Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Entries Written By Mike Blumenthal
Google Adds “Are you the Business Owner?” Link to the Brand Knowledge Panel
Googler Jade W posted in the Google for Business forums that they have now added a link to the branded Knowledge panel result for local businesses that allows business owners to claim their listing directly from the main search result page. The link only shows on a direct branded search not on a category search. …
Join Us June 13th in Seattle for an Advanced Local U
Join us on June 13th for Local U Advanced at SMX Advanced Seattle 2013 SMX Advanced is the leading destination for advanced, professional Online Marketers to learn the latest and greatest techniques and to network with their peers. In the vein of bringing the best content, the Local University crew are proud to be presenting …
Google Email Inviting Businesses to Update Their Listing in a Newly Converted Dashboard
Last week Google announced that they were starting the process of converting existing, old style dashboards to the new Google Places for Business Dashboard. I just received this email notice that one of my favorite “business” listings had received the dashboard update: Illusory Laptop Repair. When you log into the new dashboard the user is presented …
Google Local & Review Scams – A Simple Solution
Local scams involving Google are like dipthera on dog feces, very common. Whether it’s the hundreds of companies trading off of Google’s name, fake Google plaques, selling reviews, a company implying that they are Google and offering to “help” you claim your listing or claiming to be able to rank you first because of a special direct relationship …
Google + Local Updates
Google has announced in the forum that they have fixed one of the previously noted issues with the new Google Places for Business Dashboard; the speed of photo uploads. In the old Dashboard it might have taken a month or more for photos to show. When the upgraded Dashboard was released last month, it took …
Is Google Local Changing the Metaphor For Local Ranking?
For as long as Google has displayed local results they have done so with a modified Yellow Page listing approach albeit one that ranked by prominence rather than distance or alphabetically. With the rollout of the new Google Maps preview, the loss of the Places search link & Places search from the main page of …
Why You Should Have a Professional Proofreader for Your Bulk Emails
Language is an interesting thing. Sometimes it can be used in terribly inappropriate ways. Like in this email from the US Chamber of Commerce where he suggests “we remember those that have given to the cause ” of supporting “the most… opportunistic country in the world”. The email went from tribute to travesty in one …
Yelp Successfully Sued in Small Claims Court
According to the Wall Street Journal, a bankruptcy lawyer took Yelp to small claims court in San Diego and won a judgement of $2700. ….the judge describing Yelp’s advertising contract as “the modern-day version of the mafia going to stores and saying, “You wanna not be bothered?” The case will be taken to a higher …
Google Starting to Convert Existing Dashboards to the New Places for Business Dashboard
Google just announced in the forums that they were starting the process of converting existing Dashboard users to the new Placed for Business Dashboard. Here is the post: As of May 21, some existing Places users will begin to see the new Google Places for Business dashboard. The transition will happen automatically, and all existing …
Google Glass: Metaphor for the Future of Local or a Turkey?
At the Philadelphia Local U last week I had a chance to touch Matt McGee’s Glass. It was exhilarating, disturbing, interesting, disorienting and a number of other adjectives. Everyone at the table was anxious to try it and see what it did and how it works. I was struck by its awkwardness and obtrusiveness as …
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