Newsletter #48

Give your local SEO efforts a boost with Whitespark's help 🚀

April 25, 2019

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderApril 2019

 Give Your Local SEO Efforts A Boost With Whitespark's HelpThis month we launched our new Local Search Service, designed for businesses and agencies short on time to manage the ins and outs of local SEO. For $399/month* a dedicated local search expert: Manages your Google My Business listing and all of the available features, Gives you the tools and support you need to get more online reviews, Helps build a stronger foundation with a full citation audit and cleanup on the most important sites in the local search ecosystem, Manually builds new listings to grow your citations, Provides website improvement recommendations and guidance so you can stand out from the competition.For agencies looking to outsource, the Local Search Service can be 100% white-labelled.*prices in USD. 

Around The Web

How much power do Local Guides have over Google listings? Are malicious edits made by other users as easy as some make it seem? What kind of permanent impact do suspensions have on listings? Joy Hawkins address these questions and more in this article. 

GMB is adding the option for businesses to create custom short URLs (like "g.page/[CustomName]") that can be shared to provide easy access to Business Profiles. Mike Blumenthal discusses this new feature and shares a preview of what to expect. 

If you weren't able to attend Brighton SEO on April 12th, check out Andrew Cock-Starkey's notes and key takeaways from some of the presentations. The topics range from local SEO to customer success to measurement, and more.

"What makes local SEO for restaurants different? Miriam Ellis breaks down lessons learned from analyzing 11 data points across 150 real local restaurants." 

Dom Amato of WCAX covers the story of a Vermont business owner who believes his company's positive reviews were hidden after he refused to engage in their alleged pay-to-play scheme. Yelp is increasingly adding more paid features, and both businesses and consumers are left frustrated. Great video clip and transcript for this story. Hat tip to David Mihm for sharing this on Twitter.  

Is your GMB listing showing a new category for POI Establishment? Well, you're not the only one seeing it listed in their additional categories section (our Whitespark listing has it), no need to panic, Joy Hawkins contacted Google and on April 24 "they confirmed that POI Establishment is not actually a valid category which is why you can't select it. In the meantime, feel free to select a different category (valid one) from the drop down or simply delete this one."   

"In the majority of major markets in the U.S., Google isn’t using its traditional search index or its mobile index to serve local service provider results (e.g., like locksmiths or plumbers) through the Google Assistant or Google Home devices. Instead, it’s using a subset of listings that are Google Guaranteed or pre-screened and certified by partners Porch or HomeAdvisor." Greg Sterling shares what you need to know

Upcoming Conferences 

June 3-5, 2019

Seattle, WA

June 10-11, 2019

Boston, MA

June 10-12, 2019

San Diego, CA

July 15-17, 2019

Seattle, WA