Bill Hartzer

Articles by: Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer runs a strategic marketing consultancy that includes services such as search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management.

Hartzer formerly managed the Search Engine Marketing division of Vizion Interactive and MarketNet, leading interactive marketing and website design firms in the Dallas, Texas area.

Hartzer is a successful writer, blogger, search engine marketing and social media marketing expert.

During the past fifteen years, some of his many accomplishments include: Search Engine Marketing Manager, Vizion Interactive; Search Engine Marketing Manager, MarketNet; Search Engine Optimization Strategist, Intec Telecom Systems PLC; Webmaster, Intec Telecom Systems PLC; Founder, Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association; Owner/Author, Corporate Web Site Marketing; Administrator, Search Engine Forums; Frequent Speaker, Search Engine Strategies Conferences; Frequent Speaker, WebmasterWorld's PubCon Search Engine and Internet Marketing Conference.

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Technical SEO
4 Things to Check for Holiday Ecommerce Traffic

November 16, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

The holiday shopping season is here. Millions of consumers are looking for holiday deals. Preparing your marketing campaigns, such as social media ads and email promotions, is imperative. Beyond that,
SEO Tools
How to Perform a Local, Competitive SEO Analysis

October 19, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Businesses that rely on local consumers should periodically examine the search engine optimization efforts of their competitors. You’ll see what they’re doing — what you like and dislike — and ...
Technical SEO
Google Penguin Now Part of Core Search Algorithm

September 24, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Google just announced that its Penguin algorithm is now a part of its core algorithm, updated in real time. Google last updated Penguin a few years ago. Updating Penguin continuously will likely affect many businesses. Recall that Google Penguin monitors ...
Local Business
3 Phases to Engaging (and Retaining) Local Prospects

September 14, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

You’ve created a website for your business. You’ve set up your social media profiles, and you’ve even set up all your local business listings, such as your Google My Business ...
Local Business
Managing a Local Web Presence from an iPhone

August 24, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

I’m used to sending and receiving email directly on my iPhone. I don’t need my laptop to respond to someone. In fact, I sometimes go most of the day without ...
Local Business
How to Encourage Reviews of Your Local Business

August 11, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

When it comes search engine results for local businesses, one of the major factors that influence searchers is the number and quality of reviews. A restaurant listing with a limited number of reviews, no ...
Local Business
Using Pokémon Go to Entice Shoppers to Local Businesses

July 19, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

On July 6 and 7, 2016, Niantic and Nintendo began rolling out a new augmented reality app called Pokémon Go. Within a few days it was a hit. Kids and ...
Local Business
Using Schema Markup for Local SEO

June 28, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Local businesses can help their search engine optimization efforts by utilizing the Schema.org markup. By adding the Schema code to your website, you’re helping the search engines identify certain text ...
Local Business
Should Ecommerce Merchants Claim Local Business Listings?

May 9, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

If you are an ecommerce retailer or a servicer provider with nationwide clients, you may not want to claim your online local business listings. In fact, there are situations where ...
On-page SEO
Blogs: Starting Point for Effective Communication

February 19, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Recently, I wrote about four content ideas to help improve your local SEO, one of which dealt with adding a blog to your website. After the article had published, a question came from a reader about whether or not Facebook counts as a blog.
Local Business
4 Content Ideas to Improve Local SEO

January 28, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Local SEO isn’t just about optimizing your business website any longer. It’s about maintaining a healthy presence online within the community and engaging with your customers and prospects through your site and on social media.
Local Business
4 Local SEO Predictions for 2016

January 13, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

There is never a shortage of articles about predictions for the new year, and the same holds true where SEO is concerned. Here is my list of predictions for 2016 — four in all — that will affect local SEO. Review them and start making plans to address the upcoming changes.
Technical SEO
SEO: Do You Need More Than One Domain Name?

December 17, 2015 • Bill Hartzer

I recently spoke with a business owner who had purchased every possible version of his company’s domain name (including the "typos”) to protect his brand.
Local Business
Local SEO Ranking Factors for Multi-location Businesses

August 27, 2015 • Bill Hartzer

Google has made significant changes in the last few years concerning how it ranks websites for businesses that have multiple locations and now frowns upon many of the optimization techniques that were used in the past.
Link Building
SEO: 5 Ecommerce Link-Building Ideas

September 24, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

To obtain good organic rankings in the search engines, web pages need inbound links. This is because search engines look for some way to determine how to rank one page over another. They look for some sort of indication of quality, some sort of "approval" that one ecommerce product page...
Google Ads
Transitioning from Pay-Per-Click to Organic Search

August 10, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

If you are spending too much money for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, then you likely have considered moving away from PPC and towards organic search results. After all, if you rank well in the organic, or natural, search results, you can spend a lot less money on PPC. But how do you ...
Photography & Video
Do Product Videos Help with Search Engine Optimization?

June 29, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Having videos of your products will help your ecommerce sales. Visitors to your site will watch the videos, and it will presumably help their buying decisions. But what about the search engines? How will posting a product video on your website help with search engine optimization? One...
Keyword Research
SEO: Keyword Research and Analysis

June 22, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. Keyword research is one of the most important parts of online marketing. Somet...
Technical SEO
Google Changes Search-Results Page, How Merchants Can Benefit

May 25, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Google has made some major changes to its search results recently, adding more options for searchers. These are not changes to search algorithms, which determine the websites that show up, and where. Rather, the new changes give searchers options that allow them to tailor the type of s...
Link Building
Combine Search Engines and Social Media for Link Building

April 27, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

I recently spoke at an Internet marketing conference about that state of search engine optimization in 2010. One of the points that I made during the presentation is that search engines and social media networks are converging. In 2010, if you want to rank well in the search engines, yo...
On-page SEO
Search Engine Optimization in 2010: What You Need to Know Now

April 21, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. If you want to use search engine optimization best practices, or want to get u...
Technical SEO
Search Engine Optimization Overkill

March 31, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared on his website, BillHartzer.com. Are you using search engine optimization tactics that lead to overkil...
SEO Tools
Google Product Search: Creating a Data Feed

March 17, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Editor's Note: This is our monthly installment of "Everything Google," a feature on products and services from Google that can help ecommerce merchants. The author is Bill Hartzer, the owner of BillHartzer.com, a SEO, pay-per-click and ecommerce consulting firm in Dallas. Google Produ...
Link Building
SEO: Remember LinkedIn for Inbound Links

December 23, 2009 • Bill Hartzer

Editor’s Note: Bill Hartzer is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and manager of search engine optimization and social media marketing with VizionInteractive, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. Inbound...
Google Ads
My Favorite Pay-per-click Blogs

December 18, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

It seems as though there are a million blogs. In fact, last time I checked, Technorati was reporting that over 120,000 new blogs are created every single day. That's about 1.4 new blogs every second. With so many blogs out there, which pay-per-click blogs are the most helpful? To help...
Google Ads
Interview: Pay-per-click Expert On 2nd Tier Ad Sites

October 8, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

Recently I sat down with Jeremy Mayes, the author of PPCDiscussions.com. In addition to writing the PPCDiscussions.com blog, Mayes has used paid search to sell millions of dollars of products and has generated millions of leads for various industries. I asked him about 2nd tier pay-per-...
Google Ads
Pay-per-click Advertising: The Top 100 Keyword Phrases

July 22, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

Last time I checked, Spyfu.com is reporting that someone is bidding $51.66 per click for phrase “conference calling companies.” Are you bidding on words like this, which is one of the most expensive keyword phrases? Let’s take a look at the most expensive pay-per-click keywords and wha...
Google Ads
Paid Search With Online Yellow Pages

June 17, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

You are probably familiar with Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN AdCenter, the three largest paid search advertising opportunities. However, have you considered running a paid search campaign using the online yellow pages? Even if you’re an online retailer that does not h...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Shopping Search Engines: Six To Consider

May 7, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

If you consider yourself an online retailer, you most likely are familiar with the major pay-per-click (PPC) search-advertising providers: Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN. Advertising on these search engines can bring sales to your site. However, you may be missing out on a lot...
Google Ads
Alternative Pay-per-click Advertising

April 9, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

When should you consider advertising your products on sites other than on Google, Yahoo! and MSN? By properly identifying and evaluating various second-tier PPC advertising options, you may uncover a diamond in the rough. Investigate options Investigating your options is not as hard a...