<p>I really enjoyed reading this article - this is where things are you going :-) </p>

<p>you are sooooo correct Andrew :-) very nice article :-) </p>

<p>Nice - thanks for sharing :-)</p>

<ul><li>“For <strong>ranking purposes</strong>, all nofollow directives <em>are now officially a "hint"</em> — meaning Google may choose to ignore it and use it for ranking purposes. Many SEOs believe this is how Google has been treating nofollow for quite some time.”</li></ul> <p>*this is what I always believed :-)</p> <p>Thanks Cyrus :-) <br /></p>

<p>A great explanation of how Local works... from one of the best in the industry - thanks Joy :-)</p> <p>*your finding re: multi locations pointing GMB to homepage vs location page is really interesting... maybe the PA of the homepage is a big factor? (you found that it wasn’t content) - cool finding :-) <br /></p>

<p>A nice article to share with clients :-) </p>

<p>Very clear and concise - thanks Cyrus :-) </p>

<p>Great step-by-step link building guide - it doesn’t get much better :-</p>

<p>This couldn’t be laid out any better - thanks Miriam :-) </p>

<p>Keep it going Moz :-) I like the new link data and look forward to more upgrades - thank you :-) </p>

<p>Thanks <a href="https://moz.com/community/users/514135" rel="nofollow">Britney</a> :-) I will watch for part 3 :-)</p>

<p>My hope is Google addresses our needs re fake reviews sooner than later - TRUST in reviews is important for Google :-)</p>

<p>Local and Niche links are important for SMB sites :-)</p>

<p>It wouldn't surprise me to see no featured snippets at some point - while they do provide 'answers' for queries, the fact that many of the snippets have commerce affiliations (with no Google monetization) is what is likley bothering Google. </p>

<p>Well put together tool - thanks for explaining it Rand :-)</p>

<p>EEEEESH! - one really needs to be on top of GMB data mods... Thanks for sharing Joy :-)</p>

<p>Great Tracking info Nick :-) </p>

<p>Thanks for sharing this Bridget :-) </p>

<p>Thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>The "next level"?</p>

<p>Thank you Miriam - a great GUIDE :-)</p>

<p>THANK YOU Miriam :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>Great tutorial Russ - thanks for sharing :-)</p>

<p>All good tips - and as you say "best practices" :-)</p>

<p>Thank you Casey - all good examples/tips :-)</p>

<p>All good - thanks Rand :-) *fundamentals are always important :-)</p>

<p>@tom - Links will have to be devalued at some point - too much gaming going on... PBN's etc. :-)</p>

<p>This is a MIND BLOWING article with so much great info - thanks so much Britney! <br />Your tips about Answer the Public and utilizing questions on Moz's Keyword Tool are dynamite! - what a great article :-)</p>

<p>All good steps - thanks Kristina :-)</p>

<p>Agree 100% - I'm looking forward to all the cool info you and your team discover - thanks Darren :-)</p>

<p>I am seeing mixed results - some close - some not so close - Local is such an elusive creature </p>

<p>I couldn't agree more Rand :-)</p>

<p>ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ADDITIONS TO AN ALREADY GREAT PLATFORM - thanks moz TEAM :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>I loved this article Pete :-) ---&gt; "stop targeting keywords and start targeting concepts" synonyms, synergistic, complimentary words used in everyday speech - ya! </p>

<p>Great article - thanks Miriam :-)</p>

<p>Akll good Rand :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Sam :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Larry :-)</p>

<p>I like that this is getting all cleaned up - thanks Dr. Pete :-)</p>

<p>Makes perfect sense to me Rand... all the while without overselling Moz's excellent KW tracking features :-)</p>

<p>still trying to make this happen :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Cyrus :-)</p>

<p>Nice list Joy - thanks for sharing :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Joy - always great reading articles about Local Search from someone who is an expert :-)</p>

