Richard Beverly's Blog

We talk a lot here about how to keep up to date on local SEO news, from forums to webinars , and beyond. But what better way to learn than by delving deep into the experts’ realm? If you’re looking for daily updates on the latest changes in Google My Business, local search algorithm updates, or even upcoming events, then Twitter is the place for you. To help you build your following list, we’re shouting out 17 local SEO experts you need to follow. And sadly, yes, we did have to whittle this list down to just 17. While Twitter is full of knowledgeable SEOs, we’ve opted for the most active, but if you’re looking for even more SEOs to fill your timeline with, then be sure to check out our full list of local SEO experts . 1. Colan Nielsen, Sterling Sky If you frequent online local SEO communities and forums , you’ll likely have seen Colan’s face before. A key member of the Sterling Sky local search Dream Team, Colan regularly shares his unique expertise and insights on Twitter. Cola

We talk a lot here about how to keep up to date on local SEO news, from forums to webinars , and beyond. But what better way to learn than by delving deep into the experts’ realm? If you’re looking for daily updates on the latest changes in Google My Business, local search algorithm updates, or even upcoming events, then Twitter is the place for you. To help you build your following list, we’re shouting out 16 local SEO experts you need to follow. And sadly, yes, we did have to whittle this list down to just 16. While Twitter is full of knowledgeable SEOs, we’ve opted for the most active, but if you’re looking for even more SEOs to fill your timeline with, then be sure to check out our full list of local SEO experts . 1. Colan Nielsen, Sterling Sky If you frequent online local SEO communities and forums , you’ll likely have seen Colan’s face before. A key member of the Sterling Sky local search Dream Team, Colan regularly shares his unique expertise and insights on Twitter. Cola

Founder of the well-loved catchphrase, “meh, links!”, Gyi Tsakalakis is — as you might expect — a known advocate for local link building. Here, he explains why local links still hold value in 2020, and shares some of the best tactics for building a healthy backlink profile. If you’re marketing a local business online, earning quality local links isn’t just good for local SEO , it’s good for business. The idea that building local links is good for business is certainly not novel. Will Scott has been preaching about the power of Barnacle SEO for decades. Still, here in 2020, it seems to me that too many local businesses and their marketers don’t put enough emphasis on building links that have business value beyond SEO. Building awareness is an often overlooked benefit of earning local links. When potential customers or clients begin the research and discovery phase of their journey, they are looking for answers, resources, education, data, opinions, and insights from sources they

Local Search Clinic ventures into the realm of GMB suspensions and reinstatement with Steady Demand’s Ben Fisher. Got problems only the pros can answer? Looking for tips to boost your online search presence? Or just want to chat with fellow local SEOs? Join us Wednesday, May 27th, at 8am PT/11am ET for an hour of expert insights. Read on to find out how to get your questions answered! For any questions or issues registering for the webinar, please email us at content@brightlocal.com . Can’t see the button to register above? Click here to save your spot. How to register and ask your question 1. Click the green ‘Save my spot!’ button at the top of this page. 2. Click ‘Email me a login link’ 3. Click ‘Confirm & sign in’ in the email from Crowdcast 4. Click ‘Ask a Question’ and submit your question using the popup (you can do this before or during the broadcast ) See a question in the popup that you’d also like the answer to? Just click the arrow next

Whether they have DoFollow links or NoFollow links, citation sites with links through to local business websites are invaluable to local SEO. Backlinks remain one of most important factors that influence both organic search ranking and local-search/maps ranking. If you’d like to see what the experts say about local link building, check out our Expert Local Link Building Survey . The Local Citations Trust Report also explores why correct citations are vital to keeping customers happy – finding that 80% of consumers lose trust in a business if they see incorrect or inconsistent NAP information online. Citation sites that provide backlinks Knowing that many SEOs like to build links through their citation-building actions, we wanted to put together a useful resource to show which citation sites provide either DoFollow links or NoFollow links. In May 2020, our Citations team delved into our extensive citation database to create a comprehensive list of local citation sites with DoFoll

Fighting Google My Business spam is one of the most effective ways to climb rankings in local SEO, but is the uptake as common among agencies as local SEO experts? From just a quick glance at local SEO Twitter , you’d think that spam fighting is what dominates many local SEOs’ working days . But our Local Search Industry Survey showed that, on the contrary, just a third of local marketers offer GMB spam fighting as a service. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, our Expert Google My Business survey showed that, second only to reviews, spam fighting is one of the most important tasks to prioritize in 2020 , with 65% of experts vouching for it, while just 11% of agencies said the same thing. These two drastically opposing statistics got us thinking: why aren’t more agencies investing in spam removal? That’s why we took matters into our own hands and polled our trusty audience to find out more. In total, we looked at the data from 513 respondents – 64% of which manage local SEO for a clien

In association with Local University, we’re excited to offer you 10% off LocalU Advanced Virtual , a conference packed to the gills with advanced local search insights and tactics from the best in the business, taking place 8am-5pm CT on Wednesday, June 3rd . What is LocalU Advanced Virtual? The world’s leading local search-focused conference , featuring talks from 10 renowned experts in the field, such as Greg Gifford, Joy Hawkins, and Mike Blumenthal. 9 hours of completely unique talks andpanels with built-in Q&A sessions on everything from Google My Business and reviews to schema markup and rank tracking. Usually around $900 for the in-person event. Now just $99 for the virtual event, or $90 (plus tax) with the exclusive code below. I can’t stress enough that, considering the level of expertise on offer in one place, this conference is an absolute bargain, even at the reduced price of $99. Plus, if you’re not in a US-friendly time zone and can’t catch the talks liv

