WebProNews

Tag: Local

  • Google’s New Local Ratings Costing Businesses Clicks?

    It seems that Google’s decision to replace its star rating system with Zagat scores for local search results isn’t a huge hit with some businesses.

    Do you like Google’s new approach to local business ratings? Let us know in the comments.

    Last month, Google revealed what appears to be the primary reason it acquired Zagat, when it announced Google+ Local, effectively replacing Google Places with Google+ infused local results and Zagat scores.

    “Each place you see in Google+ Local will now be scored using Zagat’s 30-point scale, which tells you all about the various aspects of a place so you can make the best decisions,” Google explained, when Google+ Local was announced. “For example, a restaurant that has great food but not great decor might be 4 stars, but with Zagat you’d see a 26 in Food and an 8 in Decor, and know that it might not be the best place for date night.”

    Some businesses claim to be losing traffic because Google replaced its ratings system with Zagat’s scoring system. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to an interesting thread in the Google Product Forums.

    There, Dr. Rodney McKay writes, “I know for a fact that I am not the only one that feels this way as I have talked to others who have also experienced the same problem. Everything about Google+ seems to be fine if not better than Google Places except for the removal of the stars. Ever since they removed the star ratings, my actions or clicks went from 30 – 60 or more a day to 0 – 5. I am still on the first page of Google for relevant search terms and in most cases I am also the first listing, I am also receiving the same amount of impressions as before, but the absence of the stars has caused an obvious hit on my Google Business Listing effectiveness. Injunction with that, I have seen a drastic decline in business. Is there not a way to compromise and use the Zagat reviews as well as the stars?”

    Some have suggested that Zagat scores are more suited to restaurants, and aren’t so great for other kinds of businesses. There’s no question that Zagat has historically been restaurant-focused. Even now, if you go to Zagat.com, it’s all about restaurants. The welcome message says:

    ZAGAT.com, the world’s original provider of user-generated content, provides trusted and accurate restaurant ratings and curated restaurant reviews for thousands of top restaurants worldwide. Our robust restaurant search and rich free features help diners easily find the best restaurant for every occasion, every time – from New York to Los Angeles, London to Tokyo, Paris to Beijing and everywhere in between; from the most elegant restaurants for fine dining to casual, inexpensive spots for family meals, you’ll find it all on ZAGAT.com.

    Yet Google has thrust the Zagat system across the much broader local business search space. I don’t see why the system couldn’t actually help some businesses, as Zagat is a pretty well known restaurant guide. However, it might be less helpful in other industries. Currently, you can search for shoe stores, for example, and still get the new scoring system, rather than the starred reviews:

    John's run walk shop

    It’s a somewhat confusing system, given the food element of Zagat. When you click to “learn more about our scores and reviews,” Google explains that you may see scores depicted in one of two ways: “Scores with multiple aspects” or “Overall scores”.

    Multiple Aspects

    overall scores

    As we see in the case of the shoe store above, Google shows the overall. That way it doesn’t have to show the “food” element.

    “When we don’t have enough user ratings on different aspects, we will just show an overall score,” Google explains. “An overall score is comparable to a score in the primary aspect for a location, like food for restaurants.”

    Perhaps the system will get better in time for more than just restaurants, as it’s used more.

    The new system is definitely much broader than the previous star system, given its larger scale. 17 out of 30 doesn’t sound incredibly great but if you look at the scale, 16-20 represents “good to very good”. 0- 30 is pretty wide range to cover the four individual ratings Google goes by:

    3 Excellent
    2 Very Good
    1 Good
    0 Poor to Fair

    Google takes the average, and multiplies it by ten to come up with averaged scores.

    One person comment on Schwartz’s article, “People understand star ratings. Any kind of visual rating (progress bars, stars, thumbs-ups) just works. They don’t understand numbers. And when higher ratings are in red… it’s even worse. Numbers in red usually mean danger. Anything in red means danger unless it’s properly used to grab attention and visibly labeled as a call to action. It’s freaking common sense.”

