Search Engine Optimization Archives

AI FINDS YOU. GOOGLE CONFIRMS YOU.

September 23, 2026 by John Mangelsdorf

AI search is changing how customers discover local businesses. But new research suggests something important for small business owners:

Being recommended by AI doesn’t mean the search is over.

In fact, consumers frequently take an AI recommendation and then check Google, Google Maps, social media, and the business’s own website before making a decision.

That means your Google Business Profile and website may be more important in the age of AI, not less.

AI IS BECOMING PART OF LOCAL SEARCH

Consumers are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI tools questions such as:

“Find a good medspa near Los Gatos.”
“Who can help my parents downsize in San Jose?”
“What’s a well-reviewed estate attorney near me?”
“Where can I find a salon that specializes in curly hair?”

BrightLocal found that 31% of consumers now use AI at least monthly for local business recommendations, and 23% used an AI tool somewhere during their most recent local business search.

AI clearly matters.

But here’s the part small businesses shouldn’t overlook…

CUSTOMERS ARE DOUBLE-CHECKING AI

An eMarketer analysis of BrightLocal’s 2026 consumer research found that 75% of consumers who used AI to find a local business checked Google or Google Maps before contacting the business.

The chart gets even more interesting when looking specifically at people who started their search with an AI tool:

35% used it as a starting point but also checked Google business listings
18% contacted the business directly
7% weren’t satisfied so went back to regular search

Source: eMarketer analysis of BrightLocal consumer research, 2026.

In other words, AI is often creating the shortlist. Consumers are still doing their homework before making the call.

That’s particularly important for local businesses, where customers want to confirm things AI may not present completely or accurately:

Is the business really nearby?
What are its current hours?
Does it have good reviews?
What does the business actually specialize in?
Does the website look professional and current?
Can I see photos, staff credentials, pricing, services, or examples of their work?
How do I contact or book them?

YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE IS STILL YOUR LOCAL STOREFRONT

Google describes its Business Profile as a business’s local storefront on Google Search and Maps. It can contain your location, hours, phone number, website, photos, services, reviews, booking links, and other information customers use to make a decision.

So imagine ChatGPT recommends your business.

The customer then Googles your name.

What happens next?

An incomplete profile, outdated hours, poor photos, unanswered reviews, or inconsistent contact information can quickly undermine the confidence AI just helped create.

A strong Google Business Profile should include:

Complete and accurate contact information
Current business hours
Correct service categories
Your website and appointment links
Good-quality current photos
Clearly described services
A healthy stream of recent reviews
Responses to customer reviews

Google also states that complete and accurate Business Profile information improves a business’s ability to appear in relevant local searches.

AND DON’T NEGLECT YOUR WEBSITE

There’s another reason your website remains critical.

A September 2026 BrightLocal study analyzed more than 200,000 local AI searches and found that 93% of the unique domains AI systems used as sources were business websites. Business websites accounted for 42% of all citations.

That’s a fairly compelling answer to anyone wondering whether websites still matter in an AI-search world.

Your website isn’t simply where someone lands after finding you on Google.

It can also be part of the information AI uses to understand and recommend your business in the first place.

A robust local-business website should clearly explain:

What you do
Where you provide your services
Who you serve
Your specific specialties
Your experience and credentials
Frequently asked questions
Why someone should choose you
How to contact, schedule, or visit you

Specific, useful content gives both search engines and AI considerably more to work with than a few generic paragraphs of marketing copy.

And because BrightLocal found that 73% of local business searches begin on a mobile phone, your website also needs to be fast, readable, and easy to contact from a small screen.

AI, GOOGLE, AND YOUR WEBSITE WORK TOGETHER

The old customer journey might have looked like this:

Google → Website → Call

The emerging journey may look more like:

ChatGPT → Google → Reviews → Website → Call

Or:

Google AI → Maps → Website → Appointment

Or any number of other combinations.

BrightLocal found that 75% of consumers used more than one channel during their most recent search for a local business.

