SearchLab’s Blog of Awesomeness

Knowledge bombs to help you learn more about Local SEO and PPC

Suds and Search 53 | Joy Hawkins, Owner of Sterling Sky, LocalU, and the Local Search Forum

March 11, 2021 Mark Bealin Google My Business, Local SEO, Suds and Search

Also available as a Podcast:

My guest on this episode of Suds & Search is Joy Hawkins. Joy is the Owner and Founder of Sterling Sky. She is one of, if not the, most recognizable Local SEO personalities in the world. It’s hard for me to think of anything in Local SEO that Joy isn’t at least somewhat involved in.

She has spoken at every major Local SEO conference… most of them multiple times. A shortlist of places you might’ve heard Joy present includes Mozcon Local, SMX, Pubcon, and Whitespark’s Local Search Summit.

Check it out, I did a Whiteboard Friday video!

March 9, 2021 Greg Gifford Google My Business, Local Search Tuesdays, Local SEO

In this week’s video, I’m sharing an update about another video. Just a few weeks ago, Moz released an episode of its highly popular Whiteboard Friday series, and I was the host! I rocked a killer whiteboard and talked all about Google Posts and how to use them to help your business stand out from competitors. And for all the people out there who thought I cheated and used a Photoshopped background and a green screen, I show proof it was a real whiteboard…

Google announces plan to retire Target CPA and Target ROAS as unique bidding strategies

March 5, 2021 Mark Irvine Google Updates, PPC Advertising

Google ends Target CPA and Target ROAS bidding strategies Manually optimizing hundreds or thousands of individual keyword bids and various bid adjustments in Google Ads can easily be a never-ending task. Although Google Ads bidding can be complex, most advertisers have a simple goal in mind for their ads – to get more traffic, to outrank their competitors, or the most conversions for their budget. That’s why over the years Google has introduced several automated bidding strategies to help advertisers optimize toward their specific goals without requiring hours of bid management every week. Two of the oldest of these bidding strategies, Target CPA and Target ROAS, allow advertisers to optimize their campaigns towards a specific cost/conversion (CPA) or conversion value/cost (ROAS). Target CPA and Target ROAS are among the most popular bidding strategies in Google Ads for its efficiency towards optimizing toward a specific CPA or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

However, in a recent post on the Google Ads Developer Blog, Google unceremoniously dropped the major news that these two bidding strategies will be reorganized in the coming months! In their post, they share that they will announce more details at a future date:

Suds and Search 52 | Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Product Liaison

March 4, 2021 Mark Bealin PPC Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Suds and Search

Also available as a Podcast:

My guest on this episode of Suds & Search is Ginny Marvin, the former Editor-in-Chief at Third Door Media. Third Door Media is the publisher of Search Engine Land, Marketing Land & MarTech Today. They also host the popular conference series Search Marketing Expo with nine events scheduled in 2021.

At the time our episode was filmed, Ginny had just finished her tenure at Third Door Media and we spend most of our conversation reflecting on her time there. Very recently, Ginny announced that she has accepted a role at Google as its new Ads Product Liaison.

Over the course of her career, Ginny has had a truly unique perspective on the industry. I started reading Search Engine Land back in 2008. It has remained the go-to destination for search marketers seeking daily news coverage, breaking stories, industry trends, feature announcements, and product changes.

10 ideas for local blog posts

March 2, 2021 Greg Gifford Digital Marketing, Local Search Tuesdays, Local SEO, Search Engine Optimization

In this week’s video, I share 10 ideas for local blog posts to help you write better localized content. Adding more localized content to your blog helps cast a wider net and get your brand more exposure, so use these ideas, or springboard off of them and come up with your own. You’ll show up in more local searches and outpace your competitors, which means more leads when local customers are ready to buy!

Suds and Search 51 | Carrie Hill, Local Search Analyst and Community Manager at Sterling Sky

February 25, 2021 Mark Bealin Local SEO, Suds and Search

Also available as a Podcast:

My guest on this episode of Suds & Search is Carrie Hill. For over 13 years, Carrie has been one of the most important voices in digital marketing for small and medium businesses. Carrie has contributed her talents at industry conferences, on podcasts, webinars, and blogs.

She has presented at virtually every Local SEO conference including LocalU, Whitespark Local Search Summit, and all of the different Pubcon events. She’s a prolific writer as well. She has contributed to Search Engine Land, Search Engine Watch, and on the Sterling Sky company blog.

Why it’s important to have a blog

February 23, 2021 Greg Gifford Local Search Tuesdays, Local SEO, Search Engine Optimization

In this week’s video, I share why it’s important to have a blog and how it affects potential visibility in searches. With the right strategy, a blog can drastically increase local visibility, which leads to more customers and more business. Watch the video for all the details.

The new automotive study from Google

February 16, 2021 Greg Gifford Google Updates, Local Search Tuesdays, Local SEO

In this week’s video, I share the details about Google’s newest automotive study titled “The auto dealer’s guide to navigating today’s digital landscape”. It shares several interesting stats about how buyer behavior has changed due to COVID and the resulting lockdowns and provides 4 tips to position your dealership for future success.

Google Rolls Out New Way to Convert on the SERP with Lead Form Ad Extensions

February 12, 2021 Mark Irvine PPC Advertising

Example of google lead form ad extension Everyday, searchers turn to Google for a variety of reasons. Sometimes people are looking to learn something brand new, sometimes they’re looking to compare their options, and other times they’re ready to act. While Google search is a great tool for all these kinds of searchers, most advertisers want to reach people most ready to convert.

While a quality landing page can help increase your conversion rate, sometimes they’re just an extra step between the user and connecting with your business. For that reason, Google’s introduced several ways to convert a user directly on the SERP. Call extensions and Call ads allow a user to call your business directly from their mobile phone, for instance.

Yesterday, Google introduced a revolutionary new way to convert directly on the SERP. Advertisers can now create Lead Form Extensions and choose to send their traffic from their ad’s headline directly to a lead form on the Google SER, rather than a landing page. Best of all, if the searcher is signed into their Google account, the form will already be pre-populated with their contact details and they can convert with one click!

What are Google Lead Form Ad Extensions?

Google Ads first introduced Lead Form extensions in early 2019. Like other ad extensions, Lead Form Extensions could potentially show beneath your search ad and allowed users a new way to engage with your ad, by opening a lead form with a user’s contact information already filled out. Advertisers were quick to start using Lead Form Extensions ecstatic to see some incremental leads from their search ads.

Yesterday’s announcement allows advertisers a new way to leverage their lead form extensions. Instead of showing their lead form extension beneath their ads, this update allows users to have their ad’s headline serve their lead form instead. Now advertisers don’t need to send traffic to their website at all until a user completes their lead form!

There’s no additional cost for using lead form extensions, advertisers are only charged according to their CPC bid on Google.

SearchLab’s Blog of Awesomeness

Knowledge bombs to help you learn more about Local SEO and PPC

Also available as a Podcast:

Also available as a Podcast:

Also available as a Podcast:

Also available as a Podcast:

What are Google Lead Form Ad Extensions?

2 Ways to Use Google Lead Form Ad Extensions