Darren Shaw of Whitespark.ca joins the EDGE in the second of two parts as we dive into the persistent Local SEO Myths. We covering a great deal that Darren has seen for years and we kill them off, one by one. Darren is a fantastic resource for understanding the true impact that Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) has on a local service company’s customer relationship and conversions… today on the EDGE.

[00:02:33] Local SEO Myth: Does everything have to be perfect for Google?
[00:05:26] Local SEO Myth: Using a Call Tracking Number Negatively Impacts Rankings
[00:07:22] Local SEO Myth: Setting Service Area in Google My Business Impacts Ranking
[00:09:24] Local SEO Myth: Keywords in the Business Description
[00:12:53] The Absolute, Most Important Thing to Convey: Trust
[00:13:52] Local SEO Myth: Geotagging Images
[00:18:16] Google Knows Your Space, Knows Your Brand, Knows Your Business
[00:19:27] Local SEO Myth: No One Reads Reviews Anymore
[00:25:25] Consumer Reviews Are A Conversion Step
[00:34:35] Shoppers Are Not Clicking Through to Websites Anymore

The end of the year is here and we covered so much on today’s show.  Not really - it was a Matrix 4 bashfest.  A couple of news items, yadda yadda and how bad could a movie suck?  Truly?  Thanks to Barry Schwartz, Matt Southern, Kevin Indig and Garret Sussmann for their articles, but the thanks really goes to Warner Brothers for making the Matrix 4, what a great gift to end the year with.  

Special thanks to our title sponsor Ahrefs - check out their free SEO audit tool at www.edgeofthewebradio.com/AWT

[00:00:54] Our Matrix4 reviews/bashing 

[00:08:20] TikTok takes the crown of WORLD’S MOST POPULAR DOMAIN from Google

[00:11:31] G-Rated sounding domains that lead to not-so-G-rated sites don’t show up in Google Search… unless you pay for ads.

[00:19:28] We’ve got your Predictions, YOU’RE PREDICTIONS HERE!

See you next year!

We welcome our new title sponsor, Ahrefs as part of the EDGE team.  Welcome back!  We’re coming in for a landing of this year’s news items with UPDATES!  Get your UPDATES here!  

[00:02:47] Updates…get your updates here! You know what would make the holiday week even better? Product review updates from Google!

[00:10:00] John Mueller says you can’t even tell which SEO efforts have changed your rankings

[00:17:50] YouTube is going to be adding automatic links to places mentioned in videos…

Mordy’s back with the EDGE team, talking about the news of the day.  We covered stories from Roger Montti, Barry SChwartz and Patrick Stox of Ahrefs. Really interesting one there - pretty bold move to disavow ALL links to 3 of your top articles to see if links do, in fact, mean what we think they mean to SEO.  Let’s all pull a Mordy and listen now to the EDGE!

[00:04:17] Hey Alexa, do you now that Amazon is shutting you down?

[00:08:15] Google’s December update was a big one

[00:18:55] Do inbound links even matter anymore?

Andrew “Optimisey” joins the EDGE team this week, covering just a fraction of the hot digital marketing news.  There’s so much happening, it was tough to pick but we settled on these headlines to get to you.  Covering news from Search Engine Roundtable and Brodie Clark, with a hot take on Google’s playground, we finished with a hearty Happy Birthday to an 18-year-old SER! 

Thanks, Barry, for these past 18 years of reporting!

[00:02:01] Political ad changes at Google for 2022

[00:08:20] Google is testing a lot of their own real estate on the SERP

[00:14:40] The Volatility of the Dec 2021 Product Reviews update continues 

[00:21:04] Happy 18th Birthday to Search Engine Roundtable

[00:24:37] #SEOChat 1 PM EST - Products, Reviews, and your GBP: Hosted by: Riley Hope @reillyhope13

[00:25:17] WEIRD SEO: John Mueller on SEO to quote Jurassic Park: Just because you can, should you?

Mordy's back from vacation and we're covering his review of the November Core Algorithm update from Semrush. We're back to trolling each other with the regular jabs. Covering news from Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land this week.

[00:04:21] The Mobile-First Indexing Deadline is Gone. 

[00:09:12] How Does One’s Site “Fit Into the Internet”

[00:21:57] Discussing the November 2021 Core Update with Mordy