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 Confirms Removal of Anonymous Reviews

Google has confirmed that anonymous reviews have in fact been removed from public view. Their statement to me: “We do not allow anonymous reviews today and we’ve removed legacy anonymous reviews.” If you recall, on May 24th, I reported their disappearance with the article Google Stops Counting Anonymous Reviews?. Given the obvious angst that many small …

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Google Stops Counting Anonymous Reviews?

Update: Over the weekend many of these “A Google User Reviews” were removed from the corpus as well as the count. I just got this email from my favorite pet client, Barbara Oliver. She watches her reviews like a hawk and is very protective of them: I noticed today that I have 139 google reviews …

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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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