That’s the bigger lesson.

AI isn’t necessarily replacing Google or your website. It’s becoming another doorway into a more complicated customer journey.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Yes, your business should be paying attention to ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI, and other emerging search tools.

But don’t make the mistake of focusing on AI visibility while neglecting the places customers go to verify what AI tells them.

Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current.

Keep building reviews.

And maintain a robust website that clearly explains what you do, where you do it, and why someone should trust you to do it.

AI may introduce your business, but Google and your website still determine whether the customer chooses you.

IS IT TIME TO START ADVERTISING ON CHATGPT?

September 14, 2026 by John Mangelsdorf

For most small local businesses, it probably isn’t time to move advertising dollars from Google to ChatGPT. But it is time to start paying very close attention.

ChatGPT Ads is now a real advertising platform, with local geographic targeting and ads matched to the context and intent of a user’s conversation.

That could become very valuable.

But for local businesses, Google still has one particularly big advantage.

GOOGLE IS ALREADY BUILT AROUND LOCAL BUYING INTENT

When someone needs a plumber, Realtor, medspa, attorney, restaurant, or other local service, Google is already deeply embedded in the process.

A single search can provide:

Google Maps and distance
Reviews and ratings
Hours and phone numbers
Directions
Website links
Google Business Profiles
Paid ads
AI-generated summaries

Most importantly, people already have years of experience using Google when they’re ready to find and contact a local business.

ChatGPT frequently enters the buying process differently.

Instead of searching “medspa Los Gatos,” someone might ask:

“What treatments work best for sun damage without making me look overdone, and how do I find a good provider near me?”

That’s a valuable potential customer, but it represents a different kind of search.

For now, we would be cautious about moving money away from a Google Ads campaign that is already generating good local leads.

BUT ADVERTISING ISN’T THE ONLY CHATGPT OPPORTUNITY

This may actually be more important.

Someone can ask ChatGPT:

“Who are some good senior relocation specialists near Los Gatos?”
“What medspas near Campbell specialize in natural-looking skin rejuvenation?”
“Find an estate attorney in San Jose who works with probate.”

ChatGPT can search the web and recommend businesses in its answers. Those recommendations are separate from advertising.

So before worrying about whether you should advertise on ChatGPT, there’s another question you should probably ask:

When someone asks ChatGPT about businesses like yours, does it know that your business exists?

SEO ISN’T DEAD. ADD GEO TO IT.

Search Engine Optimization remains important. It is now expanding to include Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO: helping AI systems understand who you are, what you do, where you do it, and why your business is relevant.

The same fundamentals still matter:

Clearly written service pages
Strong local and location-specific content
Accurate business information
Useful original blog content
Frequently asked questions answered clearly
Good website structure and crawlability
Reviews, citations, and credible mentions elsewhere online

In other words, GEO doesn’t replace SEO. It broadens what your website needs to accomplish as people increasingly use AI alongside conventional search.

THE BOTTOM LINE

ChatGPT advertising is worth watching and may already be worth testing for some businesses. But Google still has a substantial advantage when a local customer is actively searching and ready to call, visit, or book.

The more immediate issue affects every business, whether you ever purchase a ChatGPT ad or not.

Your customers are beginning to ask AI where to go, what to buy, and whom to trust.

When they ask about a business like yours, will AI find you?

A website that clearly explains what you do, where you do it, and which customer problems you solve gives both traditional search engines and AI systems better information to understand your business and incorporate your website into relevant search results and AI-generated responses.

That’s why strong SEO and GEO aren’t just about Google rankings anymore. They’re about making sure your business is visible wherever your next customer chooses to search.

PROS AND CONS OF TURNING OFF THE “REUSE” SETTING FOR INSTAGRAM POSTS

July 20, 2026 by John Mangelsdorf

Instagram offers a variety of sharing and collaboration features designed to increase engagement and expand the reach of your content. One of those features is the “Reuse” setting, which allows others to repurpose or remix certain types of content, particularly Reels and templates.

