SEO

A Complete Guide To On & Off Page Local SEO Content

Published

2 years ago

March 31, 2022

Entireweb News Bot

A Complete Guide To On & Off Page Local SEO Content

When you think about improving your local SEO, do you think about content?

Maybe not.

I’ll admit, it’s not always the first thing that comes to my mind.

But here’s the thing – content directly affects local SEO, and overlooking it is a huge mistake.

Yes, we might have limited text fields and places where we can input content.

Hear me out, though. There’s more to it than you might think.

Key Differences In Local & Organic SEO Content Strategies

You may know about the content Google likes to see on a website and how to optimize it to show up higher on search engine result pages.

But what about local content?

How is that different?

Here’s the thing, content strategies for local SEO and broader organic SEO aren’t actually that different.

No matter what, good informative content should always be a priority.

The main difference between local SEO and organic SEO content lies in user intent.

For local SEO, the user intent is to find goods or services near them, so they include a location indicator in their search query.

For example, you may search for [Kansas City hair salon], [hair salon in Kansas City], or [hair salon near me].

The location indicator tells Google to prioritize, showing the user results in their area.

This has been the case for a long time as Google has wanted to serve up more localized SERP features (like map results) for searches that it has perceived local intent.

So when you’re writing for local SEO, produce content that highlights your location.

Getting Started

Before you begin writing content for your site, you should always take a minute and think about your end game.

Ask yourself what goals you want to achieve.

And how can your content and messaging aid in completing your goals?

For example, say you want to improve your local SEO so more people visit your brick-and-mortar storefront to ultimately increase sales and revenue.

This is a great goal.

Good local SEO can help you achieve it, but creating a Google My Business listing is not enough.

Prioritize creating high-quality content that highlights both what you have to offer and your location.

Local Content Audit

If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to perform a local content audit.

When running a content audit, ask yourself what your ideal local customer is searching for.

Are they researching what’s available in their target area?

Reading reviews?

Looking to visit a location now?

Searching for a provider to come to them or to have a product delivered?

Knowing this information helps you determine if there are gaps in your content you could fill to help rank better in local searches.

Another important piece of a local content audit is competitor research.

Check out your competitors’ websites to gather information regarding the keywords they’re targeting and the content structure to get their local clients or customers to convert.

Once you know who you’re targeting and what they’re searching for, you’re in a great position to begin writing.

Now, let’s dive into specific content strategies you can use to improve your local SEO.

On-Page Local SEO Content

Here’s a bit of good news, if you have a well-optimized website that includes quality content, there’s not much you’ll need to change to optimize it for local searches.

Just a few tweaks here and there.

One of the most important things you can do to improve local SEO is putting your address in the footer.

If you have fewer than ten locations, I recommend putting them all in your footer.

Additionally, it’s important to create dedicated landing pages for each location you serve.

Each of these pages should have original content specific to the area/location.

Do not simply copy and paste the information from one page to another, even if you do the same thing at all your locations.

This would be duplicate content, which could hurt your SEO.

General reminders for creating a good page:

Write informative and engaging content that describes the products or services you offer.
Organically optimize your page for the correct geo-specific keywords (don’t keyword stuff).
Add photos or infographics and optimize the alt text.
Make sure your page is optimized for voice and mobile searches.
Use local-specific schema markup.
Refresh the content occasionally to keep it fresh and relevant.

Blogging

Blogging is a powerful tool to provide your customers with useful information and set you up as an expert in your field.

Simply put, in the eyes of Google, it has the power to increase your expertise, authority, and trust (EAT).

But outside of this, blogging is a great way to highlight your location(s) and boost your local SEO.

First and most importantly, it provides Google with fresh content that reiterates where you’re located.

It also helps you target those pesky local keywords like “wine bar near me” that may be hard to rank for.

Additionally, blogging allows you to get backlinks from other local businesses.

And, it offers a chance for people to comment on or share your article, which are two things that improve local SEO.

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that one of the most important things you can do with a blog is share it – on social media and on any local lists that allow it.

Get comments, get likes, and drive local traffic to your articles.

Off-Page Local SEO Content

Google Business

Your Google Business Profile is the first and most obvious off-page location for local SEO content.

Adding content to your Google Business Profile is important when working on improving your local SEO.

