I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you’re serious about local SEO and haven’t attended LocalU Advanced, you’re missing out. This is where the experts in local search come together to share insights that are fresh, actionable, and backed by real-world data.
I attended the most recent event on August 31, 2021, and let me tell you—it was a goldmine of information. So, I’m here to give you the highlights from some of the most impactful talks by Joy Hawkins, Rachel Anderson, and Greg Gifford.
1. Joy Hawkins: Make Your Images Work Harder for You
Joy Hawkins from Sterling Sky kicked things off by emphasizing the importance of images in your SEO strategy. Yes, images! They're not just for decoration; they can directly affect how your business ranks and how many leads you get.
Here’s the deal: most marketers neglect optimizing images, but Joy laid out three reasons why you should care:
Look Better – Mobile SERPs often display images for local queries. A well-chosen image can grab attention and make your business look more credible.
Rank Better – While geo-tagging photos is mostly useless for SEO, using relevant images with descriptive alt text can boost your rankings.
Get More Leads – Adding images to pages can actually drive more traffic through Google Image Search. For example, a dentist saw a measurable increase in site visits and conversions just by adding relevant photos.
“The ‘tagging’ is happening upon upload. It doesn’t matter if the meta data exists,” Joy explained. This is a game-changer for anyone still clinging to outdated tactics like manually geo-tagging images.
2. Rachel Anderson: E-A-T vs. CUSs
Rachel Anderson dove into a new concept that caught everyone’s attention—CUSs (Content Usefulness Signals). We all know Google values E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust), but that’s not something you can easily measure. CUSs, on the other hand, are measurable indicators of how useful your content is.
Here’s how Rachel broke it down:
Entity Extraction – Google’s machine learning models extract entities (like people, places, or things) from your content, and the “salience score” shows how important these entities are to the topic.
Clustering Methods – Using tools like K-Means clustering, you can group data by topic to identify content gaps or opportunities. Rachel used an example comparing patio furniture category pages from Lowe’s and Home Depot to show how Home Depot’s richer content led to higher rankings.
Her big takeaway? “Stop worrying about unmeasurable concepts like E-A-T. Focus on what can be quantified, like content usefulness signals that directly impact rankings.”
3. Greg Gifford: The Wyld Stallyns’ Guide to Link Building
Greg Gifford kept it real about link building. Spoiler alert: It’s still important. Local link building, though, is a different beast from national or global campaigns.
Greg’s top tips:
Don’t obsess over domain authority or whether links are follow or nofollow.
Local links are often relationship-based and can seem unpolished—but they work.
Use local sponsorships, meetups, business associations, and even neighborhood watch websites to score valuable local backlinks.
He also emphasized the importance of having a process for link building:
Onboarding – Ask detailed questions to uncover unique link-building opportunities for your clients.
Research – Use tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to pull link profiles for both clients and competitors.
“Local links can look crappy, but they still work,” Greg said, summing up the no-nonsense, get-it-done attitude that defines local SEO success.
In a digital world where visibility is everything, GMB Fox ensures your business isn’t just online—it’s the first choice customers make. Let us handle the complexities of digital marketing, so you can focus on what truly matters: growing your business.
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