Richard Beverly's Blog

30-second summary: The need to become a public persona in order to be a successful business owner is overrated Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to create an anonymous digital entity while using a majority of efficient marketing strategies The problem arises when you already have your personal data published and want to delete it – it is neither easy nor possible (given all the variety of archiving tools that are publicly accessible these days) So how do you keep your life private while owning a successful online business? How do you navigate this conundrum as your private content may still become public at any moment? The internet is both, a boon and a bane, depending on – how you use it, and how others use it to interact with you. A lot of new businesses and side hustles emerged post the pandemic, while brick and mortar businesses started digitizing themselves. This has raised well-being challenges around how business owners and senior executives can separate work f

Local search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential tool for local businesses and the marketers working with them. SEO is key to establishing and boosting the online presence of a business, which will naturally lead to greater interest and potentially more sales, too. The simple truth is, if you want your business to be discovered by local customers, then you’ll need to utilize local SEO to enhance your discoverability on Google. With 8.5 billion Google searches being made every day—and nearly half of them having local intent—it’s easy to see just how important this is. So, if your business isn’t using local SEO to get a piece of the action, then it should be! Our new BrightLocal Academy course— A Beginner’s Guide to Local SEO —will teach you all you need to know about local SEO, and you’ll also learn exactly what to do to get started. We’ve created this course in collaboration with SEO Specialist, Greg Gifford, and we’ve covered everything from website content, inbound links, an

We recently sponsored and attended the 2022 Women in Tech SEO Fest, a full-day conference with speakers from all corners of the SEO industry. The session covered four important topics: analyze, advance, innovate, and empower. Every session gave attendees a huge amount of information and inspiration to support their work in SEO. Not to mention motivation for them to progress in their careers and find their own personal successes both in and out of the workplace. Although the event helped celebrate the achievements of women in SEO, the work still isn’t done. Women in Local SEO In our recent Local Search Industry Survey, 35% of people who completed the survey identified as women, compared to 62% who identified as men (3% identified as ‘Other’ or preferred not to say). A survey from Moz also found that “ men outnumber women by more than 2 to 1 in SEO ”. The gender imbalance also means it’s often harder for a woman to progress their careers in SEO too. Results from our Local Search Indus

Ask any local SEO or marketer what their biggest challenge is, and the chances are they’re going to say it’s a ‘lack of time’. From ranking changes and review scores to Google My Business performance and citation quality, there are just so many metrics to keep on top of. That’s time-consuming enough for a single location, but if you multiply that across dozens of clients, each with dozens of locations, you’re faced with a near-impossible juggling act. You don’t have time to interrogate every piece of data every single day. You need to know what deserves your attention today–and because you’re always on the clock, you need to figure that out quickly. That’s where Locations Overview comes in: a brand-new, customizable bird’s-eye view of location performance from across your BrightLocal reports, accessible from what was formerly the ‘Clients & Locations’ section. Your New Homepage for Monitoring Local SEO Performance “What needs to be my top priority today?” That’s the question

How often have you visited a restaurant without checking the reviews first? Given that the food industry is so saturated, you can’t expect enough people to show up to your restaurant if you’re not adequately visible online . There are many ways to enhance your restaurant’s discoverability, from having a responsive and appealing website to reviews and social proof. However, the best way to get started is with search engine optimization (SEO). Restaurant SEO Restaurant SEO helps to optimize your website and social media profiles for the search engine. This is achieved through the creation of targeted content based on your audience’s search intent. This type of SEO includes elements such as on-page, off-page, and technical SEO—all of which collectively help your restaurant rank higher in the search results.  So, if you’re interested in learning more about making your restaurant SEO-friendly, this article is for you. But first, let’s understand why exactly restaurant SEO is so import

Many local businesses have noticed huge fluctuations in their local search rankings over the last few weeks, with Google now confirming an important update to the local algorithm.  Rolling out between November 30th and December 8th, this update has been named ‘Vicinity’ by Sterling Sky . This is the largest change to the local algorithm since Possum in 2016 and has caused widespread ranking disruption. Google confirmed the update in a tweet on December 16th: Our November 2021 local search update has concluded. It began Nov 30 and ran through Dec 8. It involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results. General guidance for businesses remains the same as covered here: https://t.co/uyXFfmUEIR — Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 16, 2021 What’s Vicinity All About? This update is named after the fact that it seems to primarily target proximity as a ranking factor. Although proximity has long been an important signal for local sea

Google has been testing a new layout for the Local Pack interface over the last few months, and has now announced that the change will be permanent.  The Local Pack is a prominent section of the local search results. It features the top three businesses for a local query, as well as a map pinpointing the location of each. Being featured here can make a huge difference to local business web traffic and sales. Google has typically displayed three results with a map above since 2015. Before then, seven results were listed in the Local Pack without the addition of a map. New Local Pack Design The new design—which only applies to searches made on desktop—will feature three results on the left of the page and a map to the right. One notable advantage to this is that the map is bigger and could therefore be easier for some searchers to use. The updated design: The old design: Confirmation from Google In a statement made to Search Engine Land in confirmation of the changes, Google sai

