EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Darren Shaw of Whitespark.ca joins the EDGE in the second of two parts as we dive into the persistent Local SEO Myths. We covering a great deal that Darren has seen for years and we kill them off, one by one. Darren is a fantastic resource for understanding the true impact that Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) has on a local service company's customer relationship and conversions… today on the EDGE. [00:02:33] Local SEO Myth: Does everything have to be perfect for Google? [00:05:26] Local SEO Myth: Using a Call Tracking Number Negatively Impacts Rankings [00:07:22] Local SEO Myth: Setting Service Area in Google My Business Impacts Ranking [00:09:24] Local SEO Myth: Keywords in the Business Description [00:12:53] The Absolute, Most Important Thing to Convey: Trust [00:13:52] Local SEO Myth: Geotagging Images [00:18:16] Google Knows Your Space, Knows Your Brand, Knows Your Business [00:19:27] Local SEO Myth: No One Reads Reviews Anymore [00:25:25] Consumer Reviews Are A Conversion Step [00:34:35] Shoppers Are Not Clicking Through to Websites Anymore

The end of the year is here and we covered so much on today's show. Not really - it was a Matrix 4 bashfest. A couple of news items, yadda yadda and how bad could a movie suck? Truly? Thanks to Barry Schwartz, Matt Southern, Kevin Indig and Garret Sussmann for their articles, but the thanks really goes to Warner Brothers for making the Matrix 4, what a great gift to end the year with. Special thanks to our title sponsor Ahrefs - check out their free SEO audit tool at www.edgeofthewebradio.com/AWT [00:00:54] Our Matrix4 reviews/bashing [00:08:20] TikTok takes the crown of WORLD'S MOST POPULAR DOMAIN from Google [00:11:31] G-Rated sounding domains that lead to not-so-G-rated sites don't show up in Google Search… unless you pay for ads. [00:19:28] We've got your Predictions, YOU'RE PREDICTIONS HERE! See you next year!

We welcome our new title sponsor, Ahrefs as part of the EDGE team. Welcome back! We're coming in for a landing of this year's news items with UPDATES! Get your UPDATES here! [00:02:47] Updates…get your updates here! You know what would make the holiday week even better? Product review updates from Google! [00:10:00] John Mueller says you can't even tell which SEO efforts have changed your rankings [00:17:50] YouTube is going to be adding automatic links to places mentioned in videos…

Mordy's back with the EDGE team, talking about the news of the day. We covered stories from Roger Montti, Barry SChwartz and Patrick Stox of Ahrefs. Really interesting one there - pretty bold move to disavow ALL links to 3 of your top articles to see if links do, in fact, mean what we think they mean to SEO. Let's all pull a Mordy and listen now to the EDGE! [00:04:17] Hey Alexa, do you now that Amazon is shutting you down? [00:08:15] Google's December update was a big one [00:18:55] Do inbound links even matter anymore?

Andrew "Optimisey" joins the EDGE team this week, covering just a fraction of the hot digital marketing news. There's so much happening, it was tough to pick but we settled on these headlines to get to you. Covering news from Search Engine Roundtable and Brodie Clark, with a hot take on Google's playground, we finished with a hearty Happy Birthday to an 18-year-old SER! Thanks, Barry, for these past 18 years of reporting! [00:02:01] Political ad changes at Google for 2022 [00:08:20] Google is testing a lot of their own real estate on the SERP [00:14:40] The Volatility of the Dec 2021 Product Reviews update continues [00:21:04] Happy 18th Birthday to Search Engine Roundtable [00:24:37] #SEOChat 1 PM EST - Products, Reviews, and your GBP: Hosted by: Riley Hope @reillyhope13 [00:25:17] WEIRD SEO: John Mueller on SEO to quote Jurassic Park: Just because you can, should you?

Mordy's back from vacation and we're covering his review of the November Core Algorithm update from Semrush. We're back to trolling each other with the regular jabs. Covering news from Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land this week. [00:04:21] The Mobile-First Indexing Deadline is Gone. [00:09:12] How Does One's Site "Fit Into the Internet" [00:21:57] Discussing the November 2021 Core Update with Mordy

Darren Shaw of Whitespark.ca joins the EDGE again (been a while) to discuss Local SEO, Google Business Profile as well as his annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey from 40 of the top Local SEO professionals in the business. Get up to date on what affects local search engine optimization and where Entity SEO works into the Local SEO concepts, today on the EDGE. [00:05:02] What Does Whitespark Do for Companies? [00:07:05] QR codes are back! [00:08:52] Stats on Local Search [00:10:43] In some industries, Google drives upwards of 90% of all of their business. [00:13:12] Google as your new homepage, care of Mike Blumenthal [00:15:17] In the past 6 years, Google has been rolling out a ton of incredible features [00:17:51] What are the first steps you help a business owner understand in Local SEO? [00:18:52] What is the top local search ranking factor? [00:21:29] Three Pillars of Local Search [00:23:04] What are citations? [00:26:14] Consistency is a myth in Local SEO [00:28:08] Local SEO = Entity SEO [00:30:02] Get the keywords in the review! [00:31:57] The Local Search Ranking Factor Survey [00:39:02] Keywords in the Business Name? Seriously, Google?

Jason Barnard and Lily Ray join Erin Sparks on an EDGEFlash - a breaking digital marketing news episode. When it happens, we will get it to you as soon as possible! We uncovered a relationship of factors that lead us to believe that this is not just another core update! Breaking news, here on the EDGE! [00:02:24] The social media outcry regarding the November Google Core Algorithm updates [00:03:32] Ray: This is a tricky update due to the holiday season [00:05:28] Ray: How the Volatility Tools Work [00:06:39] Barnard: Does Dictionary site visibility increase = new entity knowledge? [00:09:08] Barnard: Completely new: core algorithm updates and knowledge graph update together [00:10:52] Barnard: 8% rise in the number Rich Elements [00:11:43] Increase in "People Also Search For" to 21% [00:12:34] BREAKING NEWS: People Also Search For + Dictionary ranking spikes + Knowledge Graph Entity growth….Google's more confident, folks! [00:14:57] Ray: Intense shifts can change because of current events [00:17:57] Words of advice from Ray and Barnard

Covering a lot of (Site)Ground here on the show today with Erin Sparks and Mordy Oberstein. Learning about the carbon emission expense of IndexNow, SiteGround sites being deindexed from a 4-day DNS outage and how machine written content may not be so bad in the future. Bonus on this episode: see Erin lose it when Mordy calls our toll-free number for the podcast. That's conversion optimization, baby! [00:06:11] Will Google use Microsoft's new IndexNow protocol? [00:11:30] A four-day outage at SiteGround is over, but still recovering. But Google dropping indexing in that short of time? [00:18:15] So Google has talked about how machine written content is currently against Google's guidelines, but someday it might not be. [00:23:14] Bonus: Mordy dials our toll-free number and we discover that it is taking faxes…...only faxes. Listen to Erin lose it…..

Mordy missed this episode! Please publicly shame him, if you would! We covered pretty important news - GMB is gone! What's in a name, really. The news is really about the changing way to edit your Google Business listing, and what is going away. More news to check out from Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal today on the EDGE. [00:03:15] Goodbye Google My Business! [00:07:42] Google tells us where we should put our videos for maximum exposure [00:14:25] We've got a new Page Speed Insights version and [00:18:14] Incoming is a Page Experience Update coming to Desktop!