    It would be interesting to know the local SEO effects of Googe’s move to the Zagat system. Survey results released this week indicate that many of the top ranking factors are directly related to reviews. Here are how a few of them ranked, according to that (out of the top 90):

    7. Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text) (REVIEWS)
    18. Product/Service Keywords in Reviews (REVIEWS)
    24. Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews (REVIEWS)
    26. Location Keywords in Reviews (REVIEWS)
    31. Velocity of Native Google Places Reviews (REVIEWS)
    34. Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc) (REVIEWS)
    46. High Numerical Ratings by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc) (REVIEWS)
    49. Overall Velocity of Reviews (Native + Third-Party) (REVIEWS)
    50. Quantity of Third-Party Unstructured Reviews (REVIEWS)
    52. Quantity of Native Google Places Ratings (no text) (REVIEWS)
    53. High Numerical Ratings of Place by Google Users (e.g. 4-5) (REVIEWS)
    62. Velocity of Third-Party Reviews (REVIEWS)
    69. High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5) (REVIEWS)
    74. Positive Sentiment in Reviews (REVIEWS)

    Of course, these are all based on survey responses from before Google announced Google+ Local.

    What do you think about Google’s new ratings system? Do you like it better or worse? Let us know in the comments.

  • Google Already Falls Behind Apple In Local Business Listings

    Apple, as I’m sure you’ve heard, made a number of major announcements this week at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Some of them were search-related. Apple’s browser, Safari, for example, is getting search functionality similar to Google’s Chrome, as well as Baidu as a search option. Apple’s Siri is doing more in the way of retrieving answers related to sports, movie and restaurant queries.

    The biggest search-related news to come out of the event, however, was that Apple dumped Google for its maps offering. That could be a big blow to Google-based local searches. Reports are now emerging that Apple will launch its new Maps project (due out with iOS 6 this fall) with even more business listings than Google has.

    According to a Bloomberg report, Apple already has about 20 million more business listings than Google, at 100 million to Google’s 80 million. The report also quotes Google’s Brian McClendon as saying that Google Maps has over a billion active users. I wonder how Apple’s move will impact that numer. Apple said at its event that it had sold 365 million iOS devices as of March.

    Apple is now using TomTom as its primary Maps data provider, and Yelp integration has been highly publicized, but these aren’t the only data sourced Apple is using. Greg Sterling points to an Apple copyright page (h/t: Matt McGee) that shows some other providers, which include: Acxiom, CoreLogic, DigitalGlobe, DMTI, Getchee, Intermap, LeadDog, Localeze, MapData Sciences Pty Ltd., MDA Information Systems, Urban Mapping and Waze.

    Of course Google is doing its own thing in the local search space. In addition to making its own maps improvements, it’s tying business listings to Google+ pages, and giving businesses some more social ways of engaging with customers.

    Apparently there’s a lot of money in local search these days. Yext also just secured a new $27 million round of funding to expand its business listings platform.

  • Local SEO Factors: Survey Attempts To Rank 90 Of Them

    Portland-based David Mihm Web Design put out the results of a big local search survey, attempting to rank the top 90 local search factors that influence a business’ local Google rankings. It’s an interesting list, but it’s hard to say just how accurate it is, as Google plays its rankings signals cards pretty close to its chest. That said, it has some pretty credible contributors. You can see the whole list (as well as all the results) here.

    There’s also the fact that the survey may lose its relevance sooner rather than later, as David Mihm acknowledges in the survey’s introduction.

    “Of course, all of this preceded the colossal sea change represented by the release of Google +Local on May 30,” he writes. “This release actually came just as the responses for this year’s survey started pouring in. Which means that although this year’s version is more likely to be outdated sooner than previous years, it will represent an incredibly valuable historical data point, and I’m already looking forward to looking at the differences in 2013’s survey.”