For some businesses, this can be a valuable marketing tool. For others, especially brands that depend on maintaining a polished and carefully controlled image, turning the setting off may be the better choice.

Before changing your settings, it is worth considering both the advantages and disadvantages.

The Benefits of Turning Reuse Off

Turning off the reuse setting gives businesses greater control over how their content appears online.

Benefits include:

Greater control over your brand and visual identity.
Protection of original photos, graphics, and videos.
Reduced risk of your content being altered or associated with messaging you do not endorse.
A more premium and editorial presentation of your Instagram account.
Less opportunity for competitors to borrow your creative ideas or marketing assets.

For businesses that invest heavily in professional photography, video production, and custom graphics, protecting that investment can be important. Turning reuse off helps ensure that your content remains closely associated with your brand.

The Drawbacks of Turning Reuse Off

The biggest disadvantage is that it may slightly limit your organic exposure on Instagram.

Potential drawbacks include:

Fewer opportunities for followers to remix or share your content creatively.
Reduced participation in viral or trending content formats.
Less user-generated content from customers and fans.
Potentially lower social engagement compared with highly shareable accounts.

Brands that rely heavily on community participation or influencer-style marketing often benefit from keeping reuse enabled. Restaurants, fitness studios, retail businesses, and entertainment brands may find that allowing reuse contributes positively to audience growth.

Which Businesses Should Consider Turning Reuse Off?

Turning reuse off can make sense for businesses that prioritise professionalism, trust, and brand consistency.

Examples include:

Medical spas
Plastic surgeons
Physicians and healthcare practices
Attorneys
Financial professionals
Real estate professionals
Interior designers

These businesses are typically using Instagram as a digital portfolio and client acquisition tool rather than a social entertainment platform.

Why Medical Spas Should Pay Particular Attention

Medical spas occupy a unique position on social media. Clients are often making significant decisions about their appearance, wellness, and treatments based on what they see online. Your Instagram account is frequently their first impression of your professionalism and aesthetic standards.

For medical spas, maintaining control over how treatment photos, educational videos, before-and-after images, and branded graphics are presented can be especially important.

Turning off the reuse setting offers several advantages:

Protects professionally produced treatment and educational content.
Helps maintain compliance-conscious messaging.
Preserves the premium, luxury feel many medical spa brands work hard to establish.
Prevents branded content from appearing in contexts that may not align with your business values.

Unlike influencer accounts that benefit from widespread remixing, most medical spas gain new clients through trust, credibility, and consistent branding.

Our Recommendation

If your Instagram strategy is primarily focused on attracting qualified clients rather than maximising social engagement metrics, turning off the reuse setting is often a smart choice.

For medical spas and other service-based businesses, brand control is usually more valuable than the small amount of additional exposure that content reuse may provide. Clients are choosing you because of your expertise, aesthetics, and professionalism, not because your posts became part of a social media trend.

Instagram can still be an extremely effective marketing channel without allowing others to reuse your content. High-quality photography, educational posts, client testimonials, and a consistent visual identity will continue to do the heavy lifting when it comes to building trust and converting followers into clients.

IS THE WORDPRESS PLATFORM A DINOSAUR?

February 27, 2026 by John Mangelsdorf

Some people are saying that WordPress is becoming obsolete — a relic from the early days of blogging that has been overtaken by sleek website builders and AI-driven platforms. The narrative suggests it is bloated, outdated, and too technical for modern small business owners.

But is WordPress really a dinosaur?

To answer that, it helps to understand where it came from — and where it stands today. (Or jump straight to the answer!)

From Simple Blogging Tool to Global CMS Leader

WordPress launched in 2003 as a straightforward blogging platform. It was built to make publishing online easier, allowing users to write posts without touching code. Over time, it evolved far beyond blogging. Developers expanded its capabilities, themes allowed design flexibility, and plugins added functionality ranging from contact forms to advanced SEO tools.