Checking whether a business is listed on the top citation sites can be a time-intensive task. But with 80% of consumers losing trust in local businesses if they spot inconsistent business names, addresses, and phone numbers online, accurate business listings can be make or break for many customers. At BrightLocal, our mission is to make local marketing simple for our customers – including making citations even more manageable. Say Hello to Our Newest Free Local SEO Tool! The Local Listings Health Scanner allows you to perform a completely free scan across 15 of the most powerful business listing sites. Within just a few minutes, the tool will uncover your Listing Health Score, based on the proportion of correct listings you have across the top sites – meaning you can start taking action quickly, and without barriers. TRY IT NOW As well as your Score, you’ll be shown a Listing Accuracy Breakdown, so you can easily see the name, address, and phone number inconsistencies that cou

Advance Your Agency is a brand-new BrightLocal series, designed to equip you with the skills, knowledge and advice necessary to take your agency operations to the next level. This month we focus on review management – a key component of local SEO success. Local SEOs know just how important online reviews are when it comes to gaining prominence in local search.  According to Moz’s most recent Local Search Ranking Factors Study , review signals make up around 15% of local pack factors. Put simply, having a high quantity of recent, diverse, high-quality reviews means Google’s local search algorithm is more likely to favor your business and surface it for relevant search queries. As an agency, though, it can be difficult to explain to clients just how important review management is and what the benefits could be to their businesses. For example, how many times have you spoken with clients who believe that online reviews will just come flooding in on their own? If only things

Blake Denman is the President and Founder of local SEO agency, RicketyRoo Inc. In this article, Blake will explain just how you can help your business stand out from the rest by finding your own unique benchmark. You’ve spent a lot of time figuring out all the keywords you want to rank for. Now what? Your goal is to increase rankings on Google Maps and in local organic search, but where should you start? There’s no shortage of things you can do: Google My Business optimization Google My Business spam-fighting Reviews/reputation management Citation building and monitoring  On-site SEO Link building  Social media management Content creation Some of these tasks might take just a few hours to “dial-inâ€, while others will take longer, require more resources, or are considered a long-term play. So it’s important to consider what’s a priority and what’s not. In this article, I’m going to share a framework you can start using today to help figure out the what and why

Checking whether a business is listed on the top citation sites can be a time-intensive task. But with 80% of consumers losing trust in local businesses if they spot inconsistent business names, addresses, and phone numbers online, accurate business listings can be make or break for many customers. At BrightLocal, our mission is to make local marketing simple for our customers – including making citations even more manageable. Say Hello to Our Newest Free Local SEO Tool! The Local Listings Health Scanner allows you to perform a completely free scan across 15 of the most powerful business listing sites. Within just a few minutes, the tool will uncover your Listing Health Score, based on the proportion of correct listings you have across the top sites – meaning you can start taking action quickly, and without barriers. TRY IT NOW As well as your Score, you’ll be shown a Listing Accuracy Breakdown, so you can easily see the name, address, and phone number inconsistencies that cou

This week Local Search Clinic covers GMB spam fighting with Sterling Sky’s Joy Hawkins. Got problems only the pros can answer? Looking for tips to boost your online search presence? Or just want to chat with fellow local SEOs? Join us Wednesday, May 20th, at 8am PT/11am ET for an hour of expert insights. Read on to find out how to get your questions answered! For any questions or issues registering for the webinar, please email us at content@brightlocal.com . Can’t see the button to register above? Click here to save your spot. How to register and ask your question 1. Click the green ‘Save my spot!’ button at the top of this page. 2. Click ‘Email me a login link’ 3. Click ‘Confirm & sign in’ in the email from Crowdcast 4. Click ‘Ask a Question’ and submit your question using the popup (you can do this before or during the broadcast ) See a question in the popup that you’d also like the answer to? Just click the arrow next to the question to ‘upv

On May 4, Google announced the latest algorithm update to hit organic search, the ‘ May 2020 Core Update ‘. While SEOs worked to understand the impact of this on their clients, we began to notice a lot of movements among local results as well. Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the May 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that: https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G — Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 4, 2020 On May 5, our local algorithm tracker Local RankFlux began reporting significant ranking fluctuation — peaking on Friday with a huge 5.58. To put this into context, a “normal” level of flux sits between 2.2 and 2.8 — so doubling this level represents very unusual activity. In fact, this is higher than the neural matching changes back in November 2019 (the previous peak for Local RankFlux activity). There has been discussio

We’ve all heard the saying that first impressions matter, and this is just as true online as it is in real life. In business terms, this means that there is a constant need to carefully manage your online reputation , to ensure each landing page is word-perfect and that your social channels are updated, engaging and relevant. What of your Google My Business page though? If you’re guilty of thinking of Google My Business in terms of reviews and local search position, you may have overlooked the need to keep a tight rein on your Google My Business photos. Internet users are inherently visual creatures, with visuals processed 60,000 times faster than plain text . That means images are tremendously influential and key to your business looking good online. 60% of consumers said local search results with good images pushed them towards a decision. Tweet this A 2011 BrightLocal study revealed that 60% of consumers said local search results with good images captured their attention and

As a response to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the resultant closure of swathes of local business across the world, in late March of this year Google took the (in my opinion) wise decision to temporarily block the publication of new business reviews on Google My Business, as business staff no longer working would be less available to respond to them. At the time of reporting this, we noted that it was “not yet known whether these reviews will be made visible once Google lifts the restrictions.” Well, now we have the answer. Google is starting to bring your reviews back (but not particularly in a big way just yet). Are newly published Google reviews being backdated? It would certainly seem that way, yes. As Google My Business Product Expert, Jason Brown mentioned in an April 7th Local Search Forum thread , he had been told by Google that “they planned on publishing reviews that were posted after March 20th”. This is backed up by other reports we’ve seen online (and for ourselves). I