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Good point, Linda! It's listed as the seventh most-influential factor in the Local Search Ranking Factors 2013, but that doesn't explain what you have, regarding organic factors and the cream at the top:)

It's really hard to speak in generalities. If the site had <100 back-links, and some of those links were questionable or they were all targeted to a couple of phrases, then yes, a Penguin update could cause you trouble. The other option is that Google gave you some leeway out the gate and then re-evaluated your link profile and found it to be weak. Given that you ranked back in May, though, that seems unlikely (usually, that would happen in the first 30-60 days, in my experience). A couple of things to check: (1) Has anything about your indexed site change (such as duplicates of these pages)? (2) Were there any technical or design changes to the site? (3) Have you engaged in any recent link-building that could be questionable? (4) Are you ranking for exact-match versions of the keywords (in quote)? The more you can isolate the problem, the better. Penalty diagnosis is tricky.

If the content is unique, there's very little chance you will be penalized for duplicate content. That said, I've often worked with many eCommerce companies that like to build new sites for new brands or to take a different marketing angle. In general, these sites double the effort required to get them to rank. Not sure if this applies to you, but I generally find it better to try to keep all the efforts focused on a single site. Regardless, best of luck with your SEO!

I would not use a third party company to write about products or services that I sell You know you business well, and you know the in and outs of it better than anyone else Just start a blog and keep posting something relavant everyday, soon you will have good rankings for it.

That's quite hard to tell without knowing more about the website, keywords etc. Will you target the US with the same website or will you launch a new one? After you've decided on which keywords you'd like to rank for, start with making an analysis of the keyword difficulty and the competition in the US. Take a look at the metrics of sites that rank well for the keyword you're targeting and have a look at their link profile. Also don't forget to do a little keyword research so you get an idea of the search volumes and can check if users in the US use the same keyword as they do in the UK. This information will give you a better understanding of the market and will allow you to plan and prioritise your SEO efforts better.

Hi Onlinchester, You are not the only one. I noticed it too. Only in certain group of keywords, and always if there is a local result. So it is not the Panda update I think (fortunatelly... or not...) I also found this article from an agency that noticed the same: http://www.1stonthelist.ca/articles/are-your-organic-listings-being-replaced-with-local-listings/ For now, the CTR in local seems to be better for local than in organic, but I'm surprised. We will see..

Hi Glen, Can you provide further detail as to what you mean about 'bouncing around'? Please, describe that behavior more thoroughly. Now, without actually investigating your listing, my response will have to be pretty general. Here are some factors to consider: Proximity to city centroid Age of domain Consistency of NAP (name, address, phone) in citations Age, authority, pace and number of citations Optimization of website Compliance with the 'hide address' rule, if appropriate Existence or lack of duplicate listings Compliance with all other guidelines Authority, number and pace of reviews These are some of the core factors. One thing you might like to do is run your site through 51 Blocks' local competitive analysis tool which lets you compare your site to the top 10 on some of the top local ranking factors: http://www.51blocks.com/online-marketing-tools/free-local-analysis/ This is a new tool and I'm really excited about it. It's getting good press in the localsphere, and right now, it's free. Why not check that out and see if you notice something important, as well as considering all of the points on my list. Hope this helps!