How generative answers are changing the user journey
Clicks are disappearing, awareness is eroding, and top-of-funnel content is losing visibility. Here's how to adapt before you're left behind.
Topic: Yellow pages
How to win with your local marketing strategy (with AI, SEO, and Community)
Master local marketing with proven SEO, social, and offline tactics to boost visibility, build trust, and grow your local customer base fast.
Types of backlinks explained: How to drive SEO, traffic, and authority
Understanding which types of backlinks are most valuable to your domain will help you develop the right content and target audiences.
How does ChatGPT conduct local searches?
ChatGPT now delivers stronger local search results using Bing data. Discover how it works – and what local businesses can do to stay visible.
Why SEO fundamentals are 10x more important now
Bread and butter SEO tactics aren't optional anymore. They’re essential. Here's why and how to thrive in an AI-driven world.
GBP tests ‘Places people are talking about,’ hints at unstructured citation power
Refine your understanding of what consistency means in terms of local citations, both structured and unstructured, and get the latest Google insights.
This day in search marketing history: March 26
More sites move to Google mobile-first indexing, plus: Google penalizes entire site over one guest blog post, Google Maps logo bomb and more.
Facebook has rolled out a new Pages experience
Facebook pages are here to stay. Businesses should take advantage of all they have to offer by making the most out of the new layout experience.
Apocalypse for online search? Here’s how marketers can thrive
When Google launched in 1998, the big knock against it was that it would be excruciatingly difficult to monetize the traffic because all search traffic would be sent off of Google. The theory was that the company needed to be like Yahoo or Lycos — to have a wide-ranging portal. But Google scoffed at the […]
Local SEO beyond the browser
Are you making the most of offline advertising to complement your local SEO efforts? Columnist Marcus Miller explains the benefits of connecting your digital and physical marketing.
The 16 Secrets Of Guerrilla Local SEO
Some people get so focused on rankings that they forget what great SEO is all about: marketing. Through applying the principles of guerrilla marketing, columnist Marcus Miller shows how great marketing makes for great local SEO.
SearchCap: SEO Evolution, Megalytics & SEO Migration
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Search Ascending: The New Brand Strategy Advertisers have long used paid search as a direct response tool to reach consumers who are ready to make a purchase, but columnist John Cosley […]
Yahoo Directory Closes, Five Days Early
The core service that launched Yahoo as an internet company -- the Yahoo Directory -- finally closes 20 years after it began.
Up Close @ SMX: Enhancing Results With Structured Data & Markup
When you think about the job the search engines have to do it’s pretty daunting. Given a collection of mostly wildly unstructured data from an endless number of sources, Bing, Google and the others have to somehow make sense of all that information and then give it back to us on demand in a way […]
Study Finds Small Businesses Waste 25 Percent Of Their PPC Budgets
While pay-per-click marketing has become an integral part of many small businesses’ marketing plans, most SMBs struggle to find the time and resources to manage their PPC campaigns. A new study finds that, due to managerial and strategic errors, SMBs inadvertently waste a quarter of their paid search budgets. Paid search software firm, WordStream, conducted […]
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 […]
Google Maps Traffic Estimates Even For Many Roads
Any person who knows their neighborhood well, knows which streets to avoid when driving around town. But for those who are just visiting or passing through, getting stuck on a bad road can be a costly mistake. Google has added estimated traffic predictions by day and time for even some of the most basic roads. […]
Traffic Estimates Return To Google Maps
About a year ago, Google dropped traffic estimates from Google Maps driving directions and now they are back in the form of “current traffic conditions.” To see the traffic conditions, go to Google Maps and type directions from point A to point B. Google will show you the “current traffic conditions,” note these are not […]
Google Maps To Work With Inrix On Real Time Traffic
TechCrunch reports Google is working with Inrix to power their real time traffic data for Google Maps. TechCrunch said, “Inrix went from contract to implementation in under 45 days. Initially available in 8 countries, Inrix’s real-time traffic information for all major motorways will be integrated with Google products and services online and on mobile phones.” […]
All Sales & No Service: Google’s Small Business Priorities Are All Messed Up
Google is, again, wiping the egg off of its company face this week after the New York Times exposed yet another way in which some users are manipulating Google Places to the detriment of unsuspecting small/local business owners. The latest issue involves unscrupulous individuals/companies marking other businesses as closed in Google Places. It’s a process […]
No, Says Google, It’s Not Panda 2.4 Or Any Update
Yesterday, there were early rumors floating around at WebmasterWorld that there was yet another Panda updating taking place, possibly Panda 2.4. I covered it at the Search Engine Roundtable and asked Google for confirmation. Google informed me that there is no Panda update taking place currently. Google told us, “no Panda update is currently occurring.” […]
Official: Google Panda 2.3 Update Is Live
Google has confirmed to Search Engine Land that late last week it pushed out a small update to the Panda filter. “We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users,” a Google spokesperson told us. “This most recent update is one of the roughly […]
Google’s Locksmith Spam Problem Hits The New York Times
