You can now reclaim your Google My Business (GMB) listing page which was verified by a third party. Google has recently launched an automated process which enables you to claim yourGMB page without contacting the previous manager. It came as a great relief to those who were trying to reclaim their listing but were unable to get into contact with the person who was managing it before.

Here’s the step by step process to reclaim your Google My Business listing:

1. Navigate to Google My Business.
2. Sign in to Google with the account you use to manage your business.
3. Enter the name or address of your business, then select it from the search results.
   You may see a dialog showing part of the email address that verified the listing. If you
   manage this email address, sign in to that account to access your business listing.
4. Fill out the form. The current listing owner may need to contact you for more info, so you
   won’t be able to submit your request without sharing your contact details with them.Click Submit.
5. Click Submit.
6. The current listing owner will receive an email asking them to get in touch with you, and
   you’ll receive a confirmation email. Check on the status of your request by clicking the
   link in your confirmation email.Allow a full 7 days for the current listing owner to respond to your request. If you don’t
7. Allow a full 7 days for the current listing owner to respond to your request. If you don’t
   hear back after 7 days, you’ll be able to verify your affiliation with the business to gain
   access to the listing.

If you have any trouble trying to reclaim your Google My Business listing, you can contact us.

If you think Google is done with the Panda and Penguin updates, think again! On March 7,
Google released an ‘unannounced’ algorithm update causing serious damage to websites
having a poor user experience. Sites which were affected saw anywhere from a 50% to a 90%
drop in their organic traffic from Google overnight!

Some of the websites were ad heavy to the point that the ads interfered with the users’ ability
to digest their content. Other sites were built exclusively to cater to Google’s algorithm and left
the actual website visitor frustrated when they landed there from the search results. There were other categories of sites affected that were either part of low-value niche and lead generation sites, engaging in paid links or were simply low-quality affiliate sites. The only thing that ALL of them had in common was that they scored low when analyzed via Google’s Quality Evaluator Guidelines.

Related Article: How To Get Your Website Visitors To Stick Around

Google hasn’t released a statement and so far the only confirmation from them was a
confirmation at SMX that the “Fred” update was a Quality Update as well as a Gary Illyes tweet
saying that they won’t deny there was an update.

We decided to partner with another firm to run some numbers. With a dataset of 3,500+ websites and 240,000+ keywords (local and national), we got a birds-eye view of how client campaigns are performing.

Not surprisingly, we were happy to find that this update didn’t have any negative impact on
our client campaigns. In fact, we have seen improvement. The quality of the SEO deliverables which we offer saved our clients. This is a perfect example of how our strategies future-proof your business and add true long-term value to your company and online brand.

So, how are we protecting our clients and how can you protect yourself from the Google Fred update?

GOOGLE RELEASES FRED ALGORITHM UPDATE.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

1. Get the basics right i.e. focusing on On-Site optimization which includes
correcting all possible 404 errors, fix duplicate (thin) content on the site, the creation of
landing pages, etc. Internal blogging is also a good addition which should be done on a regular basis with a strategy and a schedule for each quarter.

2. Do a thorough backlink analysis at the start of the campaign to weed out bad
backlinks which can prove to be harmful.

3. Vary anchor texts to have a proper balance between branded and non-branded
links. We also ensure proper link velocity as too many links at a time can be flagged by
Google.

4. Always diversify the backlink profile of your website. Your link profile should include local directories, videos, infographics, informational content, coupons, guest blogs, etc.

5. Below are some of the additional backlink sources that can be included in your SEO program
deliverables to further diversify your backlink profile.

• Startup Business Listings
• Magazine / News Placement
• Q&A Posting

So, if you’re hit by the “Fred” update OR want to make sure you’re not going to be a likely victim,
we can help. Just connect with us and let our professional SEOs do the work for you. And
yes, do not forget to ask for a copy of our latest SEO Deliverables which are always customized for your company and industry.

Check Your Website Now – Complimentary SEO Audit For Your Website 

Related Article: Tips You Can Follow To Get To The Top of Search Results

Visit SEO Solutions Online

Here are the tips that you can follow to get to the top of search results:

1. Title Tag & Meta Description

The most noticeable element on the search engine result page is Title Tag. Title tags are so basic
that they often get ignored despite the fact that the first thing a user notices about your website is the title tag. Experts say that Title tags are the 2nd most vital on-page factor for SEO, after
content.

