This is the first of many posts in the Loci 2008 review that details who is reading what in Local Search. Up first is Matt McGee and over the next week you will hear from David Mihm, Ahmed Farooq, Matt Cutts, Martijn Beijk, Will Scott, Greg Sterling, Danny Sullivan and more.

Matt McGee has a long pedigree in Local Search. His well known blog was an early beacon promoting the benefits of local search, he has worked extensively in Local, consulted broadly in local, writes for SearchEngineland on Local Search, is a leading authority on hyperlocal blogging and is a general all round decent fellow. He was one of the first people I met when I came to this neighborhood. Here are the articles that  have influcenced him this year:

***

Oh, this is an easy one to help out with since I’m in the middle of organizing SEMMYs stuff. 🙂

Local Search Ranking Factors – David Mihm, Mihmorandum 
To me, this is far and away the best piece of local search content anyone put together in 2008. It offers plenty of How To help, but it also shows some of the unusual vagaries involved in local SEO and how things differ when you throw an address into the mix. It was an honor to be one of the contributors.

Ranking Factors in Google Maps – Mike Blumenthal, Understanding Google Maps
Another great peek into ranking factors. I already felt bad enough missing SMX Local, then you had to go and post your slides from what was obviously a terrific session. 🙂

Local SEO’s Share Geo Location Tips From Around The World – Lucy Langdon, Distilled
I like this particularly because I haven’t had the challenge/pleasure of doing local SEO on an international basis. It was an interesting read.

How to Optimize Local Business Profiles for Free Local Directories – Steven Brier, SearchEngineJournal
Steven Brier did a great job going through the process of making sure your local business profiles are as optimized as they can be.

Microsoft’s listing in Google Maps Hijacked (oops by me) – Mike Blumenthal, Understanding Google Maps
I don’t think any year-in-review list would be complete without getting into the clusterf–k that Google Maps (and Yahoo Local to a lesser degree) has become with respect to spam and hijacked listings. So many posts to choose from on this matter, but this one shows how irresponsible it is for Google to take a “wiki-like” approach to business listings and let anyone edit listings that are unclaimed.

Thanks, Mike!

m2