# THe future of Google??



## Dave Mac

So what do you think the future will hold for us small local service companies on google. I mean its just to good to last, its not fair for one service to get all that business because of being on the first page. And their is to much money being made for being listed on the first page with out google getting a cut. So how are they going to profit from organic searches?? 



So whats your prediction?


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## stelzerpaintinginc.

It's an intriguing question. How they profit from organic searches in the future will likely be due to the fact that they've already expanded their investment portfolio to include subsidiaries in biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, medicine, space, and a host of others not disclosed to general public. When the worlds largest company controls the worlds largest search results, it begs the question that when does, "conflict of interest", qualify as an appropriate accusation. 

But the Google of tomorrow won't be like the Google of today. You're absolutely right IMO to question the value of Google Search, as it relates to the consumer. But in the eyes of the shareholder, Google Search will likely keep choking us small businesses out by minimizing organic results and maximizing advertisement revenues. If we can wait out the storm, in another 5-7 years, Google Search will be a thing of the past. Probably first succeeded by Facebook, then restructured relatively shortly thereafter. 

With Google just announcing their rebranding under the name, "Alphabet", I think they've realized their future lies elsewhere than the Google of today. After all, the desktop is dying, being quickly eclipsed by mobile, and Google has yet to get mobile, "right". 

Look for Google, or actually, "Alphabet", to focus their future on making everything smarter, from cars to homes to clothes. Before 2030, Alphabet might be the ones who bring an outrageous fantasy to life with an elevator to space...a wonderfully simple concept of stringing a ribbon to space with an attached counterweight. Since they will most likely control the largest population of drones in the future, the possibilities are endless. 

But, what do I know? I'm just a painter and it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm tired.


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## daArch

All of this would have been total sci-fi fantasy 40 years ago. 

2001 A Space Odyssey was delayed just a bit.


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## JoyHawkins

Google has been steadily coming out with several updates to their AdWords platform every month. I think ultimately their goal is to make more money but they can't do that without users so their mindset is always based on what they can do that still makes them money but is still good for their users. 

I think Yahoo lost that mindset which is why their search engine is kind of slowly dying. 

I think the next step is probably that we'll start seeing images in ads for regular businesses, not just product listing ads. 

Also, as many have already noticed, Google is starting to list paid ads in the local/maps section so I think we'll be seeing more of that. 

They also recently made it possible for the reviews that businesses collect on their Google plus page to be visible in the ads.


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## PACman

Dave Mac said:


> So what do you think the future will hold for us small local service companies on google. I mean its just to good to last, its not fair for one service to get all that business because of being on the first page. And their is to much money being made for being listed on the first page with out google getting a cut. So how are they going to profit from organic searches??
> 
> 
> 
> So whats your prediction?


This is a big hot button issue with me. When people do a search for "paint stores" in my area, the first 6 search pages are filled with SW, Home Depot, Lowe's, and PPG. The only local paint store for 25 miles (mine) is on the 6th page. Those companies can pay big money to keep me off those first few pages. The thing that i think is unfair is that somehow SW etc, have 20-30 sites showing up on those pages! How can one local SW store have 15 web sites on the first 3 pages? If they at least limited how many times one business could have a web page come up at least I could be on the bottom of the first page!


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## ReNt A PaInTeR

PACman said:


> This is a big hot button issue with me. When people do a search for "paint stores" in my area, the first 6 search pages are filled with SW, Home Depot, Lowe's, and PPG. The only local paint store for 25 miles (mine) is on the 6th page. Those companies can pay big money to keep me off those first few pages. The thing that i think is unfair is that somehow SW etc, have 20-30 sites showing up on those pages! How can one local SW store have 15 web sites on the first 3 pages? If they at least limited how many times one business could have a web page come up at least I could be on the bottom of the first page!


If you sell P&L the problem I have encounter is that is hard to sell the paint to the HO. Most of my business is by word of mouth. 

When someone calls they always mention the name of the person and how the paint I used looks great. You use Benjamin Moore right? After that the job is pretty much mine. 

If I was gonna start talking about P&L Accolade, Red Seal (Stupid name sounds like a stain/sealer) I would probably not get the job.

P.S. Now when I say Behr Paint in Primer in One. HO gets excited he will save lots of money because I will be priming while I paint and painting while I prime.


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## PACman

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> If you sell P&L the problem I have encounter is that is hard to sell the paint to the HO. Most of my business is by word of mouth.
> 
> When someone calls they always mention the name of the person and how the paint I used looks great. You use Benjamin Moore right? After that the job is pretty much mine.
> 
> If I was gonna start talking about P&L Accolade, Red Seal (Stupid name sounds like a stain/sealer) I would probably not get the job.
> 
> P.S. Now when I say Behr Paint in Primer in One. HO gets excited he will save lots of money because I will be priming while I paint and painting while I prime.


