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Moz Local My Business Console Debuts: Quick Facts and Thoughts
Today Moz rolled out the My Business Console, as a part of the Moz Local suite of tools and resources. Moz engineers Mark Corley and Dudley Carr gave me a tour of it the other day, and it looks...
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How to Bulk-Identify Prime Yelp Reviewers with Yelp’s “Find Friends” Feature...
You may know about Yelp’s “Find Friends” feature, which allows you to see whether specific customers (or other people) have joined Yelp. This is a great way to encourage customers to write you a...
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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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Local Search "Pros" Breaking the Hippocratic Oath
No, local search pros aren’t doctors (and no, we don’t even play them on TV). I can’t tell you how to diagnose an autoimmune disease or remedy overbite. It’s probably better that way – at least until...
View Article50 Local SEO Lessons from 50 Clients
I’ve had the pleasure of working with 50 clients so far on local SEO (as of very recently). The best part has been helping good people make some rain. The second-best part is I’ve been able to learn a...
View ArticleHow to Get Good Karma at LocalVisibilitySystem
What other people share with me is the lifeblood of this blog/site, and of my business. To whatever extent I’ve been able to help business owners and contribute to the local-search “community,” it’s...
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15 Smart Things Most SEOs Never Do
I’ve seen SEOs do all kinds of dumb things for clients. Far less often do I see them follow some wise practices that can help them get better results, and with less heartache. My suggestions also can...
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Local Search "Pros" Breaking the Hippocratic Oath
No, local search pros aren’t doctors (and no, we don’t even play them on TV). I can’t tell you how to diagnose an autoimmune disease or remedy overbite. It’s probably better that way – at least until...
View Article50 Local SEO Lessons from 50 Clients
I’ve had the pleasure of working with 50 clients so far on local SEO (as of very recently). The best part has been helping good people make some rain. The second-best part is I’ve been able to learn a...
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