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Climb The Ranks

Practical guides to help you rank higher on Google and own your neighborhood.

Editorial illustration of a brick shop front with a purple striped awning, three instant photos of a house, a potted tree, and a ladder clipped to a purple thread in the window, the thread running to a purple map pin in a sidewalk planter
Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile Social Links: Five Minutes, No Dead Ends

One Facebook link, one Instagram link, and a lot of ways to get them wrong. Which accounts deserve a spot on your Google listing, and what to do when the field is missing.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a service company's back office: a teal corded telephone on a wooden desk whose long coiled teal cord runs across the floor and out an open window to a teal service van parked in a driveway, with a mouse, a coffee mug, a grey metal cash box, and a stack of closed manila folders on the desk, a teal potted plant on the windowsill, a framed picture of a technician with a toolbox handing an envelope to a homeowner on a porch, and a work jacket and cap on a wall hook.
Local Marketing

Your Ads Count Calls. Offline Conversion Tracking Counts Paid Jobs.

Google Ads counts a $95 drain call and a $7,400 repipe as the same win. Here's how to send the real outcome back so your ad account learns which clicks paid.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a small shop on the evening before its grand opening: a purple ribbon tied in a big bow across the glass front door, oversized ceremonial scissors on a wooden stool, chairs stacked upside down on cafe tables, a broom against the wall, a counter with a bouquet in purple wrapping, a phone showing a purple map pin, a ring of keys and an apron hanging from the counter, a potted fiddle-leaf fig, and a street lamp visible through the door.
Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile Opening Date: Get Found Before You Open

One field lets a new business show up on Google before its doors open. How to set the date, what the Opening soon and Recently opened labels do, and when to leave it alone.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a craftsman bungalow porch on a tree-lined street: tapered columns, a porch swing, a doormat, a potted fern, a front door with a teal lockbox on the handle, an agent's folio, a keyring, and a phone showing a map pin on the top step, a blank yard sign on a teal post, a mailbox, a parked sedan, neighboring houses, and a water tower on the skyline.
Local SEO

Local SEO for Real Estate Agents: Beat the Portals on Your Own Block

The portals will always have more listings. They'll never have your face, your block, and 40 reviews from people who closed last spring. Here's how to use that.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a contractor's back office: a wooden desk with a landline phone showing a purple message light, a coffee mug, a pencil, an open blank notebook, and a clipboard holding a hand-drawn bar chart with purple bars, an unlabeled town map on the wall covered in a grid of pushpins with several in purple, a corkboard with blank cards, a window showing the roof of a service van, and a hard hat and work shirt on a wall hook.
Local SEO

Local SEO Reporting: The One-Page Dashboard That Counts Calls, Not Charts

A missed call sits on the phone log. A green arrow sits in the monthly report. Only one of those pays anyone. Here's the one-page dashboard that keeps them straight.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a bakery counter: a glass case of loaves, croissants, cookies, and cupcakes, a two-tier celebration cake with teal icing swirls on a cake stand, a blank order ticket on a teal clip, a brass service bell, a paper bag, a takeaway cup, a phone showing a map pin, and behind the counter a shelf with a flour sack, rolling pin, cake boxes, and a wall calendar with an empty grid.
Local SEO

Local SEO for Bakeries: The Cake Order Starts on Google Maps

Nobody orders a wedding cake from a blog post. They order from the bakery that showed up on Maps, looked open, and made it easy to ask. Here's how to be that bakery.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a nail salon interior: a manicure table with a purple desk lamp, a hand-rest cushion, a small fan, and tools on a towel, a technician painting a client's nails purple, wall shelves lined with polish bottles about a third of them purple, a phone propped against the lamp showing a blank grid, a pedicure chair with a rolled towel, an orchid on the windowsill, and a scooter parked outside the window.
Local SEO

Local SEO for Nail Salons: Turn "Near Me" Into a Full Book

Chipped nail, wedding Saturday, phone in hand. The salon that wins that search isn't the one with the best blog. It's the one that looks ready on Google Maps.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of a corner coffee shop with a teal-striped awning: a door with a hanging bell, a blank sandwich board on the sidewalk, a window box of herbs, an espresso machine and pastry case visible through the glass, a bicycle leaning on a lamppost, a dog on a leash by the door, and in the foreground a hand holding a phone showing a map with a single teal pin.
Local SEO

Coffee Shop SEO: Own the Three Blocks Around Your Counter

A cafe doesn't need to win the city. It needs to win the few blocks around its counter, and most of that work happens on Google Maps, not on your website.

James Sowers James Sowers
Editorial line illustration of an immigration law office waiting room: a reception desk with a brass bell, a desk phone, and a stack of intake folders with one purple tab, an unlabeled world map on the wall dotted with purple pushpins, bentwood chairs with a coat draped over one and a child's backpack on the floor, a potted fig, and a window with blinds showing a parked car on the street.
Local SEO

Local SEO for Immigration Attorneys: One Office, Every Language

Abogado de inmigración, immigration lawyer near me, luật sư di trú: three searches, one client base. Here's how a firm shows up for all of them without faking a second office.

James Sowers James Sowers
Hand-drawn illustration of two neighbouring shopfronts, one open with its awning out and one being fitted out with a ladder and paper-covered window, with a ring of keys and a folded street map marked with two teal pins on the pavement
Google Business Profile

How to Add a Second Location to Google Business Profile Without Making a Mess

Two locations means two profiles. Here's how to add the second one, get it verified, and keep it from colliding with a duplicate or dragging your first location's standing down.

James Sowers James Sowers