As you can see in the image, the new layout still includes a map to the right of the results but the typical letter rankings “A – G” no longer display. Instead, all the local results are listed at the top of the page. The number of results that display has changed as well, now a user can easily scan through 20 results.

The new layout displays the results in a tile format that shows the business name, type of food, number of  reviews, the Zagat ranking and average cost. If the user clicks on the title a full summary of the business replaces the map.

We have seen this new layout sporadically display over the last several month but Yesterday Google officially shared the introduction of the carousel feature via a Google+ Post on their account.

Another notable change worth mentioning is that the business listings no longer provide direct links to the website of the business. The user must now click on the business tile and when the business summary generates, click on either the photo’s, map or reviews to be taken to a page that has a link to the website. This is a considerable increase in the number a clicks needed to get to the business’s website. In the A-G ranking layout, the user only needed to click on the business name displaying on the initial page of results. This is definitely an attention-grabbing change but we can see multiple reasons why Google would implement such a change. It will be interesting to see the effect it has on a restaurants website traffic versus actual foot traffic.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts of the new layout, leave a comment. We are curious to see how users and restaurants react and adapt to the new layout.

The post Google’s New Local Search Results for Restaurants appeared first on Organik SEO.

Have you ever searched for an online business listing and found that the information is either out of date or even completely incorrect?  This can be extremely annoying, especially if it is your business that is returning incongruent search results.  An incorrect search listing can result in customer confusion and even a loss of potential sales.

For instance, if I wanted to order a pizza, I might start by searching Google for “best pizza near Balboa Park”.  This would return a variety of results, all competing for my business.  So I would pick the result that sounds best, like “Gino’s Sweet Pies”, but their telephone number that is listed is incorrect so chances are that I would just call the next pizza place in my Google search results instead of tracking down the actual number for Gino’s.  In an instance like this, bad search information has negatively affected Gino’s sales.

Google search results that include incorrect information are more common than you may think.  Just because a business owner registers his or her business with Google Places and adds their correct information to the database, does not mean that that information will be used.  You may think, “Well that’s crazy.  I’m the owner, and I am giving Google the correct info.  They should use my information!” I completely agree with you, but let’s explore why that is not always the case.

How does Google get their information?

As a business owner you may have gone to your dashboard in Google Places and found that the business information there is not accurate.  Whether you added different information than what is displayed or you even if you never added information to Google at all, Google will still provide information that it thinks is best.

How is this possible?  Well, Google obtains its business information in a variety of ways, not just from the information the business provides on its own.  Google draws its business listing information from seven areas:

• Google pays companies that specialize in compiling huge lists of marketing data for their business listing directories.  The three major data companies that Google draws from are Infogroup, Neustar, and Axciom.
• Google also obtains information from smaller online directories, such as yp.com , yelp, citysearch…. just to name a few.  In many cases Google will crawl these web directories and automatically add business information to its database.
• Google will look at government data that contains businesses information and add it to their directory.  Any government information that can be accessed by searching the web will be crawled and indexed by Google.
• Surprisingly enough, Google also has the ability to generate business information from Google Street View.  Business names and addresses can be extracted from the images that Google compiles.
• Google also employs human reviewers that sift through their data to help clarify any discrepancies within the data.  These reviewers call businesses to verify their listings (be sure to take any call from Google but also be sure that the person is actually from Google because often times spammers use this as a tactic to generate leads. Google will never ask you to pay to update your information).
• Google also accepts information from other reviewers through Google Map Maker.  Google Map Maker is a Google provided service where anyone can create listings for businesses (similar to Wikipedia for business locations).
• The business owner’s provided information is the last source, but it is just one of many sources that Google will use to generate a business listing.

As you can tell Google creates a huge pool of data about any given business.  The search engines will do their best to use the most accurate information, but if there are a lot of inconsistencies it can confuse the search engines and in some cases they will begin aggregating incorrect data and associating it with your business.

How do I fix incorrect information?

Fixing incorrect information that appears in a Google search isn’t as easy as changing the information in your Google Places dashboard.  It is going to take a little work, especially if there is a lot of conflicting information floating around the web about the business.  Here are some good places to start:

• If you haven’t already, update Google Places with the correct business information.
• Google your business name and look for any mentions of your business on directory websites so you can ensure accuracy.
• Go to the major data aggregators (Infogroup, Neustar, and Axciom), and update your business information.
• Update your business information with the smaller directories such as yelp and yp.com.
• Update your information with government authorities.
• Check out Google Map Maker and see if your business information is correct.

