Newsletter #54

GMB Spam Fighting 101 – Get The Basics Down, Then Take Out The Trash

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderOctober 2019

GMB Spam Fighting 101 – Get The Basics Down, Then Take Out The TrashSpam has been rampant in the local search landscape for a long time. Unfortunately there are still limited measures in place to keep business owners and marketing companies honest. Many businesses continuously employ spammy tactics like keyword stuffing, creating multiple Google My Business listings for one location, using fake addresses, and writing fake reviews to manipulate rankings and get ahead.If you’re not already incorporating basic spam fighting into your monthly local search efforts or you’re not certain where to start, we’ve laid out some simple tasks that can go a long way for your business (or clients) and help create new ranking opportunities.

In this post we share with you:

The many ways to spam a GMB listing,
How to use the suggest an edit feature to report spam,
When you should use Google's Redressal Form,
Examples of spam fighting in action.

Cheers,Team Whitespark

Around The Web

Will Images Drive a New Local Search Paradigm?

Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm discuss the search by photos feature Google recently started testing for local discovery. Google's ability to parse imagery to both enhance and drive search results is definitely a call to action for businesses to start investing in proprietary photography, and a way to increase user engagement.Want to know know more about the search by photos feature? Read this Search Engine Land article to get up to speed.

Optimizing Images for Local Search

Also on the topic of images and their importance in local search, Andy Simpson shared an insightful video that explores using Google Cloud Vision to optimize your images for the web.

60+ Need-to-Know Local Marketing Insights from LocalU Advanced Denver

Krystal Taing of Rio SEO shares all of her favorite tips, tactics, and thoughts from the most recent LocalU Advanced event. Topic highlights include advice for service area businesses, reviews and the local algorithm, local ad targeting, and more.

Q&A with Gary IIlyes – Pubcon Vegas 2019

Pubcon Vegas took place in early October, and while we weren't able to attend, we are really digging this question and answer session that Jennifer Slegg challenged Gary Illyes with, and Marie Haynes compiled. It covers disavowing links, ranking factors, domain age, Nofollowed link changes and more.

Google Questions & Answers Gone Missing?

Did you notice that some of your Google Q&A's have gone missing? Or perhaps just your answers? While this is believed to be a bug on Google's part, that we are anxiously waiting for them to fix, it was first reported on October 14 and we are still seeing Q&A's dropping off. This is something to monitor at this point, and just know that you're not alone in your missing Q&A's.