Newsletter #51

Zero to Hero: An 8-Month Case Study On How-to Rank Hyper-Locally

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderJuly 2019

From Zero to Local Ranking Hero – MozCon 2019How do you take a business from zero web presence to ranking hyper-locally? In this case study, Darren shares the 8-month-long journey of a business growing its digital footprint, and shares what tactics worked (and didn't) along the way.

Questions asked along the way: How long does it take to rank in local? How should you set up local rank tracking? What impact do reviews have on rankings? Does setting service areas in GMB help you rank in those areas? How valuable are links for local rankings? How well can a business rank from a GMB listing alone? How much better is a full website for ranking vs a GMB one-pager?Buckle up for this wild ride and discover what impact different strategies have on local rankings.

Cheers,Team Whitespark

From The Blog

My Google Listing Got Suspended… Now What?

At the end of June 2019, Google seemed to turn up the dial on whatever spam filters they do have (this is a big gripe in the local SEO community) and there was an explosion of tweets and forum posts about Google My Business listing suspensions. Soon after, Google added a banner to the top of their GMB help center stating that they were “receiving a high volume of questions about suspended listings.”

The banner also broke the bad news: it may take at least 2-3 weeks to process an appeal.Now, more than four weeks later, many businesses don’t know the status of their reinstatement request or what might have gotten their listing suspended in the first place.

Around The Web

When Bad User-Generated Content Happens to Good Businesses

You can't control what customers are going to say in their reviews, the photos they upload, or the incorrect information they share in Q&A forums, but you can be proactivemonitor your listing, and have a system in place for handling questionable user-generated content (UGC). Adam Dorfman shares examples and recommendations for managing UGC online.

Q&A Auto-Suggest Featuring GMB Reviews, Q&A, Posts and Products Beta

Did you know that Google's Q&A auto-suggest functionality is pulling in all relevant content available in a GMB listing? This includes relevant Posts, other Q&A's, reviews, and Products (Beta). If you are not taking advantage of all these features, you're missing out on opportunities to control the message. Check out Claire Carlile and Carrie Hill's awesome examples and more details on this feature.