<p>Checking it out now - nice :-)</p>

<p>Great post - thanks for sharing the step-by-step Felix :-)</p>

<p><em>"</em><strong><em>Both keywords and topics are important"</em></strong> Agreed: keywords... as well as synonyms and complimentary words - all together will help in the top department. Interesting study Sam :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Darren - clear and concise... as always :-)</p>

<p>I'm surprised Apple did so poorly in the organic search results: ---&gt; " ranked #47 in our organic results for general phone-buying searches, appearing in only 95 (of 25,000) markets."</p>

<p>I like it actually :-)</p>

<p>yuppers - this is how it should be done :-)</p>

<p>32 ack! - I'm not all that familiar with some of the US based stuff (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it lol) Thanks for the quiz Miriam/Isla :-)</p>

<p>Thanks for the clear explanation Will :-) Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. </p>

<p>It almost seems as if Google isn't all interested in providing an easy to use, and useful, keyword tool - they just want you to roll with their 'suggestions' and be a happy camper :-)</p>

<p>Excellent article - thanks Jennifer :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>Good info Kristi :-) </p>

<p>Very helpful article Kaila :-) thank you :-)</p>

<p>Awesome post:-) I especially like the part about ---&gt; So then we have our SEO folks go, "you know what, let's make doubly sure that doesn't show up in search results; we'll put in the meta robots tag:" &lt;---</p>

<p>Interesting - moving over to https anyway - so we'll see how it works out :-)</p>

<p>Thanks Cyrus :-)</p>

<p>All good tips - thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>Just haven't seen much in the way of SERP changes here in Canada after the roll out - do expect some though ;-)</p>

<p>Working with it now - I think it will be helpful - thanks moz team :-)</p>

<p>Coooool... checking it out now - thanks moz :-)</p>

<p>We do all this and more... and get you #1 on Google for $49.00 per month (lol) ;-)</p>

<p>All great points Cyrus :-) thanks</p> <p>*in my experience... especially #5 ---&gt;  I want to rank #1 for "magic keyword"</p>

<p>wonderful lol - Google says turn right, then Google says turn left ;-)<br />Thanks for taking the time to respond Marie :-)</p>

<p>An excellent step-by-step article Marie :-) One small question though; do you have any verifiable information that "...no Google employee will look at your disavow file" ? I highly doubt many of them ever get looked at by a human; however Google's own example shows the comments are to be included? see: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en</p>

<p>Thanks Josh, I enjoyed reading this article, and if one pays attention to the finer points (sometimes they are just that, <em>finer points</em>, without bolding or exclamation marks) there are some great takeaways :-)</p>

<p>90% - Here are the four I got wrong, with my shame induced comments ;-)</p> <p><strong>Q.5</strong> Service area businesses, like plumbers, are allowed to create a Google+ Local page for each city they serve, even if they aren't physically located there.</p> <p><em>xTrue</em></p> <p><em><strong>---&gt; *if a plumber (SAB) has a business based on an acreage just outside a major city; can they not choose to serve part of the city/area closest to them? </strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>---------------------------------------------------------------------</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Q.24</strong> For a service area business (SAB) in a competitive niche, it's not typical to earn local pack rankings for service cities where the business has no physical presence.</p> <p><em>xFalse</em></p> <p><strong>---&gt; *really? I have a client who has a SAB; their shop is just on the outskirts of Calgary; they are in the B position on a Local 3 Pack result for a competitive local intent search query: “spray foam insulation” searched from within Calgary</strong></p> <p><strong>A) Ener-Spray</strong> www.ener-spray(dot)ca 2 Google reviews Google+ page <br />285145 Wrangler Way Calgary, AB (403) 256-8024<br /><strong>My client ---&gt; B) Beyond Foam Insulation Ltd</strong>. www.beyondfoam.com 3 Google reviews Google+ page <br />Rocky View County, AB (403) 730-8080<br /><strong>C) Superior Spray Foam </strong>www.superiorsprayfoam(dot)ca Google+ page<br />3830 7 Street Southeast Calgary, AB (403) 617-9419</p> <p>Map results for spray foam insulation</p> <p><em><strong>---------------------------------------------------------------------</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Q.26</strong> Which of the following sites might you see in the 'reviews from around the web' section of the Google+ Local page?</p> <p>xNone of the above</p> <p><strong>My bad.. I thought you'd see Demand, wasn't sure about FB, and I’ve never even heard of “Switchboard” here in Canada; so I made a poor guess :-)</strong></p> <p><em><strong>---------------------------------------------------------------------</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Q.40 </strong>The following is true about Yahoo! Local</p> <p>xYahoo has closed down their local product</p> <p><strong>*well, as far as I knew, the product was toast ;-)</strong></p>

