Potential customers look over your Google My Business (GMB) profile before deciding whether to visit your business, buy your products or use your services. Therefore, knowing how to make the platform work for you is important. Along with a robust social media presence, GMB is a vital part of every local business’s SEO efforts. It…

Maybe you’re just getting started with local search or maybe you’ve been at it for years. Wherever you are on your journey, you’re bound to have some questions that may not be found in a blog post. We teamed with local SEO experts and frequent keynote speakers, Darren Shaw of Whitespark and Dana DiTomaso of…

The internet has fundamentally transformed much of the business world in the twenty-first century. And its revolution has provided businesses with incredible opportunities for innovation, access to new customers, and growth. But like any technology, the internet is most valuable when leveraged effectively. One way that businesses can make the most of this technology is…

Consumers may not even notice that they are using local SEO directories, but they reference them all the time. Think about the last time you looked up a new restaurant you wanted to order takeout from — did you call directory assistance to get a phone number, or did you use a search engine via…

Digital marketing and advertising offer excellent opportunities to expand your company’s reach around the globe. But they can also help you build up your audience in local communities and open your business up to potential customer in your area. Google reports that about 46% of all online searches have a local intent behind them, meaning…

What is a sitemap? A sitemap is a list (or lists) of links that represent part of a website or the totality of a website. Sitemaps can contain more information about the content like creation date, last update, importance, run-time, content rating, etc. For optimal results, a sitemap should update dynamically when new content is…

A Google My Business (GMB) account suspension is a serious setback for any business seeking to improve its local organic traffic. Business owners can find themselves in hot water if their GMB accounts provide incorrect or inconsistent information about a business’s service area or address, service or product offerings, operating hours, and so on. Having…

For a company’s content marketing strategy to truly be complete, a solid understanding of search engine optimization, or SEO, is critical. Those familiar with digital marketing know on-page and off-page SEO and can explain the difference between the two. But businesses can also utilize SEO in places they might not expect. What we’ll explore here…

Online customer reviews, and even more so reviews through Google My Business (GMB), are a critical part of digital marketing efforts for businesses with physical offices or retail locations. According to BrightLocal, the average consumer reads at least ten reviews before making a purchase, with 91 percent of consumers relying on positive reviews to make…

A local SEO strategy is vital for every small business, drawing in website visitors and customers searching for goods and services in their own cities or towns. According to Google, 46 percent of all search queries have a local intent. For any local business, if you aren’t optimizing your website for local searches, you’re missing…

For your site to be seen by online customers, you need to optimize your website for search engines. This is where SEO comes into your marketing strategy. Without a strategy for search engine optimization (SEO), your business could be and is missing out on a slew of prospects who are local to you, but unaware…

NAP Consistency refers to the accuracy of a location-based business’s Name, Address, and Phone number across all business listings, local directories, social media profiles, and websites. It is widely considered a search ranking factor for local SEO. Don’t forget about your homepage URL as well as this is the most important element to keep consistent.…

This is a guest post from Darren Shaw, the founder of Whitespark –– a local search software and services company. He has been working on the web for over 19 years and loves everything about local SEO. Darren leads research initiatives such as the annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey and the Local Search Ecosystem. He…

Many people don’t realize that small, local businesses have a major advantage when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Unlike big corporations or e-commerce sites that need to rank for the most competitive keywords nationally or even globally, small enterprises can focus on what they do best: reaching customers in their own backyard. To…

A featured snippet provides a summarized answer to a users search query at the top of the Google search engine results page (SERP), right above position 1. These answers are scraped from other sites content that best satisfies the user’s search. Also referred to as position zero, the featured snippet answer is contained in a…

Latent semantic indexing (LSI) is a complex system used by search engines to analyze the relationships between terms and concepts on a page in an effort to provide the most accurate and relevant search results.   The importance of latent semantic indexing for search Latent semantic indexing uses natural language processing (NLP) to help a…

To gate or not to gate, that is the question — content, that is. The dilemma over gated content is near the top of the pack when it comes to the choices facing marketers today. Gated content has emerged in the past 10 years as a major method of lead capture and nurturing, but recent…

Often here at CallRail, we’re asked about the best way to implement call tracking for multi-location businesses and franchises.  I decided to write this guide on how to make call tracking work for exactly these types of businesses. While I’ll refer to franchise businesses throughout the guide, it’s important to note that the guide applies…

Multichannel marketing is considered a top-of-the-line advertising method, but finding the best marketing channels for your agency can be a daunting prospect. With your precious marketing budget on the line, you naturally want to avoid missteps and keep waste at a minimum. Fortunately, finding the best marketing channels can be achieved by following a simple,…

Small business marketing isn’t easy. It can often feel like there are plenty of options — but not enough time or budget — to figure out what works. Marketing is never one size fits all, but these do’s and don’ts will help you keep your small business moving in the right direction. Don’t: Push your…

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a marketer who sometimes really hates being marketed to. Chances are you’ve been served annoying ads, sent excessive emails, or simply dealt with being sold products that you don’t like or don’t need. But consider another perspective: Have you ever knowingly or unknowingly run annoying ads, sent excessive emails,…

Image optimization involves making your website images useful to both visitors and search engines. This includes techniques like reducing file sizes without sacrificing quality in order to increase site speed, or providing alt text for screen readers and search engines to identify what an image is about.   Why is it important? Image optimization is…

Link building is a crucial element in off-page search engine optimization (SEO). This guide will explain the basics of link building and tactics, to help you get the most from your call tracking software to improve your link building efforts. What is link building? Why are links important? Types of link building Types of link…

What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a tool that offers in-depth data and reporting on the acquisition, behavior, and conversion of website traffic. This tool can track… How users get to a website (organic search, paid search, social, referrals, etc.) What users do when on a site (what pages they visit, how long they…

Over the past several years, I’ve answered hundreds of questions, written several guides, and given multiple presentations on how to harness the benefits of call tracking and analytics for local SEO campaigns without interfering with one of the most critical ranking factors, NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency. Today I’d like to dive into the…