Local Search Wrap Up 4/2/10

When I first started blogging someone told me to always do a wrap-up post on Friday so I wouldn’t have to come up with new content for that day.  Since my blog has been somewhat sparsely populated with posts over the past few months I figured I would give it a shot.  Maybe it’ll stick:

1. Mike Blumenthal reports on a petition from citizens of Rogers, MN, a town which has been mysteriously deleted from Google Maps, to get Google to change its name to Rogers until the town reappears.
2. Google Maps launched a new blog about the Google Maps API and also announced that it is now easier to upload your data to Google Maps.
3. Lawrence Coburn wrote a great analysis of CitySearch’s CityGrid strategy – CitySearch and the Battle for the Local Merchant’s Soul
4. Amy Arnold of SearchInfluence urged local marketers to break out of the local link same old, same old by getting you to review your current linking strategies and look for new sources.
5. Matt McGee uncovered yet another SMB reputation management tool called MyReviewsPage.
6. Brad Geddes announced the beta of Certified Knowledge, an Adwords Training service.
7. Barry Schwartz discovered that Google may be auto-detecting your location and showing it under the search box
8. Loopt launched Loopt Pulse, an iPad app that helps you plan what you are going to do tonight and is probably a precursor to hundreds of other similar apps from local search co’s.
9. Mike Boland blogged about RingRevenue, a new pay per call service that sounds a bit like Yext.
10. Greg Sterling announced he was going to run Google Local and then announced that you just got punkd dude!