Local SEO Ranking Game - Why Ranks High?

[Linda Buquet]

Looks like Dr. Stewart only ranks in organic and not in blended, possibly due to having a 2nd listing with a totally different practice name. Duplicate confusion is usually one of main reasons listing get disconnected. But he's also way far from the city.
Dupes: (831) 462-3550 - Google Maps

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ah, interesting. I just found a 2nd Google Plus page for Dr. Sawyer here Sawyer Chiropractic Group - About - Google+ Same address, different phone numbers but the phone number on this one matches the website, the other that is linked to his site in the blended results, doesn't. I found it at the bottom of the position A Google Plus page where google says, "Similar places."

Google doesn't appear to be linking it with the website, or is it?

I wonder if it's because BOTH numbers are on the listing in MapMaker so G is matching it up from that? Sawyer - Map Maker

 

[katandmouse]

Yes, Linda, Dr. Katie is my client. Working to get her back after a previous SEO consultant did something wrong and she disappeared from the first page. Very small budget client makes it a bit challenging, but her business has increased 17 fold since I got involved along with someone doing social media for her. Hard to believe I know, but the "17 fold" claim came from Katie herself and she insists it's true. If there are any doubters out there, see how effective SEO and Social Media can be?

But the competitive player I am, I can't stand to see Doc Sawyer where he is when he's not doing the work Katie is. Nor does he have her amazing reviews. Love to get some tips from the peanut gallery here on how to get her out of the hole and up at the top where she deserves to be. I'll try out suggestions. Some time ago, I had the title you see "Santa Cruz chiropractor, Dr. Katie Griffin" but it didn't help so I switched it because I thought it read better, but I'll switch it back.

I'm wondering if Katie has a negative ding on her site, maybe from before.

 

[JacekWieczorek]

I would remove keywords from the title. It doesn't show for me TinyGrab - Simple. Screenshot. Sharing. in SERP and it's a but stuffed with keywords. It's the same for docsawyer but we would like to be better than them

Get some more opinions for your profile. TinyGrab - Simple. Screenshot. Sharing.. Maybe some discount for a visit with printed opinion would encourage people to review Dr. Katie?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I would remove keywords from the title. It doesn't show for me TinyGrab - Simple. Screenshot. Sharing. in SERP and it's a but stuffed with keywords. It's the same for docsawyer but we would like to be better than them

No Jacek, her keyword length is not what's causing her title not to show in SERPS. I blogged about this a couple months ago. Google has been overwriting all title tags in blended except the A spot. The rest she tries to change to business name. (Sometimes gets it wrong) Only the A spot gets their title tag. Do a bunch of searches and you'll see it's not Katie, it's everyone.

But I do think Katie's title tag could be improved a lot.

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK here's a good one for you guys.

San Diego Dentist
Rank B
site: riovistafamilydentistry.com
G+ Local: Rio Vista Family Dentistry - About - Google+
Location: Far from city center

This is a very benign under-optimized Dental site. There is NO reason I can see it should rank on page 1 much less in the #2 spot - in a market as competitive as San Diego is.

Does not even have "San Diego Dentist" in h1, or in content and basically does not have much content or marketing or anything going for it. (Very few backlinks compared to competitors, so it's not that either.)

G+ Page claimed but not optimized. No categories, description or images.

"San Diego Dentist" is in title tag. But here's the kicker. Check out the source code on that web site. There are 4 Heads and 4 Duplicated Title Tags. So are they ranking due to having MULTIPLE title tags with "San Diego Dentist" in them???

Is that why Google likes this site so much?

Does not look to me like someone even did quad heads and title tags to try to game Google, just looks like someone didn't know what they were doing and made a mistake??? But I cannot see any other reason that would account for this little site's high ranking. (I admit not having time to do deep research, but I'm not seeing any strong ranking signals anywhere.)

What do you guys think???

 

[JacekWieczorek]

No Jacek, her keyword length is not what's causing her title not to show in SERPS. I blogged about this a couple months ago. Google has been overwriting all title tags in blended except the A spot. The rest she tries to change to business name. (Sometimes gets it wrong) Only the A spot gets their title tag. Do a bunch of searches and you'll see it's not Katie, it's everyone.

But I do think Katie's title tag could be improved a lot.

I think it's my English . I was thinking about keywords in title in Google Plus TinyGrab - Simple. Screenshot. Sharing.

AFAIK it's better to not have these in business name.

I had a problem with business name that was exact as a domain. It was "tvprzemyslowa.pl" (translates to CCTV) and we couldn't get it to google places just because Google didn't allow to put domain names in business names.

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That's strange. 4 title tag keywords rich could be a factor. I checked again for their number and they have many citations . And again "NAP consistency" would be NAP - maybe Name isn't necessary?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I think it's my English . I was thinking about keywords in title in Google Plus AFAIK it's better to not have these in business name.

Oh YA sorry I read that wrong. I usually pick up on KW + City added to Place pages because it's a huge violation - but totally missed it on that listing. So good catch.

