Google Maps: Citation Conflation or Where have my Citations Gone?

Mathew Hunt of Small Business Online Coach, recently pointed out what appears to be a new bug in Google’s clustering algo that causes one business’s citations to show up on another business’s Places Page. It appears that Google Maps, when scraping multiple citations for different businesses that appear on a single unstructured web page, not …

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Searchable Google LBC Category Preview Tool Beta Test

We have put on line a simple, searchable interface to the Google Local Business Center (LBC) categories and synonym lists. The idea is to to assist in early planning and judicious picking of the most appropriate categories for your LBC listing. At this point, the categories included are for the US LBC only. Late last …

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Google Places Adds Nearby Places You Might (not) Like

Will Scott of Search Influence has pointed out a new “feature” on a business’s Places Page that is sure to infuriate more than one SMB. Right below the review section of the Places Page, Google has added a new section titled (with no little irony): Nearby Places You Might Like. This screen shot of the …

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Google Map Enhanced Listing Billing Tab Visible in ALL LBCs?

Becky of OnlineTrafficDivas.com has pointed out what appears to be a mistake but could be inidicitive of a wider rollout of the Enhanced Listing test. The billing tab for the Enhanced Listing test is visible in every Local Business Center account. Go to your list of coupons and select the “link” link: Select the billing …

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More on Google’s Paid “Enhanced Listing” for Local

Yesterday, Greg Sterling reported on a Google test to allow for a new paid listing type, the “enhanced listings” for showing on Maps. According to Google, the “enhancement” will show wherever your listing is currently showing but will not affect rank or where the listing is shown. This test is distinct from the test for …

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Google Maps Adds Personalized Suggestions; Where’s Personalization?

The Google LatLong Blog has announced that they have added personalized suggestions to Google Maps. Like personalized suggestions on Google.com, personalized suggestions on Google Maps are based on past searches from your Web History. If you see a personalized suggestion that you don’t like, you can get rid of that suggestion and any others by …

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