Bing could replace Google as the default iPhone search engine. What impact might this have on mobile local search? …
On January 21, 2010, In SEO, by Search Engine Watch
Bing could replace Google as the default iPhone search engine. What impact might this have on mobile local search? …
On January 13, 2010, In SEO, by Andrew Shotland
Matt McGee has put together a great list of the top online marketing posts from 2009. There are a lot of great articles to dig into and I am psyched to see a few LSG posts from last year made the cut:
How To Get Your Site Indexed Quickly In Google & Other Search Engines (I [...]
Matt McGee has put together a great list of the top online marketing posts from 2009. There are a lot of great articles to dig into and I am psyched to see a few LSG posts from last year made the cut:
How To Get Your Site Indexed Quickly In Google & Other Search Engines (I Hope)
(in the SEO Category)
IYP SEO Rankings Report 2009
(in the Local Search Category)
Yellow Pages vs. Social Media: A Rebuttal to the Lazy, Lying Mainstream Media
(in the Rants Category)
Hint to judges, I am pulling for the Rant.
I will be judging the Search Tech category along with the inestimable Todd Malicoat. Any nominees who wish to ply me with liquor, cigarettes and/or stacks of unmarked bills, you know how to find me (logowear is not an option).
On January 10, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
There is an interesting article on Web Pro News that discusses a significant change to local search when it comes to SEO and web design. Put simply, SEO and web design businesses are no longer appearing in local searches, at least, not for simple searches. I wrote about this last week as well, please [...]
There is an interesting article on Web Pro News that discusses a significant change to local search when it comes to SEO and web design. Put simply, SEO and web design businesses are no longer appearing in local searches, at least, not for simple searches. I wrote about this last week as well, please read the post at the following link:
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2010/01/03/local-search-intent/
A search for “SEO Boston” is not likely to return any local search results. Add the word “in” – “SEO in Boston”, and the local search results appear. While it is tough on web designers and SEO businesses, is there more to this than meets the eye?
SEO consultants (and web designers) are easy targets when it comes to tweaking anything to do with search. Who is going to notice and discuss a change in search, why SEO writers off course. You have to wonder then if Google have made this change as a test for a more general change in local search. If this one little change improves search results and also trains searchers to be more specific in their queries, will we soon see this change spread to other areas of local search?
I think we may. Google is all about improving search results and producing results that more specific to a query. If the search engines can train users to be more specific with their search queries, results should become more specific. It is a fair enough approach. The search “SEO Boston” is not specific. Is the searcher looking for an SEO consultant in Boston, or one that will provide a service to someone in Boston? The same can then be said for spare tires, books, and a million and one other products.
It’s just a thought, but is Google tweaking local search and using SEO as the guinea pigs? Or is Google just attacking SEO people because of the black hats out there that are abusing Google local maps search results for themselves and their clients? I am not sure…why can’t Google just change 1 thing at a time, with Google Caffeine happening soon, why do they have to change local search right now.
On January 7, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick
A week or so ago, we reported how Google removed SEOs from local pack in the search results. The move caused a pretty big debate in the industry where many SEOs felt this was a nail in the coffin for Google really hating the SEO industry. Personally, I think it is a fun debate, but I don’t think all of Google hates the industry.
In any event, Joel H. from the Google Maps team updated the Google Maps Help thread with a revised statement, implying that Google may change their minds on this decision. He said:
I think I understand both sides of the issue: I understand that local search results can have a positive impact for some businesses. But I also see that some SEOs/web designers want their website, not a local listing, to be the primary destination. And I want to clarify that today we think this is a better user experience – to display primarily web search results for some of these queries. Using words in or near seem to be suggestive of a different intent. In the end, these search results will fluctuate as we fine tune our results pages to get the user the best answer.
Again, he said, “I want to clarify that today we think this is a better user experience.” He also then went on to explain why the words in or near don’t always provide a clear indicator of local intent.
