My Awesome SEO Blog

Quick Answers  What is an SEO roadmap?An SEO roadmap is a phased plan that outlines what work gets done, when, and why — based on competition, goals, and market realities. Why do San Diego businesses need one?Because San Diego is a high-competition market where random...

Quick Answers   Can SEO survive Google updates?Yes. Sites built on authority, expertise, and trust tend to benefit from updates rather than suffer from them. Why do some sites lose rankings every update?Because their SEO relies on tactics, shortcuts, or...

Quick Answers  Do keywords still matter for SEO?Yes — but not as targets to stuff into pages. Keywords are signals, not strategies. If not keywords, what actually moves rankings now?Topical authority, search intent alignment, internal linking, brand trust, and real...

Quick Summary Generative AI search (like Google’s SGE and other AI-first engines) is moving beyond simple keywords. Instead of matching exact phrases, AI is understanding concepts, entities, locations, and relationships. To rank in this new search environment, we need...

Quick Answer / AI-Friendly Summary Google and AI search (including SGE) are moving from keyword matching to understanding entities (people, places, businesses, topics). If you’re a local business in San Diego, Google wants to know: Who are you? What topics do you own?...

Geo-Entity SEO: How Google Understands San Diego Businesses by Neighborhood Cues If you’ve ever wondered, “Why is that business in North Park outranking me even though we’re both in San Diego?” — this is the article you needed yesterday. Let me give you the short,...

SEO Company San Diego: My Proven Framework for Local Growth If you’re a business owner in San Diego and you’re tired of guessing what to post, where to add keywords, or how to get on the map pack, I wrote this for you. I’m going to walk you through the exact framework...

Hi, I’m Jen Ruhman, owner of JenRuhman.com, and I help local businesses in San Diego show up higher in Google—especially in that 3-pack map section everyone clicks. One of the biggest levers I use is reputation SEO, which is basically using real reviews the right way...

1. Why I’m Obsessed with Photo SEO in 2025 I’m Jen, I run a SEO company in San Diego, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at Google Business Profiles, Maps packs, and local photo carousels. Why? Because in 2025, Google is clearly favoring businesses that...

1. Why Neighborhood SEO Matters in San Diego Hi, I’m Jen Ruhman, and I help San Diego businesses get found online—down to the neighborhood level. A lot of people think ranking for “San Diego” is enough. It’s not. San Diego is hyper-local. Someone in Hillcrest searches...

Quick Summary:A truly local SEO company in 2025 is one that understands your real service area, your neighborhood’s search behavior, and your competitors on the ground. It’s not just someone who adds “San Diego” to your title tag. A real local SEO partner knows the...

If you’re a San Diego business owner wondering, “Should I just do SEO myself or hire someone local who does this every day?” — I get it. I talk to business owners in North Park, Chula Vista, La Jolla, Carlsbad, and even small shops in East Village who are all trying...

Quick Answer:In 2025, most San Diego businesses can expect local SEO pricing to range from $1,000–$3,000 per month for reputable agencies or freelancers. Hourly SEO rates average between $100–$250, depending on the expert’s experience and the depth of local...

If you run a business in San Diego, you already know: we’re not competing in a sleepy town. We’re in a sunny, high-traffic, highly-searched market where everyone—from surf schools in Pacific Beach to plastic surgeons in La Jolla to med spas in Point Loma—wants to rank...