You can do this in various ways, but the top priority should be optimizing your profile by including as much relevant information as possible.

You can add a description of your business, your hours, product information, and your services. For example, a food menu and photos for a restaurant.

When optimizing your Google Business Profile, make sure all the information you provide is correct.

If anything changes, such as your hours of operation, update your profile accordingly.

Another valuable thing you can do is post photos, current blog articles, relevant specials, and updated policies and procedures on your feed.

This communicates to Google that you’re an active listing to promote because you provide users with valuable information.

Ultimately, well-optimized Google Business Profiles receive more clicks and requests for directions.

A key part of building a good local SEO strategy is gathering reviews and responding promptly.

In terms of content, reviews on user-generated content carry a lot of weight.

A Note On The Map Pack …

Getting your business featured on the Map Pack is a big deal.

It allows users to see your listing first before scrolling through SERPs.

A few content-related strategies that can help you get one of the coveted spots in the Map Pack:

Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
Write hyper-local content.
Have dedicated landing pages for your various locations.
Use schema markup.
Gather and respond to reviews.
Optimize your site for voice and mobile searches.

Other Listing Services

When it comes to SEO, Google is the major player for sure.

So, it’s no surprise that the major thing tied to local SEO is Google Business.

But, we shouldn’t overlook other local listing services like Bing Local, Yelp, Thumbtack, Yellowpages.com, Foursquare, and more – depending on our industry and focus.

Posting content and other updates gives your website a citation and boosts local credibility.

If you’re on these sites, don’t forget to give them some attention now and then and make sure you respond to any reviews you’ve earned – even if using data aggregation services to push data to third-party directories.

Your online reputation is important to Google and shouldn’t be forgotten.

Social Media

As I’m sure you already know, social media helps SEO.

So having a Facebook and Instagram business listing is important.

It increases your audience, so your article gets more views.

And, more views means more opportunities for backlinks.

Ultimately, having a robust social media presence and posting useful content on your social feed impacts your EAT and makes you look more credible in the eyes of Google.

Final Thoughts

Good content is an essential part of a good SEO strategy.

In terms of local SEO, good content with location indicators prompts Google to rank you higher in local search results and the Map Pack.

Simply creating quality content for your site is not always enough. You should also share it to your Google Business Profile, other local listing sites, and your social media feeds to increase traffic and showcase your expertise and trustworthiness.

For more tips on content marketing, check out SEJ’s Complete Guide to Content Marketing.

For more guidance on local SEO, grab yourself a free copy of SEJ’s Local SEO e-book.

More resources:

Featured Image: GaudiLab/Shutterstock

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Related Topics:Complete Content Guide Local Page seo

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SEO

4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

Published

12 hours ago

December 11, 2023

Max

4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

In a significant leap in large language model (LLM) development, Mistral AI announced the release of its newest model, Mixtral-8x7B.

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:5546272da9065eddeb6fcd7ffddeef5b75be79a7&dn=mixtral-8x7b-32kseqlen&tr=udp%3A%2F%https://t.co/uV4WVdtpwZ%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%https://t.co/g0m9cEUz0T%3A80%2Fannounce

RELEASE a6bbd9affe0c2725c1b7410d66833e24

— Mistral AI (@MistralAI) December 8, 2023

What Is Mixtral-8x7B?

Mixtral-8x7B from Mistral AI is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model designed to enhance how machines understand and generate text.

Imagine it as a team of specialized experts, each skilled in a different area, working together to handle various types of information and tasks.

A report published in June reportedly shed light on the intricacies of OpenAI’s GPT-4, highlighting that it employs a similar approach to MoE, utilizing 16 experts, each with around 111 billion parameters, and routes two experts per forward pass to optimize costs.

This approach allows the model to manage diverse and complex data efficiently, making it helpful in creating content, engaging in conversations, or translating languages.

Mixtral-8x7B Performance Metrics

Mistral AI’s new model, Mixtral-8x7B, represents a significant step forward from its previous model, Mistral-7B-v0.1.

It’s designed to understand better and create text, a key feature for anyone looking to use AI for writing or communication tasks.

