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Yelp Elite Saga Ends in Blaze of Glory
After 3 years as an “Elite” Yelper, I get this email out of the blue: I’m only surprised by how long it took them to wisen up. My Yelping was an experiment from the very beginning. Also, since my...
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Google My Business Mails Verification Postcard to the Wrong Address: What to Do
Did your Google My Business verification postcard end up in the wrong neighborhood? (goo.gl/S6DEks) Yesterday I did a consultation for a guy whose client – an HVAC contractor – had a problem with...
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Unverified Google My Business Pages Now Showing in SERPs
Update 4/2/16: This appears to have been a result of a now-resolved bug. Thanks to Priya Chandra for letting me know. How can you tell whether a Google My Business page is unverified? Now Google will...
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The Most Obscure “Rule” in Google My Business – a Nasty Surprise
A few days ago I wrote about a tricky issue I seem to have figured out based on a hunch: that having two or more Google My Business pages in the “same service” area can cause problems if you need to...
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Online Scheduling: on the Rise in Google and a Local Search Ranking Factor?
I want to emphasize that I have not tested this – even to the extent you can “test” anything in local search. Rather, I’ve just observed a couple things: 1. Google seems to integrate online “Make an...
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Why Send Good Customers to Crappy Review Sites?
Isn’t that a huge waste? Think of how hard you worked to learn your craft, start your business, stay in business, get customers, and do a great job for them and earn those positive reviews. That’s why...
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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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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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Top UK Local-Business Directories (AKA Citation Sources)
You chaps and dames in the UK may drive on the wrong side of the road and confuse beer with cocoa (only one of which should be served warm!), but at least the challenge of getting a business visible in...
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Cold Hard Numbers on How Third-Party Reviews Help Google Places Rankings
Customer reviews are crucial to your local rankings and overall success in Google Places, as you may know. You need reviews that customers write directly on your Google Places page, and you need...
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IYP Ranking Factors: Getting Visible in Local-Biz Directories
IYPs – short for “Internet Yellow Pages” – get a bum rap. Some of it is true: Yes, they’re directories, not search engines. Yes, some of them are mere flies on the windshield of Google. Yes, we often...
View ArticleLocal Citations / Business Directories for Specific Ethnicities and...
Any business owner who’s tried to get visible to customers in local search has noticed the huge number and variety of citation sources out there (AKA places to list your business). We all know that...
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State of the Most-Important Local Search Sites (Mid-2013)
A lot has changed in the last few months in the world of local search. All of it affects your efforts to get visible to local customers. I’m not even talking about Google+ Local. Like Oprah’s weight,...
View Article"Will Google Devalue Local Citations?" My Short Answer
Hendrik Vos of Online Business Builders asked me a great question yesterday: “I wonder how far off 100% is the probability that Google eventually ends up treating all these manufactured citations/...
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