June 30, 2011
With all of the noise around the changes to the Google desktop search interface and the rollout of Google+ their upgrade to their main web search interface in Safari has largely flown under the radar. Combined with their recent upgrade providing a full on Places experience within Safari, the two changes represent a major mobile upgrade.
Google previously also upgraded the Places interface positioning a fixed map at the top of the display, an infinite scroll of Places (very convenient) and an icon for each Place to be highlighted on the Map. One very disturbing aspect of the new interface is the ability to edit already claimed listings (see image below) via the report a problem link on the mobile Places page.
Google is a bit a of sticky wicket as far as Places and the iPhone is concerned. Apple controls the Maps application and it is likely that iOS5 will feature their in house Siri search product for local rather than Google. Google has struggled somewhat to find a successful combination of products on the iPhone given this reality. Their Maps and Places products in the Google app suite are not the easy to access or use. This recent move to upgrade their Safari presence comes off much better, providing a fluid and useful interface to their products.
Many of you were aware of my efforts to get Local search practitioners and SMB readers of my blog to communicate to Jeff Huber (@jhuber) which things they would like to hear about Google Local & Commerce via Twitter from him.
Well, with the rollout of the new interface and Google+ behind him, Jeff has taken the time and graciously responded to the post. I wanted to repost his comment and my reply to him as a post so that it would be more visible:
I’ll leave ‘totally’ or ‘intentionally’ for another debate. 
Clarifying a bit — I’m a Twitter fan. I was simply looking for a rough measure of the attention to a given tweet, which I do think on average is low. I’m a pretty active user of ~all Google’s products (having built more than a few of them), and other products out there — e.g. Sometimes my response time does lag a bit, and sometimes I can’t say as much as I’d like about things that aren’t announced yet — sorry.
My response:
@Jeff
Thanks for stopping by and responding.
To some extent you are the unintentional recipient of frustration borne of 5 years of irregular, inconsistent, non-informative and often infuriating lack of communications and basic service from the Google Local/Maps/Places side of Google. I think that both SMBs and the professionals that interact with your product would agree….Most of those affected by Google Places are shocked when they feel the sting of a broad, scaled statistical approach to the very real pain of SMBs world wide.
My “totally/intentionally” comment, while perhaps overreacting or projecting previously felt futility, came when I read that tweet and thought that it was but a continuation of the “data in but no information out” and lack of transparency mentality that we have become used to in dealing with Places.
Although your effort to look “for a rough measure of the attention to a given tweet” could also easily be construed as a somewhat awkward attempt to extract data from a very real social context. When in fact it is a social context that is not just one more data point but rather the outcome of all the previous events that got us here… many of which you/Google played a significant role in.
Essentially your tweet was sent into a world made up of users/practitioners that are starved for information about a product that has a very real and profound impact on our lives. And for me at least, I always hope for better from Google.
June 29, 2011
I have been playing with Google+, Google’s new social network and I am impressed. Not by the fact that it is a decent social product, which it is, but by the fact that with it, Google has managed to add a social layer to all of their products in one fell swoop in a way that could very well ease the way to broader adoption by the many users of their search products.
By integrating the product into the immediacy of search, it will be a quick way to create an easily segmented stream amongst the many folks that are already in your mail address book. In doing so Google may be able to overcome the real barrier to starting a new social network, the fatigue from having to assemble yet another collection of acquantances with whom to share.
It is a product that, while not an immediate threat to Facebook, is an immediate threat to Twitter. It takes the basic idea of Twitter, enhances it with easy to create subsets of your contacts and puts it front and center in your search experience. That is a very powerful place to be, one which gets millions of users every day. Twitter, which is just starting to see broad mainstream adoption, will now have to not only with deal convincing people to use their product but getting them to even come and look. If someone is going to add a second social network, and many won’t, will they not just make the “easy” choice and stay at Google?
Facebook and Twitter have been slow to build out their Places presence and have failed to offer significant value to the local merchant. Places is already there. When you add a functioning social layer that is readily available and ever present Google may actually be the first to offer a social local product at very large scale.
Calling a product decent may seem to be damming it with faint praise. It is hard to get too excited about another social product for me and I am sure for many others. That being said, Google seems committed to this product and appears to be going for broke in positioning it as equally important as their search and local products. In doing so they gain immediate mind share and hopefully for them an easier transition for users into the world of Google social. Google has to hope that the the new interface, jarring to some long term users (I find it ok and assume I will adapt) of Google, won’t push many users to try Bing and will attract enough social participants for them to compete effectively with Twitter short haul and Facebook over the long term. Its success will be dictated by the way and the speed that it is rolled out to the great mainstream of Google users.