My best customers are the word of mouth customers. I think most small retailers are dependent on this more so then web searches.
When I just did a google search for "paint stores near me" my site was just ahead of the "home depot sucks" site. Haha.

The Red Seal name is one of the oldest paint trademarked names in the industry, dating to the 1870's. It refers to the red seal that was customarily used to denote something of high quality during that time period. It was also the brand name for Dutch Boy white lead at one time. Also, the P&L logo is based on a red seal when you really look at it.


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## DrakeB

Why does everyone think PACman has Benjamin Moore? Can they not tell us apart D= I'm the one with the pink tutu!


On topic: It's an interesting and scary world we'll soon be facing. Google has the potential (read: is already) to be the first mega-corp truly reaching its fingers into _every_ aspect of our daily lives. Google already controls every facet of the internet (our personal information, our searches, our entertainment (YouTube), our billing (Google Wallet/Pay), our friends (Google Circles and such), but they're also soon going to be expanding even more into the real world. In addition to normal tech like phones, computer operating systems, hardware, etc. they're also reaching into transportation, VR, and hundreds (if not thousands) of other markets.

It begins to beg the question, for me, of how much power is too much. When a company knows more about you than you know about yourself _and_ has the potential to abuse that in a myriad of ways I start to worry. Google knows what you're addicted to, and they're capable of selling it to you. People addicted to online gambling? Google's gonna throw a bunch of poker sites in your sidebar. There's plenty more examples like that one. Google will know what we need, and they will have it.

I'm a red blooded capitalist and all that, but I do believe there is such thing as "too big." It's only a matter of time before we see (more) ramifications. I'm scared of what would happen if Google bought Amazon, but I'd be willing to bet that's their next major acquisition.


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## Brandon Doyle

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> It's an intriguing question. How they profit from organic searches in the future will likely be due to the fact that they've already expanded their investment portfolio to include subsidiaries in biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, medicine, space, and a host of others not disclosed to general public. When the worlds largest company controls the worlds largest search results, it begs the question that when does, "conflict of interest", qualify as an appropriate accusation.
> 
> But the Google of tomorrow won't be like the Google of today. You're absolutely right IMO to question the value of Google Search, as it relates to the consumer. But in the eyes of the shareholder, Google Search will likely keep choking us small businesses out by minimizing organic results and maximizing advertisement revenues. If we can wait out the storm, in another 5-7 years, Google Search will be a thing of the past. Probably first succeeded by Facebook, then restructured relatively shortly thereafter.
> 
> With Google just announcing their rebranding under the name, "Alphabet", I think they've realized their future lies elsewhere than the Google of today. After all, the desktop is dying, being quickly eclipsed by mobile, and Google has yet to get mobile, "right".
> 
> Look for Google, or actually, "Alphabet", to focus their future on making everything smarter, from cars to homes to clothes. Before 2030, Alphabet might be the ones who bring an outrageous fantasy to life with an elevator to space...a wonderfully simple concept of stringing a ribbon to space with an attached counterweight. Since they will most likely control the largest population of drones in the future, the possibilities are endless.
> 
> But, what do I know? I'm just a painter and it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm tired.


As someone who works in the realm of online marketing for painters and other contractors, this is a GREAT question. In my opinion, Google organic searches aren't going anywhere. Yes, Google doesn't make any money off of organic search (currently), but it's their bread and butter and what they were founded on. At the core of Google is the belief that users are the #1 priority.

Google's portfolio is too diverse to work under the Google brand--hence the launch of Alphabet. However, Google (Alphabet) is a publicly traded company and needs to please shareholders and show profit growth, just like any other company. 
*
More than 80% of Google/Alphabet's revenue last year came from PPC (pay-per-click) ads.* PPC is how Google makes money and reports gains to its shareholders. 

As a result, it wouldn't surprise me if in a few years PPC spend was a ranking factor (if it's not already). Creating synergy between PPC and SEO to accommodate for immediate and long-term success is/will be your best option.

As for now, unfortunately it looks like those who dominate the first page will dominate the majority of organic visits, leads, and sales. The ROI of investing in SEO and online marketing as a whole proves itself time and time again.

Hope this helps!


