There are a number of studies (e.g., Pew, Forrester) in the market that question how interested or engaged users are with “location based services.” Those studies tend to narrowly focus on Foursquare, Gowalla and mobile check-ins. They tend to miss the larger point about the importance of location on mobile devices. A new study from […]
Nearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google’s search engine, allowing you to “+1” the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it’ll be arriving at a web site near […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How Potential Clients Search For An Interactive Agency The search behavior associated with businesses trying to find an interactive agency is very different from other models that I’ve looked at in […]
Local business owners who have claimed a Facebook Places Page can now get reporting on how many people are checking-in to their business, and how many are redeeming deals they’ve offered through Facebook. The new reports, announced today, can help business owners refine the deals they’re offering and track foot traffic from Facebook users over […]
Google recently introduced check-ins for Google Latitude in an effort to reinvigorate the product, which had fallen behind other newer LBS competitors such as Foursquare. Today Google announced that those check-ins will bring offers from local businesses in Austin, Texas (for SXSW). I’m not going to SXSW, but it will be the battle of the […]
Today Foursquare announced “Foursquare 3.0,” an enhanced version of its mobile applications that adds new content, features and options for users. There are new recommendations (“explore”) that take into account your check-ins and those of your friends and network. There has also been “a major overhaul to the leaderboard.” Finally the company hopes to “redefine […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Hotpot Places A Bet On Las Vegas Google’s on-the-streets promotional blitz for its Hotpot ratings and recommendations service has landed a new home: Las Vegas. The company has just announced […]
Everything we program at Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo events are always related to search. So why a post about social media sessions at our upcoming SMX West conference? Because social continues to play a big role in search. Search marketers need to know social. Here’s what we’ve got planned for you at […]
When the digirati descend on Austin for the SXSW interactive conference next month, Google is hoping their smartphones will brim with local listings and reviews on Places and Hotpot. To that end, the company today began a promotion to get local businesses, along with Austin visitors and residents, on board with the search giant’s local […]
Twitter wasn’t the only social media platform that recorded super levels of activity associated with the big game last weekend. Local check-in player Foursquare says it saw 200,000 check-ins, making this year’s Super Bowl the most checked-into venue ever for the company. Green Bay Packers fans showed greater check-in activity than their rival Steelers supporters […]
It’s all starting to come together. Yesterday Google announced that it was adding check-ins (and loyalty categories) to Latitude. It also announced the global expansion of HotPot, its recommendations tool. Google Places apps for both iPhone and Android allow people to rate and review businesses (HotPot’s objective). And on Places Pages, in Android, you can […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they […]
Following in the footsteps of several other locally-oriented sites, Google Places is now accepting user photos of local businesses. When viewing a Place Page (like the Wild Ginger restaurant in Seattle), you’ll see a new “Upload a photo” link to the right of the Photos & Video content section. Google’s announcement says the user-uploaded images […]
In an apparent effort to cut down on spam, Foursquare has started limiting the number of friends and friend requests that a user can have. The About Foursquare blog explains that some companies have friended tens of thousands of Foursquare users so that, when those users check-in somewhere, the companies’ tips appear more often. In […]
Last year, I created my first annual Social Media New Year’s Resolutions and am following it up, 2011 style! This list is meant to be a list of goals to accompany your social media plan – not serve as a standalone social media blueprint. Remember that there is no end-all-be-all social strategy for all companies, […]
This simple guide will break down the different objects on Facebook and a high level overview on how they can (or cannot) be used for marketing. Features tips on hoow to use Profiles, Fan Pages, Groups, Events, Place Pages & more for marketing your business, organization or events.
