5 Go-Tos To Make Online Reviews Work For Your Business

By now, everyone knows that online reviews can have a tremendous impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Ultimately, a single review — positive or negative — can tip the scale in favor of one company over another. No doubt, the power of reviews on Google+, Yelp, Angie’s…

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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 Those listings had been replaced by third-party hotel booking services.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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Health & Medical SMBs Spend More On Marketing Than Other Industries

When we conducted an online survey of 668 US small and medium-sized businesses in October 2013, a large number of these businesses (just over 20%) classified themselves as belonging to the Health & Medical Industry. This group consisted of a wide spread of specialists, including chiropractors,…

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Yelp Turns Up The Heat: 285 Consumer Alerts Issued Over Fake Reviews

It’s been almost a year and a half since Yelp began issuing Consumer Alerts when a business on its site has been caught trying to get fake reviews; but after a cautious start, that program appears to be turning up the heat. According to an interview with CEO Jeremy Stoppelman in The…

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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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How Local Businesses Can Leverage Twitter’s New Nearby Feature

Twitter has made headlines in recent weeks with the quiet launch of its experimental Nearby timeline, which allows eligible mobile users to discover tweets posted by others in their immediate vicinity, regardless of whether they are following them. This feature is currently available to a select…

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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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Checking In: Our Top Local Search Columns Of 2013

As more and more small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) venture into the digital marketing arena, they are quickly recognizing the importance of being visible within local search results. This past year saw the official launch of Google’s Knowledge Graph Carousel for local search results,…

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Use Google Keyword Research To Target The Long Tail In Local Search

There’s something of a void where local business marketing is concerned. Local marketers understand they need to target keyword queries in SEO and PPC campaigns, but they assume they know what people search for, and they miss out on valuable referrals because of it. Here’s a brief guide…

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62% Of Marketers Say Local Search Is Getting Harder

During the recent InsideLocal webinar series, I’ve had the chance to gather the opinions and feelings of the hundreds of search agencies, consultants, “in-bound” marketeers and business owners who logged in to listen. We ran a number of on-the-spot surveys (or polls) during each…

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5 Trusted Accounts Every Local SEO Should Have

As local marketers, most of us know how to set up a Google Places for Business account or create a Facebook Page. But, these are not the only accounts you should be creating in order to get the full benefit of your local SEO campaign. Below are five tr…

Bing Integrates TripAdvisor Tools, Content Into Search Results

Travel site TripAdvisor made two Microsoft-related announcements today. The company announced a Windows 8.1 app. But more significantly TripAdvisor and Bing are now presenting TripAdvisor content and travel search capabilities within the Bing search en…

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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SMBs Spend An Average 46% Of Marketing Budget On ‘Digital’

In October 2013, BrightLocal teamed up with ChamberOfCommerce.com to conduct an insightful piece of research into the attitudes toward and usage of Digital Marketing by SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). (In the survey, we used the phrase “Internet or Mobile Marketing” to make it…

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