In part three and the final part of my conversation with local SEO expert Mike Blumenthal, we discussed a number of topics. This video is about 20 minutes of our 45-minute discussion on search. Here are part one[1] and part two[2]. In part three we get into tactics, what tactical measures and actions can you take to rank well in Google Maps and Google Local. He explained NAP — name, address and phone number — is no...
In SEO, some might consider featured snippets the holy grail of rankings. Featured snippets are a great low hanging fruit opportunity for many websites. By optimizing for the featured snippet, you can propel your site to the top of the search results by only making very small adjustments to your page’s content. Throw away backlinks, performance, and site architecture (only kidding). Featured snippet optimizations allow you to bypass all of that for a chance at ranking...
Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News[1] site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the...
30-second summary: Most content marketers focus on creating blog posts and writing guest posts to improve SEO rankings. This approach overlooks the value of insightful content as a sales resource, especially for B2B firms. What type of content works best for sales prospecting. Examples of content and an overview of how to create your outreach list. An overview of two campaigns where blog content was used to generate leads for an SEO agency. Included in the overview are email...
30-second summary: Recent data from Roku shows that 85% of Americans are now streamers. Making them feel excited about some new CTV app is not a piece of cake but also not totally unfeasible. In the dark, dark woods of AdTech, Connected TV (CTV) apps are a dime a dozen. This may sound spooky enough for a proper Halloween horror story. The market is currently dealing with many potentially brilliant content creators having cold feet when thinking of launching...
When it comes to compliance, website developers need to keep their eyes on more than just ADA regulations and Section 508. Privacy laws are a big consideration and decisions on how to build privacy into a website start with architects. And that’s exactly what website developers (and designers!) are. They build up attractive, functional websites and apps for their clients. Yes, they work closely with clients, copywriters, vendors, and other professionals to get the job done, but...
When will Apple launch a full-blown search engine? That question has been the subject of debate for several years[1]. But recent developments, specifically the U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ’s) antitrust action against Google[2], may accelerate any plans Apple has to go it alone in search. One could argue that Siri is a search engine. However, Siri relies heavily upon Google and Yelp, in addition to Apple Maps. As of iOS 14[3], Siri is “suggesting” websites directly in federated...
Holiday e-commerce spending is poised to exceed $189 billion in the U.S., according to[1] Adobe’s most recent forecast. That represents 33% year-over-year growth. However, online revenues could reach or exceed $200 billion if physical stores remain largely closed due to COVID and if there’s a second stimulus payment to consumers. Uncertain spending outlook. Consumer confidence declined[2] in October and there are conflicting data about anticipated holiday spending. Some surveys, like that from Feedvisor, assert the majority[3] of...
Microsoft Clarity, a free product to help site owners better understand visitor behavior so that they can improve their user experiences, is out of beta and now generally available, the company announced[1] Wednesday. First launched as a closed beta in 2018, Microsoft Clarity provides site owners with visual heatmaps that illustrate user engagement, individual session replays, a dashboard to help them get an overall understanding of user interactions and filters to drill down on various types...
When the COVID lockdowns began in March, Google local business profiles saw a massive drop-off in directions requests and a corresponding spike in local calls and website clicks (61% increase in calls). Since that time, call volumes fluctuated but, according to CallRail, have now stabilized at levels that are 27% higher than the pre-pandemic peak. Small businesses (SMBs) as a group have historically not done a good job answering the phone and returning calls. A 2016 study[1]...
Google Ads has rolled out[1] a new look for Report Editor (located under Reports in the UI). I started seeing this new layout for setting up Custom reports in some accounts a few weeks ago when I was looking into the changes to Location reporting[2]. With this update, Report Editor is set up more like Data Studio with the dimension and metrics panel on the right. There are also more visualization features like conditional formatting as well...
COVID-19 has taken a disproportionately large toll on Tripadvisor’s two primary customer audiences, hotels and restaurants, which have seen double-digit revenue declines[1] compared with 2019. The company has been trying to help these groups with a number of new products and services that meet perceived needs and generate new subscription revenue. Listings and menu syndication. The first offering is a restaurant menu-content syndication program called Menu Connect[2]. It uses SinglePlatform, which Tripadvisor acquired last December from Endurance...
It’s been 12 months since Google announced a new update called BERT[1] in production search and there should be no surprise the recent Search On event, falling almost on the eve of production BERT’s first birthday, included so much talk of huge progress[2] and breakthroughs using AI and BERT during the past year. A recap on what BERT is To recap, the Google BERT October 2019 update[3] is a machine learning update purported to help Google better understand...
