Posts by Mary Bowling

Some of the tests we've seen with the display of Google's local results in the SERPs become standard across most of the country. This includes gray map points that turn red or blue as you scroll over them, an altered Map on the results page, a change in the look of one-boxes and other changes that seem minor when considered on their own. However, the sum total of these changes furthers the standardization of the Search Results that we were promised about a year ago. I find the flyout previews to be a rather significant– it's quick way for Google to show more local information without eating up more real estate on the page and to highlight th...

In September 2011, Google bought Zagat, a well-respected review guide for the hospitality industry. Most of Google's other acquisitions have focused on gaining technology, but with the Zagat purchase, it clearly goes beyond scraping content and becomes a bonafide publisher. This is a role that Yahoo has played well, yet it hasn't helped it much as far as search is concerned. It's also a role Google has avoided up until now.

Zagat curates individual reviews and pulls snippets from them to create a big picture of an establishment. It also provides an "editorial review" about a place and enables people to sort the opinions by the attributes most im...

Google Analytics offers a paid option for businesses willing to pay more for guaranteed uptime and support and a dedicated account manager to provide consultation and auditing. Small business owners often complain that they would be willing to pay for Places support. This is an example that Google may, at some point, be willing to take their money for providing support, as well.

Improvement in support for Places users is proudly announced by Google. However, once you dig into it, it's not really much of an improvement at all. It's just another illusion of customer service, but it does improve slightly as the month rolls on.

Google updates the user interface of...

There's been a seismic shift in the landscape of online reviews that those involved in promoting local business should keep an eye on.

The most significant change in online reviews took place in July 2011 with Google's removal of the review snippets from third party websites on Google Place pages and in the Search Engine Results Pages. These were once very prominent and then disappeared overnight.

This was not entirely unexpected since Google's relationship with several highly influential review sites has been repeatedly strained and downright hostile at times. Yelp and Trip Advisor both did some angry fist shaking at Google for taking th...

Place page owner descriptions went missing for a while. Now they're back, along with the Wikipedia descriptions that replaced the owner descriptions on some listings.

Are Wikipedia descriptions just being used as placeholders? I don't know, but a citation from Wikipedia is likely to be a strong trust signal, even if you can't include a link to your website. If it makes sense for your business to be included in Wikipedia in any way, I'd try to make it happen.

Google acquires Zagat, a well-respe...

What's New in Local Search September 2011?

Google's AdWords Express was officially released although it has been around since October 2010 under the name Boost. This addresses the need of small businesses to get ppc ads online quickly and easily without having to learn how to use the increasingly complicated AdWords interface. I've experimented with these. The numbers are nowhere near as good as those from professionally managed accounts. However, their profitability doesn't need to support the cost of professional management, either.

The newest version of Maps for Android enables you to upload photos to Place pages, add new Places as you check in to them on Google+ ...

Face it, we've all been guilty of trying to game Google at one time or another. In all fairness, I have to say that in many instances it was a complete lack of clear direction from Google that lured even those SEOs with lily-white hats to occasionally dip their toes into murky water. And when those timid forays resulted in better rankings, some not only jumped in with both feet, but encouraged others to join them in the fun. Before you knew it, everyone who had ever heard of Search Engine Marketing was diligently following best practices that were not really best for anyone except spammers.

But this is the nature of SEOs, isn't it? We're like accountants who are always looking for loopholes. Only in our case, it's tactic...