This day in search marketing history: January 15
Facebook Graph Search launches, plus: brand profiles in Google knowledge panels, Rand Fishkin's last day at Moz, and more.
Topic: Yahoo! Local
This day in search marketing history: January 5
Google AdWords introduces click-to-call ads, plus: IndexNow WordPress plugin, AdWords 2x budget change, search being solved and more.
This day in search marketing history: January 3
Why Google penalized Google Chrome, plus: DuckDuckGo launches Donttrack.us, Google challengers, Google newspaper ads and more.
Nearly 60% prefer PC to smartphones for local search survey finds, but there’s a catch
There are material differences between user behaviors of different generations.
Why is there so little innovation in local?
The alpha and omega of local is now Google.
SearchCap: Google Doodle, Yelp & Yahoo Deal & Analytics Smart Lists
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 Analytics Adds “Smart Lists” To Automate Remarketing List Optimization Earlier this week, the Google Analytics team announced the release of Smart Lists, a new remarketing list type that automates list […]
WSJ: Local Businesses Losing Reviews After Yelp-Yahoo Deal
The recent Yelp/Yahoo partnership has angered some local business owners who say years of positive reviews are now gone from their Yahoo Local business listings. Some of their stories were told this week in the Wall Street Journal, including Colonial Hardwood Flooring of Lexington, Mass. The company says it had built up “six years of […]
Yahoo Rolling Out Indoor Maps (via Nokia)
Yahoo has started to integrate indoor maps into its newly upgraded mapping product. Even though Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer didn’t want to go head to head with Google in “local” (read: maps), Yahoo has been improving its mapping and local search user experiences of late. The inclusion of venue maps comes courtesy of Nokia’s Here […]
Revealed: The 17 Other Search Engines The FTC Warned Over Paid Ad Disclosures
In June, the US Federal Trade Commission warned seven “general purpose” search engines — including Google, Bing and Yahoo — about the need to ensure they were properly disclosing paid ads. But 17 other “specialty” search engines were also warned. Which ones? The FTC wouldn’t say. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, Search […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 22, 2013
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 Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Over Passing Search Queries To Third Parties Google has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that stems from two searchers accusing the company of sharing their […]
Blind Study Finds YP Local Results Beat Google, Bing, Yahoo
A “blind” study commissioned by directory publisher and local ad network YP, performed by Crowdflower, found that YP’s local search results were better overall than those of search engines. This was measured as a function of user satisfaction rating. Thousands of queries were compared over a year-long period. I can hear the skepticism: “It’s sponsored […]
Yext “Reinvents The Local Business Listing” With New Rich Content Options
Location data platform and provider Yext has introduced a range of new data types and rich content into its PowerListing local data syndication product. The new offering is called PowerListings+ (Like Google+). Enhanced local data categories enable the inclusion of employee/staff bios, event calendars, product inventory and services (including prices). Yext said that the new content […]
Google Starts To Downplay Zagat Scores; It Should Ditch Them Altogether
Google is changing the way it collects local business reviews and displays them in search results, making the Zagat score a less prominent piece of information. That’s a good thing in my opinion, and many people — myself included — hope it’s the first step toward the complete removal of the Zagat system in Google’s […]
Bing Ties Yellow Pages Sites For Most Accurate Local Data
In April I wrote about a local data accuracy study preformed by a company called Implied Intelligence. The company offers data services to publishers and developers. In April the company found that yellow pages site Superpages bested Google Maps in terms of the accuracy and completeness of the local business/POI database. The following was the […]
Bing Testing New, Google-y Local Search Results
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the folks at Bing Local are paying Google a very nice compliment with a new display for local search results that looks quite a bit like what Google often shows. As first spotted by BrightLocal.com, Bing’s new local search results no longer consistently show a “pack” of […]
Google & Bing: We’re Not Involved In “Local Paid Inclusion”
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 […]
MapQuest Launches Local Business Listings Center
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 […]
Twitter Intros Instant Follow Button
In a bid to increase its presence across the Web, Twitter today announced the “follow button,” a snippet of code that can be placed on any Web site that allows readers logged into Twitter to click and follow instantly. Previously, a Twitter user would have to click-through to the Web site’s Twitter.com page and click […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 26, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Is It Time For A New Compensation Model For Search And Digital Marketers? Pay for performance is certainly not a new concept. But a number of digital marketing industry pundits have […]
How Yelp Crushed Citysearch & Yahoo Local … & Why Google Is Stealing Yelp’s Playbook
A fascinating study published last year compares the reviews and reviewers at three local business websites: Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. And, in explaining how Yelp overtook the other two, it also hints — in my opinion — at how Google is trying to beat Yelp by using Yelp’s own playbook. Citysearch and Yahoo Local […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 14, 2011