Keeping an up to date and accurate business web profile can take a little work, but it is an essential part of remaining competitive in a search driven marketplace.

If you found this information helpful, be sure to check out our post about what we can expect from Google in the coming months “Expectations for Google Search in 2013”. The OrganikSEO team is passionate about helping businesses grow by tapping into the power of social media and SEO. To discuss how we can help you grow your business, contact us today!

The post Why is my Business Information Incorrect on Google? appeared first on Organik SEO.

Our Companies That Care feature this week is one of our fellow neighbors, Studio Penny Lane in Solana Beach, CA.  The business is founded on the simple basics of a penny: “The penny reminds us that life is full of hope, it inspires gratitude, and ignites abundance…whenever you see a penny, remember to take a moment and acknowledge something you are grateful for.”  Studio Penny Lane creates unique, artistic, and stylish wearable art that integrates a penny into every piece.  We especially love their “Liberty Collection” that has edgy leather wrap bracelets, stylish cuff links, and exquisite antique-inspired necklaces.

Project Penny Lane’s passion for Mindful Awareness

What we admire most is Studio Penny Lane’s passion for promoting Mindful Awareness for children.  Studio Penny Lane’s founder Laurie Wilson has created a sister non-profit called Project Penny Lane.  “Our goal is to empower kids by thinking positively and creating a change within themselves that can impact their environment, the world, and our future.”  We say, thanks for spreading the positivity Penny Lane!

We encourage everyone to check out Studio Penny Lane’s website, visit their Facebook fan page, and take a look at their amazing collections.  If nothing else, be sure to like their Facebook page!

If you’re a local San Diego based company that has a passion for sustainability and giving back, we want to hear about it; learn more about “Companies That Care,” and feel free to contact us!  Then tune in every Thursday to see what San Diego business will be featured next!

The post Studio Penny Lane in The Companies That Care Spotlight appeared first on Organik SEO.

New Google+ Dashboard

The new features for Google+ business managers include performance tracking and analytics that were left behind in the previous shift from Google Places to Google+. The newly added aspects of the dashboard include Insights and Top Searches, Driving Directions and Notifications.

Insights: provides the total number of views and actions a business receives across Google+ and local search.  Another aspect of insights is the ability to track views and activity of your posts.

We will be researching the capabilities and Insights and sharing more soon but for now, more information about insights can by found by visiting the Understanding Local Insights help page Google recently published.

Driving directions: shows the areas people search for driving directions to your business.

Top searches: shows the most popular terms that were used by people to find   your business.

*Note: Both the driving direction and top searches summarize the activity that occurred in the last 90 days. The insights seem to show summaries of either the last 7 or 30-day periods.

Another notable change to managing a business profile versus a personal profile is that Google added a new “Dashboard” icon to the navigation bar. This new addition makes navigation between seeing the profile and managing the profile much more user friendly. The dashboard is already a vast improvement in regards to tracking the activity of posts made by your business as seeing the exposure and interactions they receive. Overall, we are excited about the new management capabilities Google Dashboard, it looks to be solution for business to manage their presence across Google’s many products in one place.

The post Google+ Dashboard – New Google+ Page Management Interface appeared first on Organik SEO.

This week’s Companies That Care spotlight is on Third Bloom, a boutique that provides flowers for weddings, occasions, and events all over San Diego County.  The flower designs are gorgeous, the owner (Jen Campbell) is a pleasure to work with, and their commitment to sustainable practices is obvious.

Third Bloom only buys from Southern California & San Diego; their roses and several other varieties are from Encinitas!  What we especially admire is that Third Bloom recycles the water they use, composts all organic waste, and offers a recycling program to customers called “Bloom Back.”

Third Bloom’s Bloom Back Program

After an event has concluded, customers can schedule Third Bloom to come pick up the leftover flowers, which are then re-purposed into a new arrangement. These flowers are then donated to spread some joy to a local nursing home in the community.  Such a great idea!

You can visit Third Bloom on the 2^nd level of The Centre Escondido.  Be sure to also visit Third Bloom’s Facebook fan page, take a look at the beautiful work they do, and if nothing else like their page!

