If you attended my presentation at the DFW SEM meeting in January on Semantic Markup for Local SEO, or if you read my articles on “13 Semantic Markup Tips For 2013: A Local SEO Checklist” and “Authorship: The Top Search Marketing Tactic in 2013“, you’ll recall that I recommended sites add in semantic markup wherever possible to gain more attention (and click-throughs) in search results.

As an experiment, I’d added a gluten-free Alfredo recipe I came up with near the end of last year to my Argent Media site. I’m also using Authorship markup on the site, too. After a few days/weeks for Google’s systems to process the additional content, my Alfredo page is now showing up in the search results — with a combination of Recipe rich snippets and Author markup information. Here’s how it looks:

Gluten Free Alfredo Recipe Page in Google Search Results

I honestly wasn’t sure if the recipe snippet would be allowed to appear for my site. Google may not automatically trust all sites for all types of rich snippet treatments, and I would suppose that SEO agency sites would be high on their list of questionable sites for such content. Even sites that are specialized for industries that lend themselves to particular rich snippets can’t always achieve the display of rich snippets.

(Also, it’s very clear to me that Google’s algorithm for invoking rich snippet listing treatments use a few determining factors, perhaps involving how many other rich snippets are displayed on the same page of search results, how popular the page may be for a particular keyword, etc.)

In any case, I think the interesting part of the snippet layout is the combination of Recipe rich snippet and Author rich snippet. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen the Author tagging added at some of the top food and recipe websites yet. My author tag doesn’t lend as much juice as the names of so many of those celebrity chefs would!

I’d bet that other snippet combinations with the author tag are possible — have you seen any in the wild?

Since the earliest days of search engine optimization (“SEO”), the page Title <title></title> text has been one of the most influential on-page elements for keyword rankings in search results. For local business websites, the Title text on the homepage is particularly influential. In fact, it may be the most important factor on the most important website page. So, read on for a few tips on making a good one!

Local SEO Title Tags

Read the rest of this entry »

DFWSEM Local Search Optimization meetingChris Silver Smith is speaking on semantic markup for local search optimization tonight at the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association meeting in Richardson. He’ll be speaking along with Greg Gifford, the Director of Search and Social for AutoRevo.

Chris recently wrote a few articles on semantic markup, such as 13 Semantic Markup Tips for 2013: A Local SEO Checklist, Local SEO 101: Local Breadcrumbs, and SEO: Breadcrumbs Are Bread-and-Butter touches upon the semantic markup for breadcrumbs as well.

Chris also long been a proponent of semantic markups, prior to their adoption as special signals by the major search engines. (See just a few examples: Tips for Local Search Engine Optimization for Your Site, the hCard Microformat & Local Search Optimization, and Optimize Local Events with hCalendar Microformat.) The current primary semantic markup standard accepted by Google and Bing is the Schema.org protocol, based on micro data.

Semantic markup is a valuable SEO tactic to use in a site’s natural search strategy, because it enables search engines to more effectively interpret and understand a website’s content, and it helps increase the chances that this content might be featured more prominently in search results by way of Rich Snippets. Read the rest of this entry »

In my Web Marketing Today article this week, “SEO: Breadcrumbs Are Bread-and-Butter“, I point out how making a simple coding change to your breadcrumbs can improve the visibility and total clickthroughs to your site in Google and Bing search results.

The same tip applies for local business websites, which are frequently very bare-bones in terms of usability features and often opt to leave off breadcrumbs. For local businesses that have multiple store locations, breadcrumbs can be an even more critical feature for both Local SEO and user-friendliness.

If your site has multiple categories of pages and more than 10 pages, you definitely should include the markup for breadcrumbs.

Here’s an example I made based upon the Argent Media website:

Breadcrumbs for Local SEO example

Once you have your breadcrumb code, you can check it with the Google Structured Data Tool: Argent Media’s breadcrumb. (url: Argent Media Social Media) Read the rest of this entry »

Social Media Management, Argent Media Agency, DallasArgent Media is pleased to announce the launch of a new, flat-fee service to provide monthly development and content updates via major social media platforms on behalf of small-to-medium businesses. This Basic Social Media Management Package will provide optimal, high-quality updates in a business’s Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus pages each month.

