Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Entries Written By Mike Blumenthal
Is Grey the New Red for Google Places?
For a more detailed analysis of this change see: Grey Pinned Results Now Live Since Nyagoslav of Optilocal first spotted the grey pinned local results a week ago, there have been a number of other sitings of the change in the wild. There is still a fair bit of variability in the layout and arrangement …
Talking with Siri: My First Conversation Since 2007 That Wasn’t About Local
Well not quite a conversation. Siri did all the talking. I did my regular “ask til they throw their hands up in disgust” routine:
Samantha (The Serial Bogus Google Reviewer) Strikes Again
Oh Samantha you naughty vixen you. You get outed in Philadelphia dinging lawyers with fake reviews. Little did I know that you were a serial offender. Triangle Direct Media seems to have found that you already had second profile with the same name and that you had done your dirty deed to 18 cleaning companies in Cary, NC. …
Local SMB Survey: 68% Have Facebook Pages, 28% Have Claimed Google Places Listing
As part of Getlisted Local University we occasionally survey the attendees. We ask several questions to assess their level of knowledge about search in general and local search in particular. This survey sample size is very small and self selected from those that registered for the seminar. The participants are primarily small and medium businesses …
Google Places: Community Edits of Claimed Listings Are Back!
Andy Kuiper just pointed out to me, that in addition to the random UGC inputs on the Google Places page discussed this morning, that full on community edits of a claimed listing have returned to Places. The new (back to the future sort of new) community editing system allows logged in users to edit any listing …
Getlisted.org Local University coming to WNY on November 1
Local University: WNY is coming to the Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville, NY next Tuesday, November 1, 2011. The afternoon session is nearly SOLD OUT, however there are still seats available in the morning session. We’re bringing in some of the nation’s leading online marketing experts as well as Google and Bing for an intensive four-hour crash course in Internet marketing that …
Google Places Adds a Range of New UGC Features
Over the past week or so a number of new features have cropped up Places Pages that solicit user input in an effort to improve the quality of Places results. Google noted that “We’re doing different experiments like that on Maps to verify data is correct and up to date”. Ability to critique the location …
It’s Time for Google Places to Treat Reviews Like a Grown Up
The recent use of Google’s review platform in Alabama to lambast a local deli’s Place page with hate reviews (and the attendant backlash) is but one example of why Google needs to implement better control over the reviews appearing on the Places pages. Here is another. Earlier this week, one reviewer, Samantha, left 15 reviews …
411Locals In the Spotlight Again
In May, Linda Buquet reported on what turned out to be apparent sabotage of Places business listings by the local search firm 411Local. Here is a recent screen shot of a search in Maps still showing the Places listing defacements. Well 411Local is back in the spotlight today. This post appeared in the Google Places …
Google Places Reputation Management: From G to X Rated in No Time Flat
One of the basic tenets of reputation management in local is that regular visits to your Google Places page are necessary to prevent (or perhaps mitigate) disaster. You never know when a competitor, an ex-employee, an unethical SEO or a prankster might just deface the page. And of course you no have idea when Google, The Machine …
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