Google Testing Call Reporting in Adwords Express

Long a staple of Adwords, a simplified call reporting is being tested in Adwords Express. It is not clear how wide the test is as I found in the Austin market but not in the Buffalo market. The option is dead on easy to implement and costs $1 for each call made to the number …

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Google Still Supporting KML Files but NOT the Use of Geo Sitemaps

In a followup to SMX West questions, Susan Moskwa noted on Google Plus the effective demise of GeoSitemaps: Q: Why are my Geo Sitemaps throwing errors in Webmaster Tools? A: Google has retired support for the Geo Sitemaps format. You can continue to submit your Geo content to us using the standard Sitemaps format (just listing …

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SMX Germany March 27, 2012

SMX Germany is an incredibly well run and enjoyable event. Munich is a great city and the beer, despite or perhaps because of its large container, is delicious. Slide 4 – Jan 2012 Search Engine Market Share / Local Search % Slide 13 – How to maximize your branded presence in Google search Slide 14 – Rich Snippets in Local …

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Is Google’s New Requirement to Hide a Home Business Appropriate?

There have been many questions about the recently publicized change in Google’s Places policy that home based businesses that do not receive customers at their home should hide their address. Many have been critical of Google’s change and many have criticized the apparent illogic of the rule. I see the issue somewhat differently. Certainly Google …

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Archived Places Forum Posts

I was disappointed when Google created a new Places forum and they decided to take down the old Places forum and all of the posts that had accumulated. Google effectively minimized the efforts of the many volunteers that staffed the forums, removed material that still is of value and was deleting information that was of historical …

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