By the early 2010s, WordPress had transformed into a full content management system (CMS). It could power corporate websites, media publications, membership sites, learning platforms, and service-based business websites of all sizes.

For something allegedly “obsolete,” these numbers tell a different story:

Today, WordPress powers roughly 40%+ of all websites on the internet. Among CMS platforms specifically, it holds over 60% of market share. The next two closest competitors are Wix and Squarespace — both strong hosted website builders — but neither approaches WordPress’s scale or ecosystem.

The Reality of Modern Website Trends

Current website trends emphasize:

Search visibility and content marketing
Performance optimization
Platform flexibility
Integration with third-party tools
Ownership of digital assets

These trends actually strengthen WordPress’s position, especially for small, service-oriented businesses.

For companies that don’t need ecommerce functionality as their primary business focus, WordPress continues to align closely with business goals.

Let’s look at why.

1. Strong SEO/GEO Capabilities

Search engine optimization (SEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are among the most important marketing disciplines for service businesses. WordPress excels in today’s AI-driven search environment.

It allows:

Full control over URLs and site structure
Custom metadata and schema markup
Integration with powerful SEO/GEO plugins
Performance optimization through caching and hosting choices
Long-form content marketing via blog posts

For local businesses, ranking in search results can directly translate into inbound leads. WordPress provides the structural flexibility to implement SEO correctly without platform restrictions.2

2. Cost-Effective Structure

WordPress itself is free, open-source software. Businesses only pay for hosting, a theme (if premium), and select plugins if needed.

Unlike closed platforms, there is no mandatory monthly subscription tied to the CMS itself. There are no escalating fees as traffic grows. There are no transaction fees if ecommerce isn’t being used.

For small businesses focused on lead generation and sharing their company mission—their unique value propositions rather than product catalogs—this helps keeps overhead low and predictable. Hosting competition also keeps pricing very reasonable.

When managed properly, WordPress offers enterprise-level capability at small-business cost.

3. Full Ownership and Portability

One of WordPress’s most overlooked advantages is ownership.

With WordPress:

You control your hosting.
You own your site files and database.
You can migrate providers if needed.
You are not locked into a proprietary system.

This portability reduces long-term risk. If a hosting provider increases prices or service declines, the site can move. If an agency relationship ends, the business still controls its digital asset.

That level of independence is increasingly valuable as online platforms consolidate and subscription costs rise.

4. Massive Ecosystem

WordPress has the largest ecosystem in the CMS world.

Thousands of themes
Tens of thousands of plugins
Global developer support
Deep integration with marketing platforms

From booking systems to CRM integrations to analytics tools, WordPress connects easily. This flexibility makes it adaptable as a business grows.

A small service website today can expand practically without limit with the use of high-quality well-supported plugins.

All this scalability prevents expensive rebuilds.

5. Accessible to Non-Technical Business Owners

Another misconception is that WordPress is “too technical.”

Modern WordPress installations allow business owners to:

Add new pages
Update service descriptions
Publish blog posts
Upload images
Edit basic layouts

All without any coding.

Block-based editors and page builders have made content management intuitive. For a non-technical owner willing to learn basic navigation, updating content requires minimal computer skills.

We’ve found that many of our clients are comfortable making blog posts and editing pages while we handle more advanced site updates. So together we can keep their most valuable marketing asset up-to-date.

This balance — professional-grade flexibility combined with approachable editing — is part of why WordPress remains widely adopted.

So Is It a Dinosaur?

The idea that WordPress is obsolete usually comes from comparisons with visually streamlined, hosted builders. Those platforms simplify setup, but often at the cost of flexibility, ownership, and long-term scalability.

WordPress, by contrast, remains adaptable. It continues to evolve. It supports modern design standards, integrates with AI tools, and works seamlessly with today’s marketing ecosystem.

There is currently no clear replacement on the horizon that combines:

Deep SEO/GEO/AI search-ready control
Market dominance
Open-source flexibility
Ownership independence
Cost efficiency

For service-based small businesses that do not need ecommerce infrastructure or its associated overhead, WordPress remains a practical and strategic choice.