In any event, if I had to guess – Google will wait to see how both searchers approach the missing SEO or web design related local packs. They will also see if SEOs and web designers calm down over this change. I assume if SEOs don’t calm down about the change, Google might consider adding it back. But clearly, Google finds the categories either not relevant or too hard to handle from a spam perspective.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
A week or so ago, we reported how Google removed SEOs from local pack in the search results. The move caused a pretty big debate in the industry where many SEOs felt this was a nail in the coffin for Google really hating the SEO industry. Personally, I think it is a fun debate, but I don’t think all of Google hates the industry.
In any event, Joel H. from the Google Maps team updated the Google Maps Help thread with a revised statement, implying that Google may change their minds on this decision. He said:
I think I understand both sides of the issue: I understand that local search results can have a positive impact for some businesses. But I also see that some SEOs/web designers want their website, not a local listing, to be the primary destination. And I want to clarify that today we think this is a better user experience – to display primarily web search results for some of these queries. Using words in or near seem to be suggestive of a different intent. In the end, these search results will fluctuate as we fine tune our results pages to get the user the best answer.
Again, he said, “I want to clarify that today we think this is a better user experience.” He also then went on to explain why the words in or near don’t always provide a clear indicator of local intent.
In any event, if I had to guess – Google will wait to see how both searchers approach the missing SEO or web design related local packs. They will also see if SEOs and web designers calm down over this change. I assume if SEOs don’t calm down about the change, Google might consider adding it back. But clearly, Google finds the categories either not relevant or too hard to handle from a spam perspective.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
On January 6, 2010, In SEO, by Andrew Shotland
My bud Tim Tevlin has just started video seo biz at VideoSEOShop.com. Tim has done some great SMB video SEO work with me in the past so if you are looking for some help in that area I recommend checking him out.
My bud Tim Tevlin has just started video seo biz at VideoSEOShop.com. Tim has done some great SMB video SEO work with me in the past so if you are looking for some help in that area I recommend checking him out.
On January 5, 2010, In SEO, by Andrew Shotland
LSG has just come off another record year and if today is any indication 2010 is going to be uber crazy. I am looking for someone who is interested in learning the SEO trade and helping service some of the biggest brands online, coolest startups and excellent SMB customers.
Skills required in order to be considered:
Basic [...]
LSG has just come off another record year and if today is any indication 2010 is going to be uber crazy. I am looking for someone who is interested in learning the SEO trade and helping service some of the biggest brands online, coolest startups and excellent SMB customers.
Skills required in order to be considered:
- Basic understanding of search engine optimization, keyword research, site architecture and linkbuilding
- Ability to set up and operate a wordpress blog
Skills that are nice-to-have but not necessary:
- HTML, MySQL, php programming
- Interest in sales
- Good writer
- Product management
What you’ll be doing:
I need someone who can handle all aspects of client site audits, help me spec out and build new websites and test various SEO theories. You will be exposed to working for large Fortune 500 companies, hot start-ups, venture capitalists and small businesses.
What I am not looking for:
- Candidates who do not live within 60 miles of Pleasanton, CA
- Outsourcing firms (that means SEO outsourcers from India, China and other countries that like to send blind emails and fill up my inbox, please do not!)
- People who require a lot of handholding and are not confident enough to take charge of a project with little to no guidance and see it through completion.
What I am looking for:
- The ideal candidate thinks he/she will start his/her own business someday and is looking for a foot in the door to see how it’s done.
- Someone who is willing to do the grunt work as well as the “cool” stuff (although hopefully you’ll think the grunt work is cool too)
This will be a contract position to start.
If you are interested please find a site that has a search engine optimization problem and in your note to me tell me what it is and how they can fix it. And instead of sending me a resume, how about just sending me a link to your online CV?