So here are some valuable tips to optimize your title tag:
Auto generated title tags are your enemy i.e. WordPress could create your title tag, but sticking to it will cost you visitors. So first analyze that what could possibly be the best title
tag that sums up your whole content in an appealing way.

Don’t try to stuff your titles with keywords, use a keyword which is also describing the title. Keep your title tag in the front, it’s helpful for both search engines and users.

Keep your title tag in the front, it’s helpful for both search engines and users.

Your title tag should guide the user, so make sure that you’re making title tags for humans.Also, the meta description gives you 160-200 characters to play with, so make sure you are

Also, the meta description gives you 160-200 characters to play with, so make sure you are
making full use of it.Be as creative and descriptive as possible. Consider it like your little ad space.

Be as creative and descriptive as possible. Consider it like your little ad space.

2. Online Directories and Citations

Local search is becoming more fruitful as compared to big scale search. Since you are a local
small business owner, you know the specific requirements of the local audience and that’s where you can beat your competitors. Nowadays, being the best bakery shop in California is much better than being an OK bakery shop on a national level.

3. Google My Business

Google My Business (GMB) is also a directory, but it’s so big and significant that it deserve its own section! We think you might already have a GMB account as of now, but if you don’t, do it NOW!

It’s highly likely that your business information will be on Google already, so all you have to do is
to claim your GMB page. Don’t worry, Google will not charge a single penny.

In order to claim your GMB, you will have to go through the verification process. Google will send a postcard with a PIN to your physical location. You can then use that pin to verify your business and claim the GMB account. You should also claim Bing places for business because many people use Bing as well and you should not miss any opportunity.

After claiming your GMB and BPB, go through each and every section and provide all the
information. It’s crucial that you list as much information as possible because Google uses it as a ranking factor and it can help you to get into the local 3 pack.

Once you get into the local 3 pack, it’s sure that your site will get more visitors than ever!

4. Reviews matter… A LOT!

It’s a no brainier that Reviews are beginning to play a more important role than ever before. Almost everybody performs local search before going to any shop so that they can make a well-informed decision. They not only go through the website but also check out reviews about the business on different platforms. They are taking advice from others and also sharing their own personal experience with their friends, family members, and strangers as well using sites like Yelp. Now it’s important than ever that you focus on the reviews that your business is receiving. Any negative review will negatively impact your business in both short and long run. So if you are looking forward to gaining more and more customers than focus on getting positive reviews.

Often times, the happy customers hardly give reviews but the one who disliked your product or
service will surely pour out their hate on as many platforms as possible. You can’t totally avoid
bad reviews, but you can do your bit to ensure that only positive reviews get highlighted.

You might be wondering how you can do that, here’s how:

The happy customers are not bothered about giving any reviews but if you will encourage them
to do so, they will surely make the efforts. So after anyone has completed any transaction, direct them to your review page (If you have any) or after a while send the review page links to their email. Most of the times they will be more than happy to review your business. Now after they are done, promote this on Facebook and twitter and other social media platforms.
Another way to get positive reviews is using ur review widget which is placed on the website and makes sure that the negative reviews are filtered out. Not only that, it also asks your happy
customers to post the reviews on Google and Yelp thus improving your brand presence. For more information on the review widget, please connect with us.

5. Use Structured Data Markup

Despite the sheer importance of Structured data markup, only 31.3% of websites are using it.
Structured data markup provides more information about your business & products/service to
the search engines. Thus it helps you stand out from the crowd. You can add schema markup to your site’s code and help the Google bots to determine what your site content is about. Which will ultimately benefit you!

From now on, call extensions will be automatically generated and will be displayed in Mobile ads.

You don’t need to manually put it in your ads, just highlight it on your landing page and Google
will do the job for you.

Google has predicted that businesses will get 19% more calls from mobile search engines as
compared to the mobile landing pages. After-all, who will not love the convenience of
contacting the business directly from the search.

However, not all business owners will be very excited about this new update because they may
like to be contacted through other mediums and some may not like to pay for the clicks from
search engines.

