Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Entries Written By Mike Blumenthal
What is the Value of Embedding a G+ Post on Your Blog? Is there a Local Search Use Case?
Google+ has recently implemented the ability for a Google + post to be embedded on a page with comments on a different domain. It is simmple to implement requiring a small snippet of javascript (<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>) be embedded in your header and then simply copy the embed code from the post at + and embed …
Local U Advanced – NYC Sept 30th
Fall has descended (and I am riding my bike in 40 degree temperatures ….brr) and our SMX Local U Advanced Workshop is only 11 days away. We have sold 75% of the available tickets so there are only 14 left. If you are thinking of coming now is the time to sign up. If you …
Top Local SEO Myths
Phil Rozek has just published a great piece at his blog: Top Local SEO Myths. Phil asked me and 9 others for 3 myths about local marketing. Never one to be shy, lack for things to say or follow instructions I sent along four. Here is a sampling of my responses: Myth One– When you verify …
Updated Web Equity Infographic
When a new social network takes off I inevitably read about how one should abandon (your pick) blogging/website/other social platforms and solely write via the incredible new platform (again you pick) G+, Tumblr, Medium. I also recently received this comment from am attendee at the last LocalU Advanced after having a correspondence about the importance of …
Canadian Categories from the New Dashboard Now Added to Google Category Tool
With the help of Darren Shaw of Whitespark, we have recently added the list of Canadian categories from the new Google Places for Business Dashboard to our searchable Google Places Category Tool. The new Places for Business Dashboard is country specific and the categories that one sees are IP & country specific. Thus I need …
Reviews And Lawsuits – Is There a Better Way?
Yelp received a lot of attention in the online world last week for suing a bankruptcy lawyer (who had previously sued them and won) for leaving fake reviews. Suing a single practitioner may have some value in terms of the publicity and alerting businesses to the risks of creating fake reviews. But given the scale of …
New Google Places For Business Listings Can Now Be Transferred to a New Owner via G+ Page Management
Update: 12:30: I have changed the title of the article from saying “Account” to “Listings” as what is being transferred is the G+ Page ownership NOT the account. I learned the hard way this past week that a business listing in the new Google Places for Business Dashboard that has been upgraded to social functionality, …
Helpouts – Notes, T’s & C’s: Will Google Keep it Family Friendly? Will They Succeed as the New Hall Monitors?
Helpouts offers up the possibility of an incredible new platform for SMBS to share their knowledge and skills and a new way of marketing those via a Google Helpout Marketplace. Signing up is a snap. It also offers up an appealing platform for spammers and scammers and con artists. Will Google succeed in keeping it family friendly …
How to Delete Your Google Places for Business Dashboard Listing in One Easy Step (Or Brainfarts + Bad UI = Bad Outcomes)
Since Google has allowed business listings created via the (old) Places Dashboard to merge with and take on attributes of a G+ Page for local, it has been standard procedure in certain problem cases to delete the G+ Page and return the listing to a non-social listing. I had done so on numerous occasions with …
Signing Up for Helpouts- It’s a Snap!
Google Helpouts holds out the promise of allowing local consultants, instructors and trainers of projecting to a world wide market and of allowing national vendors of providing individualized support for the customers. As Phil Rozek pointed out in my post highlighting their new marketing effort there is a lot that can go wrong from conception …
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