As some of you may have noticed over the last few months, BrightLocal has undergone some visual upgrades (including the color scheme update that went live in our toolset today). These surface changes are more than just about looking good—they are the result of a year-long project looking into how we could improve our brand to enhance user experience. As part of the project, we looked at many aspects of our brand (more on those below), including color. Color plays such an important role across the BrightLocal brand, presenting actionable insights and information, and allowing customers to gain understanding quickly. Looking at the BrightLocal palette, it was immediately apparent that information was sometimes hard to read. When we also discovered that 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women suffer from Color Vision Deficiency , we started researching how we could combine color and information to enhance user experience for all of our customers.  The result is an entirely new color palette t

This September, iPhone users around the world were treated to the arrival of iOS 15. This much-anticipated update delivered on a number of promises from Apple, such as: Security enhancements Bug fixes Changes to the interface New features and functions Improvements to native apps When it comes to app improvements, Apple Maps users have not been left behind by iOS 15. There are noteworthy developments for local SEOs to be aware of. These improvements to the Maps app have prompted some in the tech industry to declare that Apple could finally be offering a worthy alternative to Google Maps. “Far from the fiasco of a launch it experienced in 2012, Apple Maps has recovered to become a legitimate challenger to Google Maps” – Neuf.tv “Apple Maps hot on the heels of Google Maps with new iOS 15 updates” – T3.com The Google Maps vs Apple Maps battle has been ongoing for many years, with the consensus generally being that Google has remained the champion throughout. However, the App

This September, iPhone users around the world were treated to the arrival of iOS 15. This much-anticipated update delivered on a number of promises from Apple, such as: Security enhancements Bug fixes Changes to the interface New features and functions Improvements to native apps When it comes to app improvements, Apple Maps users have not been left behind by iOS 15. There are noteworthy developments for local SEOs to be aware of. These improvements to the Maps app have prompted some in the tech industry to declare that Apple could finally be offering a worthy alternative to Google Maps. “Far from the fiasco of a launch it experienced in 2012, Apple Maps has recovered to become a legitimate challenger to Google Maps” – Neuf.tv “Apple Maps hot on the heels of Google Maps with new iOS 15 updates” – T3.com The Google Maps vs Apple Maps battle has been ongoing for many years, with the consensus generally being that Google has remained the champion throughout. However, the App

Understanding the competitive landscape is a key part of any marketing activity, and local search is no different. To learn how to beat your local competitors in search, you don’t just need to find out who’s beating you, but crucially why. This is where Local Search Grid ‘s competitor tables come in: each one provides you with an overview of how well your local pack rivals are performing in key SEO metrics like citations and reviews. Beyond these objective performance metrics, though, it’s worth keeping a close eye on the Google My Business (GMB) categories your competitors are using. Why? Because the categories you select have the chance to significantly impact the relevance of your business to searches. Did You Know? According to research carried out in 2020 , ‘Primary GMB Category’ and ‘Additional GMB Categories’ are considered two of the top five most important ranking factors in local search results… and the former is Number One! Local Search Grid has always done a great jo

30-second summary: Following pandemic-driven shopping trends, lots of local businesses had to explore online marketing opportunities Google offers a few great ways for a local business to get found through organic search Local 3 Pack is Google’s search element containing top three local businesses based on your search query. To rank in the Local 3 Pack you need to ensure your Google My Business listing is complete and active Third-party local business listings (like Yelp and Tripadvisor) may also drive some organic search visibility so it is a good idea to claim your business there Hyperlocal content may help your business discovered by people who were not even searching to buy a local product or service, so produce relevant content on a regular basis Local marketing has become even a more trending topic, following the pandemic-driven pandemic. Lots of local businesses that used to rely on local foot traffic were forced to turn to the Internet to get found by customers. That

 I’ll let you into a little secret. If you’re super-duper into local SEO, and you’re not already attending LocalU Advanced you’re missing a trick. This is where the top minds and actual practitioners in the space get together and share ALL-NEW content including research, case studies, how-tos, and much, much more. I got the chance to attend the last event on August 31, and, as always, I bloody loved it. So much that I wrote up the key takeaways from my favorite talks from Joy Hawkins , Rachel Anderson , Greg Gifford , Dana DiTomaso so that you can enjoy them too! Joy Hawkins: Make Your Images Worth a Thousand Words Ah, I do love Sterling Sky’s Joy Hawkins , I always get some great takeaways any time I listen to her speak, and using images more effectively is something I’m always looking to upskill on! Joy starts by summing up three objectives for having great images: Look better Rank better Get more leads Let’s start with ‘Look better’ Marketers often forget to check how im