We connect local publishers with trusted topic experts—enhancing content quality while giving experts the recognition they deserve. Founder: @DaniOwensSEO
Is "Information Gain" a Google Ranking Factor?
Excellent study via @ericlancheres: how much *new information* a URL has vs its rankings
New info didn't move the needle much (but the top 3 results contained more than the rest)
Biggest ranking predictor? # of unique data points
We run marketing for 500+ home service businesses. We track every dollar spent and every lead that comes in.
Here is every marketing channel ranked based on real data that we have collected over the last 4 years 🧵🦍
New: AI Citation Ranking Factors
Everyone talks about AI Citations as a way to boost visibility + traffic, but what works?
To find out, I gathered every study/experiment from the past 2 years, and scored the biggest wins
22 Ranking Factors associated with earning AI citations
Google lost ~5% of traffic share in the past 10 months (35.11% → 30.53%).
Everyone thinks AI search ate it.
Well…
▪️ AI search: 0.22% → 0.26% (+0.04pp)
▪️ Social: 7.67% → 8.24% (+0.6pp)
▪️ Paid: 13.99% → 17.15% (+3.2pp)
^ that’s across ~75k websites in @Ahrefs’ panel.
(HINT: visit chatgpt-vs-google(DOT)com to see more data)
...
AI search gained almost no traffic share. And it makes sense. AI search is zero-click by nature. It answers questions, it doesn't send traffic.
The real winner? Paid.
Businesses are losing organic clicks from Google and compensating with ad spend. They have no choice. They still need customers on their websites.
So Google pushes AI Overviews, organic traffic drops... and businesses respond by giving Google more money for ads.
..or at least that's my read on the situation.
What's yours?
20% OFF Local SEO Content: Cyber Monday Deal *Expires 12/2/24
Need website content? @contentamigo creates local SEO website content like service pages, location pages, service-area pages, practitioner pages, Google Business Profile landing pages, local blog articles, etc.
👇👇👇
Hey folks! 👋
We'll be presenting a webinar this Thursday on Website Content & Structure for Local SEO.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
12 pm EDT / 9 am PDT / 6 pm CEST
Join us if you’re available: https://t.co/rxDSdQDzUi
Register now for our upcoming live masterclass with @DaniOwensSEO to learn how to create content that resonates with your audience and converts your customers.
Location pages
Service pages
Home pages
Practitioner pages
Blog articles
https://t.co/Zae60qPnhO
@DaniOwensSEO @contentamigo I'm also looking forward to better onsite searchability options for the websites that I manage. Hopefully someone will come up with an AI tool as a plug-in or something. Anyway, looking forward to your next webinar. Thank you.
🚨 Here's a competitive sabotage tactic you should watch out for...
Your rankings will plummet if a competitor marks your Google Business Profile as temporarily closed.
We've added a new feature to the Whitespark Local Platform to prevent this from happening to you or your clients.
You'll be alerted if Google changes your business's open status, and with just one click, you can accept or reject it, putting you in control.
This way, you can rest easy, knowing that Whitespark will protect your Google Business Profile from competitor sabotage.
And it's still only $1/month.
#localseo #seo
New @nearmediaco
Seattle Surgeon Guilty of Breaking Law with Review Practices
A federal judge found Allure Esthetic wrongly prevented patients from posting negative reviews with illegal NDAs.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg
(Link 👇)
📈 Local Ranking Factor you NEED to know: Review Recency
How often should you get new reviews to see an impact on your rankings?
Well, how often do your competitors get new reviews? If the answer is twice a month, you should also aim for that.
@JoyanneHawkins posted an excellent case study in January 2023 showing how their clients' rankings dropped when they stopped getting new reviews.
When the owner was rewarding staff for asking customers for reviews, they got a steady influx of new reviews and better rankings. When they stopped offering the reward, reviews slowed down and rankings dropped.
When the owner started rewarding staff again and new reviews started coming in, their rankings shot back up.
While incentivizing customers to leave you a review may be against Google's guidelines, incentivizing your staff to ask customers for reviews is allowed.
Your two big takeaways here:
1️⃣ You must continue getting reviews regularly. Review recency is definitely a ranking factor.
2️⃣ You can't incentivize customers to leave you a review, but you CAN incentivize your staff to encourage reviews 🔥
#localseo #seo
Last week's missing "more places" link made people ask how often searchers click into the Local Finder. We looked at our data and have the answer(s). https://t.co/ShEUk6XCIl