Mike Blumenthal

Given my love of professional sports, at least once a year I post a sports oriented post … of sorts. It was recently noted that Google was now including a faceted interface on mobile recipes to allow a user to select a specific type of recipe. In honor of the Super Bowl I searched for …

At GetFiveStars blog I just published Google Lowers Local Pack Review Star Threshold to 3. In the first change since the summer of 2013 when Google stopped using the Zagat review system, Google is now showing review stars on businesses with as few as three reviews. Great if those three are good but even one bad …

From time to time in the GMB Forums the question arises of where Google Map’s gas prices come from and how to fix them when wrong. If your listing has your pricing wrong at Google you can file a report via “Report a Problem” at Google although it makes more sense to get in touch …

Google is expanding Advanced Verification and the Home Service Ad test to plumbers and locksmiths in Los Angeles this month. In July of 2015, Google rolled out a test in the Bay Area of their Home Service Ad that used “extreme vetting” of local plumbers & locksmiths. In October & November of 2016 they started testing …

Apparently, Google is now partially supporting temporary business closures with a process and an appropriate messaging on the business Knowledge Panel. Currently there is no public facing interface for this and the only way to get this done is to create a post in the Google My Business Forum with full business details and then get …

Thibault Adda, the Internet Marketing Coordinator at Roar! Internet Marketing in Altamont Springs, FL, shared an interesting search result with me. Google is apparently testing a new, direct to the Knowledge Panel call to action from local business owners. It is similar to, but different than the Google Posts (aka Podium, aka the product that shall …

Yesterday, David Mihm highlighted an article in his Tidings Newsletter about a dentist that had legally changed his last name from Draper to Better so that he could change his practice name to Better Dental and rank better. Matt Marko pointed out the “shortsightedness in his leaving the obvious opening for Dr. Best”. That elicited …

Both David Mihm and I think that voice search will play a large role in Local Search and a component of that will be home based assistant searches. With Google’s release of Home and Amazon’s early success with Alexa, there is little talk of the role that Apple will play in the home search arena. …

At GetFiveStars I just penned a post:   Can 5-Star Reviews Backfire?       And based on research published in the Harvard Business review I think it very likely that having a review profile that is “too perfect” can be bad for business. Let me know what you think.

Two weeks ago I saw that Google had eliminated a public Help file URL from which a user could contact Google My Business support. This evening I saw this Tweet from Miriam Ellis: Hey @GoogleMyBiz, been on hold on your phone support for half an hour. Anyone manning Twitter right now? — Miriam Ellis (@Miriam_Ellis_) …