    Here’s the big list:

    1. Physical Address in City of Search (PLACE PAGE)
    2. Proper Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)
    3. Proximity of Address to Centroid (PLACE PAGE)
    4. Domain Authority of Website (WEBSITE)
    5. Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators) (OFF-SITE)
    6. City, State in Places Landing Page Title (WEBSITE)
    7. Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text) (REVIEWS)
    8. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations (OFF-SITE)
    9. Local Area Code on Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    10. HTML NAP Matching Place Page NAP (WEBSITE)
    11. Consistency of Structured Citations (OFF-SITE)
    12. Individually Owner-verified Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    13. Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts) (OFF-SITE)
    14. Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    15. Product / Service Keyword in Business Title (PLACE PAGE)
    16. Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Locally-Relevant Domains (OFF-SITE)
    17. Quantity of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts) (OFF-SITE)
    18. Product/Service Keywords in Reviews (REVIEWS)
    19. Page Authority of Landing Page Specified in Places (WEBSITE)
    20. Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    21. Product / Service Keyword in Website URL (WEBSITE)
    22. Location Keyword in Business Title (PLACE PAGE)
    23. Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains (OFF-SITE)
    24. Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews (REVIEWS)
    25. Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    26. Location Keywords in Reviews (REVIEWS)
    27. Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    28. Geographic Keyword in Website URL (WEBSITE)
    29. NAP in hCard / Schema.org (WEBSITE)
    30. GeoTagged Media Associated with Business (e.g. Panoramio, Flickr, YouTube) (OFF-SITE)
    31. Velocity of Native Google Places Reviews (REVIEWS)
    32. City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags (WEBSITE)
    33. Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    34. Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc) (REVIEWS)
    35. Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    36. Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    37. Association of Photos with Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    38. Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    39. Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    40. City, State in Places Landing Page H1/H2 Tags (WEBSITE)
    41. Product / Service Keyword in Place Page Description (PLACE PAGE)
    42. Location Keyword in Place Page Description (PLACE PAGE)
    43. Age of Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    44. Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    45. Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    46. High Numerical Ratings by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc) (REVIEWS)
    47. City, State in Most/All H1/H2 Tags (WEBSITE)
    48. Diversity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    49. Overall Velocity of Reviews (Native + Third-Party) (REVIEWS)
    50. Quantity of Third-Party Unstructured Reviews (REVIEWS)
    51. Product / Service Keywords in Place Page Custom Attributes (PLACE PAGE)
    52. Quantity of Native Google Places Ratings (no text) (REVIEWS)
    53. High Numerical Ratings of Place by Google Users (e.g. 4-5) (REVIEWS)
    54. Number of Actions Taken by Searchers on a Place Page (e.g. Driving Directions, Mobile Phone Calls) (PLACE PAGE)
    55. Numerical Percentage of Place Page Completeness (PLACE PAGE)
    56. Marginal Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)
    57. Number of +1’s on Website (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    58. Bulk Owner-verified Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    59. Matching Google Account Domain to Places Landing Page Domain (PLACE PAGE)
    60. Velocity of New Inbound Links to Domain (OFF-SITE)
    61. Number of Adds/Shares on Google+ (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    62. Velocity of Third-Party Reviews (REVIEWS)
    63. Click-Through Rate from Search Results (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    64. Authority of +1’s on Website (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    65. Association of Videos with Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    66. Velocity of New Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL (OFF-SITE)
    67. KML File on Domain Name (WEBSITE)
    68. Quantity of MyMaps References to Business (OFF-SITE)
    69. High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5) (REVIEWS)
    70. Velocity of Adds/Shares on Google+ (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    71. Loadtime of Places Landing Page (WEBSITE)
    72. Popularity (# of Views) of MyMaps References to Business (OFF-SITE)
    73. Authority of Adds/Shares on Google+ (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    74. Positive Sentiment in Reviews (REVIEWS)
    75. Location Keywords in Place Page Custom Attributes (PLACE PAGE)
    76. Matching, Public WHOIS Information (OFF-SITE)
    77. Velocity of +1’s on Website (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    78. Volume of Check-Ins on Popular Services (e.g. Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter) (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    79. Number of Shares/Likes on Facebook (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    80. Number of Followers/Mentions on Twitter (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    81. Authority of Followers/Mentions on Twitter (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    82. High Numerical Rating of hReview/Schema Testimonials (WEBSITE)
    83. Volume of Testimonials in hReview / Schema.org (WEBSITE)
    84. Velocity of Check-Ins on Popular Services (e.g. Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter) (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    85. Volume of HTML Testimonials (WEBSITE)
    86. Velocity of Followers/Mentions on Twitter (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    87. Velocity of Shares/Likes on Facebook (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    88. Inclusion of Offer on Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
    89. Authority of Shares/Likes on Facebook (SOCIAL/MOBILE)
    90. Participation in Adwords Express or Google Offers (OFF-SITE)

