I Was Hit by Google’s Panda Algorithm … Twice
You may have noticed that I haven’t published anything here during the past week. There are two reasons for that: extreme busy-ness, and testing my Google search traffic level More specifically, I was testing to see if my Google traffic would continue to rise without any new posts. My logic: If it did, then I’d […]
SBSM Mailbag: Does Google Normalize NAP Data? (Name, Address, Phone)
Earlier this week, I invited readers to submit questions that might become good topics for future articles … and you responded! A few of you submitted very specific questions about local SEO and local search, which would normally be fine except for the fact that I’m not doing much local SEO these days! So, for […]
Beginning of the end for Google/Zagat?
Google made a couple small changes yesterday to how it integrates the Zagat rating system into local business reviews and local search. In a nutshell, Zagat scores are no longer associated with individual reviews. Review writers don’t have to provide a 0-3 score when leaving a review, and Zagat scores don’t show up anymore when […]
Google Talkbin Sign Spotted in the Wild (of San Francisco)
I’ve had an informal, very occasional debate with friends like Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm about services like Google’s Talkbin, which allows customers to send private/anonymous text messages directly to a business owner. As I’ve said to them in person, and also briefly mentioned on this blog, I’m not real bullish that it’ll ever amount […]
Google’s Big Risk with Reviews: Using a 30-Point Scale
I recently downloaded the new Google+ Local app, and this was the first screen I saw when I launched it: This should tell you one thing loud and clear: Google is well aware of the risk that it’s taking with its new approach to reviews. By getting rid of the traditional five-star scale and implementing […]
Google+ URLs Can Rank Very Well
How soon until SMBs’ Google+ Local Pages start to outrank their actual websites? In my article about the Google+ / Google Places merger, I noted that the new Google+ Local Pages will be indexed and appear in Google’s search results – a complete change from the old Place Pages. That’s a potentially big deal because […]
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