And of course wouldn’t you know it – the users Google profile is a junk junction.

An here’s a kicker…the users Google profile ask: Something I still can’t find on Google
Answer- friendship

Well with a profile like this and jumping buzz post it really smells like spam to me…and to tell you the truth I don’t make friends with “spammers”

I’m going to have to learn a ton about Google Buzz, but I’m to so sure how to contrl buzz jumpers like this.

Any thoughts?

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google Buzz Jumping

There has been a lot of speculation going on over Google’s announcement late in 2009 that load times of a page will become a relevant factor in ranking web pages.

If you haven’t heard all the scuttle-butt the articles below should get you up to speed.

Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010
I would say that based on Matt’s comments it is probably fair to assume that Google will indeed begin taking page speed into consideration as a ranking factor, although he doesn’t come right out and say that they definitely will. …

Will Google Make Page Speed a Ranking Factor
Google is obsessed with speed. A tremendous amount of corporate energy is being put into initiatives to speed up the web. Googles Lets make the web…

What do you think? Is speed really a factor when it comes to rankings?

I personally don’t think so. With unique content and link building factors being the bread and butter of “true’ results I find it hard to believe that the load time of a page will have any real effect on the serp’s.

Worried about your load time?

GTmetrix – A New Tool For Google’s Speed Factor
GTmetrix is a free tool that provides in depth information on the speed of pages on your site and what you can do to improve load time.

Sure, page speed plays a role and is important when it comes to the user’s experience but when it comes to displaying relevant search results speed is not a factor.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google’s Speed Ranking Factor

I hadn’t noticed this at first so not sure how long it’s been active, but can’t be more than a few days ago.

Thanks to Chris Lang, via my social circle, I was quickly able to find a video outlining how it works.

I also follow Jack Humphrey and as usual he had something to say on the subject. His train of thought about a seo value appears to have some logic. At first glance of my social circle and content Google profile seo might well be influencing my displayed results.

Google Knows Your Social Circle

On today’s Friday Traffic Report podcast we talk about a new discovery in Google search results – and it’s pretty darned cool! You can now take a look at your entire social circle according….

I did a little leg work and found several additional reads on G’s social circle.

Google Puts Social Results in the Mix!

If you are one of those people still skeptical about the business uses of social media, you may be interested to know that Google’s Social Search is no longer just an experiment. Though it does have the beta tag on it, …

Google Social Search Goes Live, Adds New Features

Google has begun the rollout of its Social Search product, a way of seeing customized search results based upon the people in your social network. Social.

Wow, Google Is Awfully Clueless About My Social Life

What’s happening is that Google is being very cautious about clueing me in as to what it knows. The ways Google builds social circles is via your Google chat buddy list and by looking at accounts you’ve entered on your Google Profile. …

Google Social Search goes live — without Facebook results

In the battle to conquer real-time search, Gooogle has drawn a line in the sand. The search giant today went live with its Social Search feature, which adds relevant results from users’ social graph. But one thing is noticeably absent …

To use the social features of Google you must have a Gmail account and be logged in.

Oh, and if you don’t have a Google profile…make one!

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google Social Search Results

But it’s not gone completely. On the same day I also discovered that the real time stream is being displayed inside the search options.

If you’re not aware of Google’s search options you can look at the image below to find the options selector on Google’s search page.

After clicking the show options on the serp’s page select Latest from the sidebar menu

You don’t have a chance to review history like you do with People Browser or the like app but then again it’s all about real-time results in the moment.

Real Time search is going to play a larger role in the search results the engines will be giving us. There are many differing opinions floating around the web on the subject.

How real time search could affect SEO

Google have now started to roll out real time search. Posts from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook will now appear in the SERPs for certain brand.

Why Real-Time Search Won’t Last

Real-time search is a hot topic right now and many claim that this is proof that social media is for real and here to stay. I agree with it adding additional validation that social media is going mainstream, but I have my doubts that …

Real Time Search Speeds up the News

Early in December Google announced that they will be including real-time news and updates in their web search pages. And soon after Yahoo followed suit. How does this affect the news cycle and PR? As you can see in this short video news …

What do you think…would real time search be of any value to you?

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Real Time Dance

The results are displayed mid page in a scrolling box.

What does this means?

If you’re looking for information on events as they are happening, you can view content posted in the past few minutes rather than outdated news articles from the past.

“Whether it’s an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it’s published on the web,” said Google fellow Amit Singhal in a announced blog post.

Very cool!

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google Displaying Real Time Results

This must be the effects of Goolge turning on personalized search.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

What Google Thinks Twitter Is For?

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Popular Searches Unique To U.S.

My first few times at trying to catch a wave were unsuccessful but after figuring out the search function I was able to hone down to a few waves of interest and of course since I’m kind of a nut for all things link building I was able to find a few wave’s on the subject.