As you may be aware, social media signals are counted by Google and Bing search engines. In fact, as Google has looked more and more critically upon the links accrued by sites, and has even penalized sites depending upon how they were obtained. Good quality links will continue to be a linking signal, but one area where businesses can directly bump up their prominence signals is via their social media efforts. Read the rest of this entry »

SearchExchange internet marketing conference 2012

Argent Media’s President, Chris Silver Smith, will be speaking in Charlotte, NC, on the topic of Local SEO at the annual SearchExchange Internet Marketing Conference, on July 24 2012.

Smith will cover some of Google’s “Prominence” ranking factors, and some techniques for how local businesses may optimize for advantage through them. “Prominence” is something of a catch-all term which Google engineers have used to collectively refer to ranking signals which help them to determine the relative popularity of one business versus others in the same area and business type category. Prominence factors in local search engine optimization can be subtle and complex, making it increasingly difficult for marketers to understand what they can do to influence their rankings in Google Place Search and in Google Maps. Smith’s presentation will clearly explain some of the criteria used by the search engines, and will provide some concrete methods for enhancing the ranking power of local business listings in search results.

This week, Smith also published an article which illustrates how Foursquare and check-in services could be a Local Seo ranking factor.

To keep up with future events featuring Chris Silver Smith, watch the Argent Media Appearances page.

 

The 2012 edition of David Mihm’s annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey has been released this week, and the general summary concludes that most of the influential ranking signals continue to be beneficial. From a glance at the report, relatively few signals shifted significantly from last year’s report.Local SEO Ranking Factors

As the summary states, the main changes to Google’s local search results seem to be in terms of the user-interface. The numbers of local listings occurring, the search phrases which invoke the local listings under Universal Search, and the presentation of those listings within the layout have been shifting.

Argent Media President, Chris Silver Smith, participated in the survey, along with numerous other established voices specialized in local search engine marketing.

Smith provides a few observations and comments upon this year’s survey results: Read the rest of this entry »

Costco internet retailer and SEOChris Silver Smith, president of Argent Media, was recently interviewed by a Seattle Times reporter, and she’d asked him to conjecture on some of the things Costco might choose to do in order to improve their site for search. (See the article at “Costco makes plans for boosting its online sales“)

He pointed out a number of very elemental search ranking elements which Costco.com had neglected — such as failure to include appropriate keyword phrases in page Titles, URLs and image ALT parameters. While he didn’t perform a deep analysis, and there were some things which were likely performing adequately for search rankings for some of the site’s pages, even at this quick, cursory audit it was apparent that a number of basic changes and improvements would likely improve Costco.com’s performance significantly.

As yet another example of a basic SEO gaffe, if you go to the short URL for Costco’s site: Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Silver Smith, president of Argent Media, will speak at next week’s DFW SEM meeting on Local Search Optimization, along with Brian Combs, founder and CEO of ionadas local.

DFW SEM

At the meeting, Chris will be presenting some techniques for Advanced Local Citation Development. Read the rest of this entry »

Search Starts Here LSA Conference - Boca Raton, FloridaArgent Media’s Chris Silver Smith will be appearing and speaking at the Search Starts Here conference in Boca Raton, Florida, on April 23rd and 24th. He will be speaking on topics involving the future of local search, strategic tactics for companies interested in competing in the local search space, and on aspects around locational technologies.

The Search Starts Here conference is hosted by the Local Search Association and BIA/Kelsey.

Friends of Argent Media may partake of a $200 discount – click here for the Search Starts Here Conference Coupon. The coupon contains links to register with the discount code, or it may be printed for in-person registration.

 

Announcing the launch of the newest search marketing agency in Dallas — Argent Media!

Press release: Local SEO Industry Expert Founds Search Marketing Agency in Dallas

Chris Silver Smith Interview

Chris Silver Smith, interviewed by Ash Nallawalla at Train SEM.

Chris Silver Smith, President of Argent Media, has just been interviewed by Ash Nallawalla at Train SEM this past weekend.

Check out the transcript at: Interview: Chris Silver Smith.

Silver describes how he got his start in SEO and Local SEO, some of his early mentors, advice about getting started in the industry, and more.

Check it out!

 

In Chris Silver Smith’s most recent article on Search Engine Land, he provides some suggestions for local optimizations of business profiles for Bing’s Business Portal.

While these tips may be basic, some of the information he points out — such as how images may help improve local rankings, and how including hours of operation might improve mobile rankings and conversions — is less intuitive stuff which small businesses and local marketers may not have considered.

Check out the full article: 10 Basic Bing Local Optimization Tips

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Research, thoughts, commentary about Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Online Reputation Management, and Industry News. Provided by Argent Media.

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