However I wonder if G let's her get away with it because she has so many citations for the version of the name that's used on the Place page. "Dr. Katie Griffin - Santa Cruz Chiropractor" "(831) 458-1940" 7600 matches in Google.

Guidelines say "Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world." So it seems like she has pretty consistently used that name if she has that many matches.

BUT I agree with you, I would not have listed her that way.

 

[katandmouse]

You're leaving me hanging, Linda.
How would you improve it?

---------- Post Merged at 12:14 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:03 AM ----------

That is a good one. Don't you hate when this happens?

I agree. Someone made a mess of the code but clearly not intentional. I can't see how that would make a difference. If I were writing Google's algorithm I'd write the title and value and then if it occurred again, I'd just write over it.

Well, they do have their office on San Diego street in San Diego. Maybe that's it.

 

[katandmouse]

She's pretty consistent with that name everywhere but Facebook. That would be a red flag for me if I were Google because that's one of the places where she is most visible. If it's not her legit name, then why isn't it there, Google might wonder.

I think you're right, Linda, in saying Google overlooks the keyword+location in her title because of the consistency across the board.

Maybe I should have her change it in Facebook so it's consistent there as well. She can still do that until she gets 200 fans.

Take a look at a query on Santa Cruz chiropractor now and you'll see Doc Eymann in D and note that google is printing the title tag from his site, not his business name and not the title in google plus. This contradicts your earlier findings! And now we have the fun of figuring out why. Is it his reviews? Maybe that many entitle him to privileges?

I've been trying to get Katie to get more Google reviews but the social media person involved just doesn't want to ask for them. Feels it's wrong to ask. I created a QR code flyer to put on their desk, but I'm not sure if they are using it.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Take a look at a query on Santa Cruz chiropractor now and you'll see Doc Eymann in D and note that google is printing the title tag from his site, not his business name and not the title in google plus. This contradicts your earlier findings! And now we have the fun of figuring out why. Is it his reviews? Maybe that many entitle him to privileges?

Hmmm, good spot Kathy. That's the 1st time in a long time I've seen anyone but A get a title tag. Wonder why.

Well, they do have their office on San Diego street in San Diego. Maybe that's it.

That's a good thought, I wonder...

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK HERE's a good one! This is kinda random. Don't think I've ever seen this before, but I'm sure it happens.

Just saw a listing move up the rankings for San Marcos Chiropractor. (Set location to San Marcos Ca OR you'll see results for Texas).

Check out his site: Dr. O'Mead - Alaska Alternative Healing and Non-Surgical Wellness

Over weekend he jumped to C (#3) for San Marcos Chiropractor. (Now he's back down at E). BUT his site is optimized for ALASKA???

1) Blended is normally about organic. San Marcos is nowhere on the home page that's ranking. The whole site is optimized for Alaska, NOT San Marcos.

2) NAP does not match anywhere on the site. There are a couple pages that reference the San Marcos phone. (We or at least I believe matching NAP on every page of site is important. Here's a site that has MISmatched NAP from a state far away and it still ranks?)

3) His G+ Local page only has 3 citations with name/phone. So not like this is an established high authority site. (But maybe he has a bunch of backlinks for San Marcos chiropractor?)

Oh just found a page buried on the the site that says he's been San Marcos fav Chiro since 2001??? He moved from Alaska in 2001 and never changed his site??? Hmmm maybe has offices in both locations?

I was so curious about this I just called both offices. Both phones are live and VM says office of Dr. O'Mead. So weird, he must have 2 offices across the country.

But even with hardly any citations and no mention of San Marcos on the site, Google has high trust that this business is in San Marcos. Just feel like there is a hidden lesson here somewhere.

Why does this site that's optimized for Alaska rank so well in San Marcos CA?

Just odd...

 

[Don Berthiaume]

Yeah... I poked around a bit on this over the weekend and just did a bunch of different search queries (Yeah.. I understand that only a couple of NAP queries are supposed to be important.... but I figured what the hell!)

Seems he has quite a few videos optimized for San Marcos Chiropractor hanging around. He apparently was working with a video distribution group and who had secured a couple of different geo-targeted URLS - I assume for him?

hemetchiropractors.net and sanmarcoschiropractors.net

Both URLS no longer are associated with our Dr. O'Mead... yet there is still a YouTube channel youtube.com/user/hemetads which does feature 7 "san marcos chiropractor" targetted videos with our friend and the sanmarcoschiropractors.net URL listed from 3 years ago.

This channel also includes videos of other local chiros.

He does have his own YouTube channel with about 39 videos, but best I can see they are not optimized for either Anchorage or San Marcos.

He does have at least two other sites and has gone by another name (more on that later...)

dromead.wordpress.com/

and

sanmarcoschiropractors.blogspot.com/2009/08/dr-omead-san-marcos-chiropractors.html

[interesting note that at the lower left of this site, there is an about me for "rich boudreau". If you look at the domain name registrar info for the hemetchiropractors.net site above, the registrant information includes:

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Domain Name: HEMETCHIROPRACTORS.NET
Created on: 30-May-08
Expires on: 30-May-13
Last Updated on: 31-May-12

Administrative Contact:
boudreau, rich
boudreau's readymix concrete
41176 thornton ave
hemet, California 92544
United States
(951) 925-4087

If you look at his "about me" link seems he's been busy helping chiropractors blogger.com/profile/06446796450448673500 Wonder what color hat he wears?