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## thinkpainting/nick

Dave Mac said:


> So what do you think the future will hold for us small local service companies on google. I mean its just to good to last, its not fair for one service to get all that business because of being on the first page. And their is to much money being made for being listed on the first page with out google getting a cut. So how are they going to profit from organic searches??
> 
> 
> It's a wonder anyone can find a unpaid listing on Google. Why I still do direct mail and send thank you, birthday ( jobs birthday not HO, and Christmas cards. I direct them to my site by DM be it my existing customers or perspective. Why I don't spend a boatload on SEO it's never gonna bump off paid listings.
> 
> The new rumor( Wall Street news ) home advisors buying Angie's list create a huge corporation. I'm just glad I'm out in a few years I don't see anything positive in paying for listing or worse supporting lead generation ( so called ) company's


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## thinkpainting/nick

PACman said:


> My best customers are the word of mouth customers. I think most small retailers are dependent on this more so then web searches.
> When I just did a google search for "paint stores near me" my site was just ahead of the "home depot sucks" site. Haha.
> 
> The Red Seal name is one of the oldest paint trademarked names in the industry, dating to the 1870's. It refers to the red seal that was customarily used to denote something of high quality during that time period. It was also the brand name for Dutch Boy white lead at one time. Also, the P&L logo is based on a red seal when you really look at it.


Ah P&L Cellutone nectar of the paint Gods that was a finish paint :yes: gone but not forgotten.


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## dewebdesigns

For all you painters, as someone who follows Google and other search engines extremely closely as you do with your trade, the organic search is only to get better as time goes on.

Google doesn't directly benefit from organic searches. However, if you're signed in, they'll track your searches and Adwords can remarket those terms because they know you're interested in what you search for. They will make money on an ad you click on related to your search query the next few days, if you click it.

Every search on Google tells them a little bit more about you, what you're interested in and a lot more. With each search on Google, you show them that you are loyal to them and not Bing, Yahoo!, etc.

Google's end goal is to serve better content. If you Google "sunrise tomorrow", they'll tell you without clicking on anything. They're constantly improving their algorithms. By improving their algorithms, they make it harder for bad content to reach the first page and improving the searchers experience by showing them what they're looking for. *Unfortunately, a lot of your websites are in this category.*

Because your search isn't closely related to their needs, you aren't on the first page. That's why bigger lead gen companies are taking up 3-5 places on the first page. Just because they're a big company doesn't mean you can't compete. You're local. You're what they're searching for. You easily have the ability to be ahead of them if Google deems your content more relevant to the user's search. The hard part is showing them. 

That's where SEO comes in (and I offer a 5 min consultation in a different thread), but that's an entirely different topic.

Tl;dr Google is going to constantly improve their organic searches because it'll help the user find what they're looking for and keep them loyal. Loyalty means they can learn about each user better with every search so advertisers can specifically target certain types of people. For instance, when I set up a PPC campaign, I can target Men between the ages of 18-24 who like technology and fishing who are on a smartphone that live in 20 miles of a city, and that's just the beginning of how focused you can get on Adwords.

Any questions?


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## ElTacoPaco

PACman said:


> This is a big hot button issue with me. When people do a search for "paint stores" in my area, the first 6 search pages are filled with SW, Home Depot, Lowe's, and PPG. The only local paint store for 25 miles (mine) is on the 6th page. Those companies can pay big money to keep me off those first few pages. The thing that i think is unfair is that somehow SW etc, have 20-30 sites showing up on those pages! How can one local SW store have 15 web sites on the first 3 pages? If they at least limited how many times one business could have a web page come up at least I could be on the bottom of the first page!


Luckily you are BM and people know Benjamin Moore and search bM


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## ElTacoPaco

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> If you sell P&L the problem I have encounter is that is hard to sell the paint to the HO. Most of my business is by word of mouth.
> 
> When someone calls they always mention the name of the person and how the paint I used looks great. You use Benjamin Moore right? After that the job is pretty much mine.
> 
> If I was gonna start talking about P&L Accolade, Red Seal (Stupid name sounds like a stain/sealer) I would probably not get the job.
> 
> P.S. Now when I say Behr Paint in Primer in One. HO gets excited he will save lots of money because I will be priming while I paint and painting while I prime.


