My Awesome SEO Blog

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...

Keywords still matter in SEO. I use them every day. I research keywords, track them in Google Search Console, map them to pages and use them to understand what potential customers are searching for. What has changed is the idea that keywords themselves are the SEO...

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...

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,...

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...

Should you do SEO yourself or hire an SEO company? If you're a small business owner, that's a reasonable question. SEO costs money when you hire someone to do it, but doing SEO yourself requires something else that's valuable: your time. I've worked in SEO for more...

How much does Local SEO cost in San Diego? It's one of the most common questions I hear from business owners—and it's a reasonable one. If you're comparing SEO companies, you may find monthly prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. That...

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...

Local vs National SEO: Why San Diego Businesses Need a Local SEO Company Quick Answer:If your customers live in San Diego, local SEO beats national SEO—every time. You’ll rank faster in the Map Pack, convert better with hyperlocal content (think La Jolla vs. North...

I’m Jen Ruhman, owner of Jen Ruhman SEO here in San Diego. I’ve been doing SEO locally for years, and I’ve seen two types of businesses: the ones that pick the right SEO partner and grow steadily… and the ones that sign with the wrong agency, waste months, and then...