Special Edition: SEO Q&A With Jeremy Rivera

The Unscripted SEO Interview Podcast

Experimenting with a new epsiode format, as the new host, I'm fielding questions about SEO from the audience, from Twitter/Reddit/Facebook. Send in your questions to have them answered in future episodes!
Who is the new host Jeremy Rivera?
It was a whirlwind transfering hosting from Mark A. Preston who did a great job before, I haven't introduced myself to the audience yet! I'm a 17 year veteran in SEO who has done in-house SEO for Raven Tools and Tapclicks. I've also been with tons of different agencies like Hive Digital, Copypress, Elite Strategies & Evergreen Services. I also worked with clients as a freelance SEO consultant in asphalt maintenance, office furniture and dozens of other niches!
Does updating your blog post's publishing date have any measurable impact on your post's organic performance?
Query deserves freshness, and Rebekah Edwards and I both have experimented and seen positive outcomes from updating publish dates on content.
Has anyone in SEO had their client arrange and "sponsor" a local river/park/parking lot/roadside trash cleanup as a local link building vehicle?
Yes, I have for a paddleboard tour company in Nashville. We actually got a local news crew to show up, and got social and other links from the low cost event.
Is a rel=canonical equivalent in transfering authority as a 301 redirect in y’alls experience?
There's mixed feedback from SEO experts, who mostly agree that 301 is stronger, because it literally "cancels out" the original page, but others suggest adding a canonical FIRST, and then adding a 301 next
If a company has TWO locations, should the Google profile for both locations go to specifically created location pages, or should one location be pointed to the HOMEPAGE url specifically, always?
The general feedback from other SEOs who specialize in local SEO is that you should nearly always have multiple different location pages, specific to that community. The only caveat was when one location had a ton of reviews already.