Local & Maps
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Topics related to local search and online mapping. For more background, see the Locals Only column or local search & mapping stories from our sister site, Search Engine Land. Below are topics submitted by Sphinn members:
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This post is important. Learn simple Local Business Center procedures to show up in the G-maps category of YOUR CHOICE. Mike Blumenthal discusses first research to reveal workings of Google's map categorization process. read more »
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Best of The Web adds a local component, making a great directory an even better resource on the consumer level. read more »
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As I watch search marketers often continue to obsess about things like PageRank, I wanted to do a personal post / wake-up call related to our SMX Local & Mobile Search Marketing show happening next month in San Francisco, July 24-25. Because for all read more »
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David Mihm brings you everything you need to know from last week's SMX Local conference. He says: "I've just returned from SMX Local in San Francisco and my head is still spinning. Chris Sherman, Greg Sterling, and the rest of the Third Door Media t read more »
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Mike Blumenthal shows why it is important to claim your business. It important that this is being brought to the attention to Small Business Owners like Eric Stein said on SMX East on monday read more »
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A fully optimized Local Business Profile contains a well-crafted business description, containing a unique selling proposition based on market and keyword research, domain name and email cross branding (including generic domains), authentic testimon read more »
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Dr. Pete looks at some innovations and shifts in local and mobile search:

"As search marketers, it's hard not to be a little worried by these recent changes - as a group, these advancements are undeniably game-changers and represent a significant read more »
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A blow by blow analysis of how SEOMoz updated Yelp's SEO tactics. read more »
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How to get the businesses with multiple locations in the same city (e.g. two Starbucks on opposite corners) to rank for the same local search query, or something to that effect. read more »
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Tim Nash reveals in a local study that SEO firms which target local businesses are not in fact getting that many local clients. read more »
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For the first time many have witnessed, Google is now serving unverified local listings in its blended local result plus boxes. read more »
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Categorized list of 41 different local search engines, yellow pages, meta crawlers, data providers and local social communities. Complete with descriptions and links sign up, list or learn more. read more »
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Learn best practices for coding for local/mobile:
Doc type declaration, screen width, accessibility, device detection redirection, XML Sitemaps.

Nice job and great resource! read more »
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Mike Blumenthal got up early to report about the newly posted Quality Guidelines for the Google Maps / Local Business Center and the option to apply for re-inclusion. read more »
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Andrew's past position at InsiderPages makes him a fascinating Local SEO to chat with. Read what Andrew has to say about Maps, IYP, backsplashes and more! read more »
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David Mihm's excellent analysis of the Google Local / Map Algorithm which argues in compelling fashion that citations (mentions of the business without a link) play an important role in ranking well in the Google's Local Listings. read more »
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Effective local business landing pages are imperative to getting good local search rankings. Dev Basu discusses 10 Best Practices for Local Biz Landing Page design that are tried and tested methods to gain great rankings. read more »
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Some quick ideas on why you might want to optimize your site for phone number searches. read more »
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An excellent article, Mike, and excellent suggestions. It is an unfortunate byproduct of universal search and multiple algo's that the effort by Google to provide "better information" is at times providing "inferior and erroneous" information. read more »
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"Monday afternoon I received a call from a Psychic Counselor inquiring as to how she might show up in the Local OneBox for Psychic in Santa Fe, NM. I was intrigued that a pyschic would turn to me from results she found in Google. I decided to take t read more »
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Congratulations Matt! "With the inclusion of maps and local in Google, Ask.com, Live Search and Yahoo search results, local search marketing became even more and more important in 2007, especially for small to medium sized storefront businesses." read more »
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Mike Blumenthal shares a new monetization technique spammers are using in conjunction with exploiting Google Maps' long suffering mass upload feature. read more »
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Attorneys, plumbers, financial advisor’s, electricians, pizza parlors, cleaning services, snowplow drivers, caterers, insurance companies, and hardware stores alike ask Should we keep our Yellow Pages ad? Finally there is definitive data. read more »
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Making sure your business’ location and services data is up to date across the Web is perhaps the most important thing you can do to help potential customers find you. Here's the list of pages where you can do it for free. read more »
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I can't stand it when a web designer plants his name right in the middle of the home page of a client's site. Oh the humanity... read more »
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