It is not a “old-school”.

It is a mature, widely supported platform that continues to align with how small businesses generate leads, publish content, and control their digital presence.

For those reasons, WordPress is still a smart choice — and likely will be for the foreseeable future.

WHY REGULAR GOOGLE REPORTS MATTER FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

February 11, 2026 by John Mangelsdorf

For small local businesses, online visibility is crucial. Customers are searching, comparing, and making decisions every day—and Google is often where that journey begins. Regularly reviewing your Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console reports is one of the most important (and overlooked) habits a small or boutique business owner can build.

Used consistently, these tools provide clear, actionable insights that help businesses attract more customers, spot problems early, and make smarter decisions.

Google Business Profile: Your Digital Storefront

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing potential customers often see before they even visit your website. Reviewing profile insights helps you understand how people find and interact with your listing.

Metrics like searches, calls, direction requests, and photo views reveal what’s working and what isn’t. A drop in phone calls may indicate outdated hours, missing services, or increased competition.

Monitoring reviews is just as critical. Responding consistently builds trust, improves visibility, and signals that your business is active and reliable.

Without reviewing these reports, you’re essentially guessing how your local presence is performing.

Google Analytics: Understanding Website Visitor Behavior

While your Business Profile shows how people find you, Google Analytics explains what they do once they reach your website. Regular reports reveal:

Which pages attract the most visitors
How users arrive (search, maps, social, ads—note that currently Google Analytics does not include a dedicated category specifically for AI search engines like ChatGPT. More about this in a future article)
Whether visitors take meaningful actions like calling, booking, or filling out forms

If visitors land on service pages but don’t convert, it may signal unclear messaging or weak calls-to-action. High mobile traffic with low engagement may point to mobile usability issues.

Even a simple monthly review can uncover opportunities to improve customer experience and increase conversions.

Google Search Console: How Google Sees Your Site

Google Search Console focuses on how your website performs in Google Search. It shows which queries trigger your site, how often pages appear, and where they rank.

For local search engine optimization (SEO), this is crucial. Reports can reveal:

Search terms customers actually use
Pages losing visibility over time
Technical issues like indexing or mobile problems

Catching issues early prevents small problems from becoming major traffic losses and helps measure the impact of updates or new service pages.

Consistency Beats Complexity

You don’t need to analyze data every day. What matters is reviewing summaries of the most important metrics. A simple monthly or quarterly reporting routine creates awareness, accountability, and better decision-making.

Together, Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console reports form a complete picture of your local online presence. Reviewing them regularly with your marketing team helps keep your business competitive, visible, and easy for customers to find and choose.

THE EFFECT OF AI SEARCH OVERVIEWS ON GOOGLE ADS

December 15, 2025 by John Mangelsdorf

The Shifting Landscape: Google AI Overviews and the Future of Small Business Advertising

Google’s introduction of AI Overviews in search results has fundamentally reshaped the digital marketing landscape, prompting a re-evaluation of established strategies for small businesses. While the change presents new challenges to traditional ad visibility and organic traffic, Google Ads will continue to be an essential, though evolving, part of a small business’s toolkit.

The primary impact of AI Overviews stems from their prominent placement at the top of the search results page (SERP), which pushes both organic listings and traditional ads further down the screen, often below the fold.

Decreased Click-Through Rates (CTR): Because AI Overviews provide immediate, synthesized answers, users can get the information they need without clicking on any links (known as “zero-click” searches). Studies have shown significant drops in CTR for both organic and paid results when an AI Overview is present.
Increased Competition and CPCs: With fewer prime ad placements above the fold, advertisers are bidding more aggressively to maintain visibility, leading to higher costs-per-click (CPCs).
Shift in User Behavior: Users who do click through from AI-influenced searches may have a higher commercial intent, resulting in potentially higher quality, albeit lower volume, traffic and conversion rates.