    One thing that strikes me, looking at this list, is that “Velocity of Adds/Shares on Google+” is so far down on it. Considering that Google just made Google+ the backbone of local search, it will be interesting to see how this is looked at the next time the survey is taken. In fact, it’s interesting to see social factors in general appearing so far down on the list, given this recent study from Searchmetrics showing such factors’ apparent importance to search in general.

    I suggest taking a look at the whole survey. It goes further than just the 90 things listed above, breaking it down by general signals, Place Page factors, off-site factors, on-site factors, review factors, social/mobile factors, and additional factors suggested, as well as numerous comments from experts.

    Local search, in general, may soon be getting turned on its ear. In addition to Google’s new Google+-based local strategy, Apple is doing some interesting things of its own, while dumping Google from its Maps app, and getting much more integrated with Yelp and making search improvements to Siri.

    Regardless of the ranking of the list above, it does stop and make you think about all the potential factors that could go into your local ranking, and many are certainly worth paying attention to.

    Here’s another recent attempt at listing Google local ranking factors, from a study by Bizible (including former Bing staff).

  • Google+ Hangouts On Air Rolled Out To Everyone

    Last month, Google announced that the Google+ Hangouts on Air feature was rolling out to all users. Today, Google says the roll out is now complete.

    Hangouts on Air lets Google+ users broadcast hangouts to anyone who wants to watch (as opposed to being limited among a handful of friends). Here’s a quick look at the feature, in case you’re not familiar with it:

    Google’s Matthew Leske shared this in an update on the social network:

    Matthew Leske
    Matthew Leske   1 hour ago Quick update to Hangouts On Air
    We've now rolled out to 100% of users in over 220 countries and territories! (goo.gl/4nzRJ)

    Just look for the new "Enable Hangouts On Air" option when starting a hangout. We can't wait to see what you'll share with the world. #googleplusupdate #hangoutsonair 18   6 Powered by socialditto

    “Typically Google+ features roll out onto our global infrastructure over a period of time,” says Google+ VP, Product Management, Bradley Horowitz. “I’m delighted to see that Hangouts On Air is now available to all of our users, ‘in over 220 countries and territories!’”

    Now that Google is making Google+ the backbone of local business search, businesses should be able to take advantage of the Hangouts On Air feature, and expand their audiences significantly. I wonder if the Hangouts On Air feature will come up in Google’s upcoming Google+ Local workshop.

  • Google Tells You Everything You Need To Know About Google+ Local

    Last week, Google revealed Google+ Local, which appears to be about merging Google+ business pages with Google Places. Google says it wants to show you “everything you need to know” about it, and it will do so in a Workshop Happy Hour on Wednesday June 6 from 6-8PM at the Google Cambridge office.

    “We’ll have a presentation on Google+ Local and show you how to use this new feature to add an extra layer of socialization to your search, your business, and give you a chance to ask any questions you might have about the product,” Google promises. “We’ll also be serving a scrumptious array of gourmet local (of course!) bites, beer from New England breweries and a selection of wines.”

    Google asks attendees to bring their own laptops. If you wish to attend, you need to RSVP using this form.

    On the form, Google asks if you have a Google+ account, and says if not, it will send you info on how to create one before the event, “so that you’re totally up to speed”.

    It looks like they’ll be hosting more of these things, because there is also a checkbox option for those who “can’t make this one, but would like to attend a workshop at some point in the future.”

    Google is really ramping up its efforts in the local business arena. It looks like they’re getting ready to launch a bigger suite of offerings for businesses, tapping into some of the services they’ve acquired over the last year, such as TalkBin and Punchd. More on all of that here.

