On April the 5th many business owners noticed a drop in Google page rank, Google later confirmed that it was causing some sites to be deindexed even.
On April the 7th, @searchliason posted that they were aware that some sites were impacted beginning on the Friday.
Today the following tweet
The indexing issue has now been fully resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your patience as we restored normal operation.
Times like this leave room for thought, the expression "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" comes to mind and the fact that we may all be becoming a little bit obsessed with our SERPs.
The great news is that things are now back to normal and the panic is over for business owners for now. If you have noticed a drop in your serps recently contact us so we can see if there is anything we can do to help.
Updated: Oct 28, 2022
There are four main pillars that underpin any online marketing strategy, these four pillars are:
Trusted location info, a diverse and quality link building strategy, a website which is locally focused and supplies relevant and unique content and finally reliable and trustworthy reviews. If you are looking to provide trusted information about your business location details, then you should be considering making use of local citations.
However, when using citations ensure that you concentrate specifically on accuracy across the high ranking and trusted citation sites, then your Google listing will be affected if your details including your business name, phone number, mail address and office location are not identical across all of them. Every business needs citation, because they offer a trusted and credible source of information about those businesses listed upon them and tend to rank well in the search engines.
Factors that influence local search results based on a Moz survey:
If a business combines citation signals with Google My Business (GMB) then it could make up to 32% of the finder ranking factors or local pack pie chart according to a Moz survey. These citations also have a huge impact on factors associated with localised organic ranking, filling around 15% of the complete pie chart.
It is widely considered that citations and Google my business (GMB) results if used consistently and published correctly using the correct name, phone number and address details can have a significant impact on a business’s local rankings and as a result could positively influence the rankings associated with local organic searches too.
Further benefits of citations:
Apart from increasing the local pack rankings as well as localised organic results, a citation can also help to achieve the following for any businesses that uses them:
1. Expands your footprint across the web:
With proper use of citation you can increase the number of your local customers as well as your online clients. This includes third-party sites such as Bing, Apple Maps, Foursquare, Yelp, MapQuest etc. and even niche sites.
2. Expands footprint on the organic results pages of Google:
Listings and websites containing citations are mostly ranked closer to the top search results of Google organically for brand searches as well as keyword searches. This is because search engines trust such websites as well as their published content to be of high relevance, ensuring you have a proper citation on such websites as well as on your Google my business account will help to get your business noticed.
3. Backlinks, both “do-follow” and “no-follow”: Most of the citation websites provide backlinks as part of their service offering. Most of these links are of type no-follow, but sometimes these links might contain do-follow links too, especially the paid listings.
4. Third party reviews:
Most websites that are used for citation purposes are also review websites. These websites provide valuable feedback on niche sites and also third-party generic websites. Such review sites have a considerable impact on local rankings for websites that use them as well as impacting the general search term rankings too.
5. Vertical and town specific directories:
Apart from data aggregators, the use of GMB and top tier citation websites is considered to play an important role in establishing an online presence for any website owner
The benefits of citation are so substantial, that they are considered to be one of the first and most important stages in building any online presence for a local business, get it right and the benefits are plentiful, however if you should get it wrong your website could be penalised for simple errors including duplication & content discrepancies.
Getting it right the first time is crucial, so no matter if you are a startup or a well-established online business, if you have little or no experience with online marketing we would always recommend seeking the advice of an award winning SEO company just like SEO Flatrate who specialise in helping small to medium sized businesses across the UK to raise their profile on the web.
It's back with a vengeance, the 2018 SEO Flatrate 'Christmas Tree Bonanza'!
It's Christmas all over again and we have been asked time and again by our customers if and when we will be holding another Christmas Tree Bonanza in December 2018.
After last year's successful Christmas tree bonanza, we had 70+ applicants all looking to win the main prize and to cash in on a free £70 SEO Flatrate Search Engine Optimisation service for their online business. Last years prize was won by the Dorset based Airport Transfer Company "Elite Travel Services".
For all those who have never heard of the SEO Flatrate Christmas Tree Bonanza, it is now time for you to pull your socks up and pay attention, it's school time all over again.
If you know of anyone with an online business looking to get noticed on the Search Engines this will make a fantastic Christmas present!
So what is The SEO Flatrate Christmas Tree Bonanza you ask?
Well, it is all a bit of fun and games, we have all heard of "Where's Wally" right? Well instead of hunting down Wally, this time you are hunting for the SEO Flatrate Christmas tree Bonanzas.
So where have we hidden the christmas trees and can anyone take part??
Simple, we have taken the time to hide two SEO Flatrate Christmas trees somewhere within the content of our website thats two not one!. We won't tell you where they are, then that would be cheating right?
The winner is the first person or company, to tell us exactly where the two Christmas trees are hidden on our website. We do need both christmas tree locations and not just one and there is no prize for coming second place unfortunately. The winner takes it all here at the Christmas Tree Bonanza!!
Anyone can take part, you don't need to be a customer the rules are simple and very rewarding for anyone who needs Search Engine Optimisation for their website, blog or video.
What is SEO?
Please take a look at some of our other blogs or simply click here to find out more about how SEO can help you grow your business and drive more potential customers to your website.
How do I notify you when I have found them?
Simply contact us, letting us know who you are and where the Christmas trees are hidden, we will reply and let you know that we have your application.
The winner will be announced on our social media accounts on the 2nd of January 2019.
So without further ado, let the 2018 SEO Flatrate Christmas Tree Bonanza games begin!
And may the odds be ever in your favour :-).
There may be a bonus prize for guessing that film and a further bonus point for finding the ABBA song hidden within this blog.
