Google Places Quality Guidelines Updated
Google quietly announced within the Google Help forums that they have made a clarification update to their Place quality guidelines to help business owners know what they can name their business within Google Local and what they can not. In short, Goog…
New Google Maps Comes Out Of Preview Today
Roughly last May at Google’s “I/O” developer conference the company introduced an updated version of its desktop Maps experience. Since that time it has been in “preview,” allowing users to go back and forth between the “classic” and new versions. Today…
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Google Now Adds Google Now “Launcher,” Video On Demand Providers, Airbnb Reservations & More
Engadget reports Google has quietly rolled out several enhancements to Google search app for Android, bolstering Google Now features on the Nexus 5 and some other devices. Here are the changes that were labeled “bug fixes and performance improvements” in the Google Play store for the…
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Google Requiring Some Business To Reverify Their Listings Or Be Removed From Google Maps
Some business owners are receiving emails from Google requiring them to reverify their listings within three-weeks or their listings will be removed from Google Maps and Google+ Local. The emails contain the subject, “Action Required: You have 3 weeks to save your Google Places…
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Telenav Thinks Scout Can Take On Google Maps
Last week Telenav acquired Skobbler for roughly $24 million in cash and stock. Skobbler is based in Berlin, Germany and is to OpenStreetMap (OSM) what Red Hat is to Linux according to Ryan Peterson of Telenav. For those not aware, OSM is the Wikipedia of digital mapping. It relies on a global force…
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5 Tips To Kill The Competition In Local Search
If your business has a local presence — anywhere — you must take advantage of Google+ Local. Creating and optimizing Google+ Local profiles is a critical marketing practice for local small businesses, multi-location enterprises, national franchises and companies with a single physical…
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Google Maps App Now Continually Searching For Faster Route
Google quietly pushed out an update to the iOS version of the Google Maps app that now checks for faster routes to a destination as you drive. The new iOS version of the Google Maps app and the Android app will notify you if there’s a faster route available while you are in transit. Here […]
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Google Places International Adds Over 1,000 New Categories For Business Listings
Google’s Business community manager, Jade Wang, announced in a Google discussion forum thread that they have vastly increased the number of business categories available to businesses outside of the United States. Jade said they now have added “over 1,000 new categories in the new…
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Google Showing Date Selector In Knowledge Graph Carousel For Hotels
Google has added a new feature to the Knowledge Graph Carousel, where for some search queries, it will show a date selector box. For example, a search on [hotel in new york] returns the local hotel listings at the top carousel but now adds this date se…
Local SEOs Sound Off On Google+ Local Hijackings
Earlier this week Danny Sullivan reported on the hijacking of thousands of local hotel listings within Google+ Local. Those listings had been replaced by third-party hotel booking services. And while it’s unclear how long those third party links were in place, several knowledgable people have…
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Thousands Of Hotels Listings Were Hijacked In Google+ Local
Thousands of hotels listed within Google+ Local appear to have had links leading to their official sites “hijacked” and replaced with ones leading to third-party booking services. Google+ Local listings are what Google depends on to provide results in Google Maps or Google Search, when…
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Google Apologizes For Berlin Street Being Renamed “Adolf Hitler Platz” On Google Maps
In a story reported by NBCNews.com’s World News, the popular Berlin square Theodor Heuss Platz was momentarily renamed “Adolf Hitler Platz” on Google Maps. Google apologized for the error in an email sent to NBC, stating, “We were made aware of a wrong and inappropriate…
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Google Preps “Hotel View” Interior 360 Imagery
Call it Google “Hotel View.” According to the Associated Press (via Fox) Google is photographing hotel interiors as part of an effort to enhance its travel content. Perhaps even more interesting, says the article, is that the initiative is being run not under the umbrella of Google Maps…
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Google Again Updates iOS App With Improved Maps Integration
On the heels of a very recent iOS Maps update, Google has further updated and optimized its search app for iOS 7. Some of the changes are cosmetic: “iOS 7 styling and true full screen browsing” for example. There’s also improved image search for the iPad and better integration…
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Google Maps Pegman Is Now Santa For Christmas
If you go to Google Maps and look at the Pegman used for browsing street view images, you will see the Pegman is wearing a Santa hat. The Santa Pegman is not new, it was shown to us when Google had a welcome back party for the Pegman in the new version of Google Maps. […]
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Microsoft Photosynth Creator Agüera y Arcas Joining Google
Last night the NY Times reported that the man primarily responsible for Microsoft’s Photosyth product, Blaise Agüera y Arcas, is joining Google. Agüera y Arcas is not simply an engineer or technician, he offers a rare combination of technical expertise, design and product vision. Agüera y…
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Google Adds “Now” Content, Features To iOS Maps Apps
In October, Google started adding Google Now style cards to its PC Maps. Now, Google is adding some of those same features to its iOS Maps apps. If you update Google Maps for iOS and sign in, you can now see flight, hotel, and restaurant reservations from Gmail in Maps — and then search or…
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Google Maps Gets Street Views For 16 International Airports & Other Transit Locations Across The Globe
In time for the holiday travel season, Google Maps now includes street views for a number of transit locations across the globe. Yesterday, a post on the Google Maps blog claimed the site has added street views for 16 international airports, more than …
Google Maps Makes Exception & Speeds Up Process To Replace Image Of Shooting Victim
Google Maps is making an exception to its process for reviewing image removal requests, and speeding up the actions needed to replace a satellite image of a 14-year old shooting victim. Following a story broadcast on KTVU-TV, a CNN affiliate in Oakland, California and a report on CNN.com, Google…
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Yelp: We’re Second Only To Google In Local Data Quality
Yelp has long maintained that the company has one of the best (if not the best) local data sets out there. There are third parties that have come up with findings that don’t agree with that claim. Recently, Yelp decided to take matters into its own hands and benchmark itself and the quality…
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