Link Wheels

On one of theses waves I found mention of the term “Link Wheel”. The first thing that came to my mind was a pdf that Howie Schwartz  distributed a few months back that showed a hub & spoke linking method using web 2.0 properties like Squidoo, Hubpages and Weebly to create authority links.

Lynn Terry’s post Link Wheels and Money Sites Explained puts in to plain words that the concept of the Link Wheel is that you have a money site, and everything else you create is for the purpose of linking to and boosting the ranking of this money site. The money site being where you promote and sell something, the spokes or other sites being relevant content that funnels visitors into that site.

More Information About The Link Wheel Strategy

With a diverse variety of link building sites available on the internet, it can be quite confusing to choose a good site. It is then that an SEO executive can take advantage of a link wheel strategy. But before learning how link wheel …

Sharing Waves

How to share Waves on your self hosted Wordpress Blog

A few months ago I did see waves showing up in search reults but they have all since disappeared. Regardless of the sudden appearance and then disappearance of wave’s I have thoughts that the results will eventually return in one form or another.

I wonder if embedding a wave on a blog will help them rank stronger when Google takes the block down?

Only time will tell.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Link Wheels and Sharing Google Waves

This is not the same old Internet.

Google Goes Local; Begins Limited Test Of Listings Ads

Although Google has always trained its AdSense products at smaller business, the Local Listing Ads represents what Broadpoint analyst Ben Schachter calls the first real monetization of the search giant’s Local Business Center. …

Google Local Listing Ads Shake Up Local Search

If you market brick and mortars or local service businesses, you need to be paying attention to the new Local listing ads Google announced Monday that…

Google Local Listing Ads

Google recently announced it would start testing a new text ad format called local listing ads. These ads are available to small businesses with physical locations and will appear at the top of a search results page …

Google Answers Some Local Listing Ad Questions

The newly announced Local listing ads are starting to appear on a limited basis in the wilds of San Francisco. David Mihm, the talented Local Search Expert, and.

Google Local Listing Ads Debut

Greg Sterling was introduced to an experiment called Google Local Listing Ads yesterday evening. They’re small, text-only ads of the sort Google often displays, only the trick is that …

This seems all great and I hope this turns out to be a huge boost for SMB’s but the best statement of the week has to go to David Mihm;

“To that end, Google simply must get into customer service or else it’s going to end up with a lot of unhappy SMB’s and a big PR black eye.”

No matter how good something appears to be without customer service (which Google has non of) you have a lot of pissed off people that can’t get answers they’ll take their business elsewhere.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Google Testing Local Listing Ads

Over the weekend I had a chance to  read David Mihm’s results from his 2009 Local Search Ranking Factors survey that was conducted in May 2009 with  27 prominent bloggers and practitioners in the local search arena.

They were asked to rate the importance of 49 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms (those that drive the 10-pack, 3-pack, and authoritative one-box search results; NOT the standard organic algorithms).

While all the points in David’s study are interesting I have found that there are 5 things that really have the most influencing on the position of your listing.

Claiming your Local Business Listing

I put this as #1 on my list. I can’t tell you how many unclaimed listing I still see in the Local search. Most businesses have not taken the 15 minutes and claimed their listing. As Mike Blumenthal said in the study – “You can’t see the game if you don’t enter the gate.”

Keywords in the Title

When I first claimed my business listing I just put my company name in the title. When I went to look for my listing I couldn’t find it unless I search for the exact company name. After adding a good targeted keyword to the title along with the company name my listing immediately showed up #2 in several 10-pack and 3-pack results when preforming a broad keyword search.

Keywords in the Description

While this might not be as important as having keywords in the title, leaving them out of the description does appear to have a negative effect on where your listing ranks in the packs. Adding targeted keywords, without spamming, somewhere near the beginning of the description can help to pull your listing deep from within the results into the 10-pack.

On-page Optimization

While most who participated in the survey agree that you don’t even need a website to rank high in Local search I’ve found that adding the City, State and Zip code along with a keyword-rich anchor text back to the site in the footer has definitely had an impact on my listing position.

Quality/Quanity of Inbound Links

In my experience the quality and quantity of inbound links has been  a huge  contributing factor in ranking well in Local search. As David Klein said – “from the beginning Google has judged sites based on the quality and quantity of inbound links. It is my opinion, that quality, and quantity of inbound links with the right anchor text will just possibly overcome everything else in doing well in Local search.”

Conclusion

Where there is a search engine involved you will always have a 100 different views on how to optimize the content to increase your chances of get listed on page one of the serp’s.

A lot of the information you find about rankings is aimed at trying to exploit the serp’s with keywords and linking. While this may be a contributing factor for organic search results when it comes to Local search listings keywords and incoming links don’t carry the same weight but do have a positive effect on the Local search results and where you will show up.

If you do any one thing make sure it’s to claim your listing.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Top 5 Ranking Factors for Local Search