Get in the Local SEO Game Today

Gabe Gibitz • April 14, 2018

A four-part video series on getting seen and found online.

Part 1: Local SEO for Small Business

Hey, guys! This is Gabe Gibitz with Blue Guru Digital Marketing. Making digital and data work for you.

Today were talking about local SEO. We're going to do a four-part series on local SEO. We are talking about what it is today. Then, we're going to talk about three things that you need to do NOW to get in the local SEO game.

So local SEO (SEO stands for search engine optimization) is optimizing you, as a business, so that people can find you on Google. Google takes 90% of the cake when you're searching online, so we just talk about Google. Now, someday that will change, but we're just talking about Google today.

Local SEO comes into play when you search for something like "pizza near me" or my wife is a doula, so "doulas in Lexington Kentucky." It typically pops up with a map and what we call a 3-pack, which is the top three businesses that Google thinks you would like. Before we talk about how to optimize your business to get there, let's talk about who can be on as a business.

If you have a brick-and-mortar location, an actual physical location, you can sign up as as a business on Google my business. We will talk about that more in the next video. You can also sign up if you have a service area without a physical office. For example, my wife doesn't have a location of her actual office but she serves people in the Lexington area, within like a 30 mile radius.

Now there certain kinds of people and businesses who can't apply. For instance, I am a musician, as well. I cannot apply to be a business as a musician. This also applies if you are an artist. There are specific people who simply cannot apply.

However, if you are a small business with a brick and mortar or you have a service location, you can apply and get into the local SEO game. In the next video, I will talk about Google my Business. The next video after that, we'll talk about getting into general directories. And the next video after that, we'll talk about reviews, what we SEOs call "review marketing," and why they are important.

Part 2: Google My Business

Today, we're talking about local SEO. This is part two of a four-part series, so if you missed the first one, go back and watch that one. It talks about just the basics of local SEO. Today, we are talking about Google my Business: what it is and why it's so important.

The first thing is Google, like I mentioned in the last video, takes about 90 percent of the pie when you're talking about searching for things online. Anything that Google says or does is going to be the most important thing to really listen to because they're leading the charge on everything search for the internet.

Google my Business is Google's way of allowing businesses with (1) brick-and-mortar locations or (2) with a designated service area register online. You're going to Google and saying, "I want to be found online."

When you go to google.com/business , you need to sign in with your Google/Gmail account, and, once you do that, you can register. Fill out your name and your address. Then, you can have him text you or send you a card in the mail. That confirms that you are business.

There are ways to optimize it. You need to read all of the all of the information on how to name your business. If you are a doctor, you name your business differently than if you're a corporate business. If you are a one-person business you can write out "your business name" "colon" then your "actual name" if you want to do that. That allows people to find you in two different ways.

Now, you can't keyword-stuff for a location. For me, I can't say "Blue Guru Digital Marketing: Lexington, Kentucky." I can't do that. You will get dinged for that at some point. Even if you see other people doing it, don't do it. Your business needs to follow all the rules that Google has. They put them in place for a reason. You can put your location, and you can select a service area. If you work out of your home, you can select whether or not you want your location to be seen.

Then, that location – that address – needs to be everywhere. All over the internet. You have to have the same business name spelled and typed out the same way. And you need the same address everywhere on online.

If you are on Facebook or if you are on Yelp or if you are on Hotfrog or any of those places (which will talk about the next video), they have to be the SAME. It's called NAP: name, address and phone. All of them need to be the same. So, once you confirm firm that, we'll talk about directories in the next video.

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments below, and we will tackle them together .Let's head to the next video for general directories – what they are and why you need to be in them.

Part 3: General Online Directories

Today we are in part three of our four-part series on local SEO – getting in the local SEO game today. The last video, we talked about Google my Business listings and why it's so important to have a listing in Google my Business. The next thing I'm going to talk about today is directories.

The whole idea of a directory is quite confusing and convoluted. And when I talk to clients they typically don't make any sense to them. What you need to know is that you will never really interact with any of these directories. For instance, Yelp is probably the most popular of them. You have Bing Local, Yahoo Local, Hotfrog. There are aggregators – one of them is called Axiom. There are dozens and dozens – at least a hundred of these directories that are that are online. When you search for a local listing on Google, they pull from Google my Business primarily, but they also pull – and check out the information – from these other directories online.

So, you need to have your name, your address and your phone number the same on all of these directory. You can do this by hand – by yourself – for free. That is annoying. I have done it, and it's just a headache. You can also spend up to $500-$700 per year to have those listings consistently updated. There's a bunch of different options in between. I'm not going to get into those right now, but it is important to be on these directories to get listed on those local Google searches.

Respond with questions below. In the next video, we will talk about reviews and why they are so important for your business.

Part 4: Getting Reviews

We are on the last video of our four part series on local SEO – what it is and the first three things that you need to do to get in the local SEO game if you're a local business owner. We've talked about Google my Business directories – being found in those. And today, we are talking about reviews. Marketers call it "review marketing," and it's simply getting reviews from your customers and clients. A lot of it is just doing the work. Honestly, it's just a matter of asking.

If you take nothing else away from this video, remember this point: just ask for reviews.

It's hard as a business owner to ask for reviews, but most clients – especially if they're happy with your services – are going to give you a good review. They might not do it on their own. Most won't do it unprompted, but if they're asked – and given a very simple short link like blueguru.marketing/googlereview (you can set that up and have it send people straight to the review link) – most of them will review you.

The second thing that I want you to take away from this video is this: make it your culture. Don't just gather reviews for 2 months and and be done. Make it your culture to not only get reviews on Google or Facebook but to also get reviews on sites that are important to your industry. For instance, real estate agents have Zillow and Trulia. Google, when they list reviews, figuring who's the best in our local SEO market. If I'm in your area, Google is going to look at reviews, how many you have and how good the reviews are. Most people – and this is where you get to get to get ahead – most people haven't done the work with review marketing to just put it into their system of business. So, ask people for reviews.

Then, you can even tailor them to say, "Hey, can you review me on Facebook? If you're not comfortable with that can you review me on Google?" Suggest to them the kind of the place that you need reviews the most. You don't need to tell them those details. Just say, "Ok, I'm a little low on Facebook reviews." Spread them out and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Spread them out.

For one month, ask your clients for Google reviews this month, Facebook reviews this month and Zillow reviews this month. Then, thank them and respond to the reviews in the review platform. You are interacting with your clients all over again!

So, if you want to work through details or road blocks, always contact us at blueguru.marketing. You can reach out to us, but this should get you started and pointed in the right direction. I hope it's been helpful. Tell me if it's been helpful.

Either send me an email or send me a contact form. You can also respond in the comments below. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with this!

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Why SEO Keeps Dying But Never Dies