  • Google Is Now Getting Serious About Local Businesses

    Google has big plans for local businesses, and making billions for itself in the process.

    Google announced a major Google+ push into local search last week, when it revealed Google+ Local, which effectively turns Google+ business pages into the new local business hub across Google Search, Google Maps and Google+.

    “Much of the information from a business owners’ Google Place page – such as the business address, phone number, description, and Google reviews, and photos submitted by business owners and users – will automatically be ported over to the upgraded local Google+ page,” a Google spokesperson told WebProNews.

    “People used to be able to find information about a business on the Google Places page, but now, they’ll find much of that same information on the local Google+ page and enjoy the added ability to share that information with the people in their Google+ Circles,” they said. “This means that a business listing that could previously be found across Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile is still available in all those places, but is now also more easily discoverable to the millions of users on Google+ as well.”

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is readying a new “local ad assault,” led by executives Jeff Huber and Marissa Mayer, which should surface next month, and combines a variety of local-geared services “under a single banner,” once called Business Builder internally. According to the publication, it will include services powered by recent acquisitions Punchd and TalkBin, as well as AdWords Express, and of course a heavy Google+ push.

    AdWords Express (formerly known as Boost) launched last July in the U.S. It targeted businesses who weren’t already using AdWords. The company considered it a “fast/simple way for local businesses to start advertising online in less than 5 minutes”.

    “AdWords Express helps potential customers find your website or Place page, and gives you a quick and straightforward way to connect with them and grow your business,” AdWords Express Product Mangager Kiley McEvoy said at the time. “You simply provide some basic business information, create your ad, and your campaign is ready to go.”

    Punchd was a mobile loyalty card startup Google acquired (also last July). It was described as “the replacement for your buy-10-get-1-free cards at your favorite shops.”

    Google acquired TalkBin the April before that. It was described as a way for your business to deliver better customer experience by letting customers use their mobile phones to communicate to your business in real time. Customers could send businesses feedback, suggestions, and questions through short messages, which allowed the businesses to quickly respond (“immediately,” according to TalkBin’s site).

    “Central to the effort is Google+, the company’s social network, which it hopes consumers will use to interact with local businesses that now have special Web pages on the network,” reports the WSJ’s Amir Efrati. “Those Google+ pages will draw traffic from the company’s Web-search engine. When shoppers visit these businesses, Google wants them to use their Internet-connected phones like a digital wallet, earning loyalty points and making payments at stores that sign up for Google’s new services. In turn, Google is hoping stores and other businesses will use their new Google+ pages to communicate with customers, such as by showing them special offers. And it hopes to persuade them to sign up for other Google products.”

    According to Efrati’s report, Google hopes its new offering, which combines all of this, will bring in “billions of dollars a year in new revenue,” and gets “more merchants to spend money on digital advertising, including on Google’s search engine”.

    It’s no secret that Google’s average cost-per-click has suffered in recent quarters, largely due to increased mobile queries, where CPCs just haven’t matched their desktop counterparts. During the company’s Q1 earnings call in April, CEO Larry Page said advertisers always spend most of their money on the major source of traffic, which is desktop, but that over time, that will reverse. Over time, CPCs may actually get better,” he said. “We’re very bullish.” He added that Google is making lots of investments in that area, such as Google Offers and Google Wallet. Those combined with the suite described in the WSJ report could have a significant impact.

  • Google+ Local Reveals Google’s Plan For Zagat

    Google has announced that it’s rolling out Google+ Local, which it bills as “a simple way to discover and share local information”.

    Google is finally revealing just what it’s going to do with it’s Zagat acquisition, as Google+ Local features Zagat scores, as well as recommendations from Google+ connections. “Since Zagat joined the Google family last fall, our teams have been working together to improve the way you find great local information,” says Director of Product Management, Avni Shah. “Zagat has offered high-quality reviews, based on user-written submissions and surveys, of tens of thousands of places for more than three decades. All of Zagat’s accurate scores and summaries are now highlighted on Google+ local pages. ”

    Google+ Local is also integrated into search, Google Maps and mobile (Android…iOS is on the way). Inside Google+, it has its own tab. When you use that tab, you can search for specific places or browse non-specific ones. When you click on a place, you’ll go to a local Google+ page with photos, Zagat scores, summaries, reviews from friends and other info, like hours of operation, address, etc. Google will show you the same info if your’e using Search or Maps, it says.

