With today’s announcement of the new Facebook Graph Search, many business owners will eventually be wondering, “How do I make sure my business gets found in Facebook search?” Never fear: Facebook itself has already shared a few tips to help make that happen. We’ll get to that below, but first a quick bit of background […]
After largely ignoring that little white box at the top of its interface for years, Facebook is finally getting serious about search. The company announced today a new experience that it’s calling Facebook Graph Search. It relies heavily on “Likes” and other connections to determine what to show as the most relevant search results for […]
As an industry news publication, the majority of our visitor traffic comes to our site to read daily news updates, in-depth coverage of search engine technologies and ever-evolving search engine algorithms. On top of the hardest working full- and part-time editorial staff in search, we have over 100 guest columnists who dedicate a significant amount […]
Foursquare has made a quick response to Monday’s announcement of Facebook Nearby, with its own announcement today that Foursquare Explore is cranking up its personalization. The irony? It’s going to use Foursquare activity from a user’s Facebook friends to improve the recommendations in Explore. Think of it as Foursquare judo: It’s using Facebook data to […]
Google Maps new iOS app is terrific — although initiating navigation isn’t as intuitive as it might be. But I’ve found that Apple Maps is as good or nearly as good, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have not had a chance to test maps apps side-by-side in other regions. Here’s what […]
As of today, you can count Facebook as a potentially significant new competitor in local search — on mobile devices. The company is updating the “Nearby” feature in its iOS and Android apps Nearby Becomes Local Search Tool Previously Nearby was about finding where your friends had checked-in. After the app update Nearby will still […]
Local search provider and online ad network YP has released its end of the year review report (.pdf). The data are drawn from a huge volume of queries on its PC destination site, its mobile site and apps, as well as its broader advertising network. YP says that 30 percent of its overall query volume […]
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 In Privacy Flap With Germans Over New iOS Maps According to a report in Computerworld, Google has violated German data protection and privacy rules with its new Google Maps app […]
People have strongly criticized Google for confusing local marketers by having two places to update and enhance local business information (Google Places, Google+ Local Pages). But there’s also something confusing about what Microsoft appears to be doing in local listings management. The company appeared to be trying to establish the Bing Business Portal as the definitive place […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yelp Adds Restaurant Menus (And Images) Following on the heels of Foursquare, YP and a few others in the local segment Yelp is adding restaurant menu information and pricing. With the […]
Following on the heels of Foursquare, YP and a few others in the local segment Yelp is adding restaurant menu information and pricing. With the unfortunate headline “Yelp Menus: Connecting People with Great Local Food Porn,” the Yelp blog explains that menus will be paired with users’ uploaded food images: Now you can not only […]
We know from multiple data sources that more than 90 percent of smartphone owners use maps and local search. We also know from Google that up to 50 percent of mobile search carries a local intent. Now, a new local search study from YP and Street Fight takes a closer look at local search behavior […]
Search is a “core priority” at Yahoo, but the company isn’t planning any significant investments in local search in the near future. That’s some of what new CEO Marissa Mayer revealed today in her first earnings call since she joined the company this summer. Mayer spoke several times about Yahoo and search in general, saying […]
It all makes sense. According to comScore, map-based search on the PC has now peaked and is starting to erode. By contrast mobile usage of mapping applications is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Apple Maps’ problems notwithstanding, smartphone mapping apps offer a better overall experience than online maps. Because […]
Perhaps it was always inevitable that Foursquare would shift its emphasis from location-based social networking to local search. Indeed, the site has been moving in this direction for quite some time, and very self-consciously for the better part of the past year. This afternoon the company is rolling out a new PC homepage for users […]
Apple’s iPhone 5 sales appear to be rolling along as the handset receives high praise in most reviews — except for Maps. And as the drumbeat of criticism over Maps continues, some tech journalists wonder if this “fiasco” would have happened if Steve Jobs were still alive. The NY Times Joe Nocera calls Maps an […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Back To The Future: Google Announces A Meta Keywords Tag Just For News Articles Grab your flux capacitor and fire up the Delorean, folks. We’re going back to the future: Meta […]
About nine out of 10 search marketers say Google’s recent algorithm changes have had a significant impact on them, and about the same amount say that the rise of the mobile internet and local search are also having a significant impact. The data comes from the SEMPO State of Search Marketing Report 2012, which was […]
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 Says It Has A Million Public Transit Schedules, Adds Transit Features In Android Maps Google Maps (and related data) continues to be strategic for the company. On Android Google Maps […]
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 Google Panda Update Version 3.8 On June 25th Google has announced they pushed out a new refresh to the Panda algorithm recently. This update “noticeably affects only ~1% of queries […]
