As Google moves through it's process of continuous improvement, subtle changes are happening in the search and marketing worlds every day. Let's put some things in perspective, and in following the intent of full disclosure, I am an owner of a Search Engine Marketing and Optimization company.
The most recent critical change is the improvement and increased use of “local map” displays for search. Adding the map and phone book style results changes how much real estate is available for SEO's to compete. Getting a “Top 10” is no longer good enough, most screens can only show two or three organic entries after the new and improved map.
What does this mean to me as an SEO? It means as an SEO, we have to put more effort into getting our clients into the top spot. This means fewer clients per manager, and higher fees for the SEO clients. It also means we must make sure our clients map data is correct and that they are spending the right money on the paid search advertising. Oddly, this paid space on the right has not lost any real estate.
What does this mean for Google? Simply put, more paid ad space, less free or “organic” listing space.
What does this mean for a business owner? It means you will need to spend more time on your advertising campaign and your search engine optimizing in order to maintain visibility. We all knew the free deal had to come to an end soon, free search doesn't pay the bills at the big search companies.
What can you do now? Get on your Google, Yahoo, and Bing accounts, make sure that your address and phone number are current and correct. Get your adwords fine tuned to put your ads only in front of buyers, skip the “maybe's”. Finally go out and look at all the other sources that might have data about you such as yelp and jigsaw. If you don't have the time, hire someone or hire and agency, because everyone uses search and you can't afford to be overlooked.
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