How does the paint know when to be a primer? Does itnoaint itself too? How good is it at hiding? Lol


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## ElTacoPaco

DrakeB said:


> Why does everyone think PACman has Benjamin Moore? Can they not tell us apart D= I'm the one with the pink tutu!
> 
> 
> On topic: It's an interesting and scary world we'll soon be facing. Google has the potential (read: is already) to be the first mega-corp truly reaching its fingers into _every_ aspect of our daily lives. Google already controls every facet of the internet (our personal information, our searches, our entertainment (YouTube), our billing (Google Wallet/Pay), our friends (Google Circles and such), but they're also soon going to be expanding even more into the real world. In addition to normal tech like phones, computer operating systems, hardware, etc. they're also reaching into transportation, VR, and hundreds (if not thousands) of other markets.
> 
> It begins to beg the question, for me, of how much power is too much. When a company knows more about you than you know about yourself _and_ has the potential to abuse that in a myriad of ways I start to worry. Google knows what you're addicted to, and they're capable of selling it to you. People addicted to online gambling? Google's gonna throw a bunch of poker sites in your sidebar. There's plenty more examples like that one. Google will know what we need, and they will have it.
> 
> I'm a red blooded capitalist and all that, but I do believe there is such thing as "too big." It's only a matter of time before we see (more) ramifications. I'm scared of what would happen if Google bought Amazon, but I'd be willing to bet that's their next major acquisition.


Maybe that explains all the SW ads I get on my screen :O


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## ElTacoPaco

Brandon Doyle said:


> As someone who works in the realm of online marketing for painters and other contractors, this is a GREAT question. In my opinion, Google organic searches aren't going anywhere. Yes, Google doesn't make any money off of organic search (currently), but it's their bread and butter and what they were founded on. At the core of Google is the belief that users are the #1 priority.
> 
> Google's portfolio is too diverse to work under the Google brand--hence the launch of Alphabet. However, Google (Alphabet) is a publicly traded company and needs to please shareholders and show profit growth, just like any other company.
> *
> More than 80% of Google/Alphabet's revenue last year came from PPC (pay-per-click) ads.* PPC is how Google makes money and reports gains to its shareholders.
> 
> As a result, it wouldn't surprise me if in a few years PPC spend was a ranking factor (if it's not already). Creating synergy between PPC and SEO to accommodate for immediate and long-term success is/will be your best option.
> 
> As for now, unfortunately it looks like those who dominate the first page will dominate the majority of organic visits, leads, and sales. The ROI of investing in SEO and online marketing as a whole proves itself time and time again.
> 
> Hope this helps!


Any tips for Pac, drake and I to take down Sherry and the big Orange in terms of listings?


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## DrakeB

ElTacoPaco said:


> Any tips for Pac, drake and I to take down Sherry and the big Orange in terms of listings?


Get your Google Local Business listing up to date and accurate; it's been a big help for me. Then make sure you've got a good website (I currently don't; it's in the works, though). After that there's a couple of things you can do to move yourself up:

1) Wait, and hope. Which is what most people do. Over time if people consistently search for your business you may move up the listing, eventually. If you're competing against a lot of businesses, which I believe you are in your market, this likely won't work.

2) Update your site (more like a blog) with frequent, engaging, entertaining, and relevant content. This is a good way to grow your online following and your listing position. You can also do SEO tricks like getting as many other sites as possible to link to your homepage, etc, which increase your listing position as well. This is time consuming and requires significant talent and knowledge.

3) Pay Google to do it for you. Get an add at the top of the search results (Just like the box stores will). All of the benefits with none of the time spent. Just money.

Gotta find out which way works for you. I'd guess 99% of small businesses fall into category number 1 there. Good luck.


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## Brandon Doyle

ElTacoPaco said:


> Any tips for Pac, drake and I to take down Sherry and the big Orange in terms of listings?


I could give you broad recommendations, but it would basically be me taking a stab in the dark at how your websites could be optimized better. If you'd like a more personal and direct tear down, contact me and mention your forum name in the message.

But, in general, here's a few recommendations that may help you improve your presence on the web (this applies to any site!):

1.) Submit your company NAP (name, address, and phone number) to national directories (ie. Yellow Pages) and local directories (chamber of commerce, etc.)

2.) Create web pages targeting each service you offer (service/keyword + primary service area). Once that's done, create similar (but 100% unique) pages targeting the same service/keyword + secondary service areas. This maximizes your exposure. It's a common misconception that Google ranks websites--they don't. *Google ranks web pages. So it's a game of real estate--the more unique, SEO-friendly web pages you can create the more opportunity you have to show up on SERPs* (search engine results pages) for customers searching for your painting services.

A more granular example of publishing unique web pages would look something like this (in this example, we'll target Exterior Painting for a made up company located in Charlotte, NC and servicing its surrounding areas).
- Exterior Painting in Charlotte, NC
- Exterior Painters in Mint Hill, NC
- Exterior Painters in Indian Trail, NC
- etc. 

Keep building those pages out for each service you offer and every city/town you travel to.

