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Here is a correction :: Posting on Google+ is not the same as Google+1's. Google +1's Amazing Correlation with Higher Search Rankings - Moz http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations by Cyrus Shepard - in 11,464 Google+ circles Aug 20, 2013 - Many publishers have added Google+ authorship information to their websites in order for author photos to appear in Google search results. . . . _(Edit: This should say "posting on Google+" instead of Google +1s. It's clear that Google doesn't use the raw number of +1s directly in its search algorithm, but Google+ posts have SEO benefits unlike other social platforms.) _— August 20th, 2013 - Posted by Cyrus Shepard

I stick with one page, and use the terms interchangeably within the text itself and use the more frequently searched word as the keyword in urls and title tags.

Great question Ricky. I deal with this all the time. It really depends on the publication. The first thing I would do is browse around a bunch of their other articles and see if you can find an example of where they linked to a source or a source's company website. Get in contact with the writer/editor and find out if they have a policy against linking or if perhaps it was just an oversight. The print world still doesn't necessarily think "on line," so sometimes they just need to be reminded that a link can be really helpful to their readers who want to find out more about the people, places and things mentioned in the article. Almost every time I've ever gone back to a publication and asked for a link in context, they've been more than happy to comply. I did have one hold out, that flat out said "no." The person saying no was not a writer, or an editor, but the VP of sales. I chalked it up to her just not wanting to be bothered with it, so I got on LinkedIn, found out who the online editor was, sent them a connection request (they also turned out to be the SEO). I asked them to include a link in that very same article, and Voila! We got the link. My advice is just to be very gracious and appreciative in your tone. The fact that you have a positive mention at all is awesome. I usually say something like " We have been big fans of your publication for years [only say that if it's true!] and it was so nice of you to mention us in this recent article. We thought it might be helpful to your readers if you included a hyperlink from our name to our site, Would you be kind enough to add that? We'd love to reference your write up in our blog."....or any variation. The more genuine you are, the better off you'll be. If you can, pick up the phone and call them. They have a way harder time saying no via phone. Hope that helps! Dana

+1 Sennheiser Lavs. Totally love them.

Hi Ricky, I may not be understanding your question correctly. If a business is local and wants local traffic/business, then optimizing the website will include use of the relevant geographic terms. Regarding keyword research, while the new Google Keyword Planner tool does a better job than the old keyword research tool at indicating volume of searches based on geography, it may still not be totally accurate. You can bet that people are searching for common services in any city, whether they are simply searching from a device based in that city or are actually including the city name in their search term. Thus, inclusion of the city name is key to optimizing the site to help Google understand it is a relevant answer to these queries. Does this make sense, or did I not correctly understand your question? Please, let me know!

Thanks Ricky, Another couple of things you should consider given the issues you face (and clean up the multiple Places listings first) are to set up a couple of sub-directory location pages and contact pages. So, list Loxahatchee on your Places/G+, but then set up a West Palm page and contact page, a Palm Beach Page and contact page, etc. for those areas you want to draw patients from. On those pages optimize the content for those locations and state you server "the area." Also consider schema or other markup for Place. As to title tags, Jesse is right that they actually are relevant - they are just not relevant alone - and if you can have the location in the url (sub directory) and in the Title tags and H1's, you are on your way.   Good Luck to you.

Hi Ricky! Thanks for reaching out, sorry about that! That tool is no longer available through the stand-alone research tools. We did some research and noticed that not a lot of folks were using it (less than 1% engagement), but we've heard the cries of those of you who loved it and we're bringing it back! Currently, we don't have a hard eta. But it is looking like it will be rolled out with Moz Analytics. Even though we will be adding it back, in the meantime we would definitely love to hear about your thoughts on the tool in the feature request form at https://seomoz.zendesk.com/forums/293194-seomoz-pro-feature-requests Cheers, Peter Li Moz Help Team

Thanks Mariah! Ive actually seen that video but this is great! Going to sblhow that to our client to reaffirm our recommendation to add content!

Actually I have not used the SEO MOZ reports for some time but just coming back. The normal PRO reports used to be able to have branding which is the pure reason I decided to buy a subscription, oh and the tools are great. So why has the standard PRO been degraded. 5 campaigns has never been enough to be honest for the price either. Love the toools but com on guys....