Business owners can simply opt out by following the below steps:

1. Go to the Ad extensions tab and select “View automated extensions report”
2. The click on the automated extension options (advanced) and then click on Edit.
3. Check the “Do not use specific automated extensions for this account” option available at
the bottom.
Keep in mind that after Feb 6, you will have to remove any automatically generated call
extensions from under the Call extensions section.

Related Article: Google Loves Mobile Websites 

Google is going to roll out the mobile first index very soon and those who haven’t opted for
responsive websites should go for it as soon as possible. Also, if this the first time you have heard about “Mobile first index” then leave everything and just click here to know the details about this major shift. There have been two shifts in preparation:

Search Console Reports

Google often does not openly discuss upcoming changes but this time they are doing whatever
they can in order to inform people about the major shift. John Muller recently said that those who are going to get impacted by the shift will receive warning and guidelines within their GoogleSearch Console accounts so that they can resolve the issues before the changes take place.
“We will inform people when we get closer when we actually have a date, so there is sufficient
time for people to kind of resolve issues that they may need to resolve. We’ll try to also inform sites where we recognize issues, so if we recognize that maybe your mobile version doesn’t have all of the same content or markup that your desktop version has then we’ll try and let you know about that through Search Console as well, so that you kind of are aware of these issues and kind of have time to resolve them.”

New TestMySite Tool

Google has also introduced a new tool using which you can check the mobile friendliness of your website: https://testmysite.withgoogle.com. This new tool replaces the old search console mobile friendly tool.

When you enter your website’s URL, it displays your websites mobile friendliness and also sends you reports to your email stating what your website is lacking. Not only that, it also provides you with ideas on how you can improve it. Make sure the maximum use of it.

8 Ways to Make Your Website Even Stickier Today

One click doesn’t suffice!

You need more clicks and forms filled out to generate as many leads as you can! It’s pull marketing here on the internet!

If you want to attract more customers, monetize your blog, or become a trusted industry leader, you’ve got to keep online visitors clicking around your site (vs. darting off to go check Facebook).

Try these tips to get website visitors to stick around:

1. Add a “Most Emailed” widget (a la The New York Times) on the homepage to arouse interest in viral stories.

2. Shorten every post with a “Read More” link. You’ll get two pageviews per article and make your homepage more inviting by cutting down on bulky text.

3. Include “Related Links” to other interesting content on your site at the bottom of every post.

4. Integrate linkable social media icons into your post template for easy sharing.

5. For the love of user experience, make sure all external links pop up in a new window so your reader stays on your site.

6. Reach out to related bloggers and offer a link exchange so both of you can boost new users and SEO (external links up your Google search rank).

7. Repeat after us: no pop-ups. Ever. A little ad revenue is just not worth the annoying interruption.

8. Always add an awesome image. A picture’s worth a thousand page views.

Try using these tactics and read more on how to make your website visitors stick around by listening to what your customers want and delivering!

Finally, Google has updated the Penguin algorithm. The fourth release is also the last of this type since Google Penguin 4.0 is now officially part of Google’s Core Algorithm.

Penguin is now operating in real-time.

Penguin was launched in 2012 to stop sites from spamming the Google’s SERP. The Penguin was able to detect the websites which were spamming the results but were going undetected by the regular spamming system.

But the catch was, the site with spammy behaviors had to wait for the Penguin to run again in order to get out of the list. Since it operated on a periodic basis, the websites had to wait for a really long time. Some sites even had to wait for

Penguin was launched in 2012 to stop sites from spamming the Google’s SERP. The Penguin was able to detect the websites which were spamming the results but were going undetected by the regular spamming system. But the catch was, the site with spammy behaviors had to wait for the Penguin to run again in order to get out of the list. Since it operated on a periodic basis, the websites had to wait for a really long time. Some sites even had to wait for

But the catch was, the site with spammy behaviors had to wait for the Penguin to run again in order to get out of the list. Since it operated on a periodic basis, the websites had to wait for a really long time. Some sites even had to wait for couple of years to get out from the dark zone.

Google last updated the Penguin on 17-Oct- 2014 and the websites that were penalized had to wait really long. To be honest it was unfair on so many levels. As the need of the hour, Google decided to play it fair and made the Penguin run in real time along with its re-crawling and re-indexing process, making it much faster and effective.