30-second summary: YouTube is one of the most featured domains in Google. Unlike any other heavily featured sites, YouTube.com provides any brand an easy way to host a brand-owned asset for it to get featured. To capture more video-driven featured snippet opportunities, create a video version for each keyword-driven content asset you create. There are tools that make video creation quite scalable. Those include online video creators and Zoom. Regardless of how you create those videos, make sure there’s a meaningful...
The world of search engine optimization was born with all sorts of different hacks and shortcuts that many people use in an effort to grow their business. Knowing effective SEO tricks would be incredibly profitable, but unfortunately it’s not that easy This becomes evident as soon as you do a Google search about anything SEO-related, only to find pages and more pages replete with blog posts and videos disclosing all the tips and tricks you “need to know”...
30-second summary: SEO strategists focused on link building often forget that it’s much easier to optimize their existing link equity than it is to build more. Large enterprise and ecommerce websites with thousands of landing pages often spread PageRank too thin, sending link equity to pages that are unlikely to ever rank. SEO strategists can achieve dramatic ranking improvements by changing the internal linking profile of their websites to concentrate more PageRank on their highest-value landing pages. An iterative approach...
Taken in totality, Google’s recent announcements on its expanding use of natural language understanding algorithms[1] represent a major evolution in how it determines what content gets surfaced in the search results. In turn, these algorithms will impact how we approach content and optimization. Ranking passages in the search results. Google is rolling out passage-based indexing[2], a change that enables it to identify individual passages on a page and process them as possibly being the most relevant for...
Small business economic activity represents about 44%[1] of U.S. gross domestic product. This critical business segment has suffered disproportionately from COVID-19’s toll on the economy. Now, as we enter the all-important holiday quarter, what’s the current outlook for small businesses (SMBs)? Many pundits and vendors serving the SMB market have been promoting and promising “resilience” for months. A new report from Yelp offers some support for this. But other data argue that challenges for SMBs and, by...
Ready to explore the advanced nuances of technical SEO? Craving a deeper understanding of Google Ads? Searching for fellow in-house SEOs who understand your particular challenges? SMX workshops[1] were made for you! Attend one of our deep-dive, two-day seminars happening online December 15-16 from 12:00pm – 3:00pm* ET… for just $199[2]. These virtual seminars take place live and are hosted by recognized industry experts who know their stuff and want to help you succeed. Learn something new, connect...
We have become so used to using web sites just to buy stuff that it is easy to forget that the web has more to offer. So this month we’ve included some because-it’s-interesting sites, some micro-sites and some just-for-the-sake-of-it projects. Many of these are about selling or promoting products and services too, but in a more oblique way that is frequently more engaging than a straightforward sales site. Micro sites can be a great way of including content...
In part one of my recent interview with Mike Blumenthal, local SEO expert and co-founder of customer experience management platform GatherUp, we spoke about the lack of resources Google allocates to addressing spam on Google Maps[1]. Here, in part two, we talked about the importance of review attribution for local businesses on Google Maps. Reviews are not just a way for you to get stars on your Google Maps listings but a way for you to listen to...
Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News[1] site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the...
Foursquare began life as a gamified social “check-in” app, which offered helpful tips for others as they competed to become “the mayor” of local venues. It evolved into a local search purveyor but after adoption plateaued and investors grew restless, the company pivoted to location intelligence. And although the Foursquare app continues to exist it’s now primarily a first party data source for the B2B analytics business. Clippy meets Her. With Marsbot[1], a new offering from Foursquare’s...
Google ads is now 20 years old. At its 15 year milestone, we chronicled AdWords’ evolution[1] into a $60 billion business. We were still talking about Yahoo as a player in search, enhanced campaigns ushered in mobile as a marketing must-do just two years prior and ads-only Google Shopping was three years old. Fast-forward five years and a rebrand[2] later, ad revenue has more than doubled (the ads business generated more than $135 billion last year), Yahoo...
We are pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Search Engine Land Award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Search Marketing is Areej AbuAli, the founder of WomenInTechSEO.com[1]. For those aware of Areej’s contributions, it won’t come as a surprise that she received the overwhelming share of nominations for her work and leadership in founding, building and fostering the Women In Tech SEO community and for her advocacy in creating opportunities for women’s voices to be...