Mike Blumenthal

How is Google integrating Google Maps data and what does the future hold? Over the past 14 months, Google has been integrating ever more local data into its main search results page. This use of Maps data on the main results page indicates how important Google thinks that local is. The first major change of …

From: “Maps Guide Jen“  (Google-Maps-For-Business-Owners@googlegroups.com) … it sounds like your addresses aren’t being recognized within our map data, all of which comes from NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas. We don’t currently have a way for you to submit your map data to Google Maps, although we’re working on it. “Maps Guide Jen” the Google staffer at the …

The restaurant listings (and probably all listings) when through a major data update this past Thursday (12/21) which reordered results within the restaurant listings in Google Maps. In mid November (11/15/06) I updated a restaurant listing at Yelp to standardize the business name and added a review. This was a test to see how long …

I see that Understanding Google Maps has been nominated by the Search Engine Journal in the category of Best Local Search Blog. It is an honor that I really appreciate. However, more importantly, it demonstrates Bill Slawski‘s idea of gaining prominence through providing relevancy in your local search marketing. While I am writing this blog …

On December 9th Matt Cutts announced a new standard interface feature on the main Google results page for locally oriented searches: the Plusbox. (Just a note, this is not my jargon. I suppose though that since Google invents it they can name it.) At the time it was only available for IE users but is now …

In my previous post about the sources and weightings of local information it was clear that reviews and web references played a key role in your Google Maps ranking and hopefully a business’s appearance in the top 3 One Box. However if you execute the link command (link:www.anchorbar.com ) for the number 1 ranked restaurant, …

Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped (thanks to Barry Schwartz) points out two new Google features that will have some impact on the future of Google Maps. The first is Google My Reviews whereby a logged in Google user can find all of his or her reviews made on Google properties. Given the role that reviews …

One of the interesting results that I covered in previous posts ( here and here ) was the occasional and glaring difference (using the same data set) of the results in the Google Onebox Local Listing and the Maps top results. In a recent NY Times article (reg. req’d) and often in the past a …

In Part 1 of this series I reviewed which directories Google is using in creating their Local Listing for Restaurants. In Part 2 I looked at their sources for reviews and ratings and its impact on ranking. In this third installment I will review the aggregate results of all data Google uses in providing information …

Several weeks ago I did some research on which directories Google Maps referenced to provide details for their local search. Matt McGee of Small Business SEM suggested looking at which review sites were used as well. I took the same approach and analyzed which sites were used to provide review/rating detail to Google Maps. Here …