The New York Times’ interest in the underbelly of SEO continues today with an article that details Google’s struggle to fight locksmith spam in Google Places. While not as deep as the Times’ recent articles on J.C. Penney’s SEO tactics and floral industry SEO, it nevertheless casts Google — again — as unable to keep […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 14, 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: Google Voice Search & Search By Image Comes To Desktops Mobile innovation is fueling Google’s search offerings for the desktop, as the company today announced two new search interfaces — Voice […]
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 […]
Survey: Print Yellow Pages More Trusted Than Search Engines & Social Networks
Who still uses yellow pages? San Francisco has even banned delivery without permission, assuming no one wants them. But a yellow pages industry group has a new survey saying that yellow pages are more trusted, more widely used and perceived by consumers to be more accurate when it comes to local information than search engines […]
Coming Soon: Google Panda Update 2.2
One of the bigger pieces of news — certainly for webmasters and SEOs — from our SMX Advanced conference this week is that Google will soon be releasing version 2.2 of the Panda algorithm update. Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed that during Tuesday’s keynote question-and-answer session with Danny Sullivan. Cutts said that the update has been […]
It’s Panda Update 2.1, Not Panda 3.0, Google Says
There have been rumblings that Google has unveiled another huge algorithm change being dubbed “Panda 3.0” in some quarters. Officially, Google says it’s not so. Only a minor update, “far smaller” than Panda 2, has happened. Changes have been spotted by some sharp-eyed SEOs over the past few days, and Google agrees that there were […]
Hit By Panda Update? Google Has 23 Questions To Ask Yourself To Improve
Amit Singhal, Google’s head of search, published a blog post on the Google Webmaster Central blog named More guidance on building high-quality sites. Amit’s goal with this post is to have those webmasters impacted by this Panda Update, which rolled out internationally about a month ago, with some direction and guidance to help explain what […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 22, 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: Bing’s Read/Write World: An Ambitious Project To Bridge Maps With Movies, Photos, Local Data & More It’s probably not something that you can wrap your head around pretty quickly. It’s also […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 18, 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: Demand Media: Panda’s Impact On eHow.com “Significantly Overstated” Demand Media says recent reports have “significant overstated” the impact of Google’s Panda update on eHow.com, its flagship website. In a brief statement […]
U.S. Census Findings Count For Local Search Marketers
Talk of the 2010 U.S. Census is heating up on the web – as local information starts to trickle out – with discussion about what national and local census figures mean for everything from politics to the Superbowl. For local search companies and marketers, the U.S. Census delivers valuable information that helps us understand who […]
Google Promotes Boost To All Of U.S., Mobile Devices
Google’s simpler AdWords program, Boost, is getting its national roll-out, after a three-month test period in certain cities and states, the company is set to announce. The search giant also said it will begin displaying Boost ads for searches done on iPhone and Android devices. Google spokesperson Jim Prosser wouldn’t say what kind of usage […]
Facebook 101: Understanding When & How To Use Basic Features
This simple guide will break down the different objects on Facebook and a high level overview on how they can (or cannot) be used for marketing. Features tips on hoow to use Profiles, Fan Pages, Groups, Events, Place Pages & more for marketing your business, organization or events.
Live Blogging BIA/Kelsey’s DMS ’10 Conference – Day 2
I’ll be live blogging Day 2 of the Directional Media Strategies 2010 (#DMS2010) conference here, starting at about 8:30 AM, CST, September 15. (See Day 1 and Day 3 here.) —————————————————————————————- (Sorry – started late due to large traffic jammage on the tollway) DMS ’10 Spotlight: The ‘Deal a Day’ Phenomenon Perry Evans of Closely […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 13, 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: QR Codes: Are You Ready For Paper-Based Hyperlinks? You’ve probably seen them in newspapers, magazines or other paper-based publications: two-dimensional bar codes, called quick response codes (QR codes). What are they? […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 2, 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 Showing Four Top AdWords Ads, Top One Google Mortgage Ad When I search for [mortgage rates] in Google, I am presented with dozens of Google AdWords ads on the search […]
More People Go Mobile For Local
Since the beginning of the year, many of us have predicted that mobile will be the top driving force behind local search growth in 2010. A rapidly-increasing number of smartphone users — combined with faster mobile technology, better search offerings, and higher advertiser engagement — suggests that consumers will be more likely than ever to […]
“More Is More:” Why Info-Rich Ads Help Local Businesses Generate Leads
In today’s changing media environment, local businesses are looking for new ways to reach the consumer. In addition to placing ads in traditional outlets like the print Yellow Pages—which still have significant consumer reach—local businesses are increasingly adding websites and social networking pages, online videos, iPhone and iPad apps and other popular advertising tools to […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 29, 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: Source: Google Ending AdWords Reseller Program (For Now) Following rumors over the past week or so that Google was shutting down its local AdWords reseller program, I’ve received two separate confirmations […]