Category: Google+ Local

Sergey Alakov, an active local SEO from Toronto, just noted on Twitter that Google has finally rolled out the ability to segment local results on both the desktop and mobile by ratings and by hours. The feature had been first spotted in tests in early September and the tests have recurred since then. The buttons drop down at the top … Continue reading Google Pack Adds Ability To Segment Results by Rating & Hours →

When Google rolled out the ability to add attributes to single locations earlier this month, they excluded professionals from adding attributes. I noticed yesterday that now all professionals (doctors, lawyers etc) are encouraged to add the attributes relating to wheelchair accessibility. Unfortunately this is the only attribute that they are allowed to add at this … Continue reading Google My Business Expanding Wheelchair Accessibility Attributes →

Over that past 6 months Google has gone to great lengths to get businesses to post most photos in the My Business Dashboard…. For months Google has encouraged business with the promise that (and I quote): Businesses with recent photos typically receive more clicks to their websites. Offering up ranking gains or at least more … Continue reading Google My Business Really, Really, Really Wants Your Photos – Will They Really Send You More Website Visits? →

It’s time for every business to take a second look at their services page and be sure that it is a great page that converts your local customers. Last week Google added Attributes to the Google My Business Dashboard. Earlier this week they added the ability to add menus via the Google My Business API. … Continue reading Menu Attributes – Why Your Services Page Just Got More Important →

Bricks and mortar has expenses like staffing that don’t exist in online shopping. They also have checkout friction that slows the process and is one of the pain points. Self checkout that you see at BJ’s or a few grocery stores might be good for the business but they have never been good for the … Continue reading Is Amazon Defining the Future of Bricks and Mortar Retail with AI? →

If its good enough to do, its good enough to do in excess. Particularly a name that gets verified in the GMB. The only questions I have are his age and what his wife’s name are. Via Joy Hawkins. Listing here. PS the beginning and ending characters are Unicode Emojis which can easily be inserted … Continue reading Google Local Spam Hall of Shame →

In May Google added the ability to add yes/no attributes via API in May and allowed API users to add non binary attributes like menu links in September. Joy Hawkins has reported that the GMB now has the ability to add attributes to single listings. It is interesting that: Attributes are not available to all business types (lawyers and doctors do … Continue reading Google My Business Rolling Out Attributes to Single Listings →

Barry Schwartz reported on a new feature that allows configuration of your Google My Business settings to send notifications on a wider range of tasks than was previously permitted. The new feature will allow the account (as opposed to each location) to set email and mobile app notifications for the following activities: Important updates Google … Continue reading Google Adding More GMB Notifications? →

Sergey Alakov (a Toronto SEO that spends way too much time looking at local search results 🙂 ) spotted a mobile search result where videos from around the web are showing as integral part of the Local Knowledge Panel. The videos are presented in a carousel format that allows the user to scroll to see … Continue reading Videos from the Web Showing in the Knowledge Panel →

Last weekGoogle rolled out two new Knowledge Panel features; department hours (which show hours for any business “located in” a main listing and more significantly, they are now showing real time visitation in comparison to what it regularly is. Here is a screenshot of the department hours of a local Walmart and search for you to … Continue reading Google Rolls Out Real Time Popular Times – What Can We Learn? →

In early October, Google announced a new test for service area businesses that offered direct consumer contact and exhibited lots of spam (ie locksmiths, plumbers etc) that involved an advanced verification process. The advanced verification process is similar to, although less rigorous than the vetting process involve d with the Home Service Ads that were … Continue reading Google Testing New Local Pack in San Diego with Rollout of Advanced Verification →

Google has announced that MapMaker will be sunset and rolled into Google Maps. Here are some thoughts from Joy Hawkins. I have not yet thought throught the implications of this but they are significant. I just received this email: Google Map Maker graduates to Google Maps We have some important updates to share with you … Continue reading Sayonara Google MapMaker – To Be Retired Over the Next 4 Months →

Google’s Local Guide program is a Yelp Elite like program at huge, worldwide scale. Anyone can become a guide and their is are gamefication levels that create incentives for involvement. There are also contests and give aways to incentivize continued involvement of the guides. The newest Local Guide give away of L’Oréal professional products strikes … Continue reading Why the Newest Google Local Guide Give Away Sucks →

I have not seen this before. Not sure if a test or a release. Google is getting downright social in their old age. 

Google announced today a plan to increase verification scrutiny of plumbers and locksmiths. The beta is taking place in San Diego and every verified plumber and locksmith will be emailed a request to go through the new advanced verification process. The businesses will have their application accepted or denied within a two week period. Google … Continue reading Google Testing Advanced Verification Process for Plumbers & Locksmiths →

Google announced in mid August that they would be expanding their test of the beta ‘direct to search’ posting for SMBs. Barbara Oliver Jewelry just received her entree into the beta so for the first time I can test the product and assess its value1 . And learn better what it works like in the search results. What is … Continue reading Google Posts Directly to Search Feature Expansion Continues – Now What? →

My wife was extolling the virtues of Dried Plums as a sweetener in her homemade ketchup the other day. She was convinced that they were better than prunes for the task. Little did she realize that “in 2001, plum growers in the United States were authorised by the government to call prunes ‘dried plums’. Due … Continue reading 10 Years Ago: Sometimes you just need a name change →

Talk about walk and talking in Local at the same time, Google Local has been on a testing tear with the Local Pack. Lots of reports of new and different pack layouts over the past few weeks. A special nod to Sergey Alakov, Barry Schwartz and Jennifer Slegg and the many other observant souls who … Continue reading A Summary of Recent Local Pack Tests →

After 10 years writing about Local Search, at one point I wondered  if I could keep the fire in my belly. But I have realized that there is always something exciting, always more to learn and its just a question of finding the people to learn from. What I have also recognized is that sometimes just sitting down … Continue reading Local U Advanced Speaker Series Videos →