Last October, MapQuest started outsourcing local business listings management to Yext. The “claim your MapQuest listings” page is hosted by Yext (I believe) with a co-branded look and feel. Yesterday, MapQuest notified business users that its local business center and basic local listings product would be formally shutting down. Here’s the text of the email that went out: […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Googleopoly: The Definitive Guide To Antitrust Investigations Against Google We’re another step closer to the US Federal Trade Commission launching an expected antitrust investigation of Google. If it does, the FTC […]
Local SEOs have another tool to add to the “citation belt,” as it were: MapQuest has announced its own Local Business Center, a place where local businesses can add and/or manage their listing(s) on MapQuest. As the video below shows, the MapQuest LBC functions very much like Google’s and Bing’s and offers many of the […]
At Google I/O Google VP Vic Gundotra and his co-presenters showcased a dizzying array of announcements and products to come. Included among them was Google’s iTunes competitor, soon to come to market, and well as a range of new richer mobile ad formats. Those new mobile ad formats have been gradually rolling out. This morning […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Goes The iPhone Steve Jobs, still on stage at WWDC 2010, the Apple developer event, just announced that Bing will now be a search choice for the iPhone — as […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Live Matrix Wants To Be Your Guide To The Live Web If you’re looking for something to do, there are several event search engines you might use: Upcoming.org and Zvents are […]
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 Maps Finally Welcome To Home-Based & Service-Based Businesses Google Maps is rolling out what it hopes will be a solution to one of the Local Business Center’s longtime shortcomings: the […]
Google Maps is rolling out what it hopes will be a solution to one of the Local Business Center’s longtime shortcomings: the inability for service-based and/or home-based local businesses to use the LBC. Before today, all local businesses using the Local Business Center had to display a business address for their physical location — not […]
Google has a new program that allows local businesses to get paid listings that appear within what’s known as the 7-pack of local listings. But do those listings violate the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines about proper disclosure of paid search ads? Probably not, but they do seem confusing. The New York Times had a good […]
It doesn’t in any way affect a local business ranking in the so-called “7 pack” or on the subsequent Google Maps page. However Google is introducing a new local business ad (“enhanced listings“) that allows a business to stand out with an “enhanced” presence on the map or in the map-related listings on the SERP. […]
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 Buys Search Ad In Response To The China Decision The Wall Street Journal noted that Google has purchased search ads for queries done on Google.com for “Google Leaves China” or […]
Taking a page from Facebook or Twitter, Google is putting a bit of real-time functionality on local business Place Pages. Google is promoting the idea that small businesses can use their Place Pages to promote time-sensitive (real-time) events. Here’s the Google LatLong blog discussion of how they envision its use: Holding a special event today? […]
Starting last night, Google began sending out the monthly (or so) Google Local Business Center updates. The updates go out via email and contain analytical information about how many times a listing was viewed, clicked on, and other miscellaneous analytics. The analytics are a summary of what they would see in their Google LBC analytics […]
While analysts and practitioners have been prognosticating the imminent arrival of local search for the last several years, 2009 was finally the year that proved us right. A number of innovations and developments in mobile search, such as the widespread adoption of the iPhone, the release of Android, and a burgeoning number of location-based apps […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Showing Local Results On Non-Local Queries Following in others’ footsteps, Yahoo says it’s now showing its local shortcut on certain queries that don’t include a local modifier. When you search […]
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 Goggles Search By Images Google Goggles, which I wrote about this morning, is actually now live at google.com/mobile/goggles. The Google Mobile Blog announced it, saying: In a nutshell, Goggles lets […]
Google is using a range of strategies to engage local, small businesses and get them to claim and update their information through the Local Business Center (LBC). In a provocative new effort, Google has identified 100,000 “Favorite Places” based on “how many times Google users looked for more information about those businesses.” Right now this […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SEM Lessons From The Fall Of The Berlin Wall Twenty years ago the fall of the Berlin Wall didn’t just change politics in Europe—it changed Europeans behavior. To this day we […]
Google has decided to extend and pick up the pace of its “Going Google” (Apps and enterprise products) traditional media campaign. The ads were first launched in August in four cities with billboards. Now Google says the campaign will be expanded globally to “the U.K., France, Canada, Japan, Australia and Singapore” and appear “in train […]
In December 2007 Google promised to develop a radically simplified version of AdWords targeted at the mass of small businesses who could not or would not take the time to set up an AdWords campaign. The working name of the program was “Simple Ads.” It was semi-formally announced at the Google Local Markets Symposium, a […]
There was intrigue and some interesting discussion last weekend around the question of whether Google was actually indexing its newly launched Place Pages despite a statement that it would not. It appeared that there was some inadvertent or “unintended” indexing that apparently went on. However, today a new wrinkle: we were notified by David Naffziger […]
Properly categorizing your business at Google Maps is one of the most important Local Search Ranking Factors, as I mentioned in last month’s column. There’s been a lot of chatter about business categories since then, most notably at the Local Search Summit in San Jose, during August’s Search Marketing Now webinar on Local Search, and […]
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 Adds More User Photos to Street View Google is now adding public geotagged Picasa images to Google’s Street View on Maps. According to the Google Lat Long Blog: Millions of […]
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 Buys Video Compression Company On2 Earlier today Google announced that it had acquired On2 Technologies in a stock deal worth approximately $106 million. There’s little true information about how Google […]
Yesterday Google held a private event for small businesses (SMBs) at San Francisco City Hall hosted by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom. Private it was. As I searched for the email confirming that I was “on the list” (because I was told I wasn’t on the list when I arrived), I saw the gatekeepers turn many […]
Google is hitting the streets of San Francisco next week — with at least one high-powered supporter in tow — to talk to small/local businesses about Google products and services. The event is called “Favorite Places,” and Google will have San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and other “San Francisco trendsetters” show their favorite local businesses […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Satya Nadella Keynote At Bing Search Summit Satya Nadella, SVP of Microsoft’s Online Services Division, gave the morning keynote at the Microsoft Search Summit. It was an introduction to and tour […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Recent statements suggest that Google believes it has eliminated the hijacking of claimed business listings in Google Maps, and that hijackings overall (of both claimed and unclaimed listings) are now a rarity. Speaking last week at SMX West, Google’s Jennifer Chin, also known as “Maps Guide Jen” in the Google Maps Help Forum, said that […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
What do the Google searches; Orlando Hotels, Miami Discount Car Rental & Dallas Discount Car Rental have in common? The obvious answer is that they are all local searches on popular phrases in major metro areas. A less obvious answer is that like the infamous Denver Florist search last December, they all return seemingly authoritative […]
In an earlier post, I solicited questions for Google about local search. My intention had been to present them at the What’s New in Local Search panel at SMX East this morning. But I didn’t get my act together to distribute them at the session. Google’s Eric Stein, who was on the panel, coordinated the […]
The Google Local Business Center is undergoing a redesign from within, as Mike Blumenthal reports. The main differences that I see are on the add and edit listing screens. The add listing screen seems to have consolidated much of the information retrieval process onto fewer screens. You can see a previous write up to see […]
Over the past several weeks I have explored some of the issues involved with categorization of businesses in Google Maps on my blog, Understanding Google Maps. In Part 1, I detailed the more than year-long history of small business frustration. In Part 2, I provided some background on the early research and the difficulty with […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:
Matt McGee’s 10 Likely Elements of Google’s Local Search Algorithm explores what makes Google Local different from Google.com algorithmically. Here they are in summary: