Google Maps Now Has Driving Directions In North Korea
North Korea Tech reports that Google Maps now has driving directions in North Korea. As the site reports, “North Korea has strict controls on internal movement, a scarcity of private car ownership and almost no Internet users.” Despite all of that, Google Maps can give those who do have…
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The Google Local Carousel Is Still Spinning Out Of Control
Almost a year ago, Google threw everyone for a loop with the rollout of the Google Local Carousel. The SEO community scrambled to try to figure out how it worked, and theories started flying about how it would change search behavior. It was immediately evident that a location’s Carousel photo…
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Bing Maps Makes It Easier To See Map Features & Distinguish Park Trails From Streets
Last Friday, Bing Maps announced new stylistic updates, designed to make its maps easier to read. Among the new style features, Bing has added more color gradient, adjusting the brightness of a land area depending on the zoom level. From the announceme…
10 Takeaways From #LSA14 On The Future Of Local Advertising
Where is the local advertising space headed? How will local marketers succeed in an increasingly fast-changing and competitive marketplace? At the Local Search Association‘s 2014 annual conference (#LSA14) last month in Huntington Beach, California, hundreds of local advertising leaders…
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How SkyBox Satellite Imagery Might Aid Google’s Offline Conversion Tracking
There’s a report this morning that Google is close to buying satellite imaging company SkyBox. The purchase price is put at roughly $1 billion. The deal has yet to be confirmed. The article conjectures that Google wants the company for two potential reasons: More imagery for consumer maps…
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Founder: OpenStreetMap Already As Good Or Better Than Google Maps
Steve Coast founded OpenStreetMap (OSM) in the UK in 2004. It’s 10 years old this year. He was inspired by the Wikipedia model and compelled by a lack of available map and location data in the UK at that time. Coast now works for GPS navigation company Telenav, which owns location-based…
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Google “Mapping” Real World With Incredible Precision For Self-Driving Cars
A fascinating article in the Atlantic appeared this weekend. It’s mostly about Google’s self-driving cars and how they operate technically. But it’s also about something much bigger: how Google is now effectively “crawling” the real world as it has crawled the web for…
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Top Five Local SEO Myths — And Truths
There seems to be no end to the range of declared “SEO truths” for local mom and pop shops. Search Engine Optimization strategies that work for the big brands differ from those that work for small, local players, so it’s no wonder that so many local marketers end up confused about…
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Google Places Bulk Management Tool Integrates New Google+ Feature
Google announced new updates to its Google Places bulk location management tool this week, including a new Google+ social feature. From Googler Jade Wang’s announcement in a Google Product Forum: Each location in upgraded and verified accounts will have social features automatically enabled….
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Google Maps Adds Public Transit Directions For Great Britain, Vancouver, Chicago & More
Google announced they have expanded their transit directions to include coverage throughout Great Britain and also add bus lines to the Google Maps transit coverage in Vancouver and Chicago. Google Maps in the UK now supports over 17,000 routes with 2 …
Google’s Knowledge Graph Expands Into Google Maps
Google is expanding its Knowledge Graph into Google Maps. The company has confirmed to Search Engine Land that some locations in Google Maps will now get a new “Quick Facts” info card, and that the data are from Google’s Knowledge Graph. This new feature began appearing on Monday…
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How To Get A Medical Marijuana Dispensary Into Google Places
I was stoked when Chris Silver Smith turned us all on to the potential issues with marijuana and local search last month. As an early dabbler in helping marijuana dispensaries figure out local SEO, I, too, think it’s high time to help marketers recognize the challenges and opportunities in…
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Research: 56 Pct. Of “On The Go” Searches Have Local Intent
ComScore recently found that 78 percent of local-mobile searches resulted in an offline purchase (usually a few hours). New consumer data from research firm Ipsos MediaCT (sponsored by Google) echo most of the comScore study data, underscoring the critical nature of local information to mobile…
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Google Maps App Now Showing Uber Ride Options, Lane Navigation, Offline Maps
Google Maps is rolling out a number of new features for its iPhone and Android app today, including an integration with Uber, the transportation company that connects people in need of a ride with available drivers. According to the announcement, peopl…
How To Build A Local Brand Through Online Marketing
The terms “Brand” and “Brand Marketing” are usually associated with large businesses. Having a “brand” is seen as something significant — something that only businesses with big ideas and even bigger wallets can afford to invest in and create. But…
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Yelp Reports Q1 2014 Net Revenue At $76.4 Million, A 66% Growth Over Last Year’s Q1 Earnings
According to Yelp’s Q1 2014 earnings report, the company’s net revenue for the quarter totaled $76.4 million, representing a 66 percent growth over first quarter of last year. Yelp claims average monthly unique visitors climbed to 132 million, representing 30 percent year-over-year…
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Content Free: 25 Percent Of Google+ Reviews Are “Empty”
Investment firm Piper Jaffray has started tracking and comparing Google+ and Yelp reviews. For its inaugural report the firm looked at a “snapshot of 950 places in 20 major cities” and compared review counts and depth across categories. The firm says it will continue to do so on a…
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Recce’s Cool Animated 3D Maps Now Available Via SDK
I’m a big fan of independent mapping platform Recce. The company has created a unique, animated UI that’s very different from those offered by Apple, Google, Bing, Nokia/Here and Mapquest. That UI and all the company’s data are available to third party developers through an SDK….
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Does Google’s Review Count Inflation Give Them An Unfair Advantage In Local Search?
We all know that monitoring online reviews is important for online marketing; but lately, it seems that not all reviews are created equal. In fact, Google+ Local reviews may have a greater impact than others on your online marketing effectiveness. According to Searchmetrics’ analysis of SEO…
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New Google Maps “Digital Timeline” Shows Street View Images Dating Back 7 Years
Google Maps has launched a cool new feature for its Street View images that lets you see past pictures of various landmarks dating back seven years. From the announcement, “If you see a clock icon in the upper left-hand portion of a Street View image, click on it and move the slider through…
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