Understanding Google Places & Local Search – Developing Knowledge about Local Search

With the rollout of Google Search Plus Your World, there has been a great deal of discussion about whether Google’s actions are a basis for antitrust. I tend to agree with internet lawyer Eric Goldman’s assessment:

From a legal standpoint, I don’t think Search Plus Your World adds very much to the antitrust complaints against Google (and some of the complaints, especially Twitter’s, seem more like sour grapes than bona fide concerns). It’s just another example where Google is cross-promoting its services, which is not inherently wrong and often can improve the consumer experience. However, if Google can’t prove to us that each of its specific choices to integrate Google+ are in our best interests given the widespread speculation that they weren’t, Google creates a major wedge in the trust relationship with users–and invites judges and regulators to impute bad motives to Google if they want.

The issues revolve more around user trust than antitrust. The full impact of the change has yet to be felt in Local BUT a number of other recent efforts by Google to cross promote their own properties have started to impact local results.

Here is a branded local search for Barbara Oliver Buffalo. Google has made sure that Barbara Oliver & Co Jewelry’s local brand and website are readily accessible from search. She certainly seems to be benefiting from Google’s brand focus.

However, her site, like many SMB sites, uses an embedded Google MyMap on the directions page and and offers an embedded YouTube video. She also has a very lightly used Plus Page. That hardly seems to warrant the high ranking that each of those pages have received. There are seven links to Google properties above the fold that lead to Maps, Places, YouTube, Plus and MyMaps. Clearly Google is also cross promoting their other properties but one certainly has to question whether the searcher is best served by these results.

I have captured a Bing search result for comparison purposes so that you can decide which engine returns the most relevant results for the branded search. Let me know which one you think offers more relevant results.

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To see the Bing screen shot of the branded search for Barbara Oliver Buffalo….
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Darren is the founder of Whitespark, the SEO firm that built the popular Local Citation Finder. Darren has been developing websites since 1996 and optimizing them for the search engines since 2001. He’s currently helping to organize the first international GetListed University workshops in Edmonton, Canada.

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#1)What is a data aggregator? How can they help improve my search rankings?

The big 3 data aggregators are the most important sites for any US based business to start their citation building. Cody Baird has put together an AWESOME 4 part series that explains what they are, why they’re important, and step-by-step detailed instructions on how to submit to each. I wish I had written these posts.

#2) Can Competitors Hurt Your Rankings With Bad Links?

Apparently, yes, you CAN hurt a competitor by pointing shady links at their site. This article changed my thinking on this topic. I previously thought it wasn’t possible.

#3) How to Deal with Duplicate Listings on Google Places

I love Nyagoslav’s very detailed and thorough post on this Google Places pain point. It’s my go to post when dealing with duplicates. Although, it might be a bit dated now as the new method he mentioned in our chat group is the following:

Google Help – Fix a Problem: My listing has incorrect information.
- I have verified my listing in my Google Places for business account.
- Yes (or it is not available on my listing)
- There is a duplicate listing that I would like to have removed.

#4) Two part series:
SEO for Local Search: The Complete Guide
SEO for Local Search: Advanced Tricks

Ted Ives is publishing fantastic content on coconutheadphones.com. I love this comprehensive two-part series on Local SEO. I learned a few new tricks from these posts.

#5) Sabotage Methods in Google Places

Phil Rozek outlines some of the nasty ways competitors can damage your local rankings.

#6) Eye-Tracking Google SERPs – 5 Tales of Pizza

In this awesome eye-tracking study from Dr. Pete, I was surprised to see how powerful the local results are. In particular, when there are three organic results above the local results, the local results still get all the views.

#7) Workarounds for Google Places Verification

Nyagoslav outlines exactly what you can do to try to get phone verification instead of post card verification for your Google Places listing.

#8) 35 Local Link Opportunities You Missed

This was posted at the end of 2010, but I discovered it in 2011. Does that count? It’s my favourite post on local link building tactics. I refer to it regularly.

#9) Getting Your Business Reviewed

Also from 2010, but this is my favourite post on getting reviews.

I know there are a couple posts in there about how to hurt competitors. Hope you don’t get the wrong idea! I haven’t, and wouldn’t, do this. I just found the posts interesting.

I am not sure when this changed Google seems have made the login screen to create new user accounts more obvious as to whether you are are creating an account with a gmail or a 3rd party email address. This is much improved interface design that will make it clear that you don’t need a gmail address to get a Google account.