Apple developers have had more than a week to play with (and learn) Apple Maps, one of the primary announcements from last week’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference. One Apple developer recently sent us some screenshots of the Apple Maps app, and several Apple fan sites have already posted videos on YouTube showing their hands-on tests. Some […]
If the two companies’ self-reported numbers are accurate, and if nothing changes between now and then, Apple’s new Maps product will launch later this year with more local business listings than Google. As Bloomberg points out, during Apple’s announcement on Monday, the company said it has “ingested” more than 100 million business listings around the […]
The rumors were true. Among a boatload of announcements today Apple is introducing its own mapping product as part of the iOS 6 update, which is available to developers today and will be available to the rest of the iOS-using public “this Fall.” Here’s the short version of what Apple announced: Maps with local 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’s May Updates: Inorganic Backlinks, Page Titles, Fresh Results & More Google’s latest batch of search quality updates is online, and offers some insight into a variety of search- and SEO-related […]
I had a chance recently to speak to DataPop CEO Jason Lehmbeck. Before DataPop Lehmbeck was at Overture/Yahoo. DataPop is an agency/platform that specializes in “offer driven” search campaigns. I was talking to Lehmbeck about mobile search trends and what kinds of consumer response he was seeing to various campaigns. Lehmbeck gave me some unpublished, […]
It’s unlikely to impact Google or Yelp in any way but Wolfram Alpha is getting into local search. According to a blog post today users can now search online or on its mobile apps for nearby businesses in a range of categories (chains only right now): Wolfram|Alpha now knows the locations of some 2.4 million […]
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’s Cutts Explains How Google Search Works Google’s head of web spam, Matt Cutts, posted a 8 minute video on how Google search works. From crawling, indexing to ranking, he gets […]
Analyst firm BIA/Kelsey has projected that by 2015 there will be more local searches coming from smartphones than PCs in the US. It’s a bold prediction and one that has logical merit: smartphone search volumes are growing faster than search on the PC. While local search is at least 20 percent of total queries on […]
Google is enabling people to gain access to PC search histories on their mobile browsers (Android, iPhone). Conduct a (local) search on the PC and later get the information on your smartphone — if you’re logged in and have Web History enabled. Google says this makes it convenient for people to search for local places […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Nathon Fillion Demonstrates His “Google Maps Pose” Last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live, actor Nathon Fillion demonstrated his Google Maps Pose. He described how he was outside of his new home […]
As the first of the International Search Summits of 2012 looms large (at SMX West next week) I felt it was time to review what seem to be the most significant 10 issues for search marketers at this time. What’s interesting to note is that just one year ago, this list was very different. 1. […]
Local-mobile ad network xAd released a treasure-trove of data from Q4 2011 this morning. The US-based information is drawn from mobile sites and apps that run its ads and the related user behaviors that xAd observes. These data are interesting in part because xAd has what is probably the largest network offering local search and […]
Calling it “personalized search for the real world,” Foursquare brought its mobile Explore functionality into its recently redesigned PC website roughly three weeks ago, and added some new search capabilities in the process. Those capabilities included the ability to filter places results by four categories: 1) “I haven’t been to yet” 2) “I have been […]
It sounds great. A program that guarantees top listings for local searches on Google, Yahoo and Bing. An “officially approved” one in “cooperation” with those search engines. But it’s not so, say Google and Bing. The “Local Paid Inclusion” service launched officially today. The site’s home page pitches: Local Paid Inclusion is a Google, Yahoo […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Blekko Expands: Bigger Index, More Slashtags & New Design Blekko is closing out 2011 with a round of updates that affect the search engine’s front- and back-end — both how it […]
Local mobile ad network xAd has released its first quarterly report detailing traffic trends and user behavior on its network. While all mobile ad networks offer geotargeting, xAd is one of a small number of mobile networks that specializes in local (search and display). CPM rates are considerably higher than on more conventional mobile ad […]
A new survey from Harris Interactive, sponsored by CityGrid Media, confirms what many already know: Search is the dominant way people look for local business information — online. On mobile devices, review sites have equal influence. The telephone survey was conducted in August among just over 1,000 US adults. Slightly less than 60 percent (59 […]
Google’s Click to Call program has been a huge success. About a year ago Google reported that it had 500,000 advertisers using Click to Call. (That number was repeated again today in a blog post.) And last year former Google Product SVP Jonathan Rosenberg said “Click-to-Call ads are generating millions of calls every month.” Calls […]
Call tracking has long been criticized by Local SEOs and others as violating the sanctity of what Localeze’s Gib Olander has called the “NAP” (name, address and phone number) — the central currency of all local business listings. The concern was and is that the rented tracking numbers (metered phone numbers) would be crawled or […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Catholic Priest Advises Engaged Couples: Don’t Use Google Maps You know it’s rough going when even the clergy can’t recommend your service. That’s what’s happening to Google Maps, which is listing […]