Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006 and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and State of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.
I recently heard a story of a business that got caught with fake reviews on Yelp. They were also an advertiser spending thousands of dollars a month on ads. When they got caught, Yelp canceled their ad account and told them they would be demoting the listing’s ranking for 6 months. After that time, they […]
If you work in local search, are you regularly checking the Search Query report in Google My Business Insights? Here's why you should be.
Was your site affected by the recent core algorithm update? Here's a look at the changes made to local and small business sites after the update.
Like a bad penny, there are certain local SEO myths that keep turning up. Contributor Joy Hawkins lists a number of misconceptions and explains why things like bogus suite numbers will not work.
Based on her research, contributor Joy Hawkins thinks reviews may play some part in how a local page ranks. Here is a case study that shows her findings.
Contributor Joy Hawkins provides an overview of how Yelp's review solicitation penalty works and explains why you should not ask for reviews.
Contributor Joy Hawkins hires a pool company and finds that the BBB's site isn't as simple as she previously believed.
Contributor Joy Hawkins points out GMB has brought back the business description field and shares helpful tips on how a business owner can get the most marketing and sales mileage from it.
Is someone getting back at your company by leaving negative reviews? Contributor Joy Hawkins shares types of reviews Google tends to remove and how to make them disappear.
Contributor Joy Hawkins isn't sure Yelp ads are better in all cases and provides a detailed case study comparing the efficiency of Adwords over Yelp ads.
Looking to take advantage of this new Google My Business feature? Columnist Joy Hawkins explains how to get started with Google Q&A.
Google recently updated its review policies to clarify that reviews left by former employees are considered to be in violation of its guidelines. Columnist Joy Hawkins explains that this was (unfortunately) necessary.
Many local businesses are guilty of violating Google My Business guidelines to game the system, and columnist Joy Hawkins has observed rampant problems within the law vertical.
Columnist Joy Hawkins shares the results of a case study to see whether Google Posts can move the needle for local search rankings.
There's good news and there's bad news in the local service-area business space. Contributor Joy Hawkins brings us up to date.
Google is expanding their Home Service Ads across more and more cities in the US, and some home-based business owners are worried. Columnist Joy Hawkins explains how this move impacts these businesses and what they can do to combat a loss of local search visibility.
Have you noticed a recent shift in Google's local search results? Columnist Joy Hawkins shares everything you need to know about the 'Hawk' update, which seems to have killed some of the changes we saw with Possum.
Noticed the new "questions & answers" section in Google Maps app listings? Columnist Joy Hawkins shares her observations about this helpful new feature.
Creating fake reviews might seem like a great way to boost your business's local profile, but columnist Joy Hawkins warns that the consequences far outweigh the benefits. After all, you're not just violating Google's guidelines -- you're breaking the law.
Local businesses, are you utilizing Google Posts? Columnist Joy Hawkins shares her observations from several months of testing this new feature.