Want to Read My Current Work?

I have moved my efforts to Near Media, where I contribute to our newsletter and share our Local SEO/Google Local research findings, cover local news and provide analysis. While there I would hope that you would sign up for our  newsletter covering the local space. See you there!

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Mike B Around the Universe (Which is the Webs)

Articles: Analysis Image Packs and the Localization of Google Product Search In the past, image search optimization was complicated and returns were minimal for local businesses. That’s all starting to change. Analysis Confessions of a Google Local Guide Google Google incentivizes quantity over quality with user-generated content. Local businesses should take control of their profile …

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Google Local Spam Hall of Fame: We Have Some (real?) Winners

After several days of heated competition, the judges are pleased to announce the winners of the Google Local Hall of Fame Name Abuse competition. As a reminder there were two categories to determine the longest name: Longest Name in the Wild (winner will be announced in a separate post) Google Character Limits on Name Length …

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Google Local Spam Hall of Fame: Game Going

Yesterday I challenged the community to: 1- Find a business with a name (spammy or not) that is longer than 171 characters 2- Determine exactly how long name spam can be The Contestants so Far On Twitter, Brandon Schmidt submitted a solid contender, weighing in at 204 characters. Although as he points out “if they …

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Google Local Spam Hall of Fame: Game On!

Sometimes even I have my breath taken away by the ability of law firms to attempt to manipulate the Google Local algo but this name (spam? hey maybe this is their name, who knows?) raises the bar for everyone. Just how bad is it? Well there are lots of ways to measure but one is …

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Mike B: Around the Web, I Look at Yelp and More

Every week I look forward to my work at LocalU and Near Media. Be sure to catch the article on Yelp. As a reminder, the FeedBurner email feed of my posts is going away soon. If you want to follow my writing subscribe to the Near Media Newsletter where I am joining David Mihm and …

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Mike B Out in the Wilds of the Internet

It’s been a busy week with lots of podcasts, an article and a minor disagreement with Rand Fishkin. 🙂 Articles: How Google Came to Dominate Local Reviews – Google owns the local review economy. It wasn’t always that way. I detail how it happened by documenting the review history of a large(wish) fast, casual chain. …

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Mike B Around the InterWebs

As a reminder, the FeedBurner email feed of my posts is going away. I would suggest that if you want to follow my writing that you subscribe to the Near Media Newsletter where I am joining David Mihm and Greg Sterling to focus on local search, social and commerce. Some recent writings and podcasts: Articles: …

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