White Hat vs Black Hat SEO - The Final Answer!

This is what I think about White Hat vs Black Hat SEO:

Speaking at SEMPO SF SEO & Analytics Panel Event 1-26-2011

I wanted to let all my clients, friends and family know that I will be speaking tomorrow at SEMPO SF SEO & Analytics Panel Event. I will be speaking on the impact and how to optimize for the Google Place Search Update that occured in October of this year.

I am really looking forward to going to the San Francisco LSF Interactive office to meet our CEO and the rest of the team.

Should be a great event, so if you are in the area check out the details here.

After the event I will be possibly be posting a video and slides on the LSF Interactive Blog.

If you want to reach out to me hit me up on twitter.com/imnotadoctor

Cheers!

Google Place Search - O Crap Where Did My Website Go

Yesterday Google released a new format to how they will serve up local results called Google Place Search.

I wrote a post yesterday over here: Google Place Search - What is it & How Do I Survive?

From the post:

Google has just launched a bombshell on the SEO community called “Place Search”. Google Place Search will now replace the local 7-pack results with a larger, and more detailed 7-pack of results that takes up ¾ of the page. (If you cannot see it, simply add &esrch=LocalMergeImpl::Experiment to your search URL; it is still an experiment but will be rolled out the next several days.)

Google said “We’ve made results like this possible by developing technology to better understand places. … One of the great things about our approach is that it makes it easier to find a comprehensive view of each place.”

Personally, I think it is about money. Google is forcing small business owners to use a Google product instead of their website to gain exposure in their search engine. Now, claiming your Google local account is free, but for a small business owner to really stand out they will have to start using Google paid services like: Google Tag, Adwords, or even Google Boost.

Do you think it is coincidence that within one week Google Boost was announced, Google Tag no longer allowed you to promote your website, and now there is a new Places format? I think not. Google wants money!

Check out the full post.