Well, I can say I’ve run across this almost every week for the past 2 year!

This really drives me nuts because you don’t know a) why the ad was declined  b) let alone how to fix it so that it will be approved. Google just won’t tell you.

They don’t seem to care about their customers and would rather leave you fending for yourself to figure what to do.

Bottom line is I’ve grown very tired of Google throwing road blocks in my way with things like quality score and landing pages and not telling me what I have to do to please them.

So last month I decided (coaxed by Frank and Trey’s “Screw Google” report)  to move over to Yahoo and start doing more of my advertising there.

With that said- I had a fantastic experience with Yahoo Search Marketing today!

First though let me set the stage. Earlier this week I had setup a few ppc campaigns for a customer only to have them declined. I thought, “Oh great – not again! What could I have done to cause the ads to be declined?”

Something was different this time though. You see Yahoo SM has a phone # (866-924-6676) that you can call and guess what- you can talk with a real human being!

I actually talked to someone and found out exactly what had caused the ads to be declined. On top of that the guy who was helping me actually fixed my problem, explaining every step along the way as I was on the phone with him.

Not only did he explain to me exactly what was wrong with the first ad, he wrote another ad for me to compliment the first one I had submitted.

How cool is that!

I’m sure glad I decided to come back to Yahoo SM. I had become  so fixated on Google that I lost site of other marketing venues. With the recent Yahoo/Bing merger I really don’t lose much (might even gain) because the two of them together equals Google.

Thanks Frank and Trey! I needed the swift kick in the butt.

Screw Google!

Huge thanks to Rorke at Yahoo search marketing for all the help. You rock dude!

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Yahoo Search Marketing Leads the Way in Customer Service

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

Instead of creating my own video explaining how to add your business to Yahoo local listings, I found a few good vids that do pretty good job of explaining the process.

How to Add Your Business to Yahoo Local Listings

Yahoo Local – How to Get a Free Listing on Yahoo

See ya in local search!

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Yahoo Local Listings