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Best Search Operators for Digging up Duplicate Local Citations
To claim your seat at the Local Feast, your citations need to be more or less correct. But you can’t fix those listings if you can’t find them. Tools are unreliable. Even the excellent Moz Local...
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20+ Depressing Observations about Yelp Reviews
I’ve seen Yelp from many angles: as a local SEO-er, as a local-reviews madman, as a consumer, as a two-year “Elite” reviewer, as a concerned citizen, and as a business owner. That means I’ve got a...
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How to Change Your CitySearch Business Categories without Breaking a Sweat
The categories you pick for your non-Google local listings also matter. They influence your rankings within those sites, and seem to influence your Google Places rankings at least a little. I’ve...
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How to Know If Your Local Reviews Strategy Works
Your review count and average ratings are just the tip of the iceberg. Your business might have 200 reviews and a 5-star average and your review strategy could still be a flop. That’s because lots of...
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Updated for 2015: How to Write a Google Review of a Local Business
Google has changed the steps for writing a Google Plus review…again. Unlike 3 years ago, this time Google made the steps a little simpler for customers, clients, and patients. The new “Collections”...
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What If Yext Gobbles up More Local Directories?
Yext has formed tight partnerships with some notable directories in recent years: MapQuest, InsiderPages, and CitySearch, among other bigger sites (and some rinky-dink ones). The core feature of...
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Interview with Bryan Seely: Google Maps Spam Fighter and Ethical Hacker for...
Try to guess which one of these things isn’t true of Bryan Seely: Created fake Google Places pages for the FBI and Secret Service, listed phone numbers he controlled, intercepted their phone calls,...
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Citysearch Local Rewards: the Newest Answer to Yelp’s Elite Squad
When I went to Citysearch today, I noticed a wee something on the homepage: Citysearch has been in the reviews game for years. But this is CS’s first attempt at creating a program akin to Yelp’s...
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Hiring Another Gun at Local Visibility System
It’s busy around here. Lots of projects for clients old and new. Then there’s blogging, LocalSpark, the time I spend running and lifting, and the need for a little time left over to be a halfway...
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Can You Repurpose Customers’ Yelp Reviews on Your Website? An Answer from...
Image Credit David Berkowitz flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/5923527436/ There’s long been a concern among “local” business owners and marketers that Yelp might filter or otherwise remove your...
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Facebook Reviews Now Get You Rich-Snippet “Review Stars” in the Local Search...
Facebook has been a sleeping giant in the local-reviews game for a couple of years now – just as it’s been a sleeping giant in local search in general for longer. It’s an excellent place to get...
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How to Pick the Best Barnacle SEO Sites: a Checklist
The concept of barnacle SEO is simple enough: get visible on a site that ranks well in Google for the local search terms you’re going after, because that’s usually easier than getting your site to rank...
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Facebook Local Business Categories List
Pick the wrong Facebook categories or not enough of them and your local-search visibility will suffer. Not only in Facebook, but also likely in Google (because Facebook results are often all over page...
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Top-3 Local SEO “Content” Wins for People Who Hate to Write
You shudder at the thought of having to write content for your site or pay someone to write it until the day you sell your business or buy Depends. Don’t get me wrong: writing and sharing your best...
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Takeaway from Google’s New Local 3-Pack: Go Niche, Young Man!
Google’s dreadful new 3-pack of local results is a push toward AdWords, without a doubt. They may also pass it off as a usability improvement, but it’s mostly classic Mountain View skullduggery. But I...
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Yelp Now Wants Reviewers to THINK Before Posting? Only If the Business Has...
I was mucking around in Yelp yesterday and noticed a new message when I was logged in and viewing a business’s page. Here’s what Yelp users see if they’re viewing a business with 5 or more unfiltered...
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How to Use Meetup Sponsorships for Local Marketing and SEO: Dave Oremland’s Tips
I’ve talked about sponsoring local meetup groups as a way of smart offline and online non-Google marketing, and as a way to earn good links. Last December I did a post on how to find Meetup.com groups...
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Businesses’ Peak Hours Now Showing in Google’s Desktop Search Results
Search by name for a specific restaurant or other food-related business and you’ll see what I just saw: That “Popular Times” section appears to be brand-new – at least in the desktop results. Google...
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60+ Questions to Troubleshoot and Fix Your Local Reviews Strategy
Most business owners know they need online reviews if they want to get more customers. Some of them have actually tried to get happy customers to speak up. Very few get anywhere. Even if the...
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Groupon Gets (More) Serious about Local Listings: How to Get Listed without...
Groupon, long infamous for its daily deals, has let non-deal-offering businesses get listed for about a year now. But Groupon’s “Merchant Pages” sounded like a real hassle to claim, and you’d have to...
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