Mary also taught this session at SES NY recently and here is what one student had to say:

Here’s a note from a student who took the New York training.

Hi Mary!
I hope you remember me– I was the girl that worked for the law firm in your local search class at SES New York. I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you up and down for your presentation! I didn’t even realize google maps and yahoo local existed or that they were any bit different from the regular search. But, lucky for me, the other lawyers in our area don’t realize that either and I was able to jump to the very number one spot for our main keywords in the south jersey/philadelphia area. We are now listed ahead of the huge philly firms for zero dollars…..needless to say my boss is thrilled! Now im just praying for some results! But I wanted to thank you so much for your practical approach to all of this. It was so easy to understand….and the booklet has been very helpful. I have kept it on my desk and review it atleast once a day to make sure Im not missing anything! So thank you again…..you are very good at what you do =)

So do yourself a favor if you are trying to attend local search, and learn from one of the best Mary Bowling!

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We pay what I feel is a good amount of money every few months to Keyword Discovery, and for some reason I find a bug with the tool almost every few months. Typically I report the bug and they fix it a few days later. Now they are hardly responding to my inquiry and have failed to fix what I consider to be a very basic feature. When you do a “phrase seach” and click on the second page of the results, the “phrase” only command is unchecked and you get back results that are not phrase matched.

KD please fix your jankey tool and get on with it!!

End rant

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There is a tab now that says ‘Photos and Video’. I have been preaching about using video SEO and also the importance of video for local SEO, and now here is proof it is about to take the next step!

PS Hey Blumenthal, Why didn’t I read this on your blog first! jk:)

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Beginners Guide to Online Reputation Management
Ten Ways to Fix a Google Reputation Management Nightmare
Reputation Management and Social Media Hygiene
17 Search Engine Reputation Management Optimization Tips

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One of the things that has been keeping me busy is the re-branding of my SEO company. Starting today, Feb 1, 2008, Mike, The Internet Guy (as a business not a blog) will start doing business as seOverflow. You can visit our new website at www.seoverflow.com to learn more about our SEO outsourcing services targeted towards web designers, marketing consultants, other SEO companies, and of course direct to businesses.

I will still be blogging here (yes I really will), and I will also blog on the seOverflow blog along with our link building expert Reid Fenlaw, our PPC Specialist Chris Lude, and last but not least SEO copywriting genius, Lindsey Kesel. Please add the new blog to your RSS reader, custom theme coming soon!

Stay tuned for more interesting posts. My goal this year is to reclaim the ‘Best Local Search Blog’ of 2008 from Search Engine Journal (or go down fighting at least :). I have some incredible competition this time around including newcomers (to blogging at least) Andrew Shotland and Larry Sullivan, not to mention the “old timers”, Matt, Greg, Peter, Frank, Blumenthal, The Kelsey Group, and I am sure many others I have left out.

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Due to the somewhat recent modifications Google and Yahoo have made to results pages with blended search, these videos also have a chance to rank well for the client’s keywords. Basically it is another chance for SMBs to “own” the results pages.

The way the video product will work is there will be a common “base” for an industry such as a plumber or mechanic. That base will then be customized with the customers business name and contact information. eLocal Listing will start with around 1000 videos in 20 industry segment and eventually expand to tens of thousands of video bases available for customers to pick.

You can mark this as the official beginning to the ‘local video’ invasion most of us have been expecting. Congrats to eLocal for putting out an excellent, scalable quality video product!

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The lesson here is that not only that alt text can still pass juice on an image link, but you should consistently vary the anchor text and types of links while doing link building to maintain a more ‘natural’ looking link profile. I am off to make sure any image links pointing to my clients are using some type of anchor text!

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Eric enjoy it. My other team is the Houston Astros and so now I have had my two teams make it to a World Series, and neither has won one a game. I wonder what it feels like. Probably like those 100 years are so since the BoSox one the first time right? Just Kidding. Eric’s got a great SEO blog too by the way if you need something to read! He also posts on Search Engine Journal so be sure to check out his articles there.

Yes I did lose a bet to Eric, but he really does seem like a good guy. I hope I am not subject to a “link betting” penalty!

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I don’t usually use my blog to promote my services directly, but hey the Rockies don’t usually make the World Series.

Any Boston area SEO companies want to bet some links on the series? Jillhow about you??

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