Blog

  • Facebook Local Search: Facebook Declares War on Google’s Empire

    Is Facebook the next evolution of Local Search?

    We all knew it was a matter of time before Facebook started expanding into web search and they’ve finally done it by unveiling their own Facebook local search option: Open Graph search engine. What is Open Graph, you might ask, here’s what Facebook reps are saying, according to an allfacebook.com story:

    “all Open Graph enabled web pages will show up in search when a user likes them”

    Why is this important? Imagine a more personalized web experience where community feedback drives interaction and search position. You can search for a cosmetic surgeon or dentist and immediately be able to contact his patients for real feedback. This is huge! No longer will you type in “Atlanta dentist” and dozens of sleek websites – you’ll be able to find information on the dentist, his office location, and talk with his clients. As Facebook continues to develop this open graph search, you will see Facebook profiles and page results as well as websites being ranked by user feedback from REAL people.

    If this catches on, not only will the face of SEO change, how people think about searching will change as well. It’s like Facebook is developing Deathstars and photon rifles, while Google is reloading the Spaniard cannons.

    Do I think this is the end of Google local search? No, but I do think that Facebook is moving in the right direction. Users having control over results and ranking seems like a no-brain. My only concern is potential spammers hindering the evolution of search.

  • Link Building Strategies Compared to Body Building Strategies: Strangely Similar

    One of the most important and oft-overlooked aspect of SEO is link building. Link building strategies are one of the simplest concepts, but most make it more difficult than it needs to be. For instance, Sage Lewis defines link building as, “The integration of useful elements into a whole Web site to allow for the accretion of links through natural means.” Sage obviously doesn’t follow one of the mottos I live my life by: Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.

    Basically, what he’s saying is link building is the process of creating inbound links to your site from other sources. There are a variety of  link building strategies one can use to accomplish this, some of which include article submissions, directories, newsletters, and back links. In fact, just look above for an example! By linking to Mr. Lewis’ article, we’ve just strengthened his site and maybe even drove a little traffic there as well.

    For those of you reading who may not be familiar with the SEO process, I may have just confused you more than I helped. So let me put it this way: Link building is incredibly similar to body building. Don’t believe me? Through following these exercises, you add strength to your website and bulk up your legitimacy and visibility.  Didn’t think I could do it, did you? Yay puns!

    Just as focusing your workout to target specific muscles will increase body mass, focusing link building from relative sources will increase your site’s exposure and visits. The submission of articles to outside sources is one of the easiest ways of doing this. Make it relative to your site, throw in a few keywords that link to specific pages, and you’re on the fast track to becoming one of the strongest sites on Google!

    Another way link building is beneficial is that it makes your site seem like a valuable resource. With enough links, your site could be the first to appear in search engines, just like a body builder is the first person people ask to help them move furniture.

    …or be their state's governor.

    The more your pages appear in places other than your own site, the more exposure it’ll receive, which makes it appear more legitimate. It turns your site from just another pale, puny face in the endless crowd to a bronzed, powerful, incredibly hard to miss shaven gorilla.

    Don’t think you can do it all on your lonesome, though. Body builders need spotters to make sure they don’t drop dumbbells on their dumb bell, and reciprocal links serve the same purpose for you. These are basically agreements between two sites to link back to each other, like a partnership of sorts. This will not only add legitimacy, but you’ll surely get a few views directly from the other site.

    So that’s link building in a nutshell!

    **Note to body builders** Please don’t take my insults seriously. No harm intended. Please don’t beat me up! Seriously, it wouldn’t be any fun. I look like this guy:

    Thanks to d_vdm and Marcus Q for the great pics!

  • Top 5 Chrome Plugins for Search Marketing

    As a Search Marketing professional I’m always looking for new browser tools to help me with optimization. Over the last few months, I’ve become a huge fan of Google Chrome. It’s fast, light-weight, and  has tons of user generated extensions for SEO, PPC, and SMO. Here is a list of the top 5 Chrome plugins any Internet marketer should have.

    1) Chrome SEO – Probably one of the best free SEO add-ons I’ve used. It provides backlink info, as well as, keyword research tool, domain age, and traffic and rank. It has everything. Unlike some other SEO plugins, I never find myself disabling it because it’s chugging resources or constantly crashing.

    Chrome SEO Screenshot
    Chrome SEO Screenshot

    2) Web Developer – A port of the Firefox Web Developer plugin, this extension has help me several times with identifying useless and broken CSS, as well as,  large graphics and elements on the page that were slowing it down.