3.) Write individual web pages for EVERY service--don't just create a "Services" page with a bulleted list of 15 services. Yes, you can do this, but then link each bullet to an individual page talking about those services.

4.) *Get local reviews.* This is a big one. People want to know you can do the job well and that others in the community trust your work. Reviews from homeowners and business owners in your town and the towns you service go a long way towards building trust with a visitor on your site. List them on your website on a testimonials page. If you can, get your customers to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, Angie's List, Houzz, etc.

5.) *Get links to your site from businesses in your area.* This is important, but tricky. Google penalizes sites with spammy, unnatural backlinks or sites that paid for links. You want to get links from partner websites, media outlets in your town, etc. NEVER pay for links or trade links with another company.

Like I said, tough to give specific recommendations about each of your sites without seeing them and playing around on your site for a few minutes. If you'd like more personal recommendations, feel free to contact me directly.


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## DrakeB

Brandon, out of curiosity, is your business targeted specifically at the paint trade or are you just a general SEO/Web presence consultant?


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## PACman

thinkpainting/nick said:


> Ah P&L Cellutone nectar of the paint Gods that was a finish paint :yes: gone but not forgotten.


I have Cellutone. In quarts only but it is still available.


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## PACman

ElTacoPaco said:


> Luckily you are BM and people know Benjamin Moore and search bM


I'm not a Ben Moore dealer. P&L and California.


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## Rbriggs82

PACman said:


> I'm not a Ben Moore dealer. P&L and California.


Why no BM PAC? I would think BM and California would be a killer combo. Throw in Muralo which California owns and you'd be unbeatable. :yes:

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk


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## DrakeB

Rbriggs82 said:


> Why no BM PAC? I would think BM and California would be a killer combo. Throw in Muralo which California owns and you'd be unbeatable. :yes:
> 
> Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk


May just be a bit redundant? They're both great brands. I guess you could cherry pick the best from both, but that usually means for us we'd get orders half as frequently (we typically have to order a certain number of gallons to get the truck coming our way) which can make logistics tricky. I think he had actually talked about maybe looking at BM sometimes. Only downside is that BM is a bit cranky about what else you stock with it. He probably couldn't get Aura while carrying California stuff, for example. Hate that BM is that way, but there you have it.


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## Brandon Doyle

DrakeB said:


> Brandon, out of curiosity, is your business targeted specifically at the paint trade or are you just a general SEO/Web presence consultant?


Both. I personally have worked with many painters. Our business mainly works with home service contractors -- painters, HVAC companies, electricians, etc.


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## the paintman

With more and more lead generation companies angies, thumb homead, etc taking up more and more of the 10 spaces available. Assuming we all agree 2nd page is the dungeon right now, do you ever see 2nd page presence ever being more relevant some day???
I mean I was searching something the other day and counted 7 of the spots taken this way on the first page and I did look on the 2nd page for a direct contact #

The Paintman


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## dewebdesigns

the paintman said:


> With more and more lead generation companies angies, thumb homead, etc taking up more and more of the 10 spaces available. Assuming we all agree 2nd page is the dungeon right now, do you ever see 2nd page presence ever being more relevant some day???
> I mean I was searching something the other day and counted 7 of the spots taken this way on the first page and I did look on the 2nd page for a direct contact #
> 
> The Paintman


This is because you are more educated than the average online user who doesn't know what lead generation is. You should be above the lead generation companies because you have a physical location. A majority of people never go past the first page of Google and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Google's goal is to provide the best results for the query and that makes page 1 the only page they need to view.


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## Jared From RankNova

Google certainly wants to make as much money as possible (who doesn't?), but if they get too aggressive with it, at the expense of delivering the best user experience possible, it will end up backfiring.

They have to find the best balance between their paid listings (AdWords), where they make most of their money, and the unpaid (organic) listings, which is what keeps people coming back.

It seems the greatest fear is that Google will continue to expand with nationwide companies in industries, big and small, and that this übermonopoly will push the mom and pops down the listings. In turn, this will force more businesses to use AdWords.

It's possible, sure, but I'm skeptical it will happen. I think Google is smart enough to realize this level of monopolizing would turn a lot of people off, and have them running to Bing.


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## Jared From RankNova

https://moz.com/blog/four-ads-on-top-the-wait-is-over

According to Moz (the largest Internet marketing site out there), there's been a sudden and dramatic rise in the number of ads showing up in Google searches. Now nearly 20% of all searches show ads, further pushing organic (unpaid) listings down the screen.


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## LakewoodPaintingPro

Google is constantly changing and always keeping us on our toes, righ??!! Listing directories, keyword rich content, and non-spammy high quality backlinks have helped us the most!!


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