In a recent video from Matt Cutts in response to a user-submitted question, he addresses two issue: Algorithm changes and content.

To my surprise, Cutts says Google makes nearly 350-400 changes in a year – nearly once a day! In a recent article from Search Engine Land covering an article by Wired on Google’s Algorithm, they have stated Google makes 550 changes a year… in any case, this means it’s even more important to keep your metadata fresh and up to date with search standards.

As for content being king… it still is, however, Cutts eludes to people actually viewing your website and content hierarchy standards.  This is getting back to the basics – how many inbound links and how many visitors you have will contribute to your organic ranking.  Best practices also says to have landing pages for each product/service/topic, making it easy not only for users to navigate your site and digest content, but equally as important for spiders to efficiently index your entire site frequently.

The bottom line: Use proper site architecture through taxonomy and site map strategy, update your content regularly, keep your meta fresh and utilize and inbound linking strategy with directories, reciprocals and by writing articles for other blogs to use.

In a survey assessing the factors that make up local search rankings, participants were asked to rate the importance of 49 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms (those that drive the 10-pack, 3-pack, and authoritative onebox search results; NOT the standard organic algorithms)

Some key take-aways include:

- Local search algorithms are not perfect and it’s anyone’s educated guess as to what ranks in most importance (similar to SEO theories)
- Important factors include: Verified listing, proper categories, KEYWORDS in title and listing and citations from major data providers
- While search engines somewhat forcefully make sure your business is shown only in the city where your address is, NOT YOUR SERVICE AREA, it is possible to slightly ‘game’ the results into using a PO BOX close to the centroid

It will be interesting to keep an eye on local search results for small business, especially as mobile becomes an even larger factor in how consumers research and purchase locally.

This article from Search Engine Land points out that Google is catering to small businesses by showing locally focused results more often.  While the author goes on to mention how this will negatively effect traffic to multinational corporate website, this continual algorithm tweak will greatly benefit the the Small to Mid-size business.  This means the SMB will continue to rank higher for local searchers than the massive conglomerates, giving you the upper hand in targeted, local searches.

In a similar arena, Google’s Local Business Center is beta testing a new service to feature local business.   Advertisers pay a flat fee, nearly $30/mo to “stand out” amongst their local competition.  This is a curious attempt from Google to blur the lines of organic and paid listing and I’m waiting to see how this pans out – what happens when everyone has a yellow tag!?

Yellowpages.com has purchased the domain yp.com for $3.85 million and launched a beta site that is a compliment to yellowpages.com. Link Here. The new site will be search focus and boast increased search relevancy and different ad structures.  AT&T also states that yellowpages.com is the company’s flagship website where people go when they want information they can trust.

Twitter reaches out to business owners for the first time. Link Here

Twitter 101.  Link Here.

Case studies of companies using Twitter for business.  Link Here.

A look into local SEO offerings.  Small businesses should be skeptical of local SEO. Link Here.

Finally, an Iphone app with turn-by-turn navigation.  Link Here.

A keyword phrase creator for local SEM, similar to Google’s keyword tool.  Link Here. Very Useful.

Roger Federer passes the 2 million fan mark on Facebook.  Link Here.  He offers a good lesson on how to best use the site to market.

Mobile is the future.  Video is the future. What will happen when mobile and video combine?  Experts predict a 500% increase in mobile video by 2013.  Link Here.

The twitter cycle: Curiosity, Abandonment, then Addiction. Global Visitors Hit 37 Million. Link Here.

Google Local Business center is a great tool to get you in front of your customers on the biggest search engine around, and best of all, it’s FREE! To find out more about if Google Local Business center can help your business just check out the video included in this post for information: