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Duplicate citation cleanup—not just “suppression”—is probably the main citation-related tactic that I’d continue to pay a substantial sum for.
Based on the duplicate listings I occasionally see for my sole consulting client these days, Infogroup seems to be the only data aggregator on whom Google is still relying to any significant extent.
From where I sit, the impact of citations on local search rankings has changed significantly over the last 4-5 years.
Google Sites are really are meant to be primary websites, so they probably aren't something most businesses should consider.
Google's answer would be to buy Ads -- and increasingly that's my answer as well. But in terms of organic techniques, there are a couple of tactics that might work.
I'd argue that your energy (or budget) is better-spent on a lot of other tactics than rank-tracking in local, given the importance of location and personalization.
Links still do contribute to local rankings -- but they're far from the be-all end-all they are in traditional organic search.
I've suggested at least since 2017 that Google's been shifting its algorithm to focus on more democratic, transactional signals of popularity, like clicks to call, clicks for driving directions, and store visit information to rank local businesses.
Gather feedback, re-engage your customers with transactional emails, share knowledge with newsletters to build loyalty and word-of-mouth. And beyond direct communications, email addresses can be used for retargeting and lookalike audiences on both Facebook and Google ad networks.
There's no easy answer to this question, as it varies by industry, the age of your business, and a number of other criteria. But for new businesses, even if all you care about is rankings, reviews are quickly becoming the dominant ranking factor in local search.
Do a “site:yourdomain.com” search on Google.com.
The LocalBusiness schema is the most important one. Beyond that, look at place review schema to mark up your testimonials.
Mobilegeddon is actually overblown, as so much of what is happening in local search these days is happening on the Google SERP, not on your website.
It's important, but it's not the silver bullet it was a decade ago. SEO falls somewhere in the middle of the Local Marketing Stack.
At least for locally-focused businesses based in the U.S., the extent to which Google is becoming pay-to-play for discovery searches.
It gives you the flexibility to move partners very easily. It is the gold standard. So if a partner doesn’t seem to be doing well, its easier for you to find someone else, vs a more proprietary system. Also as you want to do more advanced work, you’ll find that several plugins exist which can …
While they are different disciplines entirely, SEO and SMO are more complementary than ever.
My advice for the best way to sell digital services to business owners: ask a lot of questions.
Joy Hawkins