If you are a local San Diego based company that has a passion for sustainability and giving back, we want to hear about it; learn more about “Companies That Care,” and feel free to contact us!  Then tune in every Thursday to see what San Diego business will be featured next!

The post Third Bloom in the Companies That Care Spotlight appeared first on Organik SEO.

As can be expected with the ever evolving landscape of social media: YouTube is changing its channel design once again. The rollout of the new YouTube design will become permanent for all YouTube channels by today, June 5th. This new “One Channel” is more than a place to house all of your uploaded YouTube videos. The new YouTube Channel is an extension of your brand where you can reach more non-subscribed viewers and present more of your content to your fans.

The new channel design is meant for the viewer to easily discover a variety of content on YouTube and on your personalized channel. It also allows the account owner to promote their channel via teaser trailers to encourage users to subscribe. In addition, the channel profile is divided among tabs, which encourages subscribers to discover the channel and interact via discussions and comments. The channel layout is customizable so that you can present your videos to reflect your brand.

YouTube states that pages with the new One Channel layout are seeing a 20% increase in pageviews due to clicks from YouTube’s guide going directly to channel pages as opposed to the channel’s activity feeds.

The “Channel Art” is the header for your personalized channel and is viewable and responsive across several platforms. These platforms include iOS and Android apps, Desktops, Tablets, and even Television.

YouTube Channel Design Template:

At OrganikSEO, we’ve created a template jpg that you can pull into any photo-editing program in order to build your own personalized channel art. Our new YouTube channel design template shows the minimum and maximum dimensions and parameters to ensure that your channel art displays properly across different devices. This template displays the YouTube channel design artwork we created for OrganikSEO but feel free to use this as a background image to build upon! (P.S. If you want the PSD file with the different layers and ruler guides feel free to shoot us an email at webdesign(at)OrganikSEO.com and we will gladly share). If you would like to take a look at how our new YouTube channel displays you can check it out here on any device:

www.YouTube.com/organikseo

Click HERE to get OrganikSEO’s YouTube One Channel Design Template.

What do you think about the new “Channel Art”? We would love to hear your thoughts on the new design and how you will create your new channel.

If you found this information helpful, be sure to check out our post “Are You Ready To Go Social?” The OrganikSEO team is passionate about helping businesses grow by tapping into the power of social media and SEO. To discuss how we can help you grow your business, contact us today!

The post New YouTube Design Template- YouTube “One Channel” appeared first on Organik SEO.

In an effort to shine a light on these stellar organizations we’re starting a new weekly shout-out every Thursday called “Companies That Care.”  This week’s shout-out goes to SOLO Eyewear!

They not only sell stylish and comfortable hybrid bamboo sunglasses, but a portion of each pair sold goes toward funding a new pair of prescription eyeglasses to those in need. We love their product and admire their passion for helping others all over the world!  Be sure to visit their Facebook page, take a look at their sunglasses, and if nothing else, show your support by liking their page!

If you have an extra minute, check out  Cataractstagram.com.  This site enables users to see how people with cataracts are impacted by showing what it is like to see through the eyes of someone with cataracts.  Mouse over the images on the site to gain some perspective as to how people with this disease see the world and learn how SOLO works to put an end to cataracts.

If you are a local San Diego based company that has a passion for sustainability and giving back, we want to hear about it! Contact us and tune in every Thursday to see what San Diego business will be featured next!

The post Solo Eyewear in the Companies That Care Spotlight appeared first on Organik SEO.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the method of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid or “organic” search results.  As a general rule, the higher the website ranks in a search engine’s results for relevant keywords, the more search engine users will visit that website.  SEO operates by employing a variety of processes that work together to increase the position of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results.

SEO is necessary for countless reasons, but we will start with the most basic justification: the technical limitations of the search engine itself.  While search engines are increasingly sophisticated, they still have limitations that create hurdles for even the most carefully designed websites.  Search engines have difficulty interpreting some content, such as poor link structures or rich media content.  SEO is a way for the website to “communicate” with the search engine in a language that the engine will understand.  A well-designed SEO campaign will ensure that the website is communicating the intended information to the search engine in order to appear as a relevant search result.

