Local SEO in 2024: 6 simple ways to dominate local search
New to local search? Wondering where to start? Here are six tactics to help you kick off your local SEO campaign.
Topic: Citysearch
This day in search marketing history: March 1
Google publishes Search quality rating guidelines, plus: Ginny Marvin joins Google, AdWords Price Extensions, click fraud and more.
This day in search marketing history: February 14
Google Webmaster Tools comes out of beta, plus: Chrome's personal blocklist, AdWords video ads and quality score updates and more
This day in search marketing history: February 2
Google's revamped Partners program, plus: Bing again denies copying Google results, YouTube using Amazon's algorithm and more.
This day in search marketing history: January 15
Facebook Graph Search launches, plus: brand profiles in Google knowledge panels, Rand Fishkin's last day at Moz, and more.
14 ways Google may evaluate E-A-T
Learn about some potential signals Google may be using to gauge whether your content and brand has strong E-A-T.
Why is there so little innovation in local?
The alpha and omega of local is now Google.
Yext files for long-awaited $100 million IPO
Last year the company announced a revenue "run rate" of $100 million.
SearchCap: Google News, Transparency Report & BrightLocal Survey
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Online Reviews, Reputation And How To Become Super Credible Looking to build your online reputation? Columnist Marcus Miller details the mindset local businesses need to build credibility beyond simple reviews. Survey: […]
SearchCap: Bing Ads Layout, Yelp Joins EU Google Antitrust & Twitter/Google Study
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s EU Censorship Removes Links For More Than Just Names On Their Own It turns out that those in the European Union asking Google to “forget” links they don’t like that […]
Survey Says Yelp The Most Influential Local Review Site
Yelp says it’s the most frequently used, most trusted and highest quality local reviews site, according to new Nielsen survey data. Some of those data were released on the company’s official blog two days ago. Beyond Yelp, the universe of competitors included in the survey were the following: Angie’s List Citysearch OpenTable TripAdvisor YP Zagat […]
Microsoft Bing Testing Showing “Alternative” Search Engines In Search Results
We’ve seen how Google may display competitive search engines in their search results, based on an EU antitrust settlement. But how will it look for Bing if they did the same thing? Aaron Wall at SEO Book posted a screen shot of what he saw Bing testing around displaying “alternative” results in the Bing search […]
Local SEOs Sound Off On Google+ Local Hijackings
Earlier this week, Danny Sullivan reported on the hijacking of thousands of local hotel listings within Google+ Local. Those listings had been replaced by third-party hotel booking services. And while it’s unclear how long those third-party links were in place, several knowledgeable people have surmised it may have been at least a month, if not longer. […]
Revealed: The 17 Other Search Engines The FTC Warned Over Paid Ad Disclosures
In June, the US Federal Trade Commission warned seven “general purpose” search engines — including Google, Bing and Yahoo — about the need to ensure they were properly disclosing paid ads. But 17 other “specialty” search engines were also warned. Which ones? The FTC wouldn’t say. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, Search […]
Search On Smartphones Up 26 Percent, On Tablets Up 19 Percent In 2012 [Study]
Search continues to shift away from the desktop toward mobile devices. That’s one of the conclusions of the just-released Neustar Localeze/15miles/comScore Local Search Study, which is now in its sixth year. This year’s study involves a sample of more than 3,000 U.S. adults that say they use the Internet to search for local businesses. Results […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 10, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Tracking Changes To Google’s 50 Webmaster Guidelines Pages Shaun Anderson created a tool to keep track of changes made to 50 of the top Google webmaster guidelines. The tool shows you […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 28, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Make Deal With French Anti-Racism Groups Over ‘Jew’ Search Suggestions Google in deal with French groups over ‘Jew’ suggestion via the AFP reports Google has made a deal with several […]
Bing Ties Yellow Pages Sites For Most Accurate Local Data
In April I wrote about a local data accuracy study preformed by a company called Implied Intelligence. The company offers data services to publishers and developers. In April the company found that yellow pages site Superpages bested Google Maps in terms of the accuracy and completeness of the local business/POI database. The following was the […]
Yellow Pages Sites Beat Google In Local Data Accuracy Test
In the brave new world of “SoLoMo” there are an increasing number of sites and mobile apps competing to help you choose a local business or lead you there. In addition to Google Maps, Yelp and Foursquare there are the venerable yellow pages’ sites and many others. They all get their local data from generally […]
Groupon Buys Travel Search Site Uptake Mostly For Headcount
Uptake was an ambitious travel site that never quite broke through. It used social data and sentiment analysis to try and provide better travel discovery and decision support to its users. Originally called Kango, we wrote about the site in 2008 when it relaunched as Uptake. AllThingsD today reported that Uptake had been acquired by Groupon for […]
The Dealmix Promotes Search As A Differentiator
One of the complaints often leveled against email-delivered daily deals is that they’re not “relevant.” A refrain I’ve heard repeatedly is, “How many ‘main-pedi’ deals do I need?” To combat this “deal fatigue,” a range of sites, including Yipit, Groupon and Google, among others, have introduced personalization. But some would argue search is a better […]
Search Dominates Other Sources For Local Information — Study
A new survey from Harris Interactive, sponsored by CityGrid Media, confirms what many already know: Search is the dominant way people look for local business information — online. On mobile devices, review sites have equal influence. The telephone survey was conducted in August among just over 1,000 US adults. Slightly less than 60 percent (59 […]