New open weights LLM from @MistralAI

params.json:
– hidden_dim / dim = 14336/4096 => 3.5X MLP expand
– n_heads / n_kv_heads = 32/8 => 4X multiquery
– “moe” => mixture of experts 8X top 2 👀

Likely related code: https://t.co/yrqRtYhxKR

Oddly absent: an over-rehearsed… https://t.co/8PvqdHz1bR pic.twitter.com/xMDRj3WAVh

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) December 8, 2023

This latest addition to the Mistral family promises to revolutionize the AI landscape with its enhanced performance metrics, as shared by OpenCompass.

Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

What makes Mixtral-8x7B stand out is not just its improvement over Mistral AI’s previous version, but the way it measures up to models like Llama2-70B and Qwen-72B.

mixtral-8x7b performance metrics compared to llama 2 open source ai models

It’s like having an assistant who can understand complex ideas and express them clearly.

One of the key strengths of the Mixtral-8x7B is its ability to handle specialized tasks.

For example, it performed exceptionally well in specific tests designed to evaluate AI models, indicating that it’s good at general text understanding and generation and excels in more niche areas.

This makes it a valuable tool for marketing professionals and SEO experts who need AI that can adapt to different content and technical requirements.

The Mixtral-8x7B’s ability to deal with complex math and coding problems also suggests it can be a helpful ally for those working in more technical aspects of SEO, where understanding and solving algorithmic challenges are crucial.

This new model could become a versatile and intelligent partner for a wide range of digital content and strategy needs.

How To Try Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Demos

You can experiment with Mistral AI’s new model, Mixtral-8x7B, to see how it responds to queries and how it performs compared to other open-source models and OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Please note that, like all generative AI content, platforms running this new model may produce inaccurate information or otherwise unintended results.

User feedback for new models like this one will help companies like Mistral AI improve future versions and models.

1. Perplexity Labs Playground

In Perplexity Labs, you can try Mixtral-8x7B along with Meta AI’s Llama 2, Mistral-7b, and Perplexity’s new online LLMs.

In this example, I ask about the model itself and notice that new instructions are added after the initial response to extend the generated content about my query.

Screenshot from Perplexity, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b perplexity labs playground

While the answer looks correct, it begins to repeat itself.

Screenshot from Perplexity Labs, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b errors

The model did provide an over 600-word answer to the question, “What is SEO?”

Again, additional instructions appear as “headers” to seemingly ensure a comprehensive answer.

Screenshot from Perplexity Labs, December 2023 what is seo by mixtral-8x7b

2. Poe

Poe hosts bots for popular LLMs, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL·E 3, Meta AI’s Llama 2 and Code Llama, Google’s PaLM 2, Anthropic’s Claude-instant and Claude 2, and StableDiffusionXL.

These bots cover a wide spectrum of capabilities, including text, image, and code generation.

The Mixtral-8x7B-Chat bot is operated by Fireworks AI.

Screenshot from Poe, December 2023 poe bot for mixtral-8x7b firebase

It’s worth noting that the Fireworks page specifies it is an “unofficial implementation” that was fine-tuned for chat.

When asked what the best backlinks for SEO are, it provided a valid answer.

Screenshot from Poe, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b poe best backlinks response

Compare this to the response offered by Google Bard.

Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

Screenshot from Google Bard, December 2023 Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

3. Vercel

Vercel offers a demo of Mixtral-8x7B that allows users to compare responses from popular Anthropic, Cohere, Meta AI, and OpenAI models.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 vercel mixtral-8x7b demo compare gpt-4

It offers an interesting perspective on how each model interprets and responds to user questions.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b vs cohere on best resources for learning seo

Like many LLMs, it does occasionally hallucinate.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b hallucinations

4. Replicate

The mixtral-8x7b-32 demo on Replicate is based on this source code. It is also noted in the README that “Inference is quite inefficient.”

Screenshot from Replicate, December 2023 Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

In the example above, Mixtral-8x7B describes itself as a game.

Conclusion

Mistral AI’s latest release sets a new benchmark in the AI field, offering enhanced performance and versatility. But like many LLMs, it can provide inaccurate and unexpected answers.

As AI continues to evolve, models like the Mixtral-8x7B could become integral in shaping advanced AI tools for marketing and business.

Featured image: T. Schneider/Shutterstock

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SEO

OpenAI Investigates ‘Lazy’ GPT-4 Complaints On Google Reviews, X

Published

1 day ago

December 10, 2023

Max

OpenAI, the company that launched ChatGPT a little over a year ago, has recently taken to social media to address concerns regarding the “lazy” performance of GPT-4 on social media and Google Reviews.