<p>90% - see above :-)</p>

<p>VERY important and relevant info for on-page SEO - thanks Cyrus! - this is a great article :-)</p> <p>This summation - (pulled from the article) is soooo important. </p> <p>---&gt; A strong title that communicates the topic</p> <p>---&gt; Introductory opening that lays out what the page is about</p> <p>---&gt; Content organized into thematic subsections</p> <p>---&gt; Exploration of multiple aspects of the topic and answers related questions</p> <p>---&gt; Provision of additional resources and external citations</p>

<p>All true... Penguin 3.0 has been a disappointment for many expecting a recovery (*having built good quality links to replace the bad). </p>

<p>It doesn't get any better than this... great work here :-)</p>

<p>This is a<strong> very important article</strong> - SEO's who <em>really</em> want to know how to succeed with on-page optimization should carefully study this article and its related pages (linked). Bravo Cyrus!... this is top-drawer info :-) Thanks for sharing, and explaining things so carefully. </p>

<p>Thanks Rand :-)</p>

<p>Great tips - just changed over a few sites, and issues do pop up - thanks :-) </p>

<p>A very good case study to point out the need to not forget about G WMT when it comes to assessing back links - thanks Robert :-) </p>

<p>@Edwin-Sun ---&gt; what?</p>

<p> Another well written, informative, and helpful article ---&gt; thanks Cyrus :-) </p>

<p> WOW! this is absolutely fascinating... and scary. Thanks so much Yon, for sharing in a way that is understandable, what happened, how it happened, and how you dealt with it. </p> <p> Google, please set something up so that companies are not hurt by this type of activity. </p>

<p> What a smart and helpful idea Geoff... including links to more detailed info, if needed √ Thanks Geoff :-) </p>

<p> Don't see the tool anymore - I use a different one, I will try the moz version when/if it comes back :-) </p>

<p> Great tips here - thank you to all who shared them, and thank's Darren for putting them all together :-) </p>

<p> Freebase is a bit tricky to get around... hopefully I did things right - thanks Andrew :-) </p>

<p> David - this post is PACKED with great up-to-date information, and investigates so many things I've been wondering about of late... THANK YOU for keeping up with all of this, and sharing your (and others) findings in such an understandable way. Please keep it coming :-) </p>

<p> It doesn't get much better than this: follow the steps for local success - thanks Miriam :-) </p>

<p> Very, very helpful analysis - thanks so much :-) </p>

<p> I've 'filtered' Yelp's response to the NYAG's statements... My filter is quite 'aggressive' when it comes to self serving misrepresentations from Yelp ;-) </p>

<p> I love this kind of data... and the coments - thanks all :-) </p>

<p> Really looking forward to the one/s on analytics :-) great idea moz Team :-) </p>

<p> Thanks Danny - miss you :-) </p>

<p> Thanks David :-) </p>

<p> Looking forward to the full data article - what an endeavour! - thanks everyone :-) </p>

<p> This is 'sorta' good, however many PMD's shouldn't be punished for a name they may have had prior to Google being around. </p>

<p> Good advice re 301's Cyrus... there really is a right and wrong way to do them :-) </p>

<p>Still very up to date - thanks Geoff :-)</p>