Hi Ricky, Absolutely, when working with local businesses like dentists, you should be specifying their location in many areas of their website. These might include title and meta description tags, alt tags, link anchor text, on-page content, and schema-encoded NAP (name, address, phone number) on the footer and contact page of the website. Of course, do this in a non-spammy manner - as Wesley mentions - stuffing is neither necessary nor desirable. Your brick-and-mortar clients will typically be hoping for inclusion in Google's local results for the city in which they are physically located. Google will show these results both to searches who are in that city or who are including that city in their search term. For SABs (service area businesses like plumbers and carpet cleaning companies), again, the client should aim for local inclusion for the city where they are physically located, but organic inclusion for their service cities where they aren't physically located. This is how it typically works.

Hi Ricky, Thanks for letting us know. It looks like your keywords are currently not ranking in the top 50. Our tools only crawl pages that show up in the top 50. You can manually create a report to show pages ranking lower than that. For details on how to manually generate reports please see: http://www.seomoz.org/help/on-page-reports Let us know if you have any other questions about our tools, Peter SEOmoz help team

Hello Ricky Miriam is correct regarding more info making life simpler for all, so please give us a bit more.  That said, I will tell you that I believe in using maps in a site as opposed to images of maps for the geolocation feature they provide. For local, I prefer geo-tagged photos of real locations as opposed to a bunch of branding logos, etc. Having done a lot of real estate sites and tested various methodologies, I remain convinced, that the more you are clear about where you are re a site and local, the better the result will be when it comes to ranking. Given Picasa and given Google Business Photo efforts, I just think the proof is there. (no pun intended). Best, Robert

Honestly, it varies so much based on your niche, your domain strength, nature of the keyword(s), your competition, types of results returned. Do you see local search results showing up ? How strong is your domain ? How competitive are the keywords ?

Perfect Let me know if there's anything else you need.  Have a great day! Sam Moz Helpster

Thanks Tom! I thought so, just wanted to make sure. The domain with dashes doesn't have a spammy link profile, just a spammy url We finally got our hands on the non-hyphenated version! Thanks for the help! -Ricky

I am noticing the same thing.... Rankings that were previously in the top 3 have now totally fallen off the map and are out of the top 50. Usually I expect to see gradual increases or decreases, but I have no idea what would cause such a dramatic change. I have not done anything with "Google Places/Local" recently, so at least in my case I can rule that out as the driving force. There's also no notice or warnings in Webmaster Tools. Very strange, indeed! And now a good way to kick start 2013! Let me know if you come up with any other theories or remedies because I'd love to hear them. Cheers!

Hi Richard, Darin and Thomas are offering good advice for the basics of neighboring town optimization, but I feel more needs to be said, given the nature of your sample client's business model. First, let's touch bases about keeping your priorities straight, like this: You main goal is to optimize and rank well in the blended/local results for West Palm Beach. Your secondary goal is to go after organic rankings for other nearby towns (not local rankings, as your client is not physically located there) Now, here is where I differ slightly from the good advice that's being given by our members: Creating city landing pages is the most common practice for achieving these secondary organic rankings. However, you need to have something real to write about to justify the creation of said pages. For a dentist, this may be a little more difficult, as his business model is by nature stationary. By contrast, a carpet cleaner has an easy road ahead in creating city landing pages because he actually travels to those cities. What you need to ask yourself (and your client) is what the dentist does that can justify him creating content about those neighboring cities. For example, does he give or attend dental seminars in any of the neighboring towns? That would be a good reason to write a page optimized for the other city terms. Or, perhaps he sponsors a little league team in one of the neighboring cities, or visits elementary schools there? Try to find something to write about that genuinely reflects his presence in a neighboring town and your content will have a point beyond a grab for organic rankings. But always bear in mind, for a stationary business like a dental office, the bulk of your focus must always be placed on building up his authority in his city of location. I do not recommend creating a separate set of service pages for each city (botox jupiter, botox royal palm beach, botox wellington, dental implants jupiter, dental implants royal palm beach, etc.). This is awkward and not really useful to anyone, given that your dental client is in a single location offering the same services to all comers. So whereas go-to-client business models (plumbers, chimney sweeps, landscapers) are a natural fit for city landing page development because of their actual work in a variety of cities, stationary business models (restaurants, retail shops, dental offices) must be more creative to have a legitimate reason for creating this type of content. Definitely don't just throw up a bunch of thin or duplicate pages, swapping out city names in the title tags...but do try to discover if there is a true connection between your dentist and the neighboring towns and then use that as your reason for writing.