WILL GOOGLE ADS REMAIN ESSENTIAL FOR SMALL BUSINESSES?

Google derives a vast majority of its revenue from advertising and has no intention of cannibalizing this “golden goose” so Google Ads will remain an essential part of a small business’s business development toolkit.

For small businesses, ads offer a level of precision targeting that organic methods cannot match as they allow businesses to specifically target users with local services queries.

HOW GOOGLE PLACES ADS IN THE NEW SEARCH FORMAT

Google is blending ads into the AI-enhanced search experience in several ways.

Above, Below, and Within the Overview: Ads, marked with a clear “Sponsored” label, can appear in several positions relative to the AI Overview box.
Contextual Relevance: The ad system now considers not only the user’s query but also the context of the AI-generated answer to determine ad relevance. This opens up new opportunities for ads to appear in “previously inaccessible moments of high relevance” when a user is researching a problem that a product or service could solve.

In the age of AI Overviews, success in Google Ads requires a strategic shift. Small businesses should focus on crafting highly relevant ad copy and landing pages that mirrors an informational tone to appear in these new contextual placements.

By adapting their strategies to align with the AI-first search environment, small businesses can continue to leverage Google Ads as a vital tool for growth.

BLOG POSTS ARE VITAL FOR YOUR SEO/GEO EFFORTS

November 15, 2025 by John Mangelsdorf

Blog posts remain popular and continue to evolve as a key component of websites

Twenty years ago we started to recommend posting regularly to blogs as part of SEO best practices. Clients who did so (or had us handle content creation and blog management) improved their organic search results ranking.

Through the years we have continued to recommend posting regularly to their blogs. It’s one of the tools we use to build “authoritative” websites and attract thousands of potential customers for our clients.

Today, yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same! With AI and GEO, you need strong content written in a specific way. And right now the best way to achieve this and rebuild your organic search results as people move away from search engine and to Chatgbt, Gemini, etc is with regular blogging.

Blog posts remain popular and continue to evolve as a key component of websites for small businesses. While social media and video content have gained traction, blogs are still widely read for their in-depth information, niche expertise, and ability to provide value for SEO. To be successful today, blogs need quality, skimmable content with clear headings and succinct paragraphs.

WHY BLOG POSTS ARE STILL A CRUCIAL PART OF YOUR SEO/GEO TOOLKIT

Information Source: People still turn to blogs to find in-depth answers, product reviews, and educational content that may not be available on other platforms.
SEO Value: Blog posts are a fundamental tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO), appearing frequently in search engine results and AI summaries and helping websites rank higher for various queries.
Niche Content: Blogs provide a platform for detailed, personal stories and specialized information on niche topics that are often hard to find elsewhere.
Business Strategy: For businesses, blogs serve as an integral strategy for establishing authority, increasing expertise, and providing value to customers.

HOW TO MAKE A BLOG SUCCESSFUL TODAY:

Quality and Quantity: Focus on creating high-value content that meets specific user interests as well as publishing regularly.
Skimmable Content: Structure your blog posts with descriptive headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to accommodate modern readers’ shorter attention spans.
Niche Focus: Specializing in a niche subject helps you stand out and positions you as an authority to your target demographic.

STAYING VISIBLE IN THE AGE OF AI

October 15, 2025 by John Mangelsdorf

How Business Owners Can Adapt for Generative Search Results

As web browsers and search engines—like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) or Microsoft’s AI-enhanced Bing—increasingly integrate generative AI technologies, website managers and business owners are noticing shifts in how organic traffic reaches their sites. Unlike traditional search, where users click through ranked results, generative AI often summarizes answers at the top of the page, reducing clicks but still heavily relying on credible sources. The challenge: how do you ensure your website becomes one of those trusted sources?

THE SHIFT FROM SEARCH RESULTS WEB PAGE LINKS TO AI-GENERATED ANSWERS

Generative search pulls information from multiple high-authority sources to synthesize a quick, user-friendly response—sometimes without any click required. This has profound implications for SEO. Pages may now be cited in AI-generated responses without receiving clicks from the normal search result listings.

