Android Police reports Google is now rolling out the ability to create and share lists of places on the desktop version of Google Maps. This feature originally launched on mobile in February and now seems to be rolling out to the desktop interface. It allows searchers to keep track of saved places and share lists […]
Google Maps enables creating & sharing lists on desktop version Read More »
A few months ago, I teamed up with Ben Fisher from Steady Demand to test whether Google Posts have any influence on ranking in the local results (the “3-pack”). The methodology We picked two different businesses to test this on. One was a garage flooring company that had been struggling to rank for their main
Google is rebranding and rolling out its advertising and verification for local service providers that launched in beta in 2015 as Google Home Services. Now known as Local Services by Google, the program has expanded to 17 US cities with plans to be in 30 cities by year-end, Google announced Tuesday. Service providers can manage
Google home services ads program rebrands, expanding to 30 cities by end of 2017 Read More »
Google announced today that it is changing the way it labels country services on the mobile web, Google app for iOS and desktop Search and Maps. According to Google, one in five searches is now location-related. To make search results more relevant, Google says the country of service will no longer be indicated by the
Google searches now correspond to user location instead of domain Read More »
In July, Google added booking buttons to some local panel results. Now, Google is opening that up to more local businesses by integrating with their “scheduling partners” directly from the Google My Business console. When you log into your Google My Business account, you may see a new button in the console named “sign up
Businesses can now sign up to add booking buttons to their Google local results Read More »
Deciphering the Google algorithm can sometimes feel like an exercise in futility. The search engine giant has made many changes over the years, keeping digital marketers on their toes and continually moving the goalposts on SEO best practices. Google’s continuous updating can hit local businesses as hard as anyone. Every tweak and modification to its
A brief history of Google’s most important local search updates Read More »
Halloween is just around the corner. Soon you’ll be seeing little ghosts, goblins, witches and Donald Trump wannabes wandering your street in search of treats. SEO is a lot like these trick-or-treaters: If you’re brave enough to go into the scary dark night and knock on strangers’ doors, you could be rewarded with goodies! The
Ignoring these 6 SEO strategies could come back to haunt you Read More »
Google hosted its second Local Guides Summit for the people who contribute content about businesses in their local areas to Google Maps and Search earlier this week. It brought together 150 top contributors from 62 countries to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2016, there were 75 attendees from 37 countries. Last year, there were 5
Google now has 50M Local Guides adding content to Google Maps and Search Read More »
After my column about Home Service Ads came out last week, I got a message from Google with some great news. They told me two things: Google plans to add pure service-area businesses (SABs) back into the local results — this includes home-based businesses. The disappearance of results for home-based businesses in markets without Home
Service-area businesses are coming back to the local results Read More »
Google has long touted the growth of queries with local intent, such as those that include the words “near me” or a location name, such as a city. Over the past couple of years, the search giant has set about to monetize this ever-growing segment of queries. Whether directly on its own domain, such as
