Infographic by Advice Local. Google and Facebook dominant. Mobile dominates all other platforms.

This is NOT black-hat SEO. You may see some results, but your SEO company may not be doing you any favors. Some SEO practices are designed to keep you on-the-hook. When you stop using their services, your results go right out the window! What?

If you like lists, here's one to follow. Our local SEO audits show that less than 1% of businesses have completed this checklist. Their loss is your gain!

If you watch the latest Google commercials on TV, everyone is searching from their phones. They are actually typing in searches. That is soooo yesterday!

If you've spent any amount of time focusing on SEO in the last 3 years or so, you've seen a number of changes that have completely changed the landscape. Your SEO company may be giving you results today but are those results going to last? Here are some things local SEO companies are doing that could ruin your ranking results down the road.

Google didn't create the need for mobile design - but they are responding to it and they're telling you that you need to as well. It really is time to take personal ownership of every touch-point that comes between your prospects and your business. The days of set-it-and-forget-it advertising are gone. If you yearn for the days when your ad was placed in the Yellow Pages and it looked like every other ad for the same business category and you sat back and answered the phone - then you might as well ride that dinosaur into the sunset...you're finished anyway.

The latest Google algorithms penalized websites for "un-natural" linking characteristics and the truth is natural links are difficult to come by, especially for local business sites. But they are NOT impossible. All things being equal, you will kick the pants off your competitor's website if you do this.

When the original founders of Google left Yahoo, they left with a big idea that would literally change the world-wide-web. The simplest thing in the world - seemingly - left in its wake a huge path of destruction. If you're wondering why Google is changing their algorithms it's simply a matter of looking at the beast they created. I'm am one of those beasts. : )

Google wants organic. Businesses don't have time to wait for that. So, SEO firms are hired to expedite the "organic" growth of a website. Well, then, that's not organic anymore right? Well, sort of. Few businesses make it without some form of marketing effort especially when starting up. Google wants to encourage honest hyperlinking. Not every hyperlink is honest. What used to be considered "white-hat" SEO is quickly becoming "black-hat" SEO. Here's how to know the difference.

It's a common problem especially with new businesses. You want everything you do and everything you can do to be out there in the public eye. But consider this. If I can't look at your website and determine what one thing you do well, neither can Google! Niche marketing a necessary small business strategy. Understand what you do really well and market that! Don't go after the larger competition with everything they do. Go after the one thing you know you can beat them up on!