Mike Blumenthal

For those of you that are not running Tags campaigns here is the letter that Google sent: Subject: Google Places Notice: Google Tags to be retired on 4/29 Reply-To: googleplaces-noreply@google.com  Google Tags to be retired on 4/29 Dear Google Places user, At Google, we’re always working to innovate and improve ways for small businesses to …

Google Local is shedding products & names almost as fast they are making them these days…they just announced the end of Tags on the Lat Long Blog. I guess I didn’t realize that it was still a trial and was under the impression that it was a real product. Silly me. From their blog: Since …

It’s tax time so folks all across the US are calling the IRS with questions. Where are many of them getting the number? Well Google of course. If you live in Sturgis, MI (population 10,696) though you need to be careful. If you search for the IRS in Sturgis, you will be given the local …

Brightlocal.com, a provider of local search tools for local marketers and SMBs, has released a new survey of Local SEO’s and US consumers title: Where do local business websites get their traffic & do consumers appreciate local search results? They surveyed 648 Local SEOs and 1,250 US consumers as to the value of Local search …

AT&T may say that print YP is still strong. And it may be for AT&T, although I doubt it. I live in Verizon country and I just recieved the 2011 version of my local SuperPages. Their book tells another story. It seems to be getting thinner every year. I wish I could do that. – …

The Lat Long Blog just announced that Google Hotpot, rather than being a separately branded product, will now just be part of Places. It previously was integrated into Places in Mobile but was a stand alone product on the desktop. What this means for the feature set is unclear. Here is the statement from Ron …

Updated 3:38: Thanks to reader, Matt, for pointing out this BusinessInsider article titled: Marissa Mayer Bypassed As Google Appoints New Head Of Local And Commerce. Apparently Jeff Huber was handed the job and his title has been upgraded to SVP, Local and Commerce and is on par with the four mentioned below. It clarifies that …

Yesterday, Google announced that merchants could now include local products directly on their Places Page. This is part of a long term trend to provide significantly more granular and time based information about local businesses on-line. This has long been part of Google’s local vision that has finally materialized in a way that local merchants …