By Gabe Gibitz • October 1, 2025
Every few years, someone declares SEO dead. The announcement comes with great fanfare, promising liberation from the complexities of search optimization. Yet here we are, still talking about it. I've watched this cycle repeat itself like clockwork. The pattern mirrors what happened with print media. We declared newspapers finished while magazines quietly maintained their audiences. Over the past two decades, newspaper circulation collapsed from 55 million to 24 million readers while magazine readership successfully transitioned to digital platforms. The difference? Specific applications died, not entire channels. The same dynamic drives SEO death announcements. Marketers chase shiny objects and need justification to pivot. Declaring an entire discipline obsolete provides that cover. The Trust Factor You Cannot Buy Here's what the obituary writers miss: SEO communicates trust in ways paid channels simply cannot. When someone searches for "pressure washer Louisville" and your business appears organically, you've earned that placement. The searcher knows you didn't pay to be there. That absence of payment creates credibility. Organic results feel like word-of-mouth recommendations rather than advertisements. When you show up repeatedly across different searches, you're building compound trust. Five organic appearances with fifty reviews carries more weight than any paid placement. This trust arbitrage remains impossible to replicate through other channels. You can sponsor chamber events and buy ads, but organic visibility suggests genuine authority in your space. The absence says you aren't trusted. Why Businesses Abandon What Works If organic trust is so valuable, why do businesses treat SEO as optional? Industry trauma explains most of it. Bad SEO experiences create psychological scars that make abandonment feel rational. Maybe an agency focused on traffic instead of leads. Maybe offshore work delivered poor results. Maybe previous efforts never impacted the bottom line. I've seen home services companies ranking for "should my door have a left hinge swing or right hinge swing" while missing "AC repair near me" entirely. The traffic existed, but none of those hinge-swing researchers would ever become paying customers. This represents traffic for traffic's sake. The disconnect happens because many SEO providers speak in marketing metrics while business owners think in revenue terms. Agencies promise traffic and deliver vanity numbers. Business owners need customers and get irrelevant visitors. This language barrier creates the trauma that fuels abandonment. AI Makes SEO More Powerful The latest death announcement centers on AI search features. No-click searches now represent 58.5% of Google queries, with AI Overviews appearing in over 50% of results. Critics see this as SEO's final blow. They're reading the data backwards. Google's own guidance reveals the truth: standard SEO practices work for AI-powered results. Gary Illyes confirmed that "AI SEO" isn't necessary because traditional optimization principles apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. The overlap is extensive. I've watched clients appear in both traditional organic results and ChatGPT responses after just six months of focused SEO work. The same optimization principles that earn Google rankings now generate visibility across multiple AI platforms. Good SEO gets you everywhere. Instead of replacing SEO, AI amplifies its reach. Your optimized content now feeds Google's AI, ChatGPT, and other AI search tools. The investment compounds across platforms rather than fragmenting across separate strategies. The Evolution Continues SEO hasn't remained static while critics wrote obituaries. The discipline evolved from keyword stuffing to user intent optimization. From link farming to authority building. From technical manipulation to genuine value creation. The businesses that "tried SEO and it didn't work" often experienced outdated approaches rather than current methodology. Modern SEO focuses on bottom-funnel searches that drive revenue rather than top-funnel traffic that inflates reports. It prioritizes local relevance over generic volume. It builds sustained visibility rather than temporary ranking spikes. For small businesses especially, this evolution makes SEO more valuable than ever. You still need to show up in the digital world. You still need searchable content that serves both Google and AI systems. You still need optimized presence that establishes expertise in your space. Abandoning SEO now means abandoning visibility across the entire search ecosystem. The reports of SEO's death remain greatly exaggerated. What died was the old approach. What survived was the core principle: being found when people search for what you offer. That need will outlast every obituary.