Bing Makes Bid To Become Top Deals Destination
When Bing launched deals several months ago its partner was deal aggregator The Dealmap, which was subsequently acquired by Google. That forced Microsoft to turn elsewhere for deals and today, as a result, we’re seeing the launch of a new deals experience on mobile and the PC that pulls in content from a wide range […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 3, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Direct Google’s Crawl To Your New and Updated Pages Today, Google launched a new way for site owners to request that specific web pages be crawled. How is this different from […]
21 Essential SEO Tips & Techniques
Businesses are growing more aware of the need to understand and implement at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). But if you read a variety of blogs and websites, you’ll quickly see that there’s a lot of uncertainty over what makes up “the basics.” Without access to high-level consulting and without a lot […]
Google City Sites May Compete With Yelp, Online Yellow Pages
Yesterday David Mihm was pointing out on Twitter that Google had created a number of new city sites or portals. They appear to be the phoenix rising out of the ashes of Hotpot. As I wrote yesterday on my own blog, this is Google’s effort to bring a number of initiatives together in a single […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 26, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Is It Time For A New Compensation Model For Search And Digital Marketers? Pay for performance is certainly not a new concept. But a number of digital marketing industry pundits have […]
How Yelp Crushed Citysearch & Yahoo Local … & Why Google Is Stealing Yelp’s Playbook
A fascinating study published last year compares the reviews and reviewers at three local business websites: Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. And, in explaining how Yelp overtook the other two, it also hints — in my opinion — at how Google is trying to beat Yelp by using Yelp’s own playbook. Citysearch and Yahoo Local […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 11, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: IAC Revises And Re-Ups Its Deal With Google IAC, the parent of Ask.com, the Daily Beast and Citysearch, today announced it has amended and extended its distribution agreement with Google through […]
IAC Revises And Re-Ups Its Deal With Google
IAC, the parent of Ask.com, the Daily Beast and Citysearch, today announced it has amended and extended its distribution agreement with Google through March 31, 2016. The deal, which involves the distribution of AdWords ads and other search-related services to IAC sites, was originally scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. Though IAC didn’t […]
Bing Brings Local Deals To Mobile, PC
Bing is introducing deals for mobile (m.bing.com) and the PC. Mobile deals are available for the HTML5 sites for the iPhone and Android. They aren’t yet in Bing’s mobile apps but will be integrated soon according to Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz. The source of deals here is The Dealmap, which is also the principal source of […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 30, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: What Every Search Marketer Needs To Know About Web Security All too often web site security is somebody else’s problem. It shouldn’t be. If you work on websites, you should know […]
Yext Takes Google Tags Idea Across Web
Local advertising provider Yext has spearheaded the launch of a Google-like “tags” product that receives distribution across a vast array of local sites including Yelp, Yahoo, Mapquest, Superpages, Topix, Patch, Citysearch and others. It’s being characterized as an “anti-Google alliance.” That’s not exactly correct. As a practical matter it gives advertisers a way to run […]
Once Again: Should Google Be Allowed To Send Itself Traffic?
The question of Google’s right to refer traffic to its own sites is once again in the center of policy debate. The European Commission is looking at this issue as part of its larger anti-trust investigation against Google. It’s also a question at the heart of the federal regulatory review of the ITA acquisition. Preferential […]
New Place Search Shows Google’s Commitment To Local
Today Google formally rolls out its new presentation of local results, called “Place Search.” It offers a dramatic change to the look and feel of SERPs on Google.com. The first and most obvious change is that the “7 Pack” is gone. And there appear to be some fairly major SEO implications, which should provide many […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 17, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Adds Photo Albums The experience of viewing place photos in Google Maps got a little easier this week. Google has announced that it’s now showing certain place images in […]
Making Sense of Facebook Places
One of the questions that came up after the formal launch of Facebook Places last night was: how will this affect Google Places (among others)? As an aside, I have to say it’s really strange that these products have nearly the identical name. It’s almost like Honda offering a car with a particular name and […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 22, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google, Twitter Argue Against Throttling Speed Of News Google and Twitter have teamed up to support a web site that’s facing legal trouble for reporting news too quickly. Reuters reports that […]
My Business Got A Bad Review. Now What?
The worst fear of a restaurateur used to be opening the newspaper to find a critical review of his or her food. Same for performances or new products and gadgets. This anxiety could keep business owners up at night—but at least they knew when to expect a review to hit the streets.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 3, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s AdSense For Mobile (Apps) Becomes Gateway To Other Mobile Ad Networks Google announced that its AdSense for Mobile Apps program would start allowing publishers and developers to work with third […]