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The Importance Of Local SEO

Jun 12, 2019

The Importance Of Local SEO

Above all else, you want to drive traffic. Whether it's to your website, social media, CTA's or anything else - that's the ultimate goal. If you drive traffic, you have a chance to convert, which leads to income. Local SEO is the most important part of your strategy to drive traffic, it's kind of all encompassing. Your website plays a major role. Social media plays a major role. Reviews play a major role. Backlinks. Copy. All of it. But it all ties into your Local SEO strateg

Google Traffic Update: Alpha Dog Clients

Mar 14, 2019

Google Traffic Update: Alpha Dog Clients

Google traffic is the best traffic. Users are already looking for a service like the one you offer. The goal is to be a Research Ender. Once they land on your listing, channel or website - their research is over and they are ready to move forward. If you are looking for an advertising agency or marketing firm in the South Bend, Mishawaka or surrounding areas, be sure that they have a firm plan in place for your Google presence, like we at the Alpha Dog Agency do. We run GMB (

A Few Takeaways From The Local Search Survey

Dec 6, 2018

A Few Takeaways From The Local Search Survey

Each year, there are going to be in new trends in local search relating to how your customers (or potential customers) are finding you. And each year, Moz does a great job at breaking down those trends and presenting them in a manner that's easy to digest. This year, Darren Shaw handled their 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey and there are some golden nuggets in there. We're going to highlight a few of the factors that really stood out to us. But it wouldn't hurt to re

Using Google Posts To Drive Traffic

Sep 12, 2018

Using Google Posts To Drive Traffic

We've mentioned Google Posts a few times in past blogs but haven't really dove into them in detail. Google Posts is a feature that Google added to the GMB platform a little over a year ago. Basically, it's an opportunity to attach a quick post to your Google listing for when it populates in search results. You are able to access Posts directly from the Google My Business (GMB) dashboard. Below is what you'll see when you are working on your post. You can post anything from ne

Reminder: Google Will Never Call You

Aug 21, 2018

Reminder: Google Will Never Call You

Well, almost never. They certainly won't call you to threaten you about removing your Google listing. Which are the exact calls that business owners everywhere are getting bombarded with. If you are running an AdWords Campaign, they may call you to help optimize that campaign. And if they are legit, they will be able to email you from an @google.com email address. If they balk at that, hang up. And an even better rule, just hang up anyway. It's a scammer virtually every singl

Here Are The Latest Consumer Review Numbers

Aug 1, 2018

Here Are The Latest Consumer Review Numbers

Every year, BrightLocal puts together their Local Consumer Review Survey. The most recent survey came out a bit ago but we have never touched on it here. That's what we are going to do today. We'll highlight a few of the most notable figures and add some commentary on what it means for you. You can read their entire survey conducted by BrightLocal at this link. 97% Of Consumers Looked Online For Local Business, 12% Looked Every Day Obviously, a massive number. The more intere

Google My Business Q&A 101

Jun 5, 2018

Google My Business Q&A 101

You may not have noticed but GMB Q&A has been gaining popularity since being released. Sherry Bonelli goes into detail over at MarketingLand but I'll recap what local business owners should know and begin to act on immediately. Google My Business Q&A is a crowd sourced feature that allows your customers (or potential customers) to post questions directly to your GMB listing. The business can then answer the question directly from the panel. But don't be surprised if a Local G

How To Rank On The Google Local 3-Pack

Jan 17, 2018

How To Rank On The Google Local 3-Pack

Everyone wants to be there but no one really knows how to do it. That's even true for SEOs. As Tim Capper points out over at Online Ownership, Google is pretty tight-lipped about what does and does not factor into ranking locally. But we do know a few things. Lets recap them quickly. 1. Relevance - This seems like a no-brainer, right? How relevant are you to what users are searching for? You should probably do some keyword research in your area to see where the search volume

Avoid These Local SEO Practices

Dec 11, 2017

Avoid These Local SEO Practices

Miriam Ellis posted a fantastic blog over at Moz. You can read the entire blog here but I'll highlight a few of the main takeaways and give quick notes as they relate to our South Bend area. Just as there are practices that are really important to carry out when it comes to your SEO strategy, it's just as important to avoid carrying out the ill-advised practices. Here are a few thoughts on what Miriam touched on. 1. Creating GMB Listings At Ineligible Addresses GMB listings a

The Best Ways To Get Backlinks To Your Website

Nov 14, 2017

The Best Ways To Get Backlinks To Your Website

Earning backlinks to your website is arguably the most important factor of local SEO. So, how do you go about getting them? Here are some simple options. What are backlinks? Backlinks are whenever another website, blog, whatever - posts a link back to your website. The more traffic the posting site gets, the better. You want your backlinks to come from sites that are as authoritative as possible. The easy backlinks can get you started. These are listing websites like Manta, G

