The Return Of Pegman And Other New Google Maps Features
The new full-screen Google Maps were announced this summer at Google’s developer conference. However the company is still rolling it out to users. Today on the Google LatLong blog a number of new (or returning) features were introduced. Among them, the “Pegman” Street View icon is…
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Google Places Listings Get Integrated Into Android’s Phone App — And They’re Terrible
A big change in Android 4.4 is that those using Google’s new mobile operating system, nicknamed “KitKat,” can search for businesses right from within the Phone app. How’s it work? For me, it’s awful. Google+ Invades The Android 4.4 “KitKat” Phone App: What It Means For…
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How To Leave Anonymous Business Reviews In Google+
For a long time, I’ve had some doctor friends complaining to me that once Google Places changed over to the new Google+ format, all their patients lost the ability to leave anonymous reviews (thus hurting their business and their rankings). They asked me what to do; and I, in turn, asked my…
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Google Maps’ Mobile Reach Drops In September — comScore
Yesterday comScore’s US smartphone market share figures for September came out. There weren’t many surprises — except for one thing: the Google Maps app has fallen three spots in comScore’s rankings. The smartphone app, which used to be the most popular in the US, fell from…
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Google Hotel Finder Goes Mobile
Google’s Hotel Finder, which launched in June 2011, is now available on mobile devices. Google said all you need to do is go to www.google.com/hotels directly on your smart phone and search for your destination. Listings will come up almost immediately, giving you the ability to filter the…
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Report: Basic Local Optimization Steps Boosted Google Visibility By 179 Percent
Digital agency and technology provider SIM Partners released a report (registration required) discussing how use of several basic Local SEO tactics can dramatically improve visibility on Google. The study involved 315 US business locations. These are not independent, small businesses. SIM Partners…
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Google Intros Android App For Managing Google Places Listings
Local business owners have a new tool for managing their Google Places For Business Listing. Mike Blumenthal got the scoop on the new Android app that lets SMBs update their business information, post update and photos to their Google+ Local Page, resp…
Homeward Bound: A Great Long-Form Ad For Google Maps
One of the most popular articles on the AdWeek site today showcases what is essentially an ad for Google Maps/Earth. It features an Indian man (Saroo Brierley) who as a young child falls asleep on a train with his brother. His brother doesn’t wake him up at their designated stop. When he…
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Google Now Cards Invade The New Google Maps
Google sure does love its new card-based information display. They’re the primary display for Google Now information. They’re part of Google’s new unified design on mobile devices. They’re how all information is displayed on Google Glass. They’ve been spotted in the…
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Maps Roundup: Google Avoids Waze Antitrust Fight, Scout Social Mapping, deCarta Route Patent
Google spent just over $1 billion to take Waze away from Facebook, Apple or Nokia and Microsoft. It equally sought the real-time driver feedback that Waze crowd-sourcing provides. Given the size of the transaction the US FTC got immediately involved to…
Japan Tells Webmasters Not To Use Google Maps Over Disputed Territory
Fox News reports Japan has instructed their government authorities and state-run universities to not use Google Maps on their web sites because of a conflict over disputed territories. The territory is Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea and Ap…
Study: Google Reviews Determine Local Carousel Rankings
Since the the launch of the Google “Local Carousel” in June, SEOs and marketers have been trying to reverse engineer the ranking variables that elevate listings into that hallowed ground. Mike Blumenthal offered a good early roundup of stories and analysis. Now Digital Marketing Works…
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Google Maps Launches Ground Truth Initiative In Russia & Hong Kong
Google Maps announced new updates to their Russia and Hong Kong maps today, launching a “Ground Truth” initiative to build more thorough maps for Hong Kong and a number of Russian cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. According to Google’s…
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Majority Of Mobile Ad Spend To Go To Search — Forecast
In an updated digital and mobile advertising forecast eMarketer has projected that mobile search will be worth more than $15 billion in the US by 2017. Accordingly it will lead all other types of mobile advertising, similar to its current position onli…
Google Adds Waze Traffic To Maps App, Search To Waze
The first “synergies” from Google’s Waze acquisition are being rolled out to both Google Maps and Waze users. Google announced this morning in a blog post that real-time Waze traffic updates will appear in the Google Maps app (for iOS, Android): Users of Google Maps for Mobile…
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New Local Ad View (And AdWords Click Type) Comes To Google Maps App
Google is following up on the recent roll-out of its updated Google Maps app for Android and iOS devices with a new local ad view and click type. The ads appear at the bottom of the screen. In addition to the standard title and ad text, the ads include the car icon link to get […]
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Local Search Marketers Guesstimate 2013 Google Ranking Factors
Despite the annual changes in the local search ecosystem, the ranking factors that Google uses to determine its local search results haven’t changed much over the past year. So say the 35 local search marketers that contributed to the 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors — organized again…
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7 Things I’ve Figured Out About The New Google Maps
Google has been busy changing a lot of the user interfaces for its local search services. Between the new Google Maps, the Google Local Carousel and the new Reviews Pop-Ups, they have certainly thrown the local search world into a tizzy. I have been pl…
Google+ Local Reviews Now Pop Up As Overlay, Rather Than In New Page, In Google Search
If you search for a keyword phrase that triggers local listings in Google’s Web search results, such as searching for [barber], Google will show you Google Business listings. If you click on the reviews on one of those listings, instead of taking you to the Google Business Local page, Google…
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Google Relaunches Zagat App With Yelp In Mind
Last week Google killed the Google+ Local mobile app for iOS, saying that all the same content was available in Google Maps for iOS. Today the company announced the relaunch of the Zagat site and mobile app for Android and iPhone. Of course all the Zag…