    Here’s what it looks like on Google+:

    Google Plus Local

    Maps:

    Google Plus Local on Maps

    Google+ Local on mobile:

    Google Plus Local on Mobile

    “Each place you see in Google+ Local will now be scored using Zagat’s 30-point scale, which tells you all about the various aspects of a place so you can make the best decisions,” says Shah. “For example, a restaurant that has great food but not great decor might be 4 stars, but with Zagat you’d see a 26 in Food and an 8 in Decor, and know that it might not be the best place for date night.”

    Users can share their opinions and photos of places, of course, which will help feed the personalization of your friends’ results.

    Here are a few videos about Google+ Local:

    For Businesses

    Business owners will be able to continue managing their local listings the same way, using Google Places for Business. Businesses can still verify their basic listing data, make updates, and respond to reviews. If you use AdWords Express, Google says your ads will operate as normal, and will automatically redirect customers to the destination you selected, or your current listing.

    Businesses will have to get used to a new layout and design for their listings.

    Google Plus Local Businss Listing

    “All your basic business information is still available,” notes Jen Fitzpatrick, VP Engineering. “And by streamlining the layout and putting more focus on photos and reviews, we hope to help you highlight what makes your business truly unique.”

    “With these updates, we’re connecting the millions of people on Google+ to local businesses around the world,” adds Fitzpatrick. “With one listing, your business can now be found across Google search, maps, mobile and Google+, and your customers can easily recommend your business to their friends, or tell the world about it with a review.”

    Google posted the following to its Google+ Your Business Page:

    <a href=Google+ Your Business” width=”50″ />
    Google+ Your Business   21 minutes ago Posted by +Vanessa Schneider

    Manage a Google Places page? That listing just got a simpler, cleaner look with the introduction of Google+ Local, a new way to discover businesses across Google.

    With Google+ Local, customers can now easily recommend your business to their friends, or tell the world about it with a review. We’ve added +Zagat reviews and updated our scoring system to their 30-point scale, allowing customers to better share what makes your business unique. Google+ Local is integrated into Search, Maps, mobile and as a new tab in Google+ (just look for “Local” along the left to get started). We are rolling out today, so if you don’t see it now, you’ll see it soon.

    Read more about what this means for you as a business owner over on the Google and Your Business Blog (http://goo.gl/bVi9Q), or check out our quick guide to what’s new (http://goo.gl/p1dni).

    Have feedback to share? Use the “Send feedback” link under the Google+ gear icon 52   11 Powered by socialditto

    Google says this is just a first step, that we’ll see more updates in the upcoming months, and that it will soon make it easier to manage listings on Google and take full advantage of the social features of Google+ pages, such as Hangouts, and sharing photos/videos/posts.

    Google has already given a handful of businesses access to such functionality. Check out The Meatball Shop for an example.

  • Google Talks More About Google Places & Google+ Local

    Earlier today, Google announced the launch of Google+ Local, a new social local search experience that will spread across Google+, Google Search and Google’s mobile search. It uses Zagat ratings and Google+ connections, and gives businesses a chance to make their local search presence more social.

    Google said business owners will continue to manage their local listings the same way, using Google Places for business, but Google seems to be making Google+ a much bigger part of the local search equation. We asked Google a few more questions about it. Following are responses from a Google spokesperson.

    Will businesses have to be on Google+ to be listed in Google Places?

    “Much of the information from a business owners’ Google Place page – such as the business address, phone number, description, and Google reviews, and photos submitted by business owners and users – will automatically be ported over to the upgraded local Google+ page.”

    “People used to be able to find information about a business on the Google Places page, but now, they’ll find much of that same information on the local Google+ page and enjoy the added ability to share that information with the people in their Google+ Circles. This means that a business listing that could previously be found across Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile is still available in all those places, but is now also more easily discoverable to the millions of users on Google+ as well.”

    Will users have access to the same info from Google Places that they always have, if they do not have Google+ accounts?

    “We encourage people to sign-in to Google+, as it will provide the best experience possible across Google. For example, if you sign-in, Google+ Local shows the recommendations from your friends and the Google+ community, and you can share your own experiences. You will also get free access to the full Zagat scores and reviews, and results will be tailored to your interests and location. People who choose not to sign-in to Google+ get all same information they could before, including basic information like a business address and phone number, as well as Google user reviews, maps, etc. They will also see Zagat score highlights and review snippets.”

    Is the Google Places name going away?

    “Google Places for Business remains the place business owners should go to manage their local listing. Over the coming months, we’ll enable easier management of a business’ presence across Google, whether a business owner is posting on his local Google+ page or updating his local listing. A single page through which businesses can manage their online presence is a top priority, and we’re committed to ensuring business owners have a clear voice in how their business is represented on Google, via Google+.”

  • Google Makes Changes To Local Listings On Android, iOS

    Google Makes Changes To Local Listings On Android, iOS

    Google has made some adjustments to local search results on Android and iOS devices. Users can now see an experience that more closely resembles that of the desktop experience.

    “I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of a picky eater,” writes Google software engineer Dan Zivkovic on the company’s Inside Search blog. “If I’m choosing a restaurant, I want to know that it has good reviews, that they’ll have food items I like, that it’s not too expensive, and all that. With the new changes to the local listings in search on mobile devices, now I’ll be able to see more details about places quickly and make decisions more easily — whether about restaurants or any other type of place.”

    “For example, if I search for [restaurants dallas] on my mobile phone now, I’m presented with a list of local results as usual,” says Zivkovic. “Now, if I click on the name of the place, I instantly see a summary of the business, with reviews, photos, and more details, similar to the local information you see when searching on your computer. Okay, this place looks fine, but what about the other results from the list? With a simple swipe of the page left or right, I can see the local result before or after this one, to quickly compare the different options and make a decision on where to eat.”

    Google has recently made some adjustments to how it handles local searches in general. Earlier this month, Google put out a list of algorithm changes it made in April. Several of them had to do with local. These included: more local sites from organizations, improvements to local navigational searches, more comprehensive predictions for local queries and improvements to the triggering of Google’s public data search.

    It’s getting closer to the end of May, so before too long we should see Google’s big list of changes for this month. It will be interesting to see how many of these are related to local searches.

  • Google Suggests Closing Old Listings In Places When Changing Addresses

    SEO Barry Scwhartz blogged about moving to a new office, saying that Google suggested he close his listing and open a new one. However, in doing that, there’s no guarantee that he would retain any reviews that had ben posted.

    He shares what a Google rep told him: “If you mark the old listing closed, and create a new one, I can’t say your reviews will definitely move to the new listing (I can’t make guarantees with Places). You could try just editing the address on the old listing, if you’re concerned about the reviews, but you might run in to address issues.”

    It seems odd that Google would suggest this to somebody over simply editing their address. When asked about this, Google told us, “A business owner also has the option to edit the address on their existing Google Places listing.” They pointed to this page about doing just that:

    Edit your business listing

    But if you’re moving, what about the people who are looking for you in your old location? Schwartz notes that Google is supposed to be launching a “We’ve Moved” option, but apparently that’s MIA so far.

  • Google Makes Some Local Search Adjustments

    On Friday, Google put out is monthly list of algorithm changes, for the month of April. We’ve taken a closer look at various entries on that list – there were over 50. Here’s our coverage so far:

    Google Algorithm Changes For April: Big List Released
    Google Increases Base Index Size By 15 Percent
    Google Makes More Freshness Tweaks To Algorithm
    Bi02sw41: Did Google Just Make Keywords Matter Less?
    Google Should Now Be Much Better At Handling Misspellings
    Google Tweaks Algorithm To Surface More Authoritative Results
    Google Launches Several Improvements To Sitelinks

    The list, along with the Penguin