    Web Developer
    Web Developer

    3) Google Analytics Opt-out Add-onNothing is more important to me than accurate site data and this plugin stops the JavaScript (ga.js) from sending information back to Google Analytics
    4) IE TabWant to see what your site looks like in Internet Explorer but you don’t want to install? Download IE Tab.  This extension has helped me identify elements that work in Chrome and Firefox but do not work in IE.

    IE Tab
    IE Tab
    Google Similar Pages
    Google Similar Pages

    5) Google Similar Pages – Want to know who your competition is? Google Similar Pages provides urls and visual information on sites that are similar to the page you’re currently browsing based on keyword and traffic information.

    Honorable Mentions:
    Google Voice – I’m always losing or turning off my phone, so with Google Voice I never miss a voicemail and can easily return the call at my leisure.  Works great when you are busy and affording those pesky calls from Mom.


    Gmail Mail Checker Plus – I hate e-mail programs and constantly logging in and out of different email accounts to check my e-mail. With Gmail Mail Checker Plus I can have access to all of my email with a simple click on the toolbar.


    Panic Button – Have you ever been on sites that aren’t exactly work friendly? The Panic Button extension is for you. With one click you can hide what you were surfing and replace it with your start page.

  • Google Wave: Revolutionizing Communication or Reinventing the Wheel?

    So it’s been about nine months since Google unveiled one of their latest- and largest- endeavors: Wave. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with Google’s global takeover, Wave is a real-time communication platform that has the potential to completely revolutionize or even replace standard email. It rolled live on September 30 of last year and I was lucky enough to stumble upon an invite, so I’ll share my findings with you here.

    Google Wave combines email, instant messaging, and social networking into one, easy to use interface. You can create waves with one person or your entire contact list, so conference chats and meetings with business partners or employees becomes incredibly easy. All waves can be viewed in real time and you can respond to previous entries much like a forum. This can be both a good and bad thing. I’m sure I’m not the only person who types out a response and then goes back to edit or erase it altogether before hitting “Send.” I’m not sure I want other people to view what I write in real-time. Also, the forum-like interface can lead to cluttered and convoluted waves. Some of this can be avoided with the playback button, which replays the entire history of the wave. A collapse function could also improve this shortcoming.

    Another cool feature is that anyone can edit previous entries to correct false information. This is another one of those bittersweet functions that can be considered both a pro and a con. You can also invite other people at anytime during the wave.  Don’t want them seeing the previous conversation? No problem. Anybody invited can be set to only view limited info.

    One major pro is that it makes attachments a thing of the past.  Anything you want shared can just be dragged and dropped into the conversation and it shows up in the wave for everyone to view or download.  Also, any wave can be instantly embedded onto your blog or website. These are two functions that email doesn’t have and can only be viewed as pros in my mind.

    In terms of what it can offer SEO, it’s lacking… for now. One of the best things about Wave is that it’s open source.  This leaves the door open for nearly limitless SEO possibilities.

    In summary, Google Wave is a pretty great idea. However, sometimes it seems like reinventing the wheel. Most of the features it offers can be found with email, chat, or even Google Docs. The draw is that it combines these three into one fairly easy to use interface. It can seem unnecessarily complicated at times, but you quickly get used to it. I think the largest downfall is that not enough people use it yet, but even email and instant messaging were once seen as novelties. I think with enough time and improvements, Google Wave is the only contender that could possibly replace them in the future.

    Special thanks to Lovati and Juergenfenn for the great images!

  • Looks like Google CAN admit they are wrong!

    So today while working with a particularly problematic listing within a particularly jacked up (for lack of a better word) market and cluster of listings, I noticed a new option Google is showing in the “Report a Problem” section.

    Google Listing Crossover: A new way to report it!

    We worked for months to straighten out a client’s listing and were finally feeling a bit of relief when everything seemed to be working… the address was showing up correctly, as was the URL, pictures, and details. Thank goodness, we thought!

    That is, until this morning, when I logged into Google Places to test out the tags that are now available in 29 states. This client has some great videos and we hoped to highlight them to searchers in the 3- and 7-packs that are showing up for various terms in the market. But when I clicked on the listing, alas, it was once again pulling in details from a competitor – just a different one this time. As Places gains popularity, this issue of listing crossover appears to be a growing problem – and clearly, Google recognizes that, and even admits it by giving us the option to report that “some photos, reviews, or details belong to a different place.”

    Thank you, Google, for giving us the option to report this… now, let’s see how long it takes for the reported issues to be fixed!

  • You Know What Grinds My Google Gears?

    “Google Gears – Improving Your Web Browser”

    Google Gears Does Work with Chrome? You don't say!
    Google Gears Does Work with Chrome? You don't say!

