Yeah of course, maybe I'm wording it wrong, but I'm not jumping straight in and scamming people. If I know I will rank, then I will take on the clients, but if I can't I won't.
I don't understand this comment?
Hint- PBN = Don't have a friggin clue about Local SEO.
Please elaborate why I shouldn't use one?
Sure:
Disregarding the importance of onpage SEO in ranking, here ya go.
There are two algorithms in use by Google. The organic search algo and the local search algo. The local search algo was developed specifically to help small business that serve a city or small geographic area. Google had a ton of small business groups on their ass because small businesses could not out SEO the big boys.
Not being stupid Google realized that if they could somehow level the playing field by developing a new algorithm for local search, that this would open additional adwords search terms as well. You can only sell so many adds for carpet cleaning, but when you stick a city or community in front and behind it, why by golly, you open a few more adwords terms.
The problem was how do you tell if a business really is a local business in that area? Consider how difficult that is.
People open "businesses" on he web all the time. Many people build web properties that create leads, that they in turn sell to the local providers, reducing revenue for the small businesses in that niche. For some reason small business people complained about this.
People who have read a SEO wso will build a website and claim they are an SEO company, hair stylists move around as much as Robin Williams on speed. Many hundreds of thousands of small businesses spring up and die each year. In the meantime the data aggregators have gotten hold of the business info, and it is all over the web. Seldom does business go belly up and go out and remove their data from the web.
In addition, businesses change hands, go out of business, or move all the friggin time.
What this means is that local searches brought up a lot of crap instead of good results. Along about this time some people got the idea of building a local business directory that would actually have hoops to jump thru too prove they really are a business in that area, and they allowed people who actually use this business to leave a review. If the web gave you crap, go to Angie's list and get real businesses that actually were local.
Google decided that it would use these verified directories as a sign that a local site really was one. The theory is that the more of these you list with the more confidence that Google has in that business.
The one thing that small business owners all have and internet marketers seldom have is a verifiable local address and phone number. Sure they can fake it, but not cheaply, and most IM people have easier fish to fry.
Since these local business directories go thru the verification of the small business, Google used it as the lynchpin of local search.
The second thing Google decided IMers could not cheaply get is local reviews, so that was added to the new algo.
The final component became the behavior of the website owners themselves. (this actually applies to all Niches. If the major players in your niche have 100,000 backlinks, to rank you are probably going to do aggressive backlinking) Real Small business owners do certain things without fail. They advertise in their local community. They end up on local news, support schools and sports teams. They list themselves in local directories because that is where local people search for their service.
Small business owners do not build backlinks to their sites. They do list themselves with their suppliers and products vendors.. They have social media accounts, and put out white papers and promotional material.
Real small businesses have a presence in the community that outsiders cannot fake.
I am not saying you can't rank a local site with backlinks, you certainly can. And a PBN done right will work wonders for any website. But these things have perils that IMers take in stride that are devastating to a small business. Small businesses can't just change their phone number and address, get a new domain and start over. Kill their site and you destroy their families livelihood.
If you rank a site using the organic search algorithm, you forfeit qualifying for the local algorithm, and you are constantly at risk of Google updates.
If you rank a site thru citations and reviews, Google updates do not matter. You are not going to have thousands of links. You do not need them. In fact the traditional neg SEO attack is harmless,
because your site is ranked with the local algorithm that does not rely on backlinks. You just have to jump thru the hoops to qualify.
Again I am not saying not to backlink or backlinks do not work. Overwhelming backlinks will rank anything, if it looks natural enough. (Proof? Google "click here"). You do need strategic backlinking, I am not saying don't build backlinks. But build backlinks that it makes sense for a real business to build.
That's what I meant.
