Google Adds Webmaster Tools Verification For Google My Business
Mike Blumenthal reports that you can now instantly verify your Google Local listings, formerly known as Google Place Listing and now known as Google My Business, through Google Webmaster Tools. Google’s Jade Wang announced this in the Google forums saying, “starting today, if you’re…
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How To Generate Experience Reviews For SEO – Part II
In part 1, we talked about some practical tips for converting a satisfied customer to a raving fan who is willing to talk about their experience with your service-based company online. In this article, we’ll discuss how to get that fan to talk about your website in a way that benefits your search…
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Bing Maps API Improves Mapping Imagery
Bing announced on the Bing Maps Developer blog that they have rolled out better rendering and styling improvements to their map imagery. They added a new gradient coloring for land areas that adjusts the brightness to your zoom level. The new gradient …
Yelp Trends Tool Reveals Ten Years Of Local Reviews Data
Yelp is ten years old this year. Since 2004 the company says that it has collected 57 million reviews from users in nearly 100 cities in more than 20 countries. Yelp is now making that data accessible through a new Yelp Trends tool. Similar to Google T…
Foursquare Sneak Previews New “Personalized Local Search” & Moves All Check-Ins To Swarm
If you’ve been one of the few fearless folks holding out from updating their Foursquare app, your days are numbered. In a blog post and an email sent out to early adopters , Foursquare alerted its constituency that as of tomorrow all check-ins will be required to occur on Swarm, the new hub…
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Ads On Google Maps Now Show In New Scrolling List View, In-Map Ads Get A New Look
Google has formally announced that it is surfacing and displaying ads on Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile in the scrolling list view it debuted recently. The ads appear above the organic listings and can include location extensions and call exten…
Automated Tools To Help Local Businesses Tackle Online Marketing
When asked to rate their biggest challenges with managing digital media for their business, 47% of local business owners said they don’t have enough knowledge or expertise; 43% said they don’t have enough time; and 26% said they don’t have enough resources, according to a Local…
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How To Generate Customer Experience Reviews For SEO Profit – Part I
Here’s a question for all you search marketers out there: given the option, would you prefer to optimize a site that sells products, or services? Personally, I find product-based websites far easier to optimize than service-based sites due to their generally clearer site architecture, access…
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Google Maps For Android Enhances Explore Nearby Feature & Adds Elevation To Biking Directions
Google is pushing out an update for their Android Google Maps app and with that, Google announced three new changes: (1) View search results on the map or in a list and easily switch between them (2) Search for places you’ve reviewed or saved using the “Your places” filter (3) Bike directions now…
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A Review Handout Alternative: Try P&P To Get More Local Reviews
Everyone knows how important reviews are — they factor in to the local algorithm and they play a huge part in click-throughs and building trust. Good reviews can make you, and bad reviews can break you… so businesses do everything they can to get positive reviews. Since Google doesn’t…
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Google Maps Search Results Now With A Scroll Bar
Google has quietly changed the search results interface within Google Maps to show more listings via a scrollable search box. You can now scroll through the first ten or so local search results when you conduct a search in the Google Maps search box. H…
Now Link Google My Business And AdWords, Get Account-Level Location Extensions
Google is introducing the ability to set up location extensions at the account level by linking your Google My Business account to your AdWords account. No longer will location extensions need to be set up separately for each campaign. Formerly called …
Google Making Maps App More Competitive With Yelp
Google Maps has updated its app for iPhone and iPad. The new version adds features and content and even makes the app more visually appealing. The new version includes the following improvements: Search results appear with descriptions on the map Easy …
Google Giveth & Google Taketh Away Author Icons
Google recently announced they’d be removing a major element from their search engine results pages (SERPs) that they’ve been featuring for the past couple of years: author icons. Since this is something we Local Marketers have enthusiastically encouraged, what does this mean for…
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Apple Maps To Offer Choice Of Google, Others For Directions
According to Cult of Mac Apple is doing something very interesting with iOS 8 Maps. It’s giving people a choice of apps to use for directions. A GIF in the article shows that once a destination is located users will be able to choose directions from, presumably, any mapping-related app…
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YP’s “Mybook” Makes Local Search More Social
Local search provider YP has been investing in its mobile app, doing brand advertising and generally seeking ways to better compete with rivals such as Google, Foursquare and Yelp. It doesn’t have the reach of Google or the content of Yelp but with its mybook feature the company may have…
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Leaked Documents Show How Yelp Thinks It’s Not Getting Screwed By Google
Yelp may once again feel Google is robbing it of its fair share of search traffic, with a study that’s been leaked to TechCrunch to prove it. A close read of that study actually shows that it proves the opposite — or at least, that it’s certainly not as damning as it sounds….
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Survey Says Yelp The Most Influential Local Review Site
Yelp says it’s the most frequently used, most trusted and highest quality local reviews site, according to new Nielsen survey data. Some of those data were released on the company’s official blog two days ago. Beyond Yelp, the universe of competitors included in the survey were the…
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Google Maps Adds Distance Measuring Feature
Google has quietly announced on Google+ that they have added the distance measuring feature to the new version of Google Maps. The feature allows you to draw points on Google Maps to see how far in distance (feet/miles/etc) it is from one point to the …
88% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations
We at BrightLocal have released the findings of our annual Local Consumer Review Survey, which reveals the growing importance of online reviews in the purchasing decision. About Local Consumer Review Survey 2014 This is the 4th year we have conducted this study into consumer usage and attitudes…
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