February 25, 2011
Google Places Search on the iPhone and Android now offers an option to show only business that are open. The feature is available in Places search and filters out not just restaurants that are closed but restaurants for which Google is not confident of their hours. I performed the following search yesterday afternoon for Restaurant Spokane:
All Places:
Only Open Places option selected:
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Google Places and Hotpot have had a rough run of bugs of late. It seems that barely is one fixed that another crops to the fore. This was reported to me on February 22 by Plamen. The first 40 characters or so of the review are lopped off. It appears to be affecting any review written since November 16:
Another screen shot from Byways Cafe in Portland: (more…)
February 22, 2011
Today, I am presenting at the sixth GetListed.org Local University in Portland, Or. If you are coming PLEASE take a moment to introduce yourself as I would love to meet you.
For those of you that attended the presentation these links will provide background information and details for a pathway to dig deeper into the world of managing your listing on Google Maps. For those of you that are not in attendance, the links provide a good overview of critical base line ideas and tactics that every local campaign should embrace.
Google Maps – Its not your mother’s yellow pages.
Slide 2 - January 2011 Search Engine Market Share
Slide 12/13 - The Importance of Page One Visibility
Slides 16/17 - How the Google Cluster Works
Slide 21- Choosing the Right Category – A Tool
Slide 21 - Writing a Great Business Description
Slide 21 - Google Places Policies: Quality guidelines
Slide 22 - Creating a GeoSitemap – A tool
Slide 28/29 Local Search Ranking Factors – the many variables
Slide 28/29 A brief list of 10 Ranking Factors – somewhat old but still valid and a quick read
Slide 28/29 Thinking about your Business Name in the Internet Era
Slide 30 - Custom Maps – A Goldmine
Slide 30 - User Generated Content – Geo Tagged Photos
Slide 30 - How To Gather Reviews
Slide 30- Where to Gather Reviews
Slide 31- The Importance of Citations
Slide 31 - 20 Citation Sources in the US
Slide 36- A Listing management tool
February 20, 2011
I am traveling and speaking in the Pacific Northwest this week. Get Listed Portland on Tuesday, Searchfest on Wednesday and Getlisted University Spokane on Friday. Needless to say it will be a light posting week.
I am particularly excited about GetListed University Spokane for two reasons. It celebrates GetListed University’s first year anniversary. It has been an exciting year of great conferences, making great new friends and learning the ins and outs of putting on truly local marketing events in local markets.
Equally exciting is the fact that this year in Spokane we are rolling a new, all day event. In the past events, while we manage to cover lots of material, a common recommendation was to expand the event to an all day format. (To see every comment, like and dislike about previous events read the Local U feedback page.)
To sign up for the event use the discount mb2011 for a $30 dscount off the full day price of $149.
If you are an agency and wish to bring your clients we are offering a “7-Pack” of tickets for $699. To get the agency pricing it is necessary to reserve Your 7-Pack via email. If you are planning on attending the event, please let me know and be sure to introduce yourself!
During the morning, we cover the big picture background that every small business needs to understand. In the afternoon we dig into the tactical details and provide real world examples of successful practices that any SMB can implement. Here is the full day agenda:
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February 18, 2011
Google is every so carefully dipping their toes in the water of providing real support. They seem to be moving at the speed of the slowest glacier but they are moving.
One much needed customer support feature, pushing the reconsideration link directly into the dashboard, was first seen early last summer. The following statement has been in the Google Help files in regards to suspensions and rejections for quite a while:
What can I do? Edit your listing so that it adheres to our guidelines, then request reconsideration of your listing within your account.
Note: Reconsideration is not currently available in all accounts.
The feature apparently is slooooowly making its way across the claimed listings and will eventually be available to all. I finally ran across an account that had a rejected listing and included the link.
While you are waiting for your very own “request a review” link to appear in your dashboard you just get to look at screen shots:
Initial Message (Click to see larger):
Message once the Review is Requested (Click to see larger): (more…)
February 17, 2011
Update: At roughly 10:00 am EST it appears to have been fixed.
Last night I went to bed with my blog post about the new Places hotel booking feature in the bag thinking life was under control and all was good in Google Places land. Hah!
I awake to an email from Matt Tengler of allLocal alerting me to a bug the size of the cockroach that ate Tokyo.
Every Places Page business name has been replaced with their address. The bug is not showing on the main serps or in Places search, only on the Places page:
Details about Google Places Hotel booking feature, first widely seen in November, are starting to leak out. Google has been somewhat reticent to make meaningful public comments and provide significant details about it. This Places feature allows users to select a booking date, click through from the Places Page and immediately begin the booking process.
It was reported yesterday at Travolution.co.uk, in an apparent press release, that Worldhotels was now offering the Google feature to its affiliate hotels:
Independent hotels can now post information including room rates on Google Maps and Google Places using Worldhotels.
The hotel group is the first of its kind to allow independent hotels to display their real time rates and availability on Google Maps and Places.
This pay-per-click ad model is connected with the groups booking engine. The first hotel to test the new pricing display option is the Worldhotels property Georgian Terrace in Atlanta, USA.
Worldhotels is a company that provides a marketing umbrella that allows independent hotels to maintain their uniqueness but take advantage of back room processes that benefit from scale like booking, rewards programs, negotiating better rates with online booking companies and now obviously, access to Google’s Pay Per Click hotel booking test.
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February 16, 2011
Is this a test or a rollout? I am seeing this subtly different interface on all Google properties.
Is anyone else seeing?
Click to view larger:
Barry Schwartz just pinged me to let me know that it is a test first seen last week. It is however being reported in New Zealand and Denmark.
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I have been working to un-merge two listings on Google since November 5th. This is a problem that has plagued these two b & b’s forever. In an effort to speed this along, I called Google in late December and again in early January to speak with a Tags Rep to see if they could help in any way. Here is my previous account of those calls.
This last Thursday I received the following voice mail on my answering machine after hours. To prove to the world that it really happened I am posting a copy of the message. For your convenience I also have it transcribed below:
[wpaudio url="http://blumenthals.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GooglePhoneCall.mp3" text="The Voice Mail Message from Joe at Google" dl="0"]
Hi. This message is for Mike. My name is Joe and I am calling from Google.
I received an elevated concern from one of our sales representatives named James who apparently you spoke with around January 3rd. We were able to take a look at the two you listings you described to James, the Westcott House and the Bayfront Marin House, the two bed and breakfast that are located in St Augustine Fl.
And I just wanted to let you know that I was able to split those listings and during our next update of all the data on Google you should see that those listings have been split apart and if you have any further questions or problems please don’t hesitate to contact us on-line on our Google.com/help.
Thank you very much for your business.
At the time of my reporting of the phone conversation, Ethan Russel, a Google product manager, chimed in and noted that Google would be rolling out a solution for those experiencing the merging problem sometime this quarter.
It is unclear to me if this phone call is standard procedure going forward or if I warranted special treatment because of all of my whining.
Are we seeing the genesis of customer service from Google? Did I experience the first known effort of Google servicing a merged record? Or is it just a one off fluke that proves nothing more than the fact that Google does in fact have a telephone with outbound lines and at least one person that still remembers how to dial?
I am hoping for the former.
Has anyone else received a similar call back with their problem solved?