It has become more page-specific.

Google has made Penguin 4.0 “more granular”. Following is the official statement from Google:

“Penguin is now more granular. Penguin now devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting the ranking of the whole site.”

Earlier, Penguin used to penalize the whole site, so does being “more granular” means that it is now page-specific?

It means it affects finer granularity than sites. It does not mean it only affects pages.

No confirmation from now on?

Google will not release any statement, informing about future Penguin refreshes because they have made the Penguin to operate in real time, which means that it will be updated promptly. It’s a constant process which leaves no room for confirmation or statement release.

Is it fully live?

Google has said that it will take a little more time as re-crawling the whole web is no joke, especially the deep links. Meanwhile, you can witness the changes as soon as Google re-crawls your site.

Our Takeaway

Right after the Penguin was official, we decided to run some numbers on our own campaigns. Our dataset of 3500+ websites and 250,000+ keywords (both local and national) makes it easy for us to get a birds-eye view of how our client campaigns are performing.

We were not surprised to find that, so far, this update didn’t have any major negative impact on our client campaigns. In fact, we have seen improvement in overall percentage of keywords ranking on page 1 of Google. We are quite confident that the new and improved 2016 SEO deliverables which we offer saved our clients. This is another example of how our strategies future-proof your business and avoid your website getting hit by such major updates.

In case you have been caught by this update, we can help you get back on track. Please contact our sales reps to assist you.

For the history buffs:

Penguin 1.0 on April 24, 2012 (impacting ~3.1% of queries)
Penguin 1.1 on May 26, 2012 (impacting less than 0.1%)
Penguin 1.2 on October 5, 2012 (impacting ~0.3% of queries)
Penguin 2.0 on May 22, 2013 (impacting 2.3% of queries)
Penguin 2.1 on Oct. 4, 2013 (impacting around 1% of queries)
Penguin 3.0 on October 17, 2014 (impacting around 1% of queries)
Penguin 4.0 & real-time on September 23, 2016

To rank your website higher, you should keep up the pace with Google as it keeps updating its algorithm. The following tips will help you to stay updated and improve your rankings in local search.

1. Start with Extensive Keyword Research. Concentrate on your client’s needs. If you provide what your clients are specifically searching for, you can get maximum results. Do a comprehensive research about the keywords that your prospects use and optimize your site accordingly.

2. Regularly Update Your Business Listing and Use Precise NAP Keep a constant check on your business listing, especially Google My Business & ensure that it is relevant for the users. You can outsource Business Listing Management to make sure your business listing is on your client’s search results. Also, using precise Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) is essential. If you are using abbreviations make sure your abbreviations are acceptable by Google.

3. Clients’ Reviews Play a Vital Role. Having a review section on your website is a must and you need to ensure that you have a maximum number of positive and genuine reviews. Creating a system for constantly monitoring reviews will be beneficial as it will create a positive impact. If you are in need of getting positive reviews, for your business we can help. Our review widget, which we offer as a part of our SEO, helps to get positive reviews from Google, Yelp, and Facebook.

4. Design Mobile Friendly Website for Your Business It is sad that we still have to remind people about it. But just for the sake of it – “Having a mobile friendly website is an absolute must because most of the people use mobile devices to perform any search”. And if your website is not optimized as per the mobile screen, it will take longer to load and will be inconvenient for the users. Ultimately, they will simply hit the back button.

5. High-quality Content High-quality content is the king. People start their purchase journey with research and if you provide them with the information they are looking for, they will prefer you over your competitors to do business. Avoid scraping content, though, it will do more harm than good.

6. Relevant Title Tags Title Tags are one of the most important factors of search results. Use title tags which you think can be easily linked to clients’ search. Remember, your title tags and tag lines should be descriptive.

7. Location Specific Pages Make it easy for customers to find your business. If you have a multi-location business, create a separate page for each location rather than cramming all the information on one page. But don’t forget to interlink the pages to ensure proper navigation.

Following the above-mentioned tips will help you up your SEO game. However, to get better results, you will have to constantly update yourself on the latest trends. SEO is not a one-time task, it’s an ongoing process. In case you need any help, feel free to contact us. Our experts will guide you to the best of their knowledge.