Category: Google+ Local

Google Local has always been aggravating when it comes to showing your photos. Google would swap out your photos seemingly randomly. Your carefully chosen profile photo would suddenly disappear and be replaced with a skanky alternative of Google’s choosing. There never seemed to be rhyme or reason.  But I have noticed that changing. Not the … Continue reading Google Local Shows Photos to Match the User Query – And what it Means to You →

On mobile, local brand searches on Google have long been mundane affairs largely focused on the brand that the consumer searched for. They delivered up nearby locations, a logo, an about tab and typically highlighted pages from the brand site. It was a straight up recovery search by a customer that your brand owned.  Even … Continue reading Why Brands Should Be Worried About the Local Scroll Pack →

Changes are coming fast and furious to the new(wish) Local Scroll Pack.  This is the first one that I have seen that has included an ad. And it is verrrrrrry visible in this format.  The visual stimuli are so pervasive that one hardly notices the ad destination. Go figure.  And here is an ad from … Continue reading Local Scroll Pack Now Showing Ads →

Last week, we saw Google updating the as yet not fully rolled out Scroll Pack with stronger and more obvious calls to action for user engagement. This week I am seeing yet another, subtler, update; Google has added more and more colorful icons for each section of the Scroll Pack result. This is the second … Continue reading Google Tweaks Local Scroll Pack Yet Again →

The new(ish) Local Scroll Pack, which remains with very limited visibility, has been updated with a bolder call to action to view more locations. In addition it now includes additional personalization gleaned from Maps and greater detail if a user is looking for more categories related to the search.  In the initial preview, it was … Continue reading Google Updates As Yet Unannounced Scroll Pack with Stronger CTA →

Here are some other articles, podcasts and writings from me around the interwebs: TextBack Case Study: Driving Big Reviews For A Small Restaurant – is a case study of a small local restaurant that I discovered on my bike rid to work that just opened a year ago  serving breakfast and lunches. I am a sucker … Continue reading Mike B Around the Interwebs →

I have been seeing a test of a new Local Scroll Pack result when logged in on my iPhone and using Safari. There is a different style presented for retail/restaurants than for service business. Brand packs have a slight variation as well. In the brand results, there is the card style scroll pack below the … Continue reading SCrolling Local Brand result →

The Local Scroll Pack, first spotted last week, has now shown up in a greater range of categories including retail, restaurants, ERs and lawyers. Last week the new pack design  was spotted in searches for the moving companies, HVAC, locksmiths and garage door companies.  In retail and restaurants the Local Scroll Pack includes large image … Continue reading Local Scroll Pack Spotted on Retail, Restaurants & Professional Service Searches →

Google appears to be testing (rolling out?) a new Local Scroll Pak display that provides a horizontal scrolling view of the top local search results. The result, first pointed out to me by Todd Moss, is currently showing on my iPhone for the search Moving Companies San Francisco. It is also showing for similar searches … Continue reading Google Showing New Local Scroll Pak →

Apparently Google has turned on their Reserve relationship with Trip Advisor allowing consumers to purchase tickets directly from the Business Profile (aka Knowledge Panel). Only problem? Once activated within Google, a business can’t shut this off from within Google. I noted last week seeing these Reserve with Google “buy tickets” button in Business Profiles for a … Continue reading Google Turns on “Reserve” for Trip Advisor – Where’s the Effing Off Button? →

Google has started the rollout of “Short Names”; the ability of a business to create a custom, short URL that then can be used for easy access to their business profile on Google. Customers can enter the short name URL in the browser’s address bar, like “g.page/[yourcustomname]”, to go directly to your Business Profile. So … Continue reading Google My Business Rolling Out Short Names →

TL;DR On the shoulders of others, a technique that can help you uncover Google Local Spam at greater scale. The Inspiration Over the years, Google Maps has lost many advanced search features* making spam identification harder and harder. A few weeks back Dave DiGregorio, a local SEO in NJ, posted a tip on Twitter that … Continue reading Finding Google Local Spam at Scale →

In 2009 I met with the then head of Google Local, Carter Maslan, and asked why they allowed so much spam to continue to exist in Maps after they were alerted to it. He assured me that it wasn’t very visible and it was being used to “inoculate the system” against future abuses. The Disease  … Continue reading Google Local Spammy Lead Gen Listings & How they Work on the Ground →

Fake reviews are a long term AND growing problem at Google. The unfortunate reality is that Google helped create this illegal market place and benefits from it economically. Google has, over the years, created both new opportunities in existing markets AND created new market opportunities.  And Google often touts the economic benefits that it brings … Continue reading How Google Helped Foster the Fake Review Economy and Benefits from It →

It appears that Google is discontinuing Google SMS in the Google My Business dashboard and in doing so leaving large companies in the lurch. Google My Business has yet to make a statement but it appears that the GMB SMS feature, which preceded their new App based messaging, is soon to be on the chopping … Continue reading Google My Business Deprecating SMS – Caught in the Google Messaging Cluster F%#k? →

Google has the unique ability to look like they are doing something about systemic problems in Local when in reality it is just misdirection. Spam reporting is but one flagrant example of this. I recently reported some obvious spam. Any effing idiot could see that it is spam and yet my edit was denied. #ShameOnGoogle … Continue reading Google Spam Hall of Fame: Cheap Auto Insurance – #ShameOnGoogle →

Who knew? Near Me searches peak on the weekends. In October, I noted that Near Me searches, while generally going up, had a distinct seasonal peaks in July and December. Actually more careful analysis shows those peaks to fall around the 4th of July and the week right after Christmas.  Both correspond with high travel … Continue reading Near Me Searches Peak on Weekends in Search of Mind Altering Substances →

Google My Business is testing a new, direct in the GMB App messaging capability. This was noted by Casey Bryan(from down under) on Twitter and confirmed by Steven Johns in the UK: This is new! I’ve just turned on messaging for my #GoogleMyBusiness listing 👩‍💻 pic.twitter.com/F2NLakoZRS — Casey Bryan (@CaseyABryan) December 7, 2018 I have … Continue reading Google Adds Messaging Directly to GMB App in New Trial & Further Muddies Messaging Strategy →

Over the past year we  have seen the expansion of Google’s Reserve with Google call to action in all of their local products. It was never very clear to me which categories were eligible for Reserve with Google  or which might get it in the future. Joel Headley of PatientPop recently shared a link to … Continue reading Reserve With Google – Which Categories & Services Are Eligible? →