What 28 Years in Internet Marketing Taught Me About What Google Actually Wants

I started in internet marketing in 1998. That is not a typo.

In 1998, most businesses did not have websites. Google had just launched. Online advertising barely existed. And I was already figuring out how to get businesses found online.

By 2005, I had developed a method for consistently achieving first page placement in Google using press releases — a strategy that worked because I understood how Google evaluated authority and relevance before most people even knew those were the right questions to ask.

In 2009, I formalized everything as Top of Google, serving clients in South Florida and eventually expanding our home base to the Grand Strand here in South Carolina. Because that is what I do. I put businesses at the top of Google.

What Nearly Three Decades Actually Teaches You

It teaches you that Google’s fundamentals do not change as much as people think. Authority, relevance, trust — these have been the core signals since the beginning. The tactics change. The fundamentals do not.

It teaches you that most businesses have never had their website properly optimized. Not even close. When I take over a site that has been doing SEO for years, I almost always find the same things: missing schema, weak meta structure, no local signals, thin content, and a Google Business Profile that looks like it was set up in 2017 and never touched again.

It teaches you that local search is different from national search, and that the Grand Strand is different from everywhere else. Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Garden City, Surfside Beach, Socastee, Carolina Forest, Conway, Loris, Pawleys Island — these are not interchangeable. Each community has its own search behavior, its own competition level, and its own opportunities.

What I Do Differently

I run my own Virtual Private Server. Every client gets their own isolated webspace with dedicated backups, anti-malware protection, and WordPress plugin updates managed proactively. Your website is not sharing resources with hundreds of other sites on a cheap shared hosting plan.

I do this work personally. When you work with Top of Google, you get 28 years of experience applied directly to your business — not handed off to a junior account manager.

I have helped businesses across the Grand Strand and South Florida solve exactly this. Call (843) 999-2410 and let’s talk about yours.

I understand the full stack: SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Connected TV, radio advertising, SMS campaigns, political campaign digital marketing, schema optimization, citation management, reputation management, and web design. Most agencies specialize in one or two of these. I have been executing all of them since before most of them existed as formal disciplines.

If any of this sounds familiar, your business is leaving leads on the table every single day. Call (843) 999-2410 and let’s find out exactly where.

Serving Both Markets

Top of Google has deep roots in South Florida — we built our early client base there — and has been the premier digital marketing resource for Grand Strand businesses since 2009. That dual-market experience means I understand how to compete in aggressive South Florida markets and how to dominate smaller, more accessible Grand Strand niches simultaneously.

More visibility means more leads. More leads means more revenue. That is the only metric that matters. Call (843) 999-2410 or visit topofgoogle.com and let’s build your pipeline.