SEO Community: Strength in Numbers

Search Engine News

Images? Q=tbn:and9gctpt7iydht8o iis3m3qifstubdsoeeo7bduns0jpg2pv1isvg7According to Amit Singhal, head of Google’s search efforts, the secret (or not-so-secret) way to rank on Google is good content and in his words: “you don’t need to worry about anything else.” These words of wisdom came from Singhal’s presentation at SXSW a few days ago as he covered the topics of mobile search and his love for Star Trek. (Both of which are equally epic in scope).

Using good content to rank well for SEO is a no-brainer, but not worrying about “anything else” is a bit disconcerting. A multidimensional approach always trumps a singular one. Strength in numbers, right? Would you ignore your sites’ architecture to create one page of brilliant content? Probably not. As valuable as good, unique content is for improving SEO results we must keep these details in perspective.

Be mindful of the power and value of community building, both for readership value and link building. In other words, show some TLC to your content and work on maximizing quality links to support your body of work. Creating a community in which your content exists helps readers and Google validate the legitimacy of what you are saying. For readers, your presence in a community of thought leaders indicates that you are a respected source of reputable knowledge (depending on the quality of your links) within a larger community. For Google bots, associating your content within a network of interrelated information ultimately provides a higher value of data for indexing SERP results. When you have both readers and Google validating your work, you cannot be wrong. This can be further complemented by the use of social media like Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus. Social media provides venues in which to engage a wider audience that might not otherwise be searching for your content, but might be friends/colleagues/acquaintances of your readers. Opening, inviting, and cultivating relationships with a broader group of people can only bring more and more visibility to your insights.

Phone Numbers No Longer Allowed in Google Ads

Last Updated On June 2nd, 2023PPC Advertising, SEM Best Practices

Google announced a policy change to no longer allow advertisers to publish their phone number in ads. It’s a surprising move that may have significant repercussions.

Phone number in google ad

Rip: Example Ad Unit Of Phone Number In Ads

Google has quietly published this in their Advertising Policies change log as well as notifying partners and customers through webinars.  Advertisers wanting to engage users with a direct phone number by using call extension.

According to the policy log, Google is making the change to: “foster a safer, more consistent user experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices” in an effort to make ads more relevant, accurate & clear to users.

At first my reaction was a bit of shock and sadness for local businesses.  For years advertisers have taken advantage of the ad unit space by inserting their phone number in the ad text.  One idea being that you can get a direct phone call, instead of being charged for a click.  A second being the importance of a phone lead to a local business. Driving a visitor to a conversion optimized landing page is great for lead generation or direct conversions, but most small business still live and die by the phone. Without the ability to get a phone call directly form an add demanding any extra clicks, they will be the ones most impacted. Particularly since PPC advertising has been a good way to get yourself noticed if you have a business in a particularly competitive vertical.

Ad with call

Call Extensions: Phone Number Linked To Google Places Listing.

This also creates a barrier for non-local advertisers (i.e. a nation wide ad), since businesses with a Google Places listing will still be able to display their phone number directly in a SERP.  It may also present a challenge for marketers that publish a call tracking phone number in their ad to measure return.  With call extensions however, it is still possible (with a little work) to use your own call tracking phone number.  Google provides its own call tracking (aka forwarding) number for an extra cost of $1 for legacy campaigns.  Nevertheless, this hurdle will probably result in many more local phone numbers and less toll-free numbers shown in Google Ads.

So it is reasonable to consider that this change is a win for local businesses and users alike.  For now, we will be busy changing ad copy for thousands of local business ads.  According to the Google, starting April, Ads will be disapproved if they contain a phone number.

Mobile VS Desktop Search Differences

Last Updated On August 13th, 2014Local Maps SEO, Local SEO, Mobile Marketing, , , , , , , ,

DesktopvsmobileLocal Splash Founder and CTO, David Rodecker, and other members of the Local Splash team have been researching the difference between desktop and mobile SERPs.

An early piece of this research shows that there is a difference between a search performed on a mobile device and a desktop computer even in the exact same location, signed into the exact same Google account and searching the exact same query. Here is the desktop version:

Google desktop serp for fast food

This is a fairly standard SERP with 3 organic results displaying before location results and surprisingly no Google Ads paid search results at the top. Now look at the difference between this page and the mobile page:

Android mobile serp fast food

There are several interesting differences between the results:

1. There are less organic search results before the location results on the mobile search. This is probably the least surprising difference. Google has been saying, for several months now, that 50% of searches have local intent so it comes as no surprise that mobile SERP’s cater to this switch in the way people search.

2. There is a significant difference in locations showing up between the two results. Both letter “A” results in mobile and desktop are Taco Bell, however they are different locations (the addresses are different). Not only that, but other than the first two, the entire pack of location result is different, which means that 6 out of 7 physical addresses are different between desktop and mobile search.

3. There is significant local mobile advertising, as shown in the lack of Google Ads ads on the desktop search compared to the two ads displayed in the mobile SERP. I think this may be the most fascinating thing in the search comparison. Even though the deceleration of desktop search and increase in mobile search and mobile ad revenues is one of Google’s worst kept secrets there is nothing like actually viewing it in the wild.

These factors seem to point to a localization of the results for mobile devices that takes us one step beyond desktop results.

Whether it’s mobile or desktop results, one thing is clear: local results are dominating the results page, which means it’s more important now than ever for businesses to focus on their local SEO strategies.

What local search queries are you noticing dramatic differences in for mobile and desktop?