    That is Google’s tagline for their open source project that stores data locally for web applications and runs Javascripts in the background. But as anyone who has used Gears will tell you, it’s buggy, especially when being used with Google applications.

    For instance, Google Chrome comes pre-installed with Google Gears, however out of all the browsers that currently support Gears, it crashes the most. I’ve used Firefox and Internet Explorer with Gears and even though I still experience time-outs when downloading web app data and frequent Javascript slow downs, with Chrome I just get the “Aw, Snap! Something went wrong…” message practically every time I do anything Gears related.

    "Aw, Snap!"
    "Aw, Snap!"

    I find Google Gears especially painful to use with Google Adwords’ local storage feature.

    I understand why Google decided to integrate Gears with the Adwords dashboard- instead of loading data from Google’s servers several times a day and eating up their bandwidth, it allows faster use of Adwords and saves Google’s a couple of nickels (which will most likely go into yet another failed Google Labs project). The problem is Gears crashes 9 out of the 10 times I’ve tried to use it.

    I thought Google Gears would be improving my web applications, but unfortunately that has never been the case. It stalls, it freezes, and it crashes Google Chrome every chance it gets (In fact as I was in the middle of typing this very paragraph Google Gears crashed Google Chrome. Ironic?).

    I may come off as a hater, but that simply isn’t the case. I love Google. My first job out of college was as a creative writer for the first Google Adwords reseller and since that day I have faithfully (blindly?) downloaded, purchased, and used every Google product that was applicable to my life. However, as technology grows and other companies are finding ways to make their technologies more user-friendly (I’m looking at you Apple and Microsoft), Google seems to be just developing technology and hoping they work with existing Google apps. It confuses me that they waste resources on failed social media tech, like Google Wave and Google Buzz, while ignoring glaring problems with their flagships.

    I know for a business to grow it needs to make changes and take risks but if those changes are negativity effecting your loyal users, aren’t you just hurting your bottom line? #kanyeshrug

    Thanks to Sam Harrelson for the first image.

  • Top 10 for the Weekend – June 18, 2010

    And we’re back with a new edition of the “Top 10 for the Weekend,” a selection of relevant and useful links from around the web, typically with a local search and internet marketing focus.

    Top 10 for the Weekend - June 18, 2010

    Google Tags rolling out nationwide

    Google’s newest feature for local business, Tags will begin rolling live across the country. For $25/month, a yellow tag will mark your local business for anything ranging from videos and photos to personal messages for your potential clients. It won’t affect your business ranking in maps, but it will make it stand out amongst the rest. We’re going to be doing some testing with this feature, so keep checking in for updates.

    Only 10% Of Businesses Would Pay For foursquare: Survey

    A recent study organized by Search Influence found that only around 10% of non-chain businesses would be willing to pay for foursquare as a marketing tool. Some of the reasons range from not knowing whether or not it is driving traffic to their business to just not fully trusting the newborn social media as a marketing tool. Regardless of the reasons I’m sure foursquare is alarmed by this figure.

    2010 Local Search Ranking Factors

    For the third year in a row, Search Influence was asked to place in David Mihm’s study on Local Search Ranking Factors, chosen from only 34 other businesses in the same field. The consensus: it’s anxiety inducing for everyone!

    Google Exposes Your Competition

    It looks like Google has begun exposing your competition on your very own Places page! How sneaky. Our friends over at Blumenthals.com attribute this to Google wanting to make their Places page a starting point for your search as opposed to an ending.

    Why Local SEO is Harder Than SEOs Think

    Anyone who tells you that local SEO is easy is being disingenuous.  This blog gives a nice, detailed reason as to why that is. That’s not to say it is never easy. It’s just that what works for one business in a specific location may not work for the other. It’s a trial and error game akin to chutes and ladders.

    Yelp Reviews Back in Google Maps as their .COM Growth Stops

    Not since Ross and Rachael has there been an on again off again relationship as engrossing as Yelp and Google’s. Well, it looks like they’re back on for the time being! The sharp decline in Yelp’s customers seems to be the driving motivation here. Let’s see if it’ll last this time!

    Four reasons why Lady Gaga has fans and you don’t

    This blog finally makes me realize why- against my best efforts and judgments- I can’t help but like Lady Gaga! It’s because she’s not just a pop star, but an SEO star as well! It all makes so much sense now…

    9 Expert SEO Tips for Small Businesses

    Most companies don’t like to divulge their secrets to success. We here at Search Influence aren’t most companies, though. That’s why we’re sharing this blog by Anita Campbell with you. We agree when she says, “…the more you know about a subject, the better you are able to ask informed questions, hire qualified professionals, and make good decisions to enhance your Web presence.”

