9 Tricks For Local Businesses To Increase Their SERP Click-Through Rate

Sometimes you can move the needle — and dramatically — outside of obsessing and laboring over obtaining improving rankings in search engines. Simply increasing your click-through rates on the organic rankings you’ve already achieved can increase sales and revenue, even without…

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Survey Finds Organic Search Delivers The Best ROI For Local Businesses

We at BrightLocal recently conducted a survey that examines the sources of traffic and leads to local businesses. We had 288 SEOs and SMBs complete the survey. Combined, this group claimed to have optimized over 7,000 locations in the last 12 months. (That’s a whopping 24 locations per head…

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The Google Local Carousel Is Still Spinning Out Of Control

Almost a year ago, Google threw everyone for a loop with the rollout of the Google Local Carousel. The SEO community scrambled to try to figure out how it worked, and theories started flying about how it would change search behavior. It was immediately evident that a location’s Carousel photo…

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10 Takeaways From #LSA14 On The Future Of Local Advertising

Where is the local advertising space headed? How will local marketers succeed in an increasingly fast-changing and competitive marketplace? At the Local Search Association‘s 2014 annual conference (#LSA14) last month in Huntington Beach, California, hundreds of local advertising leaders…

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Use Products As Pawns To Win The Local SEO Chess Game

In the competition to rank highest in local search results, you must employ a number of tactics in coordination. It’s not unlike playing a chess game. However, many businesses have yet to bring all their chess pieces into play on the board. There are many types of products which consumers…

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Top Five Local SEO Myths — And Truths

There seems to be no end to the range of declared “SEO truths” for local mom and pop shops. Search Engine Optimization strategies that work for the big brands differ from those that work for small, local players, so it’s no wonder that so many local marketers end up confused about…

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How To Get A Medical Marijuana Dispensary Into Google Places

I was stoked when Chris Silver Smith turned us all on to the potential issues with marijuana and local search last month. As an early dabbler in helping marijuana dispensaries figure out local SEO, I, too, think it’s high time to help marketers recognize the challenges and opportunities in…

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How To Build A Local Brand Through Online Marketing

The terms “Brand” and “Brand Marketing” are usually associated with large businesses. Having a “brand” is seen as something significant — something that only businesses with big ideas and even bigger wallets can afford to invest in and create. But…

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Does Google’s Review Count Inflation Give Them An Unfair Advantage In Local Search?

We all know that monitoring online reviews is important for online marketing; but lately, it seems that not all reviews are created equal. In fact, Google+ Local reviews may have a greater impact than others on your online marketing effectiveness. According to Searchmetrics’ analysis of SEO…

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420 Dilemma? Marijuana Emerges In Local Search

Today marks the first time that April 20th — known amongst pot smokers as “420″ and frequently celebrated with smoking parties — is a legally observable event in the United States (in some places, at least, since the states of Washington and Colorado have legalized…

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Survey: Older Generations Embrace Mobile As Local Shopping Companion

Conventional wisdom tells us that younger generations trump older generations in their use of mobile devices during the local purchasing process. While teenagers use their smartphones at every opportunity to find local businesses, read reviews and scan…

Survey: 85% Of SEOs Shoot For 1-5 New Local Reviews Per Month

Managing reviews and reputation isn’t a new discipline for search consultants and agencies to focus on, but it is gaining prominence as reviews take on more significance in the world of local search. Consumers consult online reviews more regularly in their research process and put an…

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A (Pretend) Open Letter From Google To Local Directory Sites

To:           Local Directories From:     Google Re:            Local Search Rankings Hey guys… You may have noticed that over the past year, a lot of the organic traffic to your sites has been… well, we guess the right word is “tanking.” As you know, it is our […]

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Why “Barnacle SEO” Is Making A Big Comeback In Local

Although I’d heard of “barnacle SEO” as a tactic at some of the early SEO conference networking events, the first real proponent of it in local search was Will Scott. I want to say that Will originally published this post on the now-defunct Local Search News in early 2008; but…

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The Local Search Event Horizon: Adopt Events Markup For Your Business

This month, Google Maps just announced a new events feature appearing on Android phones which has already been appearing in desktop local search results — for some types of business, events information is now being displayed in addition to the other local profile elements. The focus on events…

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Which Is The Most “Generous” Search Engine To Local Businesses?

Earlier this month, one of our customers asked an interesting question in a training workshop. They wanted to know which search engine displayed the most local results for different types of search terms. Google gets the lion’s share of focus in the SEO world, particularly in Local. They also…

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Time For SMBs To Tackle – Or Be Tackled By – Online Reviews

So much of search focuses on being found. But being found doesn’t do much good unless you’re also chosen. The only thing worse than not being found is being found and rejected from consideration. There’s no doubt that online reviews play an increasingly central role in the consumer path to…

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10 Local Marketing Myths Hamstringing Your Business

As an internet marketer, I frequently encounter local business owners (and large chain store companies with many local outlets) that haven’t had time to really understand online marketing. Many of them have latched onto some myth that’s completely false — and which can keep their…

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Why Duplicate Business Listings Are Like The Walking Dead

In the Local SEO biz, we spend a lot of time fixing duplicate business listings. Duplicate records of your business appearing throughout the Local Search ecosystem can cause a variety of issues like messing with your Google Local rankings, causing you …

Products, Prices & Proximity Are Most Important Info On Local Business Websites

Historically, website design and optimization have been uncomfortable bedfellows. The structural and content requirements of SEO were seen to restrict the fluidity of design and user interaction, while a narrow focus on website style often meant that t…