Google My Business Rolling Out Short Names

Google has started the rollout of “Short Names”; the ability of a business to create a custom, short URL that then can be used for easy access to their business profile on Google. Customers can enter the short name URL in the browser’s address bar, like “g.page/[yourcustomname]”, to go directly to your Business Profile. So …

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GatherUp Introduces a new website tool – the Conversion Pop-Up

When I helped start GatherUp (previously GetFiveStars), I did so with the idea that local businesses, small and big, deserved world class tools that helped them navigate and benefit from the world of reviews. And I also wanted to be sure that the agencies that helped them could leverage the more advanced features of these …

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Google Posts Rolling Out WorldWide

Google is formally announcing the world wide availability of Google Posts today. The product allows a business to micro-blog directly to their Knowledge Panel result, create Posts of up to 300 words in length and include a photo. The Post can be further defined as an event with a date range or a call to …

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Mike B Around the Local Web

It’s spring time and there is mania in the air…or at least there is for me.  I have written/created a few more pieces for those of you that can’t get enough of local. Here is my other writing from around the web: LocalU: Podcast: Last Week in Local April 24th, 2017 Joy Hawkins joins me for a …

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Google Continues Testing of ‘Posts’ As Worldwide Use Expands

The product that was originally called Podium and is often referred to as Posts, continues to be tested as a small business tool that allows a business owner to post directly to their branded search result. We saw the “Posts” like test in late January that included a call to action and posting on the right. Recently, …

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10 Years Ago: Sometimes you just need a name change

My wife was extolling the virtues of Dried Plums as a sweetener in her homemade ketchup the other day. She was convinced that they were better than prunes for the task. Little did she realize that “in 2001, plum growers in the United States were authorised by the government to call prunes ‘dried plums’. Due …

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