Yesterday afternoon Google, in anticipation of their coming Google+ social product, rolled out a new interface across most if not all of their products including Google Maps, Google Places, the Place Pages AND the mobile interface. The change, first spotted last weekend, adds a sharp, modern and one might even say a designed look to the UI. While the UI is a significant change, it is but a prelude and perhaps foundational change to Google’s forthcoming effort to “socialize” all of their products with the new Google+.
You will notice in my screen shot, the integration of Google+ along with the many other changes to the interface:
The Places page has a similar look but the outcome, because of the start contrasts and additional whitespace is more striking. Although it does seem that there might be more ads than previously. They are certainly more noticeable: (more…)
June 28, 2011
Sometime over this past weekend Google stopped showing any review snippet with either Blended or the Branded One Box Results in the main search results view for many results. It appears that snippets are still visible in restaurants, hotels and possibly other heavily reviewed areas
New view (from 6/27):
View from last week (taken 6/23)
Review snippets have also been removed from most typical blended results (again with the exception of restaurants/hotels). This change seems consistent with the recent change to remove the images from the Blended results that occurred earlier in the month and effectively moves more information above the fold. Review snippets were first seen in the Google Blended results tests that ran last summer and were a regular part of the results since the Blended results were formally released in late October of last year. For me, they were a salient feature that dramatically changed the role of reviews in reputation management bringing a “typical review” front and center for all to see. The review snippets were derived via algo and were intended to provide a representative flavor of the review corpus. As in my example above, the snippets were not always accurate. While I don’t think that was a reason in their demise, I am sure some businesses will be grateful they are gone.
June 27, 2011
For those of you that may have forgotten, Jeff Huber is new Head Of Local And Commerce at Google. Jeff is one of the top five folks at Google, having been appointed to the post in the reorg of early April when Larry Page took over. He is in charge of Places, Offers, Maps, & Boost to name a few.
I am sure he is a busy guy but he seems totally (or is it intentionally?) clueless about Twitter and his recent experiment there seems to reinforce that point. Here is a tweet that he sent out Saturday night at 6:30 EST:
Here are part one and part two of his “experiment” upon reaching 10,000 followers on Twitter:
Since his appointment to the head of Local on April 8 he has tweeted a total of 20 times (17 “original” and 3 Rts). Here is a typical tweet from one of the folks in the world that is probably more influential over our lives in Local than God:
I am traveling but I have a huge favor to ask of you all. Send @jhuber a woot, woot tweet today and let him know what you would like to hear about local from Google. I am sure that you can think of something.
June 25, 2011
I haven’t been following Google tests other than in local but this new black menu appears in everything BUT Maps, News and Gmail:
June 24, 2011
As you know, I am addicted to following and answering questions in the Google Places forums. My penchant for the foibles of others and Google is insatiable. This posting is why I just keep going back for more.
Someone uploaded pictures of poo on my business listing and I can’t get them off!!!
Topic of your question (reviews, categories, duplicate listing, etc.): VERY innappropriate Photos
Your business name as it is in your Google Places account: Jeff DiBlasi State Farm Insurance
Your business type/category (e.g. photographer, hospital, etc.): Auto Insurance
URL(s) if applicable: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=lansdowne+pa+state+farm&hl=en&cid=12400822114645752135
Someone put REALLY inappropriate photos of pictures of poo on my business listing. I’ve discovered this business is currently claimed in 2 accounts and NEITHER account have these photos but it says “from the owner” on them. I need these off my listing ASAP. I’ve posted on other threads and reported the photos several times and I’m at a loss of what to do. This is severely damaging to the company’s reputation and it’s been weeks since I first reported them.
Here is a screen shot of the Places Page. Sure enough there IS poo on his Places Page and according to Google it was put there by the owner (click to view larger ). Take a gander at the categories while you are there.
Update 1:45: Commenter Joe has noted that Google has sent in the cleaning crew and cleaned up the shit issue for Jeff’s Place as of 1:45 EST. They can work quickly when need be.
Update: 3:00: I just got off the phone with the State Farm office in Lansdown and apparently someone from Google actually picked up the phone and called Jeff DiBlasi’s earlier in the day. Not only can they work quickly but they seem to know how a phone works.
Update: 5:00: I just checked their Places listing and the categories have been fixed as well.
June 23, 2011
Today is a new day and brings an apparently new display to the Branded Onebox display in the main search results. As Daniel Sheehan noted several weeks ago in the post about the change away from photos in the display, “When it comes to Google Places it seems that there is no normal. There are just short lived tests and longer tests.”
Slightly after midday yesterday (when the second screen shot was taken) Google changed the branded Onebox display to now include the image from the Places page and placing the map to the far right. Here is a screen shot from this morning and yesterday afternoon:
New:
Old:
