Salt Lake City SEO? Huh?

[Tyson Downs]

According to Brightlocal, these guys have the fewest citations (4), just 4 backlinks, 1 picture, 0 ratings, website authority of 11. All of those stats are either the lowest or second lowest for the 7 pack. Plus their business name is keyword stuffed and they are using an 800 number.

Plus, their title tag on their site says: EnviroStat. Look at their site closer and they aren't even an internet marketing company!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Ty,

For what search term?

Because the only one I see in your post is the title: Salt Lake City SEO.
But I don't get a pack and don't see them on page one anywhere for that query.

Can't even find them searching: Salt Lake City EnviroStat

 

[Tyson Downs]

Oh, interesting. I thought that BL on the Google + Local wizard was pulling blended results but I guess they aren't.

It is for the term: salt lake city seo company

Here is their listing: https://plus.google.com/115781896569677331485/about

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ya Google does not normally give SEO or web design KWs a pack. If you search like this: SEO company in salt lake city you'll usually get a pack if you just want to see how you are ranking. But I don't think many consumers search that way and for that term in your market someone scored the one box so there is no pack. Research them - think it's a fake name so you could get it nuked.

Still not seeing that other listing on page 1 organic. The G+ L title is KW stuffed. But that site does not match the query and is nothing to do with SEO. I wonder if that G+ L page is merged and is showing the wrong web site. Makes no sense.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Okay, let's assume that first one is just an error with a merged listing.

Let's look at seoutah . net then

#1 for utah seo:720 searches
#1 for seo utah: 390 searches

check out their horrible, keyword stuffed website with a huge bank of cities. The first thing I think, is are they still in business?

Their places page, https://plus.google.com/101562030104211719297/about?hl=en

• address formatted incorrectly (plus it's a house: 4373 W 5855 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84118 :: Homesnap
• address is actually in Kearns, UT, not Salt Lake City, UT
• Nap sucks, look up the address, brings up Golf Nutz
• Description repeats company name/kw
• Only category is Website Designer, not even internet marketing, but yet they rank #1 for SEO?
• No pics
• no reviews

Website is horrible

4 backlinks according to Majestic:
Site Explorer Results - Summary - Majestic SEO | Awesome Screenshot


Webmeup has them at more backlinks, but still under 20, and 90% of those are coming from seo-utah dot com.

Is this really the best result for such a competitive search term?

 

[Linda Buquet]

They only scored the one box due to name and domain being SEO Utah!

We have a list of these we're reporting to Google to support the need to reverse or tweak the algo that's causing this problem.

 

[Laustin1878]

Tyson, two questions...are you signed into Google when running your search? Are you searching for exact match (i.e. "seo utah" in quotes?)

That is the only way I was able to trigger the 1 pack and see the site you mention ranking at the top. I show 68k results. Without quotes, there are over 3.6 million results and they are nowhere to be found.

Not sure where are getting your searches numbers from but 68k results isn't very competitive in comparison to other seo related searches. How new is the website? Is it a result of a Google Honeymoon?

I am experiencing something similar with the site I'm working with and the # ranking site is flat out atrocious. Crap content, non optimized title tags, unrelated content on pages, etc. Just a poor site and it's ranking #1 for many different terms with the city in the search. Baffles me but I think it's the result of Google rewarding the new site as they are known to do from time to time. May be a similar situation you are experiencing.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Tyson, two questions...are you signed into Google when running your search? Are you searching for exact match (i.e. "seo utah" in quotes?)

That is the only way I was able to trigger the 1 pack and see the site you mention ranking at the top. I show 68k results. Without quotes, there are over 3.6 million results and they are nowhere to be found.

Not sure where are getting your searches numbers from but 68k results isn't very competitive in comparison to other seo related searches. How new is the website? Is it a result of a Google Honeymoon?

I am experiencing something similar with the site I'm working with and the # ranking site is flat out atrocious. Crap content, non optimized title tags, unrelated content on pages, etc. Just a poor site and it's ranking #1 for many different terms with the city in the search. Baffles me but I think it's the result of Google rewarding the new site as they are known to do from time to time. May be a similar situation you are experiencing.

I get that result whether signed into Google or not and whether I use quotes or not.

See a screenshot seo utah - Google Search | Awesome Screenshot

I'm getting the search results from a number of sources,all who pull from Google:

Webmeup
MySEOTool
RankCheckerAce.com

Ya, sometimes the search results just baffle me!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Luke, usually you have to set location to the area you are searching to see these one-boxes. But since that one is an exact match I see it, even when search is set to different states. And I'm not using quotes.

The good news is I would not think many search for KW + State. Most would narrow it down to KW + city I would think.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Luke, usually you have to set location to the area you are searching to see these one-boxes. But since that one is an exact match I see it, even when search is set to different states. And I'm not using quotes.

The good news is I would not think many search for KW + State. Most would narrow it down to KW + city I would think.

Linda for SEO do you think taht is the case? People search by city as opposed to state?

Google search volume (yes I know estimates) says that people search by state way more than by city.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Maybe SEO is different because it does not matter as much if someone is in same city, unless you want someone you can drive to and talk face-to-face.

But for more local specific industries like Dentists I think folks search KW + City.

I wonder if the KW counts for state are including searches for KW + city state.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Maybe SEO is different because it does not matter as much if someone is in same city, unless you want someone you can drive to and talk face-to-face.

But for more local specific industries like Dentists I think folks search KW + City.

I wonder if the KW counts are including searches for KW + city state.

Yeah I agree about the local services like a dentist or similar. Not sure on the kw count.

 

[elevatedsaltlakecityseo]

I used to work for his company. I will read over this thread and hopefully answer your questions.

 

[rclark]

I've personally seen a lot of EMDs ranking quite well in my local verticals.