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... [...]

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... [...]

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... [...]

MOz team says, “We all know how effective link building efforts can be, but it can be an intimidating, frustrating process — and sometimes even a chore. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand builds out a framework you can start using today to streamline and simplify the link building process for you, your teammates, and yes, even your interns”. How to Prioritize Your Link Building Efforts & Opportunities MOZ  [...]

Barry Schwartz says, “Google has added a new video to their do you need an SEO help document page. The 11-plus-minute video walks people through the process of hiring an SEO consultant or firm. It tells them what to look for, what questions to ask, what some of the red flags are and more. Maile Ohye from Google is the face of the video, and she does a very good job clearly documenting the main points one should look at during this process. She outlines the SEO hiring process in these three steps: Conduct a two-way interview with your potential SEO. Check that they seem genuinely interested... [...]

Nathan sinnott says, “Everyone wants to get a high click-through rate and a good spot in Google’s search algorithm. But, when it is generally accepted in the industry that Google uses approximately 200 ranking factors to rank websites — and some of these are proven, some are controversial and some are purely nerd-based conjecture — it can be hard to know which factors to focus on when it comes to your search engine optimization (SEO). So, what is most important to Google? “It is content,” said Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev. “And,... [...]