    Social Media Mythbusting For The C-Suite

    For the life of me, I will never understand why some people are averse to taking the plunge into social media. This blog will equip you with the armor necessary to combat anybody- including your boss- who isn’t on board this train.

    WebVisible Documents ‘The Great Divide’

    This short documentary discusses the gap between business owners and customers and how they find each other.  It offers a unique insight straight from the mouths of your potential customers and why sometimes you fail to connect with them.

  • The Best Things our Fathers Taught us…

    Fathers have a way of attempting to instill wisdom upon their children, even when it’s not asked for! While their nuggets of advice may not all be as quotable as Confucius, every once in a while, something sticks… something that we carry with us our entire lives…something that we will no doubt drill into our kids… even when they don’t ask for it.

    So in the spirit of Father’s Day, we decided to celebrate our fathers by sharing their best teachings with you!

    Surfing or otherwise, fathers teach their kids great stuff!

    “Well my father has taught me a lot of things, but I think one of the most important things he has taught me since I was very young is to respect nature and take care of the environment and the wildlife that depends on it.”

    –       Melanie Aleman, Junior Account Associate

    “My dad was a man of few words, wise decisions, and leading by example.  Trying to model that is a challenge everyday!”

    –       Amy Arnold, Account Director

    “Choose your battles wisely”

    –       Allison Cates, Account Manager

    “I come from a teenage parent family – my mom and dad were married and had me when they were barely legal. And while my grandmother loves to explain to my parents how I raised them, my dad did teach me a lot growing up, the most vital being the importance of learning. Even though he never got the chance to attending college because his life-path involved a short-lived term with the US Marine Corp, 18+ years of employment at Ford Motors and numerous side jobs, he always found the time to learn something new. When I was growing up, my dad would take night classes, watch historical documentaries, and read the dullest technical training books whenever he had the time. My father might not be a jack-of-all-trades but he’s certainly always willing to give it a try. Despite all of the adversity, my father is without a doubt the source of my mantra ‘What do I know?’ and is a continued source of inspiration for me to never stop learning. Thanks Dad.”

    –       Anthony Coleman, Paid Search Manager & Budding Know-It-All

    “Don’t take any wooden nickels” –Nick Fidanza, Operations Director

    “One of the best attributes my father passed along to me is his attention to detail. Our perfectionism can be an annoyance to some, but guarantees the best job possible will be done for any task!”

    –       Rodney Hess, Junior Account Associate

    “My dad has taught me many many valuable things in life so far – but I guess the most unique thing that he has passed on to me is his excitement for Disney World!  This year will be my daughters’ 1st trip to Disney World and I had a hand in planning the whole thing with my dad… You see, there’s a strategy to planning a Disney vaca.  Choosing a resort and what section in the resort to stay in; what parks to go to on which days; where to make advanced dining reservations; what attractions to visit first; and so on…  I have enjoyed helping my dad plan this coming vacation and I hope to pass along this tradition to my children :)”

    –       Amanda Barth Graves, Major Accounts Coordinator

    “To get a job that involves the internet… and how to conserve gas by slowing down when approaching red lights”

    –       Paula Keller, Account Associate

    “Serious answer:  to take pride in everything you do no matter how trivial the task may seem because it is a reflection of your character. Funny answer: how to turn a simple household repair situation into a weekend long project.”

    –       Jeff Kinkopf, Internet Marketing Intern / Interim Content Manager

    “The best thing my father ever taught me was how to save and manage money. With that knowledge I’ve been able to stay debt free my whole life. ‘You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy freedom.’”

    –       Luke Ledet, Super Star

    “I dont know if this is the best thing my dad taught/told me, but he always reminded me that, ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ and that he’s ‘not an infinite supply,’ haha. I think we both obsess over saving money, and getting the most from our dollar dollar bills.”

    –       Briana Prevost, Associate Content Editor

    “The best thing my father taught me was to live life to its fullest. Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself.”

    –       Evan Soso, Internet Marketing Intern

    “To keep every door open. It’s drafty, but it makes sure you can get everywhere you want.”

    –       Doug Thomas, Internet Marketing Associate

    “He taught me how to be responsible and manage my money.  Luckily he had the patience to explain how it all works.”

    –       Janna Vastola, Account Manager

    Not so crummy neckties!

    This Father’s Day, try thanking him for all the knowledge he bestowed upon you. It’ll let him know you’ve been listening and is a much better gift than that crummy neck tie you bought him…

    Special thanks to mikebaird and stevendepolo for the great images!

