2014 a Great Year for Members at Search Engine Land
In addition to running their businesses and being active members of DFWSEM, Greg Gifford and Chris Silver Smith are also contributors at Search Engine Land. In fact, between the two of them, they managed to write five of the top Local Search columns of 2014. Where do they find the time?
For those of you who are not familiar with Search Engine Land, it’s one of the leading online new sources focusing exclusively on the search marketing industry. They are also the driving force behind the SMX conference series.
Let’s take a look at these articles and see what we can learn from them.
Greg Gifford

Andra Dunn, Mark Barrera, Todd Ebert, John Nosal, Greg Gifford, and Lissa Duty (L-R) at Local Social 2014
One Positive Pigeon Result: We Can Finally Ditch Ranking Reports
If you experienced negative effects from Google’s Pigeon update, the results do not look good on SEO reports for your clients. Greg’s article offers five local SEO metrics you should focus on instead of rankings.
Simple Math To Show Potential Clients Why Local SEO Is Important
Having trouble trying to explain the complexities of SEO, algorithms, key word density, and links to your clients? Try using a simple equation that explains why they are not on the first page of Google.
Simple Tips To Set The Stage For Local SEO In 2015
How can you win in local search in 2015? It’s simple.
- Be Awesome
- Earn Awesome Links
Instead of putting your time and efforts into trying to “fool the nerds at Google”, make your site better. Avoid common pitfalls like not having home page content, pages with only a few sentences of content, spamming your site with keywords, and awful title tags.
Chris Silver Smith

Chris Silver Smith, Chris Sherman, Christine Churchill, and Debra Mastaler (L-R) at SMX West
12 Things To Check In Your Local Homepage SEO Audit
Just like your annual health check up, an annual SEO audit is an important part of website management, especially for local businesses. But where do you start? Chris highlights 12 essential elements you should check during your annual SEO check up. Evaluating redirects, home page title tags, meta descriptions, and optimizing for mobile are all part of the process.
Post-Pigeon Best Practice: How To Optimize For Internet Yellow Pages & Directories
The Yellow Pages are dead, right? Chris Silver Smith explains how the Google Pigeon update has breathed new life into Internet Yellow Pages and online business directories. He also offers tips for optimizing these online directories for your business.
Let’s Continue This Conversation
Did you learn something from these articles that will change your approach in 2015?
Graphic used with permission from Search Engine Land.

Andra Dunn, Mark Barrera, Todd Ebert, John Nosal, Greg Gifford, and Lissa Duty at Local Social 2014 by Grant Wickes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Chris Silver Smith, Chris Sherman, Christine Churchill, and Debra Mastaler at SMX West by Dana Lookadoo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.