Ready to get better-than-ever at local SEO? Just dive into these resources, representing this year's brightest and best.
2018's Best Local SEO Blogs
Read these blogs to practically give yourself a phD in local search.
1. Local Visibility System
Want the no-b.s., cut-the-fluff, in-depth 411 on local SEO? Subscribe to this blog and strap in.
Check out some recent posts:
2. Local Search Insider
Written by a variety of contributors, this blog serves as the official voice of the Local Search Association. Stop by this blog for the latest news on anything and everything impacting the local search sphere.
3. Local SEO Guide
If you're ready to dive into the technical side of local SEO this is your blog. Don't worry. Everything is very easy to understand, written so anyone can benefit from the information.
4. Moz Local
Moz produces some amazing practical and tactical local SEO content. Miriam Ellis is one of the best in the biz, and not only does she create some insightful and creative articles, she finds some fantastic contributing experts to share their own deep dives.
5. Local U
It would be super weird if a site called Local U weren't a top resource for local SEO. But as it happens, they are. Hosted by Mike Blumenthal, an expert in local SEO.
6. BrightLocal
In all honesty, it's tricky including BrightLocal because they recently added a review gen product, but their research is so darn good! While we hope you still see the advantages of Grade.us for your review management, Jamie Pitman has done a great job educating the community on Local SEO.
7. Local Search Forum
Not a blog, but might as well be. This forum routinely features articles, posts, discussions, and insights from the hottest voices in local search. Pulling out representative posts is a little less straightforward here, but if you're serious about local, join up, get the updates sent to your inbox, and get involved.
Full transparency: Grade.us sponsors the forum because we know it's one of the most fantastic places for SEO experts to go, learn and contribute to the online review management industry!
2018's Best Local SEO Articles
Awesome insights, mostly from blogs that don't strictly cater to local SEO.
Is "Near Me" SEO Moving Farther Away? - Why you don't want to go crazy placing "near me" tags in titles.
A Basic SEO Audit for Small Business - Small business owner who wants to try to tackle this SEO stuff yourself? This post will get you started.
Local SEO 2018 [The Complete Guide] - Chase Reiner covers everything in this article: SEO basics, Setting up your website, content management system (CMS), theme, and hosting, Site architecture, Content Relevancy, Keyword research and mapping, Content creation techniques, Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB), Citation building, Schema markup, Local client generation and management. It's honestly all here. Super impressive!
Local SEO is Dying. Here’s 14 Ways to Resurrect It - The best thing about Neil Patel articles is that they have actionable step by step guidance. We're talking screenshots, step 1-bajillion. Comprehensive and his tips get results.
Local SEO: A Simple (But Complete) Guide - Picking out some aspects of Local SEO that sometimes fall between the cracks. This is a helpful guide from Ahrefs that's worth consuming and implementing.
Link Building in the Age of Content Skeptics - Link building is a vital part of Local SEO. It also gets harder every year. Here are some strategies for survival.
How Small Businesses Can See Big Results With Foundational SEO - The 20% of the SEO activities delivering 80% of the results.
How to Create Content for Local SEO and Rock the Rankings - Everyone knows you need great content. Figuring out how to provide the right content? That's the real challenge. This article will help.
Local SEO in 2018 - Rank and Prosper - A series of awesome infographics to help you get a good handle on your local SEO efforts.
Master Local SEO Marketing With These Proven Strategies - This post starts basic and moves in-depth. It includes a case study, tons of diagrams and graphs, and provides some pretty cool insights for tackling local SEO in a major market (they're in Atlanta).
147 Local SEO Tips for 2018 by Industry Experts - This article will give you a metric ton of awesome local SEO ideas, all conveniently gathered in one place.
Here Are 7 Killer Steps on How to Win at Local SEO - SEM Rush always has amazing guest contributors, and this post by Paul Paquin is no exception. This one does offer some ideas utilizing SEM Rush's tool, but it provides some inspiration nonetheless.
A Comprehensive Guide to Local SEO in 2018 - Hubspot's take on LocalSEO with a selection of one-off tactics to apply and resources to use for your local biz.
2018's Best Paid Tools for Local SEO
I'm not going to talk up Grade.us here, cause I mean...yeah. We rock, and you're already in the right place to find out all about us. Here's everything else you might need.
Moz Local - Moz Local makes citation building easy by helping you send accurate information to all the major aggregators that send information to profiles across the web.
Screaming Frog - On-site SEO plays a big role in local search results. This tool helps you analyze yours.
SEM Rush - They're a bit more expensive than your average tool, but they provide an incredibly powerful Search tool that works really well for local ranking with guidance on snippets, keyword research, content idea generation and a library of educational webinars.
Buzzstream - An intensive link-building tool with a focus on reaching local influencers.
Yext - They have an effective and powerful product when it comes to listings management. With a relationships across many citation publishers, they have a strong finger on the pulse of the local directory ecosystem.
The Local SEO Experts to Follow in 2018 and Beyond
There's some necessary overlap between the best blogs and some of the top professionals here.
Phil Rozek - He did local SEO before it was cool. Schedule one of his Mastermind sessions if you've hit a sticky widget, or just follow him on Twitter to stay super-informed about the state of local search.
Dana DiTomaso - Writer for the Moz Blog, President of Kickpoint Inc, Dana is a common face at digital marketing panels, conventions, and events. Follow her at @danaditomaso.
Steve Wiideman - Owner of the Wiideman Consulting Group and the Wiideman Academy. Right now he's talking a great deal about the impact of voice search on local SEO.
Joy Hawkins - Owner of Sterling Sky, major contributor to Local U and the new owner of the Local Search Forum. She'll keep you on top of the latest news and she'll do it with aplomb. You can follow her here.
Ben Fisher - A GMB top contributor, local search expert with plenty of tips and tools to share, and owner of Steady Demand a SEO focused social media management agency.
Andrew Shotland - CEO and founder of Local SEO Guide. He's been a major force on the web since practically the invention of the Internet, responsible for launching NBC.com, InsiderPages (now CityPages) and more. Follow him at @localseoguide.
Miriam Ellis - Local Moz Content Writer and Local SEO Expert. She produces amazing articles and always shares excellent tips and advice on twitter.
2018's Best Ebooks, Whitepapers, and Other Resources
Here are a few long-form resources you might want to snag.
Your Free Guide to Effective Local SEO - On its surface this is a 1 page worksheet. But it's chock full of bullet points that link to dozens of other blog posts and resources. This is like a local SEO crash-course.
The Expert's Guide to Local SEO - Issued by Local U, this is a 270 page local SEO training manual, updated monthly. Downside? This guide is anything but free. Upside? You'll be an expert yourself by the time you're done reading it.
State of Local Marketing Report for 2018 - Insights from 2,700 survey responses from local business partners.
Timeline of Local SEO Changes in 2018 - The big truth about any kind of SEO is it's worse than the weather in...well, any city really, cause people say it no matter where you go. "Stick around, it'll change." Here's what went down in 2018.
What else do you got??
Know about an awesome local search resource from 2018 that I missed?
Please let us know in the comments below!
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