LocalU Author Page

Carrie comes to Sterling Sky with SEO experience that dates back to 2005! She has a passion for figuring out what works for each and every client and picking apart the problems that arise in our “it depends” relationship with Google. She has also been organizing and nurturing the LocalU Conference Series since 2017 – through to today – across a hectic few years of pandemic and back into in-person conferences again.

Video: Last Week in Local 4/6/20

By Carrie Hill / April 6, 2020

Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles from the previous week. It is 20-30 minutes long and covers critical industry trends, interesting local news and tactical insights for anyone interested in Local Search. ?️ Subscribe to the Podcast ? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel ? Subscribe to the…

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Video: Last Week in Local 3/23/2020

By Carrie Hill / March 23, 2020

Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles from the previous week. It is 15-18 minutes long and covers critical industry trends, interesting local news and tactical insights for anyone interested in Local Search. Please join us for the last week in Local Search for the week ending March…

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[New Feature] Google Posts with Multiple Images

By Carrie Hill / February 21, 2020

A few days ago we posted a bit of a progression of how Google Posts were Borked, Broken & Bonkers.  I won’t rehash all the issues – but I left you at the end with a vague “then we had a new feature” tease for this article. Google is now allowing users to upload multiple…

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Reach Score Trends, What to sponsor and where?

By Carrie Hill / July 20, 2018

The following is a guest post from Claudia Cruz and Alex Thackeray of ZipSprout.  ZipSprout has been a sponsor of LocalU events and offer a platform to help match local businesses with local nonprofits, events and associations.  Today they explain how they developed and use their Reach Score metric to best match local businesses with…

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How to Manually Flag Reviews on Google, Yelp and Facebook

By Carrie Hill / March 20, 2018

Today we have a guest post from Markella Haynes from MDG Advertising. At MDG Advertising, Markella develops and executes social media marketing strategies for clients across a wide array of industries, while leading the local search marketing efforts for the team. Can’t take the heat from a fake negative online review? You don’t have to…

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Using Retargeting Ads to Target Location Specific Shoppers

By Carrie Hill / November 30, 2017

In my last article I pointed out some Hyper Local PPC targeting tactics that could bring more customers to very specific locations.  Today I want to dig a bit deeper into retargeting ads (or remarketing) as a way to target those customers who have already expressed an interest in specific locations for your multi-location business.…

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Targeting Hyper Local Customers with Paid Advertising

By Carrie Hill / November 14, 2017

In my years as a marketer for small businesses, I’ve found that most eliminate paid advertising as a legitimate channel – both because of cost and targeting.  There’s a misconception among non-marketers who are trying to run businesses that PPC or CPC advertising is too broad reaching for a mom & pop establishment with one…

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New Feature: Highlight Icons for Restaurants & Bars in Knowledge Panels

By Carrie Hill / June 27, 2017

Today Google confirmed they are now including local highlight icons in mobile knowledge panels for restaurants and bars.   We went digging to see how Google determines which icons are appropriate and saw a new feature that uses Q & A to determine what highlights are appropriate.  We’re also seeing evidence of google parsing reviews…

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Local U Interview Series: Joy Hawkins

By Carrie Hill / December 21, 2015

Santa isn’t the only one coming to town in December; it’s time for another Local U interview! With our LocalU Advanced event coming up in Williamsburg on March 5th, we thought it would be fun to interview a few of the speakers. This month we have the pleasure of interviewing Joy Hawkins. Business Development Can…

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LocalU Interview Series: Darren Shaw

By Carrie Hill / July 29, 2015

Howdy, it’s Mike Ramsey here and I have a confession: I love interviews. When I got started I did a local search interview series and I personally learned a ton from it.   A lot has changed in the industry since the first round of interviews and it is far past time for another series celebrating…

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