43% of Google Searches are Local
A new report, first reported by SearchEngineLand.com, shows the percentage of local searches on Google are continuing to rise, up to 43%. That means nearly half of all searches performed on Google are local in nature — consumers searching for businesses, locations or services near them. Google also recently announced that 50% of mobile searches are local. If you serve a local audience, these numbers reinforce what you already knew: customers are finding local business through Search, and many of them are searching through a smartphone or other mobile device. If you haven’t...
read moreGoogle Places moves to Google+ Local
Google Places, the home for business listings within Google, has now moved to Google+ Local. What does this mean for Small Business Owners? There are several things you should be aware of. First, you will continue to manage your business listing through the Google Places dashboard. In fact, most of the changes Google recently introduced are user-facing, meaning that people who view your listing and leave a review for you will have a different experience than they did with Google Places, but for the Business Owner the changes are relatively minor. One important thing you should do immediately...
read moreWhat You Need to Know about Google’s Penguin Update
Although Google’s latest algorithm update — named “Penguin” — allegedly affected just 3.1% of Search queries, many business and website owners are speaking up over this major change in how search results are displayed. Some have seen traffic disappear overnight, while others have benefited from the update. Penguin rolled out April 24th (as did several other updates that month) so if your website traffic suddenly dropped around that time, you may have been impacted by the new algorithm. While no one knows for sure what factors Google considered when adjusting...
read moreTop 5 tips for a creating a successful Adwords campaign
One of our clients recently wrote to tell us about a large new customer they landed. All Small Business owners love new customers, but this one was especially unique because 1) it represented a very large new revenue stream for our client and 2) the customer found him through an Adwords ad. That’s right — an Adwords ad. I hear from Small Business owners all the time “well, we tried Adwords ads but they didn’t work for us”. Sound familiar? If it does, you probably used one of Google’s free $75 advertising coupons, wrote 4 or 5 ads and called it a day. Maybe...
read moreNew Infographic: Are Local Reviews Killing Your Business?
Local ratings and reviews can make or break a local business, and it’s no secret that a steady stream of reviews from important sources like Yelp, CitySearch and Google Places is critical for a successful Local SEO campaign. But just how important are local reviews? What can you do to prevent negative reviews? How many customers go online to research a product or service? How many reviews do businesses in the #1 position of Google Places have on average? Find out these answers and more in the Infographic we’ve just released on reviews and their impact on customers and Local SEO....
read moreDigital Marketing Institute Interview with SEO Expert
From my recent interview with the Digital Marketing Institute on trends and best practices in SEO for Small Business. Enjoy! Interview with SEO Expert Keith Fleming Keith Fleming, president of 540 SEO, draws upon years of SEO experience to offer his anwers to these frequently asked questions. A lot of people believe SEO is unnecessary or doesn’t work; do you have any examples or success stories that SEO does work? There’s no question: SEO does work if used properly, but you must have the site’s fundamentals in place first. A site with thin or duplicate content will have huge...
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