First Reports of 5-Stars Returning to the Main Search Results

Update: We now have screen shots of the 5 Star treatment in the new Local Carousel The last bastion of Zagat has finally been breached and reports are showing up of 5 Stars returning to the main search results page in the Pack. Poster Valesence shared her sighting of the new display at the LocalSearchForum. Google …

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Next LocalU Advanced – NYC September 30

Update: We have just learned from the folks at Third Door/SMX that we can offer a discount for your admission. The code WS-LUA10 (case-sensitive) provides a 10% discount off prevailing rate. We just finished up a LocalU Advanced in Seattle and the feedback was great. It seems to early too be talking about the next one …

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Should You Do Linkbuilding to Your G+ Page for Local?

Miriam Ellis of Solas Web Design asked me the other day to revisit the question of whether one should “build links to their G+ Page for local“. Often this question is asked from the wrong frame of reference. Unlike the Google Places page, a Google + Page is indexed and CAN have page rank. The …

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Local Carousel Reporting from Around the Local Web

Here are articles from around the web and myself that I found of value in understanding the new Local Carousel. If you have any others that you also found useful please let me know. Overarching Analysis & Commentary Google’s ‘Local Carousel’ Comes to PC with Mixed Results – Greg Sterling Google’s Local Carousel – Trapped in …

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Google Survey Adds Free Website Satisfaction Survey

Yesterday on Plus Google Survey announced a new (and free) survey tool to assess visitor satisfaction with your website. From their post: If you are like most business owners, you know how important a healthy online community is to your business’s success. Traditionally, collecting user feedback has been an expensive and time-consuming process, but now you …

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Some of the More Bizarre Local Carousel Results from Google

Google has always been a somewhat “agnostic” resource for local results returning the good with the bad. But when combined with a total waste of good time and Twitter it can produce some interesting results. Dan Lieibson noted some “unusual” results that Andrew Shotland and I could not resist pursuing to their (ill)logical conclusion. With …

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Google’s Local Carousel – Trapped in Google’s World?

The new Local Carousel is certainly going to change user behaviors. Exactly how is still to be determined. To some extent whether ads do better or organic does better depends on what users see in any given “industry + geo” search. It also depends on how they respond to the (thinly?) populated knowledge panels or …

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Distinguishing the Local Carousel from the Knowledge Graph Carousel

The Knowledge Graph Carousel was first introduced in August of last year. The Local Carousel was introduced formally last week although it had been appearing regularly before that. While there are similarities between the two types of carousel, they do not return quite the same information or display and it might foster some confusion on …

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