PROACTIVE STRATEGIES FOR AI SEARCH VISIBILITY

To thrive in this evolving environment, website owners must re-evaluate their content and site architecture with AI in mind:

Focus on High-Quality, Authoritative Content: AI prioritizes content from trusted sources. Double down on establishing E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) as you update your website. Cite credible sources when appropriate, create valuable content, and offer unique perspectives on your products and services that AI models can leverage.
Structure for Clarity and Scannability: AI systems excel at parsing well-organized content. Utilize clear headings (H1, H2, H3), bullet points, numbered lists, and concise paragraphs. Implement FAQ sections and “how-to” guides, as these formats are prime candidates for direct inclusion in AI-generated answers.
Prioritize User Intent and Conversational Language: AI search often involves more natural, conversational queries. Optimize your content to directly answer questions users might ask, and consider incorporating question-and-answer formats naturally within your text.
Improve Site Architecture: Ensure clean navigation, fast loading times, mobile responsiveness, and structured URLs. A logically organized site improves crawlability and contextual understanding by AI systems.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The landscape of search is rapidly transforming. Generative AI isn’t killing SEO—it’s evolving it. By proactively updating your content and site structure with AI’s preferences in mind, website managers and business owners can not only mitigate potential traffic loss but also position their sites to be recognized as authoritative sources to ensure they’re not just found by machines, but also chosen by them to show as cited web pages in AI answer summaries.

Header photo Dress Code by Susan Graf, Healdsburg

DON’T BE IGNORED!

May 5, 2018 by Rachel Hunter

Googles New Indexing

Flashback photo to Rachel and her brother, Iain, looking surly when told they were not getting what they wanted. Cute (occasionally) in children, but not for website owners who want their hard work recognized and their website displayed prominently in search engine result pages.

Google has recently changed the way they index websites and has brought down the gavel on sites that do not display well on mobile devices.

Now that people use their phones and tablets more than laptops and desktop computers to browse the web, Google has made this change to better serve their users and give them better access to the information they are seeking and that is designed to be easy for them to access.

We have looked at web traffic statistics for most of our clients’ websites and confirmed mobile users now account for over 50% of all traffic. But many of our clients still have non-mobile websites. Globally, about 17% of small businesses do not have a responsive site.

If you have a non-mobile-friendly site then you will be ranked lower than if you have a mobile-responsive website. If you have a separate mobile site, from your main website, only your mobile site pages will be indexed. This is according to multiple articles we have reviewed, as well as communications directly from Google.

So if you don’t have a mobile-responsive website, the time has come to put this on your marketing priorities list for 2018.

Besides the new Google indexing, non-responsive sites can damage your business in other ways:

Mobile devices are projected to reach 79% of global internet use by the end of 2018.
88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours.
Average smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to desktop conversion rates.
83% of mobile users say that a seamless experience across all devices is very important.
According to Google, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a site on mobile if they had trouble accessing it and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead.
Nearly 8 in 10 customers would stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their device.
57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.

Please contact John if you’re in need of a new, mobile-friendly website.

HOW GOOGLE MAPS DISPLAYS YOUR BUSINESS

December 6, 2017 by Rachel Hunter

Recently our client Hayes Valley Medical and Esthetics moved to a gorgeous new location in Marin. When promoting their grand opening we noticed their Google Map pin, which Google generates automatically for businesses, did not show along with other nearby businesses on larger map views. This is because Google algorithmically determines when a business location shows on Google Maps, and it is based on factors like how long it has been at the current address as well as the number of Google reviews for the business. (HINT: Ask your good customers for Google reviews!) So you do not have control over when your Place Label shows as the user zooms in on your general location on Google Maps.

The below screen captures show that at a larger scale, HVME does not show until you zoom in closely on their location.

google map hvme not showing

Zoom in closer and it does show:

google map hvme showing