Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Entries Written By Mike Blumenthal
Increasing reports of Merged Records in Google Maps
In recent days, there has been an increasing number of reports in the Google Maps for Business Group complaining about two completely different business records being conflated. In just today’s postings there were 5 reports: •Google Maps Hijacked! •My business information appearing on another business listing •Web Pages of other sites? •Incorrect URL Associated with …
Making Reviews customer friendly for better Local Search Rank
Reviews add credibility to a business and play a critical role in ranking in Google Maps. However getting customers to actually write them is another story. For a client to actually find your business record within one of the large directories, identify the review link and often times register prior to leaving a review is …
Local (Mobile) Links of Interest
Smartphones Now Ringing for Women – Laura M. Holson, NY Times If recent history is any guide, roughly a third of the people snapping up Apple’s new iPhone are likely to tote it in a purse. In a big shift for the phone industry, women have emerged as eager buyers of not just iPhones but …
The iPhone and local search
Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone 3G and it overcomes most of the objections to the first model: •$199 price point for the 8 gbyte model •3G connectivity where AT&T has coverage (most major markets with expansion planned but not in Olean until sometime in 2009) •GPS capability •Lots of cool cheap and free software …
Conversation with Universal Business Listing’s Doyal Bryant
I recently had a conversation with Doyal Bryant, one of the founders of Universal Business Listing. Universal Business Listing is attempting to establish itself as a single stop for businesses to create one listing for use across the local internet. They want to become a business resource that provides “internet fresh data” to the various consumers of …
Local Users Bill of Rights
In the past I have run a number of articles speaking to whether Local needed to be held to a higher standard. It has been like the Wild West in Local. One day brings up a case more bizarre than the next and one wonders if higher standards will be achieved and if so how. …
Local Links of Interest
Cellphone Tracking Study Shows We’re Creatures of Habit – JOHN SCHWARTZ, NY Times Research that makes creative use of sensitive location-tracking data from 100,000 cellphones in Europe suggests that most people can be found in one of just a few locations at any time, and that they do not generally go far from home…..people’s wanderings …
Google Mapspam now a Global Phenom
Martijn Beijk is reporting on his blog, Local Search, that Mapspam on Google is now cropping up in Europe. He notes that I have become infamous in my vendetta against Mapspam and battering Google in the process. I like to think of it rather as love taps. To me Local offers incredible possibilities and can be …
More cases of Massive Mapspam in Maps
Update 6/6/08: This spam has been removed. Also on Imnotadoctor.com Maps Guide Jen noted about the similar Earthlink Spam: This particular case was added through a bulk feed in our Local Business Center. We’re actively working to implement some processes that will prevent these types of spam from displaying in Google Maps. Cheers, Jen A …
Renaming your business for Local
Google has recently made clear that a business can have only one listing per address and that multiple listings for that business at one address would be considered spam. They have made no clear policy statement in regards to naming the business. Google appears to tolerate and to some extent endorses the idea that a …
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