Doing those other random queries resulted in the following

video + "san marcos chiropractor" + "dr omead" - 425 results

"dr omead" "(760) 744-2744" - 2,080 results

"dr o'mead" "(760) 744-2744" - 3,500 results

"san marcos chiropractors" "(760) 744-2744" - 3,480 results

"san marcos chiropractor" "(760) 744-2744" - 747 results

sanmarcoschiropractor + omead - 46 results

sanmarcoschiropractor + "dr omead" - 1610 results

"san marcos chiropractor" + "dr omead" - 424 results

"340 Rancheros" "(760) 744-2744" - 21,900 results

"dr omead" + chiropractor + "san marcos" - 2,170 results

this last query also served up one other Places pages... with that other name, thoug it still has the 340 rancheros drive address.



Advanced Chiropractic and Wellness Center

More search queries resulted in:

"Advanced Chiropractic" "(760) 744-2744" - 63,200 - results

But there also appears to have been another location in San Marcos for this business with this Tel.

"1001 W San Marcos" "(760) 744-2744" - 6,440 results

My other wonderment is highlighted in the image above... notice that for the first listing 'california' is included in with the city and for the second listing "CA" is included with the city.

Seems there's alot going on here that has helped our friend convince Google of who and where he is. He does seem to be one lucky dude though, heh?

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK Don, you're hired! Whew you did a bunch of research I wanted to do but that would have killed my carpal AND forced me back to my own San Marcos Chiropractor.

What a bunch of scrambled mixed up data. Seems this guy has been trying lots of stuff, just used a very inconsistent shot gun approach with different sites, names, etc.

Gee, he'd be scary if he ever figured out how to focus and get consistent!

THANKS DON for playing a GREAT ROUND!
I declare you our 1st winner and award you the coveted
Best Researcher Award!
​

 

[Don Berthiaume]

Thanks Linda!

I'm sure there's more but, my gosh, how do you combat this crap? I guess the silver lining in all of this is that HE is not asking to be one of our client's. What a mess that would be to clean up.

It's frustrating for sure.

Here we are trying to do right by our clients and this stuff gets by Google's radar?

Where's the justice?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I guess the silver lining in all of this is that HE is not asking to be one of our client's. What a mess that would be to clean up.

Thank God for small favors!

 

[mr S.A.]

As of the 19th last month a massive change was seen that I can only attribute to gaming the system.

From the taking of every single zipcode to the ability to out do even Google's own proximity search.
please tell me why and if its legal.

ezlockout.com is the company in question please search roadside assistance 78201 thru 78261 and tell me what you see is off. Also do a mobile search for the same noticing that they outrank even companies that are closer in proximity.

Thank you

 

[katandmouse]

But interesting trick both have an extra H1. In the link title of the header. In fact the keywords are ALSO in bold. In header image. Hmmm...

The Santa Cruz Chiropractor to see - Chiropractor Santa Cruz

(Scroll to see all code)

(Again the sites that both have the above code and both rank high are docsawyer.com and stewartchiropractic.net)

Not saying that in and of itself gave them a boost, but it's interesting, no?

What's also interesting is that the title links to that page on the keywords. So there's a lot of power perhaps in just the title alone. I may experiment with this.

 

[katandmouse]

As of the 19th last month a massive change was seen that I can only attribute to gaming the system.

From the taking of every single zipcode to the ability to out do even Google's own proximity search.
please tell me why and if its legal.

ezlockout.com is the company in question please search roadside assistance 78201 thru 78261 and tell me what you see is off. Also do a mobile search for the same noticing that they outrank even companies that are closer in proximity.

Thank you

Well, good for them. Ok, here's what I noticed:

1. They have a 30/30 rating
2. They responded to each and every review
3. they have 3 Google Offers
4. Their site is pretty well optimized
5. Their name has some keywords in it
6. Only 9 inbound links
7. 42 shares
8. 62 tweets
9. I love their social media! And maybe, just maybe Google does too.

So Mr. S.A., I don't think they are gaming the system.

I tell my customers to chase customers not rank. This company appears to be doing that. They are not trying to trick Google. They are doing what Google wants. In fact, they appear to be doing everything right when it comes to providing good service (look at their review and their attention and promos in Twitter and Facebook). Do you think Google finally got it right?

Linda, I'd love to see a thread started where we can post examples like this, i.e., real good businesses, apparently doing it right, actively involved in social media for what appears to be the right reason, and then ranking high. Are there others like this? Is this a trend? This is actually what I've been predicting and waiting for. Are we finally there?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Linda, I'd love to see a thread started where we can post examples like this, i.e., real good businesses, apparently doing it right, actively involved in social media for what appears to be the right reason, and then ranking high. Are there others like this? Is this a trend? This is actually what I've been predicting and waiting for. Are we finally there?

We can start one any time. You first!