Keep A Close Eye On Your GMB Listing

Oct 12, 2017

Keep A Close Eye On Your GMB Listing

Customers and yes, competitors, can edit your Google listing. If you run your own GMB listing, you've obviously noticed some changes over the past few months. In addition to the Messaging and Posts features (we'll cover those in a future blog), you're probably being blasted with update requests from Google. These are important! Potential customers and clients will see this information when they are in the research phase on Google and may make a decision to visit you based on

Debunking A Common SEO Myth

Jul 11, 2017

Debunking A Common SEO Myth

We hear it more often than we should. We'll do SEO when we need it. When we need it can refer to when things slow down, when they really need people through their door or when they have the time (or budget) to get to it. But it just doesn't work that way. We've told you before that Google says you need to give SEOs 4-12 months to get somewhere. Locally, you can slant that a bit toward the low end. But we still see a lot of places that don't want to believe it. If you want unt

Don't Let 'Google' Callers Scare You

Jun 2, 2017

Don't Let 'Google' Callers Scare You

If you're a business owner, you have no doubt been called by 'Google' about your listing. Fear not, it's always a scare tactic. Google will never call you and ask for money or threaten you in any way, shape or form. Joy Hawkins over at Sterling Sky posted a lengthy blog about this tactic and what you should look out for. She actually highlighted 8 different lies they told. It's worth the read but I'm going to highlight a few of them, the ones that are most relevant to the Sou

Going From 3-Star To 5-Star Results In 25% More Clicks On Google

May 11, 2017

Going From 3-Star To 5-Star Results In 25% More Clicks On Google

It doesn't seem like a big deal but in reality, it's a really big deal. Google is the digital age first impression. Many times, prospective customers will make their decision regarding your business after viewing your Google snapshot. Is it fair? Maybe not. But it's the reality of today. The most underutilized aspect to GMB (Google My Business), definitely locally and perhaps nationally, is the lack of attention paid to Google reviews. Many are more concerned with Facebook re

Per Google, You Need To Give SEOs 4-12 Months To Show Results

Apr 19, 2017

Per Google, You Need To Give SEOs 4-12 Months To Show Results

It's not going to be immediate. And if someone promises immediate results, run. We are talking about, of course, SEO results. They are plenty of "companies" that will promise immediate results. They'll talk about link building (a better term would be link spamming) and how they can rocket you up the results. Just run. It doesn't work that way. SEO is like a tree, sitting in the wonderful Google Forest. The sooner you plant the tree, the more you water the tree and the more ha

Phase II: Local SEO Spam

Apr 6, 2017

Phase II: Local SEO Spam

Most people don't realize it but spam in your local search results is an ever growing problem. Casey Meraz posted a blog over at Moz going into further detail than we will here. It's worth a read but a lot of it is more relevant to larger metro areas and more competitive cities and search terms. Instead, we'll point out a couple things we've seen locally that you should keep an eye out for. First up, the relatively new Google Local Guide program is a great start in getting th

Beware Of (Local) Review Spam

Jan 18, 2017

Beware Of (Local) Review Spam

The recently released Google Local Guide platform is doing a lot of good. But it's also bringing a lot of spam. I was first notified about it by a client last week. Check out these two reviews that came at almost the exact same time, left for Parisi's Restaurant. There are a few problems, starting with the reviews themselves. Chess Night? At Parisi's? For sure not. That's not even mentioning the 'light' supper, something that Parisi's isn't exactly known for. You better be re

Ignoring SEO Is Planning To Fail

Jan 10, 2017

Ignoring SEO Is Planning To Fail

You're running a business. If you picked up the phone and it was a customer asking how to get to your business, you wouldn't tell them to not worry about it and hang up, would you? If you're ignoring SEO, that's essentially what you're doing. Actually, it's much worse. I hate to be the one to break this to you but most (would-be) customers are not calling you anymore. It's just not going to happen. There are too many other options that are far more convenient for them. First,

Another Google Update Debuts

Oct 25, 2016

Another Google Update Debuts

Google has done it again. At this point, it shouldn't be news. Google will update the way they display search results every few months. This means that most business owners will always be behind on their SEO unless they have 50 hours in their day. I can assure you, they do not. But I'll share some tips that will make it easier for those that like to manage your Google presence on your own. As always, you can contact us for a free consultation to get some options on what you c

Reviews Are Now More Important Than Ever

Sep 13, 2016

Reviews Are Now More Important Than Ever

Reviews have always been important but the bar has been raised. There have been a couple of news pieces today and both of them are relevant to business owners in a big way. First up, it was ruled that Yelp is not liable for the reviews posted to their site. This is kind of obvious but there have been plenty of business owners that have taken issue with the site and the ways reviews are relayed. In short, you are fully responsible for your negative reviews and that will not ch

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