Mapping It Out: Our Top 10 Local Search Columns For 2014

Consumers have grown increasingly reliant on the web for discovering local businesses and determining which ones to patronize. In fact, a survey conducted by BrightLocal earlier this year revealed that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, underscoring the need…

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Citation Inconsistency Is No.1 Issue Affecting Local Ranking

This post is a follow-up from my November post, in which I shared some interesting findings from the current InsideLocal webinar series. During InsideLocal webinars, we survey the audience, which consists of 500+ local search consultants and SMB owners. The vast majority of attendees are search…

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Despite Documented Performance Lift Brands Still Confounded By Local Search

Remarkably there are still marketers out there that don’t “get” local search or why marketing campaigns should be localized. There are numerous studies and reports that indicate localized display and local search campaigns (on the PC and mobile) outperform “national”…

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Google Maps, Yelp & Local SEO In 2015

When it comes to digital marketing and SEO for your business, it’s important to look beyond just your website. For local businesses, a strong online marketing effort requires an investment in local directories, maps and review sites, too. If all of your optimization efforts are spent on your…

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From Novelty To Foundational Product: The Evolution Of Google Maps

Until Android came along Google’s most important product after search undoubtedly was Google Maps. I know it sounds heretical to say this but in some ways Maps is more strategic to Google than search today. That’s because Google Maps bridge the physical and digital worlds and because…

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New Facebook Search: Local Ignored Again — Big Mistake

Facebook just launched its successor to Graph Search: Facebook Search. Facebook Search is the evolution of Graph Search and benefits from lots of user feedback since the launch of Graph Search in early 2013. It’s available in US English for the PC and mobile app for the time being. Users can…

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Close More Clients With A Quick Local Site Audit

We all know it – selling local SEO to clients is tough. After my “simple math” post back in October, I’ve gotten a ton of questions asking for more details about our sales process. As we all know, small business owners  assume that their site is the best and that they should…

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Google Maps Revamps Quality Guidelines For Local Pages

Google Maps has updated their local pages quality guidelines last night. Jade Wang from the Google team posted the news in the Google Forums saying: We’ve updated and clarified our quality guidelines for local pages. Please read the new version here, and, as always, feel free to contact our…

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The Post-Google Local Survival Guide

Ask any local SEO worth their salt, and they will tell you that the Pigeon algorithm update has been a kind of big shift in local search results. Traditionally, when an algorithm update causes a major shift in the SERPs, SEOs adjust their strategy and tactics accordingly. Consider this: we had a…

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Apple Maps Using New Partners For Multiple-Location Map Submissions

In October Apple launched Apple Maps Connect, intended to allow individual business owners to edit or add local business listings directly into Apple’s database. Apple told me at the time that it wasn’t intended for webmasters or outside agencies to manage multiple locations or listings…

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58% Of Local Marketers Will Change Tactics After Pigeon Update

There has been much expert analysis and published research into the impact of Google’s Pigeon Update. In this post, I am going to share the results of some recent polls we conducted with attendees on a recent InsideLocal webinar, the topic of which was “The Impact of Pigeon.”…

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Google Debuts New Look For Hotel Booking Ads As The Carousel Disappears

The grand, awkward Carousel experiment appears to be coming to an end — for local listings at least. Google is abandoning the Carousel of horizontal listings that appeared at the top of local search results for hotels, restaurants and a few other verticals. With the changes, Google is now…

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Google Drops Local Carousel For Hotels, Restaurants & Other Local Listings

Google is dropping its horizontal Carousel display of local search results in several categories: restaurants, nightlife, entertainment and hotels. It’s being replaced by a 3-pack of organic listings and some new secondary pages. The Local Carousel rolled out in June, 2013 for the PC in the…

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Facebook Launches New Places Directory

Facebook has launched a new Places Directory, which is really an emerging local search site. Right now, it’s more accurately like “guided browsing.” It was first brought to our attention by Matteo Gamba. The new Places mixes up Graph Search, the Page Locations API and other…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Facebook Launches New Places Directory

Facebook has launched a new Places Directory, which is really an emerging local search site. Right now, it’s more accurately like “guided browsing.” It was first brought to our attention by Matteo Gamba. The new Places mixes up Graph Search, the Page Locations API and other…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.