Richard Beverly's Blog

Claim your listing on the new BrightLocal Agency Directory to begin generating leads from businesses that are searching for help with digital marketing right now. Every week, BrightLocal’s Customer Success team receives requests for recommendations of top-rated agencies that can help our local business customers with their digital marketing. And, just as often, we receive requests from agencies and consultants to be added to our legacy lists of Top SEO Agencies. We wanted to help bridge this gap between businesses in need of digital marketing assistance and the many talented agencies and freelancers operating in the US and actively seeking new leads.  Introducing the Agency Directory   Today, we launched the Agency Directory – an in-depth directory of digital marketing agencies and consultants offering services including local SEO, PPC, SEO, and web design, in 1,000 cities in the USA*.  A listing on the Agency Directory allows you to show off the key business information that p

30-second summary: Reviews are absolutely crucial to a business’s success and need to be acknowledged. Engagement with consumers will positively benefit your business and bring in more reviews in the future. Staying honest with your reviews will pay off in the long run. Take most reviews as honest opinions about your business and work to build on them for a better consumer experience. When a busy day means dinner will be takeout instead of home-cooked, chances are you don’t simply choose a restaurant at random. Most likely, you’ll use Google or Yelp to search for data on locations or types of food, and then, most importantly, you’ll look at customer reviews. With tacos on your mind, you may look for a casual Mexican restaurant or fast food. But what if it has less than four stars on Yelp? Scenarios like these have become part of daily life in the communities being served by almost any brand you market. Reviews and web exposure Customer reviews have played a significant role in

We’re incredibly excited to announce the launch of Local Search Grid , a brand-new local rankings tool from BrightLocal that allows you to see the bigger picture of search. Without further ado, here’s how awesome it looks. Snazzy, right? There’s a lot I could say about Local Search Grid and what this new tool means for your search strategy (and I will!) but for now I’ll let our launch video do the talking: If that’s piqued your interest and you want to start using Local Search Grid right away, simply: Log in to your BrightLocal account Select a Location from your Clients & Locations dashboard Click ‘Rankings’ in the Location Sidebar menu Click ‘Local Search Grid’ in the dropdown that appears Want to know more before you dive in? Read on to find out just how Local Search Grid gives you better insights, for better decisions than ever before. Local Search has evolved If you’re using a rank tracker like our own Local Search Rank Checker , you’ll know how it works: Plug

In the world of local SEO, there’s always something new to keep your eye out for that could be a game-changer. This week, that news is that star ratings are now appearing in review snippet on Google My Business listings. First time I’ve seen the star rating appear with the review snippet here pic.twitter.com/gXoP0mG7hn — Tom Waddington (@tomwaddington8) February 3, 2021 Spotted on Twitter by Tom Waddington on February 3rd, 2021, this change is yet another step from Google to bring online reviews front and center.  What’s new with Google review summaries? Previously, when a business’s Knowledge Panel was generated by a local search, Google would highlight potentially relevant keywords. For example, “great service” might be bolded for a restaurant. Now, not only is a searcher presented with these highlighted keywords, but the accompanying star rating is shown too.  So, if someone left a review saying “great service” along with a 4-star rating, that’s what will be shown to the sea

30-second summary: Optimizing a small business for local search is a powerful way to boost local traffic and increase sales. With the large majority of web users actively seeking products/services in their vicinity, building local leads is essential. Joseph Dyson offers a step-by-step guide to improving local visibility for small businesses. He focuses on the importance of Google My Business, keyword research and implementation, internal and external links, reviews, and more. Do you want your business to appear in the top local search results on Google? Do you want to attract high-quality traffic that helps you boost sales and grow your business in the long run? Do you want to achieve and sustain target KPIs? If you answered these questions in the affirmative, you may want to optimize your business for local search if you haven’t already. An astounding 80% of all local searches on mobile phones result in a transaction. While you may have created a winning social media market

It may have only been the first month of the year, but the local SEO news didn’t ease us in gently!  Test your knowledge of last month’s biggest stories in our monthly local marketing news quiz – Local Quizness !  In just 10 questions, you can challenge your knowledge of the biggest tests, new features, and changes affecting local businesses in January. And as always, you can share your scores over on Twitter using #LocalQuizness .  If you wanted to catch up on any of January’s news, we’ve provided links to some great articles exploring the stories.  BrightLocal – Google Posts No Longer Expire After Seven Days BBC – Google threatens to withdraw search engine from Australia Search Engine Roundtable – New Google My Business Insights Platform & Device Breakdown Search Engine Land – Yelp launches “health and safety measures” community feedback feature Local U – Google Updates The Options to Flag a Review Social Media Today – Facebook Launches Updated ‘Account Quality’ Dashboa

In the world of local SEO, there’s always something new to keep your eye out for that could be a game-changer. This week, that news is that star ratings are now appearing in review snippet on Google My Business listings. First time I’ve seen the star rating appear with the review snippet here pic.twitter.com/gXoP0mG7hn — Tom Waddington (@tomwaddington8) February 3, 2021 Spotted on Twitter by Tom Waddington on February 3rd, 2021, this change is yet another step from Google to bring online reviews front and center.  What’s new with Google review summaries? Previously, when a business’s Knowledge Panel was generated by a local search, Google would highlight potentially relevant keywords. For example, “great service” might be bolded for a restaurant. Now, not only is a searcher presented with these highlighted keywords, but the accompanying star rating is shown too.  So, if someone left a review saying “great service” along with a 4-star rating, that’s what will be shown to the sea

30-second summary: Something that all of us in the search industry are guilty of is our over-reliance on Google telling us what is coming next. Understanding Google’s considerations as a business, provide context to many of its recent decisions and provides a sense of what is coming down the road. Global digital agency Croud’s Organic Strategy Director looks discusses the future of Google, right from Google’s antitrust lawsuit to Apple as a future rival, and more. It occurs to me that I am part of a cult. Or at least, something that displays the hallmarks of one. An unchallenged authoritarian leadership, prophets and oracles who deign to share only select information from a mysterious entity, who engage in coercive behaviors, who punish for non-compliance, and followership who are indoctrinated into special teachings and practices and whom parrot back the mantras and sayings of the leaders. Yes, I of course refer to the SEO industry and yes, you may take a small pause here to go

Anyone who runs an online business needs to get to grips with search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of working to make your website rank more highly in results pages on search engines such as Google. There are a few strategies you can use to help your site rank better in local search results . In this article, we’ll discuss how you can improve your website SEO through simple WordPress improvements. Why is ranking well for local search queries so important? According to Business Wire , 67% of Americans prefer to shop with local businesses where possible. Additionally, an estimated 46% of all Google searches have local intent. Speaking anecdotally, I have seen the importance of local search results first-hand. 80-90% of the business for my web design agency, Lform Design, comes from within our home state of New Jersey.  Website design makes a big difference in your SEO performance due to a number of factors that we’ll look at in more detail. Fortunately, with a bit of