Category: Google
Small Businesses Should Grab a Google+ Page, But…
After months of promises, Google has finally launched Google+ Pages for local businesses. In fact, they’re for any company, product, brand, organization, etc. So the obvious question is this: Should my small business have a page on Google+? My answer: Yes, but….
“Fix A Problem” – Google Places’ Latest Attempt at DIY Customer Service
Both the Google Places help forum and the Google Places help website are pretty difficult to use (that’s putting it mildly in some cases). The Help forum can often be a black hole where no help is found, and the help website can be extremely difficult to navigate. Perhaps those are part of the reasons [...]
Google Adds Place Editor to Maps Home Page
I don’t know if I’m opted-in to some kind of small test or not, but there’s a new feature showing up on the Google Maps home page today: A small message/tool in the bottom left of the screen that asks me to help edit “places you might know.” Here’s what it looks like:
Not Just Reviews … Now They’re “Google Reviews”
If you had any doubt that Google is firmly in the local reviews business and has every intention of owning that space, consider this small change to the local/Places search results. They’re not just “reviews” anymore … now they’re “Google reviews.”
Google Places Bug Loses Major Hawaii Hotel
Google Places seems to have lost a certain resort in Hawaii. But it’s only missing if you live in certain places. Like mine. And David Mihm’s. And Mike Blumenthal’s. And maybe yours, too! If you search for this hotel by name in Google Places, you might end up with a real estate agent ranking first, [...]
No, Local SEO Isn’t Dead … But It Is a Wee Bit Harder
You probably know by now that Google launched a new-look Place Page yesterday. The major changes, as I wrote on Search Engine Land, are a heavy emphasis on Google’s self-sourced reviews and the elimination of citations/references from displaying on Places Pages. Say what?!? No more citations on Place Pages? Yes … but don’t let anyone [...]
As I Was Saying About Google Incentivizing Reviews…
Following up on last week’s article … if you live in San Diego and write at least five reviews in Google Places, Google will give you free tacos or free frozen yogurt, and one person also gets a $25 gift certificate. Google is doing this every week in San Diego. #justsayin
Google Offers Expands … in “Limited Quantities”
Smart move by Google here. The Google Offers program has expanded to New York City and the San Francisco/Oakland areas — see Greg Sterling’s Search Engine Land article for full details. But a couple weeks ago, Google changed how it presents the offers — and that presentation is carrying through to the new cities.
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