Google seems to be adding Plus content just about every place these days and folks are none too happy about it. It seems that they have now added it to the search suggestions as well (this may have been seen perviously but this is the first I had seen it.). Now that’s annoying…and it gets more so the more people you follow on Plus.

Most of you are familiar with Andrew Shotland, a well know Local SEO practitioner and author of www.localseoguide.com. He has provided his services to numerous media, ecommerce companies, franchises and start-ups including Bing.com, Amazon, DexKnows.com, Yellowbook.com, The Yellow Pages Group Co. of Canada and many, many other big players (space limitations precludes me from including his whole list ). He also provides small businesses with search marketing services.

You may (or may not have) also know that, in a past life, he was a founding member of NBC’s Internet group and a former GM of NBC.com. While at NBC, Andrew created NBC-IN, the first national network of local TV station websites. Most recently he was VP Business & Product Development at Insider Pages. In 2011, he launched a partnership with BIA/Kelsey to provide social media consulting services to BIA/Kelsey clients.

What you (and I didn’t know) was that he obviously bleeds Apple … Here is his take on influential and meaningful influences in 2011. And meaningful they are.

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I am afraid I am too trendy, but if I had to think about what had the most influence over my thinking/actions this year, it’s all Jobs-related. I wish I could say the posts on the Lat/Long blog or from Matt Cutts were as inspiring, thought-provoking or actionable, but some things were not meant to be:

Steve Jobs Stamford Commencement Speech
Best 14 minute investment – Makes you want to get off your ass and do something meaningful

Apple’s Here’s To The Crazy Ones Ad With Jobs Voice Over
Makes you want to get off your ass and do something meaningful, but only takes 60 seconds

Jobs Perspective on Designer Paul Rand
This one is perhaps my favorite because of how Jobs describes Rand’s approach to consulting.

Honorable mentions:
-DaringFireball.net – @gruber is one of the best writers on the Web
-Asymco.net – Horace Dediu is insane. He picks apart business data the way Mike Blumenthal picks apart Google Places
-Blumenthals.com – No need for explanation. This URL http://support.google.com/places/?hl=en-US&rd=1 should 301 to your homepage
-Kottke.org – best aggregator of interesting stuff. All work and no play, etc.
AndrewSullivan.com – regardless of whether or not you agree with his opinions, simply one of the best discussions on the Internet
@RakeshLobster – his Groupon stuff is perhaps the most entertaining string of tweets since @RepWeiner tweeted his package

Jim Moran is co-founder of Yipit. Yipit was an early entrant into deal aggregation space and the company recently raised $6 million in funding. The site gathers offers from Groupon, LivingSocial, AmazonLocal, Google Offers and 750+ daily deal sites in 118 cities and sends the best to you each day based on your preferences. Yipit also provides daily deal data and insights to the industry and investor communities.

In a previous life, Jim worked in mergers & acquisitions at The Blackstone Group. He writes short thoughts about the Daily Deal space on Twitter (@jdmoran) and more careful thoughts on the Yipit Blog. He earned his stripes in Local the hard way and was one of the first to aggregate daily deals.

He is both a participant and an astute observer of the deal environment. If you are looking to for an expert to follow in that space, he is your man. Here is his take on the articles that most influenced his thinking during the past year.

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The LOCAL Innovator’s Dilemma - I wish I had read this article before getting into local five years ago. Would have accelerated our thinking substantially as we made sense of local. Spot on summary of challenges facing local startups.

Groupon S-1 Reveals Business Model Deteriorating in Oldest Markets – The Yipit Blog post with the largest response this year. Outlines issues with Groupon’s business model as made clear in their S1. All their graphs are moving in the wrong direction, so the clock is ticking for them to evolve their business model.

Groupon Buys OpenCal, Launches Online Appointment Booking Service ‘Scheduler’ – This may end up being the evolution Groupon is looking for. Representative of their strategic shift this year towards leveraging their scale to attack existing successful business models (in this case OpenTable, but in other cases, travel, ecommerce) vs inventing completely new experiences (Groupon Now, Groupon Stores, etc), which has so far been unsuccessful.

What Went Wrong in the Daily Deals Space? - Rob does a terrific job of illustrating some of the game theory issues driving follow on competitors in the deal space. I think a lot of this gets sorted out in 2012.

Reviews continued to be a dominant theme in 2011. Ted Paff is the owner of CustomerLobby.com, a solution to help local businesses to get, manage and publish customer reviews. He is more familiar than most with all of the realities of SMBs and reviews as he lives and breathes them every day of his business life and most of the rest of his day as well. I know for a fact that he loses sleep pondering the many review related issues that affect him and his clients.