And please try to include as little fluff in your note to me as possible. It will save you time having to think up weird niceties and it will save me time having to read them 
You can contact me at localseo-at-localseoguide.com
On January 4, 2010, In SEO, by Andrew Shotland
My how time flies when you are spamming improving Google’s results. Time again for my take on what’s in store for all of you localsearcharati in ‘010. And check out how my seo predictions did for 2009. Drum roll please…
The Open Source Yellow Pages Will Emerge
Business listing data online has traditionally been severely fragmented. Different [...]
My how time flies when you are spamming improving Google’s results. Time again for my take on what’s in store for all of you localsearcharati in ‘010. And check out how my seo predictions did for 2009. Drum roll please…
- The Open Source Yellow Pages Will Emerge
Business listing data online has traditionally been severely fragmented. Different sites have different business names, phone numbers, website URLs, hours of operations, services, etc. The backend data suppliers like Localeze, InfoUSA & Acxiom have done an ok job of trying to become the source of truth for business listings, but ultimately the world really needs a single source for the so-called golden record for each business. Twitter looks like it’s about to become that source. It’s recent purchase of MixerLabs and their GeoAPI product is the yellow pages API I have been whining about for the past year or so. If this rolls out the way I think it will, Twitter will now become the central clearinghouse for a huge portion of local data. The data providers, yellow pages publishers, ad agencies will still play a part, controlling what proprietary info they feed into the system, but pretty much any application that involves local businesses will use the Twitter system, so much so that if you aren’t using it, your product will seem deficient. Mastering the inputs and outputs of this system will become a key differentiator for local marketers in ‘010. - GOOGLE
What else is there to say on this subject? GOOG will continue on its long march to local search domination. More organic results will lead to more Maps results in more ways than ever before, continuing to put the organic squeeze on any sites that are not true local businesses. The Favorite Places window sticker thing won’t do much for traffic but GOOG will send them out to more businesses just because they can. Now that the Yelp deal may have passed GOOG will leak that they are setting up a call center to target SMB advertisers in a few markets as a test further freaking out everybody else in local. GOOG voice search on mobile will start to show some serious growth. Audio SEO aka Voice Search Optimization will be a minor development with huge ramifications. As I said last year, it’s a Google world and we all just search in it. - What’s Our Demand Media Strategy?
I almost put this ahead of Google because while the Great GOOG will be where a lot of the action is, it seems like everyone I talk to is fixated on the Demand Media strategy of creating content based on actual demand instead of editorial judgment. Expect to see big brands creating large amounts of content around hot keywords clogging up the organic SERPs and social media sites. This has been a time-honored strategy used by spammers. The big difference here is that big companies with big budgets are starting to play in this game churning out more content than ever before. If you run a company that provides cheap article writing in the Philippines, this could be good.
Ranking Tip: See Brent D Payne’s great presentation on How To Connect Journalism with the Greatest Possible Audience.
- Attack of the Guides
Given that it’s getting harder for yellow pages publishers to rank well for local queries, expect to see a lot of how-to guides emerge from the various players in an attempt to expand their “search footprint”™. I expect within 3-6 months pretty much everybody is going to have a wedding guide, a home improvement guide, etc.
Ranking Tip: Don’t fish where everyone else is. Go after a relatively uncontested niche – maybe start with a funeral guide? - Invasion of the Lame Local Games
Foursquare and GoWalla have attracted attention for creating games that have a virtual local component. There is something very cool and futuro about this. Problem is everybody is going to try and copy this because the potential is insanely huge. So expect an onslaught of local gaming lameness.
Darkhorse Tip: A company like Zynga has the potential to do something out of control with this concept which will totally take the industry by surprise.
- AdSense for Local
Adsense performs well on local search sites. Big local search sites are some of the top local advertisers on Adsense. They would rather not give their $ to GOOG. They have a lot of advertisers. Why haven’t they done this yet?
Strategy Tip: Companies like Localeze & Yext claim they are already on their ways to a system like this. We’ll keep an eye on them.
- Reputation Management Wars
It seems like everybody’s working on a reputation management system to help SMBs get a handle on how they are being presented on relevant sites across the Web. Merchant Circle, Marchex, GetListed, Palore have all either rolled out or announced efforts in this area. Expect to see big publishers and SMB ad sellers like ReachLocal, Webvisible, Yodle, etc. try to figure out how they can play in this space to create more value for advertisers. - SMB SEO Budgets Will Increase Dramatically
A number of misguided souls are predicting that personalized search renders SEO obsolete. Bottom line: most SMBs don’t know what they are doing with search, are going nuts because some spammer or the guy down the street outranks them, want to spend more time with their kids and are ready to hire someone to make the problem go away. - GLBC Will Institute An Agency of Record User
There are all sorts of complicated reasons why Google Local Business Center does not allow for an “agency” user. Google wants to discourage mass spamming and perhaps they want to force more businesses to claim their own profile and actually engage with the Google. The best response I heard from Google is that if businesses aren’t signing up on their own then that’s a problem with the product and they need to improve the product to get them to do so. Hopefully this is the year that Google admits that most businesses just won’t do it on their own. - M&A Activity in Local Search Will Take Off
There’s a reason I have started including M&A services as part of my consulting work. The Yelp/Google deal, the ReachLocal IPO, the Twitter/Mixerlabs deal – these events create a growing sense that local search is starting to congeal – meaning that there are a set of services that are starting to show the ability to break away from the fragmented local search pack and have the potential to grab relatively large shares of their markets. Expect to see a domino effect with a number of large and small acquisitions over the next year. - SEO Consultants Will Become Better Known as Marketers
2009 seemed like the year when a lot of SMBs woke up to the fact that SEO actually existed and could be an important part of the marketing mix. In 2010 more businesses are going to start to realize that search and social media could be the biggest area of potential for their companies and they will pour more resources into these channels. As a result search marketers are going to take on bigger roles helping drive comprehensive marketing strategies. SEOs will be the Na’vi 2010 – whatever that means.
Ranking Tip: increase your business’ presence on Google Maps citation sources such as Panoramio, Flickr, Wikipedia & YouTube. Be the first on your block to discover new sources and get a gold star
Oblique Strategy for 2010: Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap)
Great Local Search/SEO Sites To Stay on Top of in 2010:
Local Search Twitterers
Local SEO Tweets
Locals Only
Mihmorandum
NetMagellan
Praized Blog
Screenwerk
SEMClubhouse
SEOIgloo
SEOOverflow
SmallBusinessSEM
TheGypsy
The Kelsey Group
The Local Onliner
Understanding Google Maps & Local Search
Yellow Pages Commando
feel free to email me with additions to the list and enjoy the decade.
On January 3, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
Google rose to prominence by demonstrating a competence in discerning user intent and providing relevant search results. But this statement by Brian, a Google employee, on Google’s support forum is a bit confusing:
Today, we’re intentionally showing less local results for web design / SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn’t display local listings today. [...]
Google rose to prominence by demonstrating a competence in discerning user intent and providing relevant search results. But this statement by Brian, a Google employee, on Google’s support forum is a bit confusing:
Today, we’re intentionally showing less local results for web design / SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn’t display local listings today. We believe this is an accurate representation of user intent. In some cases, we do show local listings, however (as NSNA/php-er noted) [web design in bellingham]. I’m sure some of you feel we should be displaying local results for queries like [Web Design Vancouver]. I understand that concern, but based on our understanding of our users, we feel this is the right decision for now.
I have the same problem with this as Mike Blumenthal. But be sure to read the comment by David Mihm on Mike’s blog. He may have a point.
But here’s my question: At what point does spam become an issue in those other markets where web design, seo and advertising with a geo tag doesn’t pose a local search problem for Google? My guess is that will tilt against local SEOs favor as more SEOs become more savvy in Hong Kong and Mexico (and, BTW, why aren’t they that savvy in Hong Kong now?).
Is it too much to ask Google just to be forthright with the search engine optimziation community? And, furthermore, can’t Google apply more spam filters to local search results? This is something they’ve gotten good at; maybe that’s what are working on?
