Last night I met with a client for a strategy session. I reminded him of all the activities he had going on that he would like my help with marketing. He took a few important moments to reflect and realize the things that were draining and really not valuable.
We business owners (entrepreneurs) have an interesting challenge. We’re faced with new opportunities daily. Learning to say no to more things though frees us up for the real value-added activities in our lives.
Stay focused on the clients and projects you really enjoy. Doing the rest is a waste of your time.
As Derek Sivers says; “If it’s not a HELL YEAH! It’s a no.”
Now on to This Week in Local SEO:
No Map-shattering news to share this week, but as always, there’s still news, and more importantly, ACTION TIPS FOR YOU.
Google Maps – Ground Truth
Dan Austin, who is known in the local search community as the source for all things technical with Google Maps, wrote a lengthy report about Google’s future goals with Google Maps. Synopsis is; they have lots of impressive tools used by technicians globally and they want to map the 3D world. That initiative is called Ground Truth.
Action: Back on Nov 14th I used an action tip of report spam on MapMaker. Well it’s back for this month.
Search your primary line of business. Do you see map results of a business that you know isn’t there? Perhaps they closed or moved or have other false information?
If so:
- go to Google MapMaker
- log in with your Google account
- search for that business
- Click “Edit” under the business name
- Click “Delete this”
Someone in the community, or a contractor of Google, will review it and either approve or deny. It’s important to watch your email for this and follow up. After all, you want your business name to appear higher in search results right?
If you’re not sure what to report, all the businesses with a letter marker should adhere to the Google My Business guidelines updated last week.
Are these all legitimate store-front general contractors in Oldsmar that have someone available during normal business hours?
Google’s Penguin updates are now continuous
Barry Schwartz wrote this week at Search Engine Land about the news that Google is going to take their Penguin algorithm update to a more of a rolling update. Traditionally it’s been every 6 months or so and it attacked spammy backlinks that Black Hat SEO practitioners used to rank websites higher than they would’ve gained based on the quality of their content.
Action: Your action to this? Search your website on Moz’s free Open Site Explorer and look at the websites that are linking back to your home page. Are they legit? If not, you can use Google’s disavow tool in Webmaster Tools.
Moz Open Site Explorer
LocalUp Advanced 2015 Agenda
LocalUp is a local SEO conference organized by Moz and Local U (university). The next one is Saturday, February 7th, and I’ll be in attendance.
Here’s the agenda of speakers and workshops.
Action: Take a look at the agenda. Have a question about a topic or for a speaker? Let me know and I’ll get it answered.
That’s it for this week. As always, shoot me an email and tell me what you need help with.
Local Search Meetup
If you’re a fan of all things local as well, I invite you to join me to chat in person. Last meeting was a breakfast. Next is your choice. Join and make a suggestion.
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