Screenshot from X, December 2023 OpenAI Investigates ‘Lazy’ GPT-4 Complaints On Google Reviews, X

This move comes after growing user feedback online, which even includes a one-star review on the company’s Google Reviews.

OpenAI Gives Insight Into Training Chat Models, Performance Evaluations, And A/B Testing

OpenAI, through its @ChatGPTapp Twitter account, detailed the complexities involved in training chat models.

Screenshot from X, December 2023 chatgpt openai a/b testing

The organization highlighted that the process is not a “clean industrial process” and that variations in training runs can lead to noticeable differences in the AI’s personality, creative style, and political bias.

Thorough AI model testing includes offline evaluation metrics and online A/B tests. The final decision to release a new model is based on a data-driven approach to improve the “real” user experience.

OpenAI’s Google Review Score Affected By GPT-4 Performance, Billing Issues

This explanation comes after weeks of user feedback about GPT-4 becoming worse on social media networks like X.

Idk if anyone else has noticed this, but GPT-4 Turbo performance is significantly worse than GPT-4 standard.

I know it’s in preview right now but it’s significantly worse.

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) November 8, 2023

There has been discussion if GPT-4 has become “lazy” recently. My anecdotal testing suggests it may be true.

I repeated a sequence of old analyses I did with Code Interpreter. GPT-4 still knows what to do, but keeps telling me to do the work. One step is now many & some are odd. pic.twitter.com/OhGAMtd3Zq

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) November 28, 2023

Complaints also appeared in OpenAI’s community forums.

Screenshot from OpenAI, December 2023 openai community forums gpt-4 user feedback

The experience led one user to leave a one-star rating for OpenAI via Google Reviews. Other complaints regarded accounts, billing, and the artificial nature of AI.

Screenshot from Google Reviews, December 2023 openai google reviews star rating

A recent user on Product Hunt gave OpenAI a rating that also appears to be related to GPT-4 worsening.

Screenshot from Product Hunt, December 2023 openai reviews

GPT-4 isn’t the only issue that local reviewers complain about. On Yelp, OpenAI has a one-star rating for ChatGPT 3.5 performance.

OpenAI is now only 3.8 stars on Google Maps and a dismal 1 star on Yelp!

GPT-4’s degradation has really hurt their rating. Hope the business survives.https://t.co/RF8uJH1WQ5 pic.twitter.com/OghAZLCiVu

— Nate Chan (@nathanwchan) December 9, 2023

The complaint:

Screenshot from Yelp, December 2023 yelp openai chatgpt review

In related OpenAI news, the review with the most likes aligns with recent rumors about a volatile workplace, alleging that OpenAI is a “Cutthroat environment. Not friendly. Toxic workers.”

Screenshot from Google Reviews, December 2023 google review for openai toxic workers

The reviews voted the most helpful on Glassdoor about OpenAI suggested that employee frustration and product development issues stem from the company’s shift in focus on profits.

openai employee review on glassdoor

Screenshots from Glassdoor, December 2023 openai employee reviews

This incident provides a unique outlook on how customer and employee experiences can impact any business through local reviews and business ratings platforms.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023 openai inc google business profile local serps google reviews

Google SGE Highlights Positive Google Reviews

In addition to occasional complaints, Google reviewers acknowledged the revolutionary impact of OpenAI’s technology on various fields.

The most positive review mentions about the company appear in Google SGE (Search Generative Experience).

Screenshot from Google SGE, December 2023 Google SGE response on OpenAI

Conclusion

OpenAI’s recent insights into training chat models and response to public feedback about GPT-4 performance illustrate AI technology’s dynamic and evolving nature and its impact on those who depend on the AI platform.

Especially the people who just received an invitation to join ChatGPT Plus after being waitlisted while OpenAI paused new subscriptions and upgrades. Or those developing GPTs for the upcoming GPT Store launch.

As AI advances, professionals in these fields must remain agile, informed, and responsive to technological developments and the public’s reception of these advancements.

Featured image: Tada Images/Shutterstock

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SEO

ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Published

2 days ago

December 9, 2023

Max

ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and upgrades remain paused after a surge in demand for new features created outages.