  • 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors

    Putting Together the Pieces of the Local Search Puzzle

    Search Influence is honored to have once again been invited by David Mihm to take part in his annual study on Local Search Ranking Factors. The best part of this collaboration is that the questions have remained fairly constant from year to year in order to study the change from year to year that SEOs have observed in Google’s local algorithm.

    2010 Local Search Factors Released

    The 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors results, which were published early this week, feature input “from 34 prominent bloggers and practitioners.” While my personal local search experience began just a short 6 months ago, it’s been a whirlwind of claiming, verifying, re-verifying, suspending, categorizing, picture-adding, and detail-tweeking. Working with local listings has been an interesting and patience-testing experience, and reading the comments of fellow SEOs has certainly helped calm my anxiety. Luckily, everyone seems to have problems! I also believe it was beneficial after that period of time to sit down and analyze which aspects of our optimization efforts had been working and which may have turned into a waste of time.

    The 2010 Top 5 Local Search Ranking Factors:

    1. General Importance of Claiming Place Page / Local Listing
    2. Business Address in City of Search
    3. Associating Place Page with Proper Categories
    4. Volume of Citations from Major Data Providers + IYP Portals
    5. General Importance of Off-Page / Off-Listing Criteria

    My biggest take-away from the report confirms a thought I’ve had for a few months now: there is no end-all be-all trick to increasing rankings. The top two ranking factors: claiming your listing and having a business address in the city in which you desire to rank, each has its respective caveats. While claiming your listing is of high importance (4.40 according to the study), I’ve often seen un-claimed listings trump claimed ones.

    Putting Together the Pieces of the Local Search Puzzle

    In regards to the number two ranking factor, if you’ve been in a business location for 20, or even 2 years, outside the city limits and don’t have a business address in the city for which you desire to rank, you obviously wouldn’t change that just for your listing… or maybe you would?

    That said, I wouldn’t assume one distinct factor would influence rankings, because that’s just not how these search algorithms work, but I felt it was worth it to point out for those of you who don’t deal with search rankings on a daily basis. So, when you are working on your listing, follow the rules, all of them, and work with as many elements available. Just remember – when testing out a new feature – keep an eye on your listing, or better yet, check out the blog of anyone who participated in this study and you’ll find some tips on whether or not the feature is ready for mainstream use.

    Thanks to myklroventine for the puzzle photo!

  • Foursquare Mayor Competition: Leveling the Playing Field

    Last night I was ousted as Foursquare mayor of my new favorite watering hole by the owner.  Is this fair?

    Foursquare Mayor Competition: Leveling the Playing Field

    I think not. The red flag that popped in my head when I got the news via e-mail was not that my pride was hurt by losing my title, but that this is likely an issue across the board for Foursquare advertisers.

    If you aren’t familiar with the concept of Foursquare or would like more information about how to conduct local business marketing on Foursquare, check out our previous blog post on the subject. The basic gist of mayorship is that a Foursquare user becomes mayor of an establishment by “checking in” more than anyone else in the previous 60 days.

    Naturally, an owner or manager of a business is going to be at his place of business more than most customers (clearly there are exceptions to this), so, considering the fact that Foursquare is a “game,” would it be considered cheating for the owner to check in? Probably not, but it may be a good business and marketing decision to sit back and just be an observer when it comes to Foursquare competition on your home turf, especially if you are actively using it as a marketing tool.

    This also brings up the question of whether or not your employees should check in when they come to work. Say an employee is the mayor and has 50 check-ins in the last 60 days, I’m not going to be motivated to compete for mayorship.

    One Starbucks patron, as eater.com reported, was so appalled that a barista became mayor of one of the coffee giant’s locations that she filed a complaint with the company.

    If you want to have a competition between employees of who works more, than that’s one thing. If you want to encourage customers to compete with each other for mayorship, and hence, come back again and again to defend their position, then it’s time for employees to just say no to Foursquare at work.

    In addition to mayorial competitions encouraging top competitors to return to your business, an added bonus is that each time a user overtakes another as the mayor of your business, it is posted to each of the individual’s Facebook wall. Voilà! Free marketing.

    While Starbucks basically told the disgruntled customer that there was nothing they could do, as marketing-oriented person, I would suggest highly encouraging your employees to keep it fair for the customers, because really, for most, there’s no bragging rights in being the mayor of your place of employment anyway. It’s likely that the check-ins of your employees would make it practically impossible for any customer, even a regular, to stand a chance to become mayor, and squashes that marketing and competition aspect of Foursquare for your business.