vocal minority?I’m going to show you how you can leverage your mobile app audience for rapid feedback loops and why traditional focus groups are dead.The problem with focus groupsYes, focus groups are a great way to learn about how a potential demographic will respond to a yet-to-be released product. They can give you a sense of how your brand resonates in the market as... [...]

Dudley Carr says, “The big news in the Local Search community three weeks ago was Google’s announcement of the availability of the Google My Business (GMB) Insights data via the GMB API. Today, we’re excited to announce support for GMB Insights data in Moz Local!– Learn how customers are searching for your business on Google and the actions they are taking once they find it– Easily visualize and filter results by region, a specific client, or a specific campaign — on the fly– Measure conversion rates for your local marketing campaigns”.Track Your Prospects’... [...]

Ronald Dod says, “Congratulations, all of your hard work has finally paid off. After spending a lot of time and energy on your SEO efforts, you have reached the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is great news for your company — 60 percent of all organic search traffic goes to the top three rankings in the SERPs. With all this traffic to your website, it can be easy to just coast and enjoy your success.The problem with that is that the SERPs are not static. Just because you reached the top of the SERPs does not mean that you will remain there. SEO is constantly evolving.... [...]

Mike Murray says, “SEO image optimization should be second nature for content marketers, but it’s easily overlooked. Search traffic loses when haste wins.Before I get into all of the nuances and tips, I want to be clear. Google still highlights some poorly optimized images on the primary and image search results. Why? Google is all about presenting the right information when it can. If the content is relevant to a search phrase, the image could appear high even if it misses the mark in terms of best practices.For example, I searched for “excavators” on Google and John Deere did well... [...]

Mike Murray says, “SEO image optimization should be second nature for content marketers, but it’s easily overlooked. Search traffic loses when haste wins.Before I get into all of the nuances and tips, I want to be clear. Google still highlights some poorly optimized images on the primary and image search results. Why? Google is all about presenting the right information when it can. If the content is relevant to a search phrase, the image could appear high even if it misses the mark in terms of best practices.For example, I searched for “excavators” on Google and John Deere did well... [...]