Posts About ‘google local’

New Google Places Dashboard Launched

There’s no denying it, local is a major focus for the future of search. Local SEO has been high on the agenda over the last couple of years & has featured in many keynote presentations by top SEOs or on ‘things to look out for SEO in…’. There are a number of factors that have contributed to this rise, many of which are fairly obvious, some less so. What is true is that it certainly can’t be ignored, and if you’re ignoring it you’re probably missing out…

Last week Google announced the launch of a new Google Places Dashboard. But what does this mean? Can this be interpreted at a move towards a greater focus on local from the search giant? Or is this just a greater integration of its products into the Google+ aesthetic? Below, I will explore some of the new features and amendments, its expected rollout, and just why local is so important for search engines. (more…)

How Big is the Geo-Opportunity?

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at the launch of Linkdex’s new georanking tool. A number of other people from other agencies such as MEC, Razorfish and Mediacom (my London counterpart) were also there , and it was a good opportunity to discuss the impact of geo-rankings within the SEO community.

Prior to the launch, Linkdex had done a significant amount of research for the launch comprising around 2000 keywords and phrases across 8 locations. For those not aware of what much of this concerns, the launch by Google of Venice which geo-targeted results based on user location factors was the major factor behind Linkdex launching this tool – and its something I have felt has had a significant factor across a number of terms across Retail and FMCG. The net result of this has been the greater breakout of Local Places (Local+) results and a much greater bias of results where local factor or intent can be determined. (more…)

Dear Google… Please make Local Search Work!

(…or you might lose the Nordic SMB market)

Dear Google… I have been waiting for years now, and I think I have the entire search-community in the Nordics behind me when I say: When will local search listings work as they are supposed to? We are close to giving up, and you dear Google, might miss your chance in the Nordic SMB market…

Dear Google… So now Google Places is over, and Google+ has taken over as your local business pages. Does this mean that local listings will work now? I guess the answer is no, the back-end of Places is still the same as far as I can see… And that is the root of the problem; a system that simply does not work in the Nordics. (more…)

A Sign of Things to Come

I think for many people that have been doing this business for a while, but last week marked a milestone we have expected Google to do at any minute – and to be honest I can truthfully say its come a lot later than I thought it would. In a symbolic move Google announced that Google Product Search (ex Froogle) is getting a brand new name – that of Google Shopping. However that is not the big news – Google Shopping comes with a twist – and a significant change in direction for Google – with Google Shopping now following the framework of other recent Google products such as Google Compare by moving to a paid model. Yes – moving forward Google Shopping is being moved towards a paid inclusion model – which for me suggests the writing is on the wall for a number of previously ‘safe haven’ search opportunities towards a model more in line with Google’s new ‘commercially focussed’ mindset – and even more away from the mantra and philosophy of the Google that burst onto the scene over a decade ago. (more…)

Start Integrating Google Places With Google+ Local

With the launch of Google+ Local it was immediately clear this was the end of Google Places as we know it. Updating your current Google Places page might be a useless bit of work so it seems, something we also discussed in yesterday’s hangout. You can however be one of the first to have both your Google+ Local and Places pages integrated, see below how.

If you look in the search results it seems as if Google+ Local there already has taken over from Places. Do a search on “pizza London” for example and you will see map results which have reviews as well as Zagat ratings going to the Google+ Business Page, not the Google Places Pages anymore.

Integrating the pages

The management of the two pages however isn’t integrated yet, you still need to maintain both pages or you have to start moving things over. But Google is planning on integrating both, as we suspected before. And you can be one of the first.

You can now already request Google to be one of the first to be considered for upgrading your listing early. In order to be considered you must have your business verified in Google Places for Business and have created a local Google+ page, after that you can apply here and wait for Google to respond.

Reviews: a tip

As mentioned yesterday in the hangout, one of the most important things you need to do to get your business page visible for local search is to get as many (positive) reviews as you can. This means people will be asking for reviews a lot from now on probably.

Mike Blumenthal gave us a handy tip on how to get people to write a review for you. You can add ?review=1 to the end of a G+Business page and the review box will open directly once people will click the link.

The link will look like this: https://plus.google.com/101475377013754652573/posts?review=1

Google+ Local Launched

It has been coming for a while, Google was focussing on local elements a lot as well as Google+. Now the both are combined within Google+: Just now Google rolled out Google+ Local.

Google+ Local is what Marissa Mayer calls “a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations from people you trust in Google+.”

It does what it is expected to be doing: giving you local information and recommendations by your network. It suddenly got a lot more interesting to get local people connected to you on Google+. (more…)

Location: Fitting it Into the Marketing Mix

On the second day of SAScon one of the sessions I definitely wanted to see was the Location panel. Chaired by Dom Hodgson from Emberads with a panel consisting of Laurence O’Toole from Analytics SEO, Netbooster’s Teddie Cowell, Malcolm Maybury from 360spin, and Google’s Chris Johnson.

Local Trends & Ad Solutions

After the obligatory introductions the first presentation is from Chris Johnson, who talks about local trends & ad solutions. According to Chris 1 in 3 mobile searches has a local element. He shows an example of a Las Vegas company who utilised their Google Analytics data to customise their mobile campaigns, resulting in strong improvements in conversions. (more…)

Google: C+ – Still room for improvement….

Google has come in for a lot of criticism over the last year or so, some of it justified, some of it not so. Whilst it is unrealistic to expect and assume that Google is and potentially can be a perfect entity, I for one would certainly suggest there is some room for improvement within the current resultset both in terms of quality of results and support for existing products.

Sometimes struggles to focus
There isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t see something new in our search index, whether that change be algorithmic or increasingly structural within the search index. From the addition of comparison ads to new layout to cater for local searches to the integration of local – 2010 was certainly a bumper year for changes. (more…)

State of Search