Negative Review – How Would You Respond?

Negative reviews are the one of the hardest issues that SMBs have to confront. Learning how to respond to them effectively is best learned by sharing amongst ourselves and with these same SMBs. So I wanted to try some participatory blogging to tap the collective consciousness about what makes for a good response to a …

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Last Links from Google Maps to G+ Local Plus Pages Removed

Google has recently removed links from the Local Knowledge Panel in search to the Google Plus Local Page. Nicolai Helling now reports that the last links standing in Google Maps, to read and or write reviews on the G+ Page for Local, have now been redirected as well. The read reviews link now redirects to the Review …

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Some Thoughts On the New Pak Results from Google

Some thoughts & observations on the new [Hamburger] Pak from Google which for now, like the Carousel, is US only. 1-The local carousel is still in use and shows when you select a result delivered by “People also search for” in a 7-pack result. Will we soon see its demise as well? Currently Google shows …

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Google Dropping Review Shadow Box in Serp and Going Directly to Plus?

Yesterday while doing training I noticed that Google was dropping the review shadow box from the main search results and taking users directly to the business Plus page.  Today others are noticing this as well. Nicolai Helling pointed the new behavior out on G+. As Nicolai mentioned and I agree this change “seems to be preparatory to release …

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Are Rich Snippet Reviews Making a Limited Comeback in Local?

I am once again seeing semantically marked up pages shown with review stars in the search results . However the frequency of their display is very limited compared to earlier in the year. Summary review stars from the home page, which were wildly abused, are not visible but review stars are visible on this testimonial …

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Adwords Express: Things that are Easy to Hate

I have a love hate relationship with the elegantly simple Google’s Adwords Express. One of the things I love is that for a business with more than 2 reviews and greater than an 4 star rating, it will show your star rating with the ad. One of the things I hate is that, unbeknownst to …

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Google Chrome OS Providing Click To Call Functionality

Google Chrome OS, their cloud based operating system currently being tested, provides click to call functionality on all Google blended local search results as well as phone numbers visible in general search results or on web pages. The call is connect over the Google VOIP network. The functionality is available on Google apps on smartphones …

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Google Maps now showing Ads within Listing Tab

Google has been expanding where and when they show ads in general and in Maps in particular. I am not sure when this started showing but Google Maps is now also showing ads deep within the tabs of business listings in Text View: Showing ads inside Maps in general increases relevancy. Displaying subtle ads at …

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