I wrote this post in 2018 to help people understand the many fake reviews out in the community. Research has shown that people have figured it out. A post I wrote touched on the study showing the benefit of asking and responding to reviews. This post was written all the way back in early 2018, [...]
Updated January 2021: Unfortunately, it still holds true. A majority of this post was written in 2014, with some minor updates today. The sad thing is that many of the scams that existed back then still fool small business owners today. The hopes of instant success at a cheap initial price are often too tempting [...]
Recent news has come out around Google's recent patent on relating entities to one another. This surprised some but is just a logical next step in the world of search. In fact, David Mihm spoke about this in detail in his Local U presentation back in 2015 in Williamsburg. Part of the reason I value [...]
This is an update of a prior post. One of the common problems I see local businesses run into that tends to confuse them or cost them a lot of money, are messy NAP's. NAP's are Name, Address, and Phone number listings on the internet. Because some businesses take bad advice from ill-informed or simply [...]
David Mihm used to put together an amazing survey of the search industry to determine the most important ranking factors and also trends over time in the factors we focus on. He moved on to other things in recent years. Great guy. Darren Shaw, another great in local search, has taken over and provided a [...]
We snuck the February SEO EMACC workshop in on a nice afternoon before the impending snowstorm. I had the pleasure of sitting with Rose Grossman of Despo Law Group, to talk SEO for their brand new website for Bill Despo and his business. You can learn more about his offerings at the site. With a new [...]
So it has always been the case that Google considers reviews from all over the internet in your local rankings, and I suggested maybe eventually in other rankings. However, people tend to push people toward one place, like Facebook or Yelp, or often Google. Well there is something else to worry about now. Google is [...]
I know it took over a week to get to my post about Local U Advanced in Williamsburg, VA, but it is now time. There was so much information swimming around in my head after yet another great conference that I wanted to narrow it down to a few high priority takeaways for those that [...]
As mobile search has finally taken over as the leader in search volume and technology improves, location based search marketing and local search will become more and more crucial for any business, but especially local business counting on bringing in people in their markets. Adam Dorfman over at Search Engine Land recently did a nice [...]
David Mihm does a great job every year putting together a survey to figure out the local search ranking factors. Overall, the numbers don't typically change drastically, though at times the articles that come out of it make it seem that way, but it is great work and it is good to stay on top [...]