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 Q1 2011 Revenues $8.58 Billion, Some Investors Unhappy Google had a strong Q1 with $8.58 billion in gross revenue. Net revenue was $6.54 billion. Both figures were somewhat better than […]
Bing Brings Local Deals To Mobile, PC
Bing is introducing deals for mobile (m.bing.com) and the PC. Mobile deals are available for the HTML5 sites for the iPhone and Android. They aren’t yet in Bing’s mobile apps but will be integrated soon according to Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz. The source of deals here is The Dealmap, which is also the principal source of […]
Google Places Now Takes User Photo Uploads
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 […]
Yahoo Local Expands Its Beta To Mobile
Yahoo is making a big push today for its new local search (edit: see below) interface, which offers a somewhat dramatic change both in the content it includes and how it’s presented. Greg Sterling actually covered most of this a couple weeks ago here on SEL, but here’s a quick recap: The new desktop beta […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 29, 2010
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 “Gold Standard” Search Results Take Big Hit In New York Times Story The New York Times has a great, detailed story out today about a merchant with an unusual marketing […]
Local Search: Fish Where The Other Fishermen Aren’t
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, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 22, 2010
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: Not Optimizing For Bing-Yahoo Means Loss Of Traffic From an SEM-SEO resource-allocation perspective focusing on Google historically made lots of sense for small and even medium-sized firms. Some firms didn’t […]
Yahoo Experiments With New UI, Content For Local
It has been quite some time since Yahoo updated its pioneering and once-dominant local destination, Yahoo Local. Now the company is testing a simplified UI that streamlines the user experience and offers new content (including deals) in a number of cities. Below are screens showing the current and new Local UIs. First the existing site […]
New Place Search Shows Google’s Commitment To Local
Today Google formally rolls out its new presentation of local results, called “Place Search.” It offers a dramatic change to the look and feel of SERPs on Google.com. The first and most obvious change is that the “7 Pack” is gone. And there appear to be some fairly major SEO implications, which should provide many […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 1, 2010
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 Pulls Dead Body Images From Street View Brazil Google has removed Street View images in Brazil that showed dead bodies on local streets. One image showed a partly-covered body lying […]
Only 10% Of Businesses Would Pay For Foursquare: Survey
Only 10% of businesses that are currently using Foursquare as a free marketing tool are willing to pay for the service; that’s one of the interesting survey results presented last week during the “Location Services: The New Local Search?” session at the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 8, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Local Search Marketers Share Ranking Factors Nearly three dozen local search marketers from around the world have shared their opinions on what matters most this year when it comes to ranking […]
Local Search Marketers Share Ranking Factors
Nearly three dozen local search marketers from around the world have shared their opinions on what matters most this year when it comes to ranking well in Google Maps, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. David Mihm has published the results of the 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors survey. The survey asks local search marketers to […]
The Yahoo-Nokia Deal: Some Details & Perspective
Yahoo and Nokia made their anticipated partnership announcement this morning in New York. The public elements of the deal include the following: Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo!’s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties, branded as “powered by Ovi.” Yahoo! will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia’s […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 4, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SearchWeek: May 3, 2010 Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 28, 2010
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 To Phase Out Old Keyword Tool In Exchange For New Version If you try to access Google’s external keyword tool, you may notice that you are sent to the new […]
Yahoo: Search Local Menus For “BLT” Or “Hamachi”
Yahoo is introducing a useful new capability in search and Yahoo Local: the ability to search for specific meals or menu items and find them at local bars and restaurants. Yahoo says it’s extracting unstructured data from restaurant menus online and making them searchable: By using Yahoo!’s search science to extract structured content – in […]
Yahoo Search: This Is The “Dark Time” But We’ll Be Back
Yesterday Yahoo hosted a press event called SearchSpeak that sought to dispel the “misconception,” in the words of new Search Products SVP Shashi Seth, that Yahoo was no longer investing in search. As Seth took the stage to begin his presentation the power in the room went out. Not a very auspicious start to the […]
Local-Social Search: A Powerful Marketing Channel For Small Businesses
The courtship of social networking and local search will result in a marriage that diversifies the mix of sales tools and empowers circles of families, friends, co-workers and organizations to share experiences and opinions in the local search space. For a number of years, consumers have had a collective, powerful online voice through ratings and […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 8, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Obama Praises Twitter, Google & Facebook — But Not Microsoft’s Xbox Does today’s speech from President Barack Obama to school children across the United States need any more controversy? Having listened […]