Tag: Local

Google Makes it Harder to Hide from a Bad Reputation

Google is now including reviews from more sources on its Place Pages for businesses. They’re no longer coming from just review sites. They’re coming from news sites, blogs, and more.

Mike Blumenthal, who writes for the Understanding Google Maps & Local Search blog, has an in depth analysis of this change and received confirmation on its existence from Google Maps Product Manager Carter Maslan.

"This change portends a dramatically changed review landscape where both the volume of reviews for some types of businesses will rise and the dynamics of reputation management will change. It could very well shift the balance of power away from centralized review sites and could be one more impediment to any recovery of the IYP sites," says Blumenthal.

"Google Maps is now using the new capability of sentiment analysis to better understand content and add ‘reviews’ from non traditional sources like newspaper articles and single blog entries that appear across the internet," he says. "This new capability will dramatically increase the reach of hyperlocal blogs, change how businesses manage the review process and could, over the long haul, change how and where reviews are generated and aggregated."

It is not particularly surprising that Google would reach to more sources for review-like content on Place Pages. Considering the breadth of information Google indexes, it seems fairly obvious that when Google brings together information about a business it would pull from a wide variety of sources.

Blumenthal is right in that this highlights a possible need for some reputation management adjustments for businesses. However, it doesn’t seem like anything alerts won’t be able to help you keep track of, and you should probably be using those anyway if you are concerned about maintaining a good online reputation (which can increasingly affect your offlline reputation).

Provided that they offer customers a positive experience, Google’s inclusion of more sources in Place Pages could work to the benefit of businesses. It’s hard to earn a good reputation if you don’t deliver something positive to begin with. These new additions should only make it harder to hide from a bad reputation.

Related Articles:

> Google Adds Place Pages to Google Earth

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

> Will Google Eliminate the Need for Small Business Websites?

January 18, 2010
Google Ditches Local Listings for SEOs and Designers

As 2009 came to a close, Google managed to get SEOs riled up for one last controversial topic. For some time, SEOs and web designers have been noticing that Google has not been showing local listings in search results for queries related to their businesses – even location-specific ones.

Should SEOs and designers be worried about local listings? Comment here.

As Matt McGee mentions in a Search Engine Land piece, even a query like "candy" without any geographical indicator will bring up a seven-pack of local results, but a query for "seo" or "web design" or even something as specific as "web design vancouver" will bring up no local listings whatsoever (although the organic results still heavily favor local businesses in location-specific queries).

Needless to say, some SEOs and designers are taking this as something of a slap in the face, justified or not. Search engine optimization and web design are both services after all, and just about every other type of service you can think of will yield local listings in a Google search.

While this phenomenon was originally thought to be a bug, Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick fame points to a Google Maps Help thread where a Googler going by Joel H. tells a different story:

Today, we’re intentionally showing less local results for web design / SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn’t display local listings today. We believe this is an accurate representation of user intent. In some cases, we do show local listings, however (as NSNA/php-er noted) [web design in bellingham]. I’m sure some of you feel we should be displaying local results for queries like [Web Design Vancouver]. I understand that concern, but based on our understanding of our users, we feel this is the right decision for now.

I’ll give the usual disclaimer that we’re constantly working on improving the user experience and results will vary over time. So, this could change in the future, but I wanted to be explicit about what we’re doing today.

So if you use the word "in" in your query, you are more likely to get the local results. Some still have a hard time finding the logic in this move.

"I’m all for their interest in balancing for user intent – it’s their business, their product – but I’m missing the logic here," comments Bill Sebald.

"I find this disturbing," says Scott Clark. "If I have a physical location in a given area, offer a service to customers in that area that is close to their query, then onebox listings should appear as they do for other creative-class industries."

Not all SEOs have such a problem with what Google is doing though. "I want to be found by people everywhere, not just in the small city I happen to live in at the moment," a content writer comments.

"But you would think that if people typed in a city name or other location, they are actually looking for local results and the maps could be useful," they add. "Although if you have optimized your website for your location, you should get found anyway. And I do all my work online, people don’t need to visit me or even know where I am located so in that sense the maps aren’t always useful or necessary."

People are saying that in some countries, they are still seeing local results for the type of query in question. It is possible that Google has just not rolled out the changes everywhere yet. The quoted content writer suggests that Google just doesn’t know the user-intent of all of its countries’ people as well as it does for the countries where the changes exist.

What do you make of Google showing less local results for SEOs and web designers? Will it hurt local businesses? Share your thoughts.

Related Articles:

> Google Adds Place Pages to Google Earth

> Google Comes to Brick and Mortar Store Windows

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

January 16, 2010
Google Tailors Mobile Search Suggestions to Location

Google has launched search suggestions based on geographical location for iPhone and Android devices. This is currently only available in the United States.

"Typing a query into the search box on a phone can often be slow and difficult," says Google’s Mobile Engineering Team. "For this reason, relevant search suggestions that match your intended query can meaningfully reduce the time and effort it takes to submit a search."

"For example, when users in the Boston metro area begin typing ‘Muse’, suggestions such as ‘museum of science boston’ and ‘museum of fine arts boston’ are provided because people near Boston frequently look for these very popular museums," the team explains. "On the other hand, users in San Francisco who begin their query with ‘Muse’ will see suggestions for museums in the San Francisco area. By using the device’s current or most recent location, Google is able to offer even better, more useful suggestions than ever before."

Users can simply go to Google.com on their phone’s browser and start typing a query to see the suggestions, although they may have to refresh the page first. Users also must have "save recent locations" and "allow use of device location" turned on in the settings.

This feature is just the latest in Google’s frequent upgrades that may have a direct impact on local businesses. This week, Google also made its Place Pages for businesses more useful by letting businesses update them in real-time.

Related Articles:

> Google Simplifies Finding Nearby Businesses from Your Phone

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

> Can Search Engine Optimization Survive Google?

January 15, 2010
Google’s Place Pages Just Got More Useful

Google has introduced some new features for its recently launched Place Pages for local businesses. Most notably, businesses can now instantly (close anyway) post data to their Place Pages from Google’s Local Business Center dashboard. If you log in, you can post updates, coupons, announcements, etc. that will go live in minutes.

It isn’t hard to see why this could be a useful tool for businesses who are running time-sensitive promotions, and want anybody using Google to find a local service in that area to see them.

In addition, Google is introducing a badge for listings that have been claimed in the Local Business Center. "This helps our users identify listings that have been updated and improved by their business owners, helping them to trust that the information about your business is as accurate as possible. We are also making it even easier to claim your listing directly from the Place Page by following the ‘Business owner?’ link," says Google.

The badges have actually been out there for a while, but not formally launched (and perhaps not available to everybody).

"We’re excited about how Place Pages can help business owners connect with the large number of new and existing customers who visit these pages each day. These users come to Place Pages to easily find basic information, photos, and reviews about your business, as well as a map, Street View photos, and nearby transit information to help them get to your doorstep."

Local search and Place Pages appear to be an increasingly growing part of Google’s focus. The Favorite Places program and "Near Me Now‘ feature are more evidence of that.

Related Articles:

> Google Adds Place Pages to Google Earth

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

> Will Google Eliminate the Need for Small Business Websites?

January 14, 2010
Google Simplifies Finding Nearby Businesses from Your Phone

Google has released what is called the "Near me Now" feature for the iPhone and Android browser. The feature shows nearby businesses by category based on the user’s location.

"’Near me now’ was designed to address two user problems," explains Google’s Mobile team. "First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you’re standing right in front of a business or if it’s just a short walk away. For example, you may want to know what other customers think about a restaurant before you go inside (see quick video below) or what they have been raving about on the menu before you order. By selecting the ‘Explore right here’ option, you can find out more about a place ‘right here’ with just a few clicks."

The restaurant example is illustrated in the following clip:

"Second, we wanted to make searching for popular categories of nearby places really simple," the team adds. "Imagine that you emerge from the subway station and you want to grab a coffee, but you don’t see a coffee shop around you. You can simply search for all nearby coffee shops by using ‘Near me now’. To search other categories of places not shown, ‘Browse more categories’ provides access to our local search product with more category choices."

The feature is available in the US only at this point. It works for iPhone (OS 3.x) or Android-powered devices with version 2.0.1 and up. Users have to enable their location for the feature to even appear.

Related Articles:

> Google Unveils Nexus One "Super Phone"

> Google Reader’s Mobile Interface Upgraded

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

January 8, 2010