Another reason to develop a website’s SEO is that search engines are competitive by nature.  Search engines display results ranked by relevance, and the vast majority of user attention is paid to search results 1-3, followed distantly by 4-10.  Search results appearing after the 10th position have a slim chance of even being glanced at.  Effective SEO has the ability to increase a website’s search ranking into the top, more relevant, positions.  Websites are competing for these top positions, and without a solid SEO approach, the chances of appearing atop the ranks is extremely minimal.

The increasing number of people who use search engines is another factor that contributes to the importance of SEO.  In the past ten years, the percentage of adults that use a search engine on a daily basis has risen from 30 to 70 percent.  Search engines are becoming more and more relevant as a means to obtain information, and as a result, the importance of website’s search rank is paramount.

If you found this information helpful, be sure to check out our post “Why Social Media and Blogs Go Hand-in-Hand.”  The OrganikSEO team is passionate about helping businesses grow by tapping into the power of social media and SEO.  To discuss how we can help you grow your business, contact us today!

The post Why SEO is Important appeared first on Organik SEO.

Today, Monday April 22^nd, is Earth Day.  Although we find ways to be extra special to our Earth today, the employees at OrganikSEO are passionate about celebrating Earth all year long.  Here are some ways we all contribute.

“I celebrate earth day every day by being conscious of our company’s carbon footprint. All of our services are delivered electronically, we print almost nothing, we use reclaimed and recycled material whenever possible and we strive to work with other likeminded companies and organizations that embrace similar core values. In addition I continue to take an active part in the green community in order to help spread the word and do our part.”  – Julien Brandt, CEO (“Cultivator of Excellence Online”)

“I observe earth day every day by cloud watching…also, I drive on the 101 to look at the ocean instead of taking the Freeway, it takes a little longer but is definitely worth it. It’s much more enjoyable to drive to work while looking at the waves, water, beach, sunset, etc…versus driving on the freeway.” – DJ Shirley, Local Search Campaign Manager

“I honor my commitment by finding ways to reduce my carbon footprint in any way possible, whether it be from buying local products or obsessively recycling.” – Maria Juan, Online Marketing Specialist

“I celebrate nature’s beauty and remember to appreciate the resources we have and that they are not to be taken for granted…nor are they indefinite.  If we all tried a little harder, whether we recycle more, carpool, or find sustainable solutions for doing day-to-day activities, everyone will benefit.  The hard part is breaking bad habits and starting new ones.  It does make it easier for us all to change however, if there is a simple solution, and I believe employers can help play a big part in initiating those solutions.  If a company (like OrganikSEO) practices sustainability and gives its employees easy guidelines to follow, more people will participate.” –Christina Dubiel, Project and Office Manager

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always sought out alternative ways of transportation.  I have a car, but make a point to either carpool or ride public transit; I’m not too prideful or scared to take the bus!  I currently I take the Coaster train to and from work every day (which actually is a beautiful ride).  I also pick up pieces of random litter when I can.  I figure that even if it’s a small Cheetos bag I’m throwing away (or recycling), that every little bit helps.” -Heather TJ-Palmer, Social Media Manager

If you liked this information, be sure to check out our post ”Encourage a Do-Nation.”  The OrganikSEO team is passionate about helping businesses grow by tapping into the power of social media and SEO.  To discuss how we can help you grow your business, contact us today!

The post OrganikSEO Celebrates Earth Day Every Day appeared first on Organik SEO.

As a company that manages SEO and social media campaigns, we are always looking for creative ways to tap into the power of social media. However, we need not forget that at the end of the day social media, like any other human interaction, is fed by people’s desire to connect with other people. That desire coupled with social media’s amazing ability to amplify and promote messages makes for an incredibly powerful tool. During a heartbreaking week of tragedies such as the one our country just experienced, it’s important to remind ourselves the significance of being real, being human, and coming together as a nation. Let’s all make the effort to use our social media reach to strengthen our support for those in need. We should all DONATE and DO whatever we can to help.

Remember that it’s not always about getting more “likes,” “retweets,” or sales.  Our company is making a DONATION to the cause and doing what we can to help spread the word. However, our DONATION will not be tied to the viral reach of this post because we don’t want our donation to be limited to the “likes” we receive.  Instead we will DO all we can to the best of our abilities, both personally and financially.

It’s exciting to think about how this message just might be enough to spur someone to take action. Every little bit helps!

Let’s be a NATION of DO’ers that are willing to take action and support those in need. Encourage a “DO-NATION”!

- Julien Brandt
CEO, OrganikSEO.com

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