On Monday, my SearchEngineLand column will preview the results of a new Google Places Ranking Factors study conducted by Bizible. Aaron Bird, CEO & Night Janitor of Bizible, approached me a month or two ago about the study and I was intrigued by his approach. The study is a scientific complement to David Mihm’s well-known […]
Linda Buquet has an interesting read on the recent Google Venice Update, which among other things appears to have boosted local businesses’ ability to rank in the organic, non-Places results: “If my research is right and 75% of searches are for “cityless keywords” then this is a huge opportunity that didn’t exist before – to […]
As some of you may know, a few days ago my Google Place Page was sleeping with the fishes. My initial suspicion was that SEOs who work out of residential addresses had been targeted for a Google Places hit job. I guess I should have taken my own advice, because boy was I ever wrong. […]
The caller-ID said “Google, Inc.” I was intrigued. The voice on the other line asked if I “serviced clients at this address”. I was busy servicing a client with the other hand (on the phone – get your mind out of the gutter) so I said that my clients were all over the world, which […]
And while I’m on the subject, Stever has a great post up on some tips for Encouraging Google +1 Votes for Local Business Websites. Key point for unsuspecting SMBs to take note of: “Forget the new schemes popping up to buy hundreds of plus 1 votes. Those will be meaningless to a local business as […]
It’s pretty clear that Google Search Plus Your World – Boy that sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel where some machine has taken over and is breeding humans for advertisers (never happen right?) – could radically alter the SERPs for queries that match up with content with strong social signals in your network […]
Since Google Places started adding more photos to Place Pages I have been noticing a fair amount of wackiness. So the tip of the day is to check your Place Page and make sure the photos are to your liking. As Mike Blumenthal found things can go from Rated G to Rated X in no […]
A frustrated practitioner of bail bonds SEO laments about Google Places, Where Crooked Businesses Take Over: “Here’s another great example of the wonder of Google Places and Google’s dealings with Local Search. Type in Google, “Santa Clarita Bail Bonds.” (this example could be done for many other keywords if you care to try) You will see […]
The NY Times reports on the epidemic of open businesses that are reported as “closed” in Google Places and name checks Linda Buquet and Mike Blumenthal, who successfully changed the Googleplex’s Place Page status to “closed” a few weeks ago (SEO Badass award goes to you Mike). Howard Lerman, CEO of Yext, sees an opportunity […]
With Google rolling out it’s “new and improved” expanded sitelinks for “brands”, the SEO game just got a bit trickier, particularly for local queries. Here’s what you get when searching for some pig feet + foie gras heaven at Au Pied De Cochon: Some observations: If you rely on queries for business names to generate […]