Why SEO Traffic Numbers Are Lying

By Gabe Gibitz • September 24, 2025
I watch SEO agencies celebrate traffic spikes while their clients quietly plan their exit. The numbers look incredible on the monthly reports. Website visits are up 300%. Organic traffic is soaring. The charts point upward and to the right. But the phone isn't ringing. Small businesses can't pay rent with website visitors. They need customers walking through their doors, calling their phones, filling out contact forms. Yet most SEO agencies are optimizing for the wrong thing entirely. The Vanity Metric Trap Here's what's happening behind those impressive traffic reports. Agencies target broad industry keywords because they generate massive search volumes. "How to choose a plumber" gets thousands of searches per month. "Plumbing tips" drives serious traffic. So they create blog content around these topics. They write comprehensive guides. They build resource libraries. The traffic comes. The reports look fantastic. Everyone's happy. Until reality hits. Someone searching "how to choose a plumber" isn't ready to hire anyone. They're in research mode. They might not even need a plumber for months. Someone searching "emergency plumber Springfield" has a pipe burst and needs help now. The difference is commercial intent. One search drives business. The other drives traffic. When Clients Wake Up The conversation always follows the same pattern. Clients come to me frustrated and confused. Their previous agency showed them incredible growth metrics. Traffic was up. Rankings were improving. The SEO dashboard looked like a success story. But their business wasn't growing. They felt like they were wasting money on something that wasn't working. The disconnect between impressive reports and empty phone lines became impossible to ignore. Small businesses can't sustain getting traffic without leads. They need every marketing dollar to count. The Commercial Intent Sweet Spot Real SEO strategy requires finding the sweet spot between traffic volume and commercial intent. I look for keywords where people are actively searching for services in specific locations. Not broad industry terms. Not educational content. Actual service searches with buying intent. The keyword research process focuses on two critical factors: intent and difficulty. Will someone who lands on your site want to convert? Can you realistically rank for this term given your competition? This approach often means targeting lower-volume keywords that look less impressive on paper. But these searches convert because they capture people ready to buy. When I show clients the difference between ranking for "how to choose a plumber" versus "emergency plumber near me," they immediately understand why one converts and the other doesn't. The Local Competition Reality The breakthrough moment comes when clients realize they don't need to compete nationally. Most agencies present SEO as if every business needs to outrank Wikipedia and industry giants. They show clients who's ranking for broad terms and explain what it would take to compete. The reality check is eye-opening. A local plumber doesn't need to beat Home Depot for "plumbing services." They need to beat the guy down the street for "plumber in Springfield." This changes everything. Local searches represent 46% of all Google searches, and 78% result in offline conversions. Local competition is manageable. National competition is often impossible for small businesses. Speaking Business Owner Language The real problem isn't strategy. It's communication. When other agencies talk about domain authority, backlink profiles, and content marketing funnels, they're speaking a foreign language to business owners. When I talk about beating local competitors for service-specific searches, I'm speaking business growth language. It sounds nice to use complex terminology. But speaking conversationally to business owners creates connection and drives real change. Jargon creates barriers because clients may not understand marketing terminology and may not feel confident admitting their confusion. The best approach is showing rather than telling. When clients see exactly who's ranking for their target keywords and what it would take to compete, they understand immediately. Usually, that's enough to shift their entire perspective on what SEO success looks like. The Industry's Technical Obsession Why does the digital marketing industry stay obsessed with complex terminology when simple communication works better? Technical jargon creates an illusion of expertise. It makes agencies sound sophisticated and knowledgeable. It impresses clients who equate complexity with competence. But this approach often masks a fundamental problem. Agencies can hide behind technical explanations when results don't materialize. They can shift focus to process metrics instead of business outcomes. Bad account managers use jargon to deflect tough client questions. They confuse clients into stopping their inquiries rather than providing clear answers. This creates a cycle where impressive-sounding work replaces actual results. What Really Drives Results Effective SEO focuses on high-intent keywords that attract users actively seeking specific services in specific locations. The strategy balances search volume with conversion potential. Sometimes organic traffic goes down while revenue goes up because you're attracting fewer but more qualified visitors. This approach requires honest conversations about realistic ranking potential. It means saying no to vanity keywords that look impressive but don't drive business. It means prioritizing commercial searches over educational content, even when the traffic numbers look smaller. Most importantly, it requires speaking in terms of business growth rather than technical metrics. The Connection That Matters Real digital marketing success comes from understanding what business owners actually need. They need customers, not website visitors. They need phone calls, not page views. They need revenue growth, not ranking reports. When you speak their language and focus on their actual goals, everything changes. The metrics that matter become clear. The strategy becomes focused. The results become measurable in terms that actually impact their business. Technical expertise matters, but only when it serves business objectives. The agencies that survive and thrive will be those that remember this fundamental truth: impressive jargon doesn't pay anyone's bills, but effective results do. Ready to work with an agency that speaks your language and delivers real leads? Let's have a conversation about what commercial-intent SEO can do for your business. No jargon, no vanity metrics - just a clear plan to get your phone ringing.
Gabe-Gibitz-Blue-Guru-Smiling-Talking-SEO

Is Your Website Wearing Red?

By Gabe Gibitz • February 14, 2020
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're wearing red and your website is not. Check the link below to find out how your website ranks in speed scores: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ Reach out to us if your website is in the red. Let's get it in the green for 2020 and increase your sales. We can tackle a web redesign , an SEO analysis or talk strategy with you. Jump into the conversation below and tell us your scores!! P.S. I'm so proud to celebrate nearly twenty years of Valentine's Days with Abbie Gibitz from Joyful Birth! She does a fabulous job with childbirth education in Louisville and Louisville birth doula services .