Most businesses tend to focus on the big channels when it comes to local SEO efforts. While it makes sense to optimize your Google Place Page and pay attention to your presence on other big local search services (e.g. Bing Local, CityGrid, DexKnows, Insider pages, Local.com, Merchant circle, Superpages, Yahoo Local, Yellow book, Yelp, YP.com, […]
Yelp continues to play catch-up with some of its competition in the local search landscape. The company’s latest move is the announcement of “Check-in Offers.” If you’re familiar with the premise behind Foursquare’s business users rewarding “mayors” and others who check-in to local businesses, you’ll be familiar with Yelp’s product. The idea is the same: […]
The Pew Internet Project published findings from a recent survey about usage of “location-based services” (LBS). According to the Pew data, 7 percent of mobile Internet users are on location-based services and 4 percent of all internet-using adults “use a service such as Foursquare or Gowalla that allows them to share their location with friends […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Official: Yahoo’s Results Now Come From Bing Yahoo just announced the transition from Yahoo Search powered results to Bing powered organic Yahoo search results is now complete. The search ads are […]
One of the questions that came up after the formal launch of Facebook Places last night was: how will this affect Google Places (among others)? As an aside, I have to say it’s really strange that these products have nearly the identical name. It’s almost like Honda offering a car with a particular name and […]
I’m at Facebook HQ in Palo Alto where CEO Mark Zuckerberg is on stage in a jam-packed room that more resembles a wedding or luau than a press conference. He’s now announcing Facebook Places. He says Facebook Places seeks to accomplish three goals. Helping people share where they are See who’s around you See what’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Search Engine Market Share Steady In July: Hitwise There’s little change in the latest search engine market share numbers from Experian Hitwise. The company announced its stats for July 2010 today, […]
You actually don’t have to be a mobile expert to do mobile marketing. Believe it or not, you actually don’t even need mobile-specific technology to do mobile marketing. You just need to be creative and use existing mobile platforms—especially social networks—to distribute your mobile marketing message. One of the coolest things about mobile social networking […]
One of the big, unanswered questions in the local search space is, Who’s going to do the best job of marrying location with real-time context. Twitter is hardly the first to try, but it may have the best chance to succeed. On Monday, the company announced Twitter Places, a new feature that’s being rolled out […]
I’m at TWTRCON today, where the “Right Time, Right Place” panel will look at location services and marketing. We’ve got both Foursquare and Gowalla taking part.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Location History, “Footstreams” & Aggregated Check-in Data Will Transform LBS Google recently announced a Location History dashboard that allows users to see where they’ve been, based on their Latitude activity: Today […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report: Some Google ‘Hot Topic’ Searches Return 90% Malicious Links A blog post from cloud security company Zscaler suggests that some Google searches recently returned results with 90% malicious links, and […]
At the Where 2.0 event in San Jose yesterday afternoon, Danny Sullivan moderated a panel entitled “The Big Picture from the Big Players.” In addition to Danny it featured Blaise Agüera y Arcas (Microsoft), Tom Wailes (Yahoo!), John Hanke (Google, Inc.), Dylan Swift (Yelp). The session sought to cover a lot of ground in a […]
I’m here at SXSW waiting for the Can the Real-Time Web Be Realized? panel to begin. I’ll be liveblogging what happens, so stay tuned. Search engines have certainly jumped to add in ways to find real-time content. This panel features reps from three of them talking: Google, Microsoft and Collecta. Plus, you’ve got real-time guru […]
I’m attending South By Southwest for the first time, later this week. I have to say, already I find SXSW to be overwhelming — and I’m not even there yet! To get myself organized as to how to attack this monster, I starting making a list of search-related sessions. I thought it would be useful […]
The dust is still settling on Google’s PR blitz today over Google Buzz, but that hasn’t stopped both Microsoft and Yahoo from speaking up. Their message is simple: been there, done that. Dharmesh Mehta, Director of Product Management for Windows Live, shared this statement with Search Engine Land this afternoon: Busy people don’t want another […]
Google has announced a new product called Google Buzz, which represents the company’s latest attempt to hitch its wagon to the popularity of social networking and, more specifically, the growth of social sharing and status updates. Many will call this a Twitter killer or a threat to Facebook. Certainly the company is targeting the audiences […]
Google is set to announce a new social tool at a 10:00 am event on its Mountain View campus. Due to the last-minute notice, we’re not on the scene, but Google is providing a webcast via YouTube that we’ll be using. Stay tuned for the liveblogging to start at 10 am or shortly thereafter…. Okay, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Now Collecting Local Reviews From Non-Traditional Sources In order to increase the volume and coverage of reviews on its Place Pages, Google is now apparently looking beyond the range of […]