On December 31, 2009, In SEO, by Andrew Shotland
Happy New Year to all of LSG’s readers!
As per my custom around the holiday season I encourage everyone with a web site to give the gift of SEO by linking to their favorite charity’s site with on-the-money anchor text. Here are some of mine:
Clean Water
Green Christmas Gift
Lymphoma
Orphans Charity
Nicaraguan Aid
And it wouldn’t be New [...]
Happy New Year to all of LSG’s readers!
As per my custom around the holiday season I encourage everyone with a web site to give the gift of SEO by linking to their favorite charity’s site with on-the-money anchor text. Here are some of mine:
And it wouldn’t be New Years without a few resolutions. Here are some of mine:
- Blog more
- Launch at least one new business
- Redesign this site
- Provide search marketing help to deserving charitable organizations
- Reclaim my #1 ranking for “soup nazi” in image search (a man can dream can’t he?)
Happy New Year!
On December 31, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick
In an updated Google Maps Help thread, Joel H. from Google said Google has dropped most of the local results in the Google web search pages for SEO and Web Design related queries. Yes, you heard me right – Google has decided to intentionally not show a local pack for queries that are related to SEO or web design and include a local qualifier. Example searches include [web design 10010], [web design suffern], [seo 90210], [new york seo companies] and so on.
Google first removed web designers from the local pack in November. Then they claimed it was a bug related to a fix for an Orlando Dodge dealership, but that is not true, according to Joel.
Yesterday, Joel from Google said:
Earlier thread, Brian (BB- baseonballs) [a Googler, btw] noted that this may be related to a known issue regarding the display of local search results on google.com. After further investigation, they are slightly different, and I’ll explain our intent.
Today, we’re intentionally showing less local results for web design / SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn’t display local listings today. We believe this is an accurate representation of user intent. In some cases, we do show local listings, however (as NSNA/php-er noted) [web design in bellingham]. I’m sure some of you feel we should be displaying local results for queries like [Web Design Vancouver]. I understand that concern, but based on our understanding of our users, we feel this is the right decision for now.
I’ll give the usual disclaimer that we’re constantly working on improving the user experience and results will vary over time. So, this could change in the future, but I wanted to be explicit about what we’re doing today.
Yea, Joel said that. Of course, the logical thoughts by SEOs on this matter is that Google really does hate SEOs. This may be the last Google vs. SEOs controversy of 2009.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
In an updated Google Maps Help thread, Joel H. from Google said Google has dropped most of the local results in the Google web search pages for SEO and Web Design related queries. Yes, you heard me right – Google has decided to intentionally not show a local pack for queries that are related to SEO or web design and include a local qualifier. Example searches include [web design 10010], [web design suffern], [seo 90210], [new york seo companies] and so on.
Google first removed web designers from the local pack in November. Then they claimed it was a bug related to a fix for an Orlando Dodge dealership, but that is not true, according to Joel.
Yesterday, Joel from Google said:
Earlier thread, Brian (BB- baseonballs) [a Googler, btw] noted that this may be related to a known issue regarding the display of local search results on google.com. After further investigation, they are slightly different, and I’ll explain our intent.
Today, we’re intentionally showing less local results for web design / SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn’t display local listings today. We believe this is an accurate representation of user intent. In some cases, we do show local listings, however (as NSNA/php-er noted) [web design in bellingham]. I’m sure some of you feel we should be displaying local results for queries like [Web Design Vancouver]. I understand that concern, but based on our understanding of our users, we feel this is the right decision for now.
I’ll give the usual disclaimer that we’re constantly working on improving the user experience and results will vary over time. So, this could change in the future, but I wanted to be explicit about what we’re doing today.
Yea, Joel said that. Of course, the logical thoughts by SEOs on this matter is that Google really does hate SEOs. This may be the last Google vs. SEOs controversy of 2009.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.