Good guides gone bad: How Google’s ‘Local Guides’ program fails businesses and consumers
Columnist Jamie Pitman talks to some of the leading figures in local search to find out what went wrong with the Local Guides program, and if enough...
Jamie Pitman
Jamie Pitman has worked in digital marketing for over a decade and is currently Head of Content at local SEO tool provider BrightLocal. He specializes in local marketing and the many factors that affect local search performance, from Google My Business and consumer reviews to branding, content marketing, and beyond.
Which service-area business types perform best in local search?
New research from a dataset across seven industries that have a physical location were reviewed to answer this...
New research shows strong link between Google My Business photo quantity and search performance
Here's what analyzing 580,853 images across 15,191 Google My Business listings taught us about how GMB images could be impacting user...
What’s it like to be a Google Gold Product Expert?: An interview with Ben Fisher
Ben Fisher explains how he became a Google product expert and the benefits of being a tester and providing feedback to make tools better for local...
Should we be paying for Google My Business features?
Paying for GMB features would be a handy new revenue stream for Google, but how it manages trust features - and spam - in a pay-to-play model is the...
The rise (and further rise) of Google My Business spam
Google's machine learning tool verification is just not working for GMB listings as spam is constantly slipping through the net. Here's how you can...
How lucrative is local search?
A new report finds that while junior SEOs spend the most time on day-to-day SEO, senior staff need to keep their skills sharp so their agencies and...
Do men and women value online reviews differently?
New research suggests there is an opportunity for businesses to get ahead of their competitors by generating reviews from their female...
What should service area businesses be focusing on in search?
Here's some guidance for businesses to take advantage of a recent change in Google My Business to submit exact regions of operation rather than by...
Developing a schema strategy for local business: An interview with Schema App’s Martha van Berkel
Semantic markup offers the most clear-cut opportunity to tell search engines about your small business website. Discover the benefits and learn how...
How the hospitality industry should approach online reviews and citations
Looking for more positive reviews? Here are some smart ways to build citations and reviews plus tips to boost the visibility of businesses in the...
Rebranding your local business? Don’t start without reading these tips
Rebranding an established business is not easy, says contributor Jamie Pitman, especially for small businesses. Here are 6 marketing and local search...
Practice useful marketing for local business content success
As a small business owner, you fight big brands and a ranking system that favors them. How can you compete? Contributor Jamie Pitman shares 3 tactics...
It’s time for local business to take voice search seriously
Pokémon Go and fidget spinners are fads, but voice search for a local business is not, says contributor Jamie Pitman. With new technologies like...
How to regain trust lost by bad business listings
Whether it's spring or fall, cleaning up your local business listings is a good idea, says contributor Jamie Pitman. If you don't, be prepared to...
Google’s growth in online local reviews continues to dominate, but…
Contributor Jamie Pitman shows us why we should keep an eye on TripAdvisor and Facebook when trying to increase online...
Local search industry optimistic about 2018 — but less likely to hire
Columnist Jamie Pitman shares insights about the state of the local search industry from BrightLocal’s Local Search Industry...
From algo to aggro: How SEOs really feel about Google algorithm updates
Algorithm updates got you down? You're not alone. Columnist Jamie Pitman shares highlights from a BrightLocal survey seeking to understand the ways...