| | | Game-Changing Local Search
Results Discovered on Google
Chris Boudreaux and Adam Edwards over at Blog.Converseon.com stumbled across Google search results for a highly local term that spells trouble for anyone who has not spent time focusing on Local SEO.
 What do I mean? After all, what could Google possibly do to make local such a big deal? How about removing ALL organic search results in favor of local results! In this case the local search utilized was highly localized which is the only way this sort of result should ever be triggered. The search was for "car rental nyc" and the results were jaw-dropping... nothing but local listings were in the results where the organic rankings used to be. Here is a link to the full-size screenshot that Chris and Adam used to document this event (I copied it to my server in case theirs got overburdened).
>> What does this mean for you?
First of all it is important to understand that this local search layout is by all accounts a limited test; especially since no one has been able to repeat it. That said, our industry stumbles on sneak peeks like this occasionally and they usually provide helpful insight into upcoming changes to Google's results. So, if you are a business owner and you rely on local customers coming through your door then it is critical for you to spend some time honing your site for top local search rankings.
You might say "it's okay, we already have great SEO on our site!" That is good news for organic rankings but unfortunately, local SEO results are governed by a different set of factors and a different algorithm. In fact, you don't even need a website to get ranked in local search results! If you go to Google Places you will get a decent introduction to the local listings and it will show you how to claim your business profile if you haven't done so already. Just remember to read this before you start customizing your Google Places profile so you make the most of your hard work.
I will have a lot more information for you on local SEO very soon. Stay tuned!
PS. If you want to get ahead of the rush and boost your Google local rankings please drop us a note (via quote request or our contact form) because we have the local SEO expertise to help you do just that.
Sincerely, Ross Dunn
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| Using a 302 Redirect in Place
of a 404 Error is a Bad Idea
If your site is currently treating unavailable pages (404 errors) like temporary redirects (302 redirects) you may not have any problems with the search engines but your site is losing out on some important advantages of a proper 404 error.  The Way a 404
Normally Works
This is how a 404 normally works on a website when a search engine, let's use Google, visits a URL (i.e address) on your website that cannot be found that was previously spidered/indexed as functional: - The visit produces a 404 error from the server.
A 404 error is provided by your server when an Internet client (i.e. a browser, search engine, etc.) reaches a URL on your site that can not be produced by your server because it is no longer there or it is incorrect. - The first time Google encounters this 404 error, it does not remove your URL but it takes note the page is not available and the broken link/missing address will be mentioned in your Google Webmaster Tools dashboard for you to fix ASAP.
- The second time Google encounters the 404 error it is a good bet the page will be removed from its index and the error will remain in your Webmaster Tools dashboard for fixing. Google will continue to find the broken link until it is fixed, at which point any associated rankings you had for this page can work their way back up to where they were.
Using a 302 Redirect Response
Instead of a 404 Error Response
Here is the situation: when a search engine visits a URL that no longer exists, your server delivers a 302 redirect response instead of the proper 404 response.
>> Continue reading and discover the best solution for 404 errors on your website.
by Ross Dunn
|
| Google Places Allows
Businesses to Respond to Reviews
 Today Google announced it is finally embracing the two way conversation for business place reviews on its Google Places platform. As a result, business owners can reply to both negative and positive reviews for their businesses which were left on their Google Places profile.
This is Very Good News
Having dealt with some reputation management issues in the past for clients it used to drive me to distraction that the client could not respond to negative reviews on many of the review websites online. As a result, unfortunate situations where a miscommunication or simple mistake had occurred would quickly bloom out of control because the business owner had less options to respond as publicly as their unhappy patron. Fortunately, over the years IYP platforms that allow reviews such as Yelp and TripAdvisor finally opened the doors to allow business owners to give their side of the story and today Google took the same leap.
Continue reading and learn why this should be important to you.
by Ross Dunn, CEO/Founder
Originally written on August 5th, 2010 |
| Tune In To Our Next Internet Radio Show
Every Monday at 2pm PST / 5pm EST I co-host an Internet radio show called SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM. The show is 30 minutes long and features tips, tricks, and SEO-related news discussions. I urge you to tune-in to learn more about SEO and we also welcome any questions you may have prompted by your current search engine optimization challenges. In the meantime, feel free to visit our download page on iTunes or directly from WebmasterRadio.FM to listen to past shows or download the podcast for later consumption.You can can also follow us on Facebook here. - Ross Dunn |
| We are BACK! If you will have us...
I am embarrassed to say that it has been almost 1 year to the day since our last newsletter! I know, that is just plain silly. Well, the good news is, if you are willing to read us again, we are planning on putting this newsletter out at least monthly from now on.
The newsletter will be formatted with articles from our blog, so if you are a regular reader of our blog you might find this a bit repetitive. Since, however, our research has indicated most readers of our newsletter are not readers of our blog... this seems like a good fit AND it saves us the time of always writing unique content for the newsletter.
A lot has changed over the past year and all for the good. I plan on sharing a lot of great information with you over the foreeable future so I hope you stick with us and stay subscribed. Of course, you can always unsubscribe easily using the link at the bottom of this email - we have no desire to be an annoyance - just a positive influence.
Until next time!
Sincerely,
Ross Dunn
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