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Here are a few topics and related articles that influenced my thinking in 2011 with respect to local business marketing and Google:

1. Google+: This post highlighted how it has the potential to meaningfullychange search.
2. Reputation Marketing: This is a broad trend but I found this article about the Zero Moment of Truth thought provoking. Among other things, it means that customer reviews and other 3rd party content is more critical. As we have seen for a while, consumers are willing to pay more to companies with great reputations.
3. Social Media: While it is true that social media has lots of potential impacts, data is slowly coming to light that social media: (i) may not be what most SMBs want it to be, (ii) that a company’s Facebook Fans aren’t really paying attention to them just because they “like” them and that (iii) search may be the right thing to focus on.
4. Google Reviews: I was very aware that Google removed 3rd party reviews from its Place Pages. I was however surprised that Google reviews are not clicked on as often as 3rd party reviews.
5. Negative Reviews: Negative customer reviews matter and it only takes a few negative reviews to have a significant impact. I continue to believe that most negativereviews can be marketing gold if handled correctly.
6. Deals: So far, “Deals” are not a great deal for local businesses. For better or worse, Groupon is thebellwetherof the deals industry and 82% of a their customers are unsatisfied with the results. In addition to not being happy, SMBs reputations were hurt by running a deal.

David Mihm is a passionate golfer and when he has time to play, maintains a scratch handicap. He is also passionate about local and is one of the people in the industry that you should pay attention to.

His online tool set at Getlisted.org has helped 1.3 Million U.S. Small Businesses get their business’s noticed. His annual Local Search Ranking Factors is a foundational survey that helps virtually every local SEO every year. He is not just passionate about local, he is a fierce advocate for small business as well. He co- founded the Getlisted Local University small business training seminars and implemented the innovative Review Wednesday to help recognize quality local businesses.

I am proud to have David kick of Loci 2011 (and to call him my friend). Here are the developments in 2011 that David has identified as significant.

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Several years from now, I think 2011 will be primarily remembered for:

- The Google-Yelp-TripAdvisor drama on a massive stage in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. We haven’t seen the end of this by this Antitrust scrutiny for Google by any stretch–given their COMPLETE dominance of the mobile ad market. Conspiracy theorists might suggest that part of the reason for the major interface update in July — and ESPECIALLY the one in October which shows Place Page data but still directs clicks through to SMB websites — was due to this increased scrutiny.

- The launch of Google Plus for businesses, and the presumptive integration with Places that is coming in 2012.

- The launch of Mapmaker in the US. Not only for its help for those of us in the SEO community with cleaning up listings, but what it signals for the future of data aggregators here and around the world.

- Google’s investment in feet-on-the-street–initially as part of Offers, but going forward, for a whole suite of SMB digital marketing products.

- The birth of critical awareness of mobile marketing among small businesses–seeded initially by campaigns like Google’s GoMo.

- Google’s quasi-serious effort at customer service for Places.

- Facebook’s continued neglect of the entire Local arena. Much like Google did, they’ve left billions of dollars on the table…but so far this has not hurt them as it’s still by far the most popular place for small businesses to spend their social media time.

- Bing Local’s continued competitiveness on functionality with Google Places…if they can ever get the traffic…

- The beginning of the end of a Pets.com-esque fall from grace for Groupon, partially precipitated by our mutual friend Rocky Agrawal. And a broader realignment/reconsideration of the Daily Deals space as a whole.

1. Particular postions, points or places
2. Centers of activity, attention, or concentration

Loci 2011 is an annual review of the  important articles in Local Search that will be appearing over the next week(s). It is a series that I started at the end of 2008 and this will make its fourth appearance. I have always thought that collaboration & cooperation are the best ways to increase our understanding of the world. That is even more true in the nascent and growing industry of Local. I am also of the opinion that often curation by those with special expertise or focus can help everyone.

Thus I have gathered articles and view points  from a range of people, people whom I respect and who are knowledgeable about Local.  Each in their own way is a center of activity around local and each has their own particular perspective on which developments in Local over the past year were the most important. Their voices, some more prominent in the industry than others, are voices that should be listened to as they are intimate with the many different facets of local.

Here is the charge that I gave them:
Would you be willing to share the 3,5 or 10 articles that influenced your thinking or actions the most over the past year? The articles could be yours, or from others and could cover any topic that you think relates to Local ie local mobile, phones, mapping, Local VC, Local companies, Google, trends, marketing, best practices etc….but articles that you found of importance in one way or another throughout the year.

Join me, over the next weeks as we look at what others in Local have read and think important from the last year.