Some users who signed up for the waitlist have received invites to join ChatGPT Plus.

Screenshot from Gmail, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

This has resulted in a few shares of the link that is accessible for everyone. For now.

Found a hack to skip chatGPT plus wait list.

Follow the steps
– login to ChatGPT
– now if you click on upgrade
– Signup for waitlist(may not be necessary)
– now change the URL to https://t.co/4izOdNzarG
– Wallah you are in for payment #ChatGPT4 #hack #GPT4 #GPTPlus pic.twitter.com/J1GizlrOAx

— Ashish Mohite is building Notionpack Capture (@_ashishmohite) December 8, 2023

In addition to the invites, signs that more people are getting access to GPTs include an introductory screen popping up on free ChatGPT accounts.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Unfortunately, they still aren’t accessible without a Plus subscription.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 chatgpt plus subscriptions upgrades paused waitlist

You can sign up for the waitlist by clicking on the option to upgrade in the left sidebar of ChatGPT on a desktop browser.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

OpenAI also suggests ChatGPT Enterprise for those who need more capabilities, as outlined in the pricing plans below.

Screenshot from OpenAI, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Why Are ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Paused?

According to a post on X by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, the recent surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference has led to capacity challenges, resulting in the decision to pause ChatGPT Plus signups.

we are pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups for a bit 🙁

the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity and we want to make sure everyone has a great experience.

you can still sign-up to be notified within the app when subs reopen.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 15, 2023

The decision to pause new ChatGPT signups follows a week where OpenAI services – including ChatGPT and the API – experienced a series of outages related to high-demand and DDoS attacks.

Demand for ChatGPT Plus resulted in eBay listings supposedly offering one or more months of the premium subscription.

chatgpt plus accounts selling ebay for a premium 🫡🇺🇸 https://t.co/VdN8tuexKM pic.twitter.com/W522NGHsRV

— surya (@sdand) November 15, 2023

When Will ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Resume?

So far, we don’t have any official word on when ChatGPT Plus subscriptions will resume. We know the GPT Store is set to open early next year after recent boardroom drama led to “unexpected delays.”

Therefore, we hope that OpenAI will onboard waitlisted users in time to try out all of the GPTs created by OpenAI and community builders.

What Are GPTs?

GPTs allow users to create one or more personalized ChatGPT experiences based on a specific set of instructions, knowledge files, and actions.

Search marketers with ChatGPT Plus can try GPTs for helpful content assessment and learning SEO.

Two SEO GPTs I’ve created for assessment + learning 👀👇

1. Content Helpfulness and Quality SEO Analyzer: Assess a page content helpfulness, relevance, and quality for your targeted query based on Google’s guidelines vs your competitors and get tips: https://t.co/LsoP2UhF4N pic.twitter.com/O77MHiqwOq

— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023

2. The https://t.co/IFmKxxVDpW SEO Teacher: A friendly SEO expert teacher who will help you to learn SEO using reliable https://t.co/sCZ03C7fzq resources: https://t.co/UrMPUYwblH

I hope they’re helpful 🙌🤩

PS: Love how GPT opens up to SO much opportunity 🤯 pic.twitter.com/yqKozcZTDc

— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023

There are also GPTs for analyzing Google Search Console data.

oh wow. I think this GPT works.

Export data from GSC comparing keyword rankings before and after an update and upload it to ChatGPT and it will spit out this scatter plot for you.

It’s an easy way to see if most of your keyword declined or improved.

This site was impacted by… pic.twitter.com/wFGSnonqoZ

— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 9, 2023

And GPTs that will let you chat with analytics data from 20 platforms, including Google Ads, GA4, and Facebook.

Google search has indexed hundreds of public GPTs. According to an alleged list of GPT statistics in a GitHub repository, DALL-E, the top GPT from OpenAI, has received 5,620,981 visits since its launch last month. Included in the top 20 GPTs is Canva, with 291,349 views.

Weighing The Benefits Of The Pause

Ideally, this means that developers working on building GPTs and using the API should encounter fewer issues (like being unable to save GPT drafts).

But it could also mean a temporary decrease in new users of GPTs since they are only available to Plus subscribers – including the ones I tested for learning about ranking factors and gaining insights on E-E-A-T from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.