Newsletter #20

Whitespark Local Insider

October 17, 2016

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderOctober 2016

Have you heard? We have a new, super rad (and free) tool to help encourage Google reviews!With just a click of a link, you can send your clients directly to the Rate & Review section of your Google My Business listing. Skip the four step guided process on how to leave a review, and just send the reviewer directly to where they need to go using our Google Review Link Generator.Get excited because: The link works on both desktop & mobile.  You can track your analytics data using goo.gl.Simple, easy, and free. We can't wait to hear about all the new reviews you've received. Cheers,Team Whitespark

From the Blog

 How to Take More Market Share in Local Search Every WeekLocal SEO is no longer just about your rankings. If you look at a search engine results page (SERP), the No. 1 organic result is now really the No. 8 clickable result on the page. The No. 1 organic spot is now beneath four search ads, three map results, and often Yelp, which is at the top.

In today’s market place, it is critical that you take an all encompassing approach to positioning yourself throughout your target customer’s journey as a buyer.Garrett Mehrguth takes a look at how you can leverage Google Adwords, Map Results, Paid Listings (Yelp, directory sites, etc.), and organic results to drive leads for your business.Following these approaches consistently on a week-to-week basis will help you win at local search.

 AROUND(#): The Newest, Old Google Search OperatorA nifty blog post about advanced link building from Viper Chill was making the rounds the other day, and it contained a bit of a revelation for me. Not only that, it also appears to have been news to a few others:So what’s this handy little search operator that has Rand and Darren (and me) wondering why they’d never heard of it before?

Around The Web

"Columnist Adam Dorfman explains how Google's recent local search algorithm update, "Possum," has impacted brick-and-mortar businesses." 

Enterprise businesses can grow their local marketing without ads. How? By changing how they think about 'organic' marketing on a local level. 

"Consumers are searching, doing and buying on their mobile devices, yet the challenge to reach them seems greater than ever. Columnist Wesley Young of the Local Search Association takes a look at 9 stats that suggest ways to improve your capture rate." 

"Shocking news, at least to me, came out yesterday at Pubcon from Gary Illyes talk. The other day, Gary said Google's Penguin algorithm is prepared for manipulation but in his presentation, he took it one step further." 

After almost two years the latest Penguin update has rolled out and there have been many reports of recoveries from previous Penguin demotions, but what about those who were left behind? What if you didn't recover? 

"It’s easy to overlook your organic click-through rates on Google. After all, you’ve probably been lulled into believing, over most of your marketing life, that they’re not as important as other SEO metrics, such as inbound links. However, there are a lot of really great reasons you should work on improving your organic CTRs, not the least of which is its impact on your rankings." 

"Gary Illyes at Pubcon announced that Google is switching to a mobile first index. This means that Google will be indexing the mobile versions of pages and not the desktop as its primary index." 

The team at Nifty has updated their awesome resource for how to create the ultimate local landing page. They've gathered data from top ranking websites in 5 different industries in the 50 largest cities across the United States.

Upcoming Conferences

LOCALU ADVANCEDOctober 21, 2016New Orleans, LA

STREET FIGHT SUMMITOctober 25, 2016New York, NY

INBOUNDNovember 8 - 11, 2016Boston, MA

STATE OF SEARCHNovember 14 - 15, 2016Dallas, TX

Have a question? Feel like telling us a joke?