Mike Blumenthal

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, …

Google has started to roll out a new feature to the Google My Business Dashboard that automates the process of regaining control of a listing that is in another account. Besides verification issues and the inability for a business to easily get rid of inappropriate photos this has been one of the huge problems that …

Over the past six months we have seen numerous tests in the pack display. Today we are seeing a widespread (re) appearance of the snack pack type display that shows images instead of the click to call icon. (H/T to Zachary Palmer of Divot Agency in Seattle who pointed this out on G+) Previously this …

One feature in MapMaker that has been useful is the ability to edit business listings that you didn’t control. This could be used to note name or hour changes for listings that you didn’t have direct control over but for one reason or another needed to change. With the imminent closing of MapMaker how to …

LocalU and Moz have just completed a two day local workshop in Seattle. Day 1 was a LocalU Workshop and day 2 provided a day full of keynotes. Both days included great content, new ideas and great networking opportunities. To get a sense of my 10,000′ thinking about the Google Local algo read this article …

Cindy Krum (@Suzzicks), the diva of mobile and a frequent LocalU speaker*, has produced an interesting tool: a Mobile Search Simulator. It provides the ability to perform local searches in a specific zip code and then compare the results across two different mobile devices. While the product and interface are not yet tuned for any …

The ability to dial phone that presented itself in Google search has been around since 2014. I saw tests of it in 2015 in the Local KP. At the time, it was obviously visible to some and not others. That being said I had not seen it broadly integrated into the Local Finder before. Could …

In November, Google announced that MapMaker would “graduate to Google Maps”. That’s corporate speak for close. But what’s good for Google and the bulk of their users is not such a smooth transition nor offer as many benefits to the professional Local SEO practicioner. At the time of the announcements I noted that it made …

Google is testing a new mobile local finder. The Google iPhone Search App is often a proving ground for large scale tests that precede rollouts to browser based mobile search. This test/rollout is an interesting one because of its dramatic shift from the focus on the business listing to the focus on the map.  And …

Last week Google started replacing the alerts that each of their applications provide with what appears to be a system wide alert system that will ultimately include all of their applications. Previously Google search only offered G+ but it appears that there is a new scalable system that will place a common and consistent system …