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LocalEze Category List
LocalEze is one of the most important sites to list your business on if you want to rank well in Google’s local search results. I’d put it in the top 5. It’s important because it feeds your business...
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InfoGroup Category List
There are two business listings you absolutely can’t screw up if you want to get visible in Google’s local search results: The first one is your Google+Local listing (duh). The other is your InfoGroup...
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RIP LocalEze Free Business Listings
Is your business listed on LocalEze.com? I hope so: If you run a “local” business in the US, the site can indirectly help or hurt your local search rankings. On a tight budget and want to list your...
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State of the Most-Important Local Search Sites (Mid-2013)
A lot has changed in the last few months in the world of local search. All of it affects your efforts to get visible to local customers. I’m not even talking about Google+ Local. Like Oprah’s weight,...
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Boss Jobs in Local SEO
I’m talking about the specific tasks in a local SEO campaign that the boss of the company must do personally. The boss: the one person who can’t quit or get fired, who most wants more customers, and...
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Business Categories Lists for Major Local Search Sites
Categories are the forgotten child of local SEO. Though they don’t get much attention, categories do get respect: “Proper Category Associations” is the #1 “Foundational Ranking Factor” listed on...
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The Best [BLEEP]in’ Local Link Questionnaire
You need at least a few good links to rank well in Google Places and beyond. Especially post-Pigeon update, and especially if you’re in a competitive local market. But that’s easier said than done....
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Google Helpouts Didn’t Have Time to Bleed
Google Helpouts and Jesse Ventura’s character in Predator have much in common: They both showed early promise, but got killed off way too soon. Well, on second thought, I guess that’s all they have in...
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How to Use Wildcard Searches for Local Keyword-Research: Lightning Round with...
Two little characters – the asterisk ( * ) and the underscore ( _ ) can help your keyword-research. Simply add them to various search terms you type into Google when researching keywords, and...
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20 Local SEO Techniques You Overlooked (Almost)
We local-SEO geeks talk about the same old basic principles a little too much: clean up your citations, don’t get penalized by Google, be mobile-friendly, earn “local” links, create “unique” content,...
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Which Local Review Sites Are on Your Side?
Not all review sites play games with customers and business owners. In that way, Yelp and Google+ are outliers. Reviews there are important, of course. But if you run into difficulty getting reviews...
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Who Can Write You an Online Review – Besides Customers?
Tricky question. Let’s start with the obvious gold standard: your customers write openly about their experiences with you in online reviews, and you did such a good job for them that those reviews...
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Lipstick on a Pig: Google Places “Report a Problem” Requests Now Rejected...
A couple days ago, Colan of Imprezzio Marketing reported that the next-to-useless “Report a problem” feature in Google Places had been revamped. I was excited. After all, Google made it easier to...
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Pasting or Embedding Google Reviews on Your Site: Will They Get Filtered?
For a few years now, people like me have told clients and others that it’s probably not a good idea to copy their Google reviews and paste them onto their site as testimonials. The concern is that...
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Hauling in More Local Customers…Even When Your Wheels Are Spinning
That’s the name of the talk I gave at MN Search yesterday. I covered 25 quick wins for attracting more local customers when you don’t know what to do next. Some of my suggestions are for local...
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25 Principles of Building Effective City Pages for Local SEO
So you want to create “city pages” to attract local customers in places where you don’t have an office. How can you make those pages attract customers rather than repulse them, rank well in the...
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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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