About Leslie Carruthers

Leslie Carruthers is President of The Search Guru, a search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing agency serving medium and large businesses who think big.

3 Mobile Ecommerce Optimization Tests You Need to Be Running

2021-04-09T18:19:24+00:00February 17th, 2017|

No matter which industry you're in, if you're a business that sells products online, your ecommerce conversion rate is one of the most valuable pieces of data available to you. After all, this number is a loud and clear reflection of your ability to turn passive shoppers into active paying customers. How’s that for powerful?

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How effective listening skills are at the core of SEO

2018-06-14T21:07:26+00:00August 5th, 2015|

Effective listening skills are at the core of SEO "I make progress by having people around me who are smarter than I am and listening to them. And I assume that everyone is smarter about something than I am.” Henry J. Kaiser Listening served Kaiser well. He became known as the father of modern American

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Google ranking on facts, not links? You’d better audit your fact checking!

2021-04-09T18:19:51+00:00April 17th, 2015|

If you’ve been reading about Knowledge-Based Trust (also called the “Truth Algorithm”), you know that Google has looked into ranking websites based on the factual information it contains, either instead of – or more likely in addition to – rewarding sites with quality links pointing to the site. Google engineers published a paper about this technology

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News about journalism and content marketing: what’s the ideal mix?

2018-06-14T21:07:27+00:00April 6th, 2015|

Boy, were we happy to read “How Hiring a Journalist Can Improve Your Content Marketing” by Robert McGuire (March 31, 2015) on the Content Marketing Institute website. We’ve been advocating the use of professional journalism techniques in content marketing since at least 2013 and it is wonderful validation to read this recommendation on a well-respected

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Creating content isn’t enough: writing to an audience is key in 2014.

2018-06-14T21:07:27+00:00December 30th, 2014|

2014: the Year of the Audience In multiple places online, 2013 was proclaimed to be the year of the content writer – or something similar. And, you wouldn’t have gotten any argument from me, or probably from any other content producer. Instead, we got to puff out our collective chests, print out these articles and

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Bolster your holiday Internet marketing strategy with effective PPC marketing

2018-06-14T21:07:31+00:00September 20th, 2014|

PPC marketing strategy: Incorporating paid search into your holiday Internet marketing strategy As an online marketer, the holiday shopping season seems to start earlier each year; that’s because, in many respects, it does. Advertisers push the bar by offering sales and other promotions earlier and earlier every year. For all practical purposes, you should consider

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Try these free writing tools to improve your blogging

2018-06-14T21:07:31+00:00August 27th, 2014|

Improve blogging with these free writing tools Free Images Make your blog posts more appealing by including eye-catching images. If you don’t have much of a budget, use Google to find royalty-free ones (but we advise further copyright verification). 1)   Search on Google images for what you need (let’s say, a happy writer): 2)   Choose

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Discover the ideal length for your online content

2018-06-14T21:07:31+00:00July 26th, 2014|

Schizophrenic advice about the length of online content We often get asked, “How long should my blog post or article be? What’s the best length?” There is, however, no magic number. Instead, it should be as long as necessary to provide the quality needed in today’s competitive online world. With online content, here’s the reality:

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12 ways that clarity is the heart of SEO

2018-06-14T21:07:31+00:00July 22nd, 2014|

12 Ways that Clarity is the Heart of SEO 1)   Before you ever begin to “SEO” your site, you will need a crystal clear business plan and set of business goals. While search engine optimization can help your site gain visibility and traffic, it can’t create a business for you. 2)   Ensure that your site

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