What's New in Local Search September 2016

Once a month our in-house local expert, Mary Bowling, hands us her take on what's changed in the local search industry over the last 30 days. Let's jump straight in and see "What's New in Local Search" for September 2016.

• You can and should apply to use Google Posts by filling out the form here. This platform seems like a gift to small to medium businesses that might not have the resources to get moving with AMP. Everyone should apply to use this feature that Mike Blumenthal explains for us.

  

• Email verification becomes a choice in some Google My Business accounts, but Google picks the email address to send it to, not you. It's not necessarily the email of the GMB account owner, but an email that Google really trusts. This is likely to be a domain-associated email address that is published on the business website. If you're not tuned into Think with Google, give it a whirl. You'll find Google insights on search and searchers, along with a downloadable guide with valuable stats. I use this information frequently in helping clients understand how to best approach their online marketing.

  

• Google Maps will get a new setting that enables you to direct it to work mostly on Wi-Fi, so that it doesn't gobble up all your data.

• Google rolls out a new UI for photos in local knowledge panels.

• Google resurrects the Zagat app, making it both more useful and more user-friendly.

• Myles Anderson gives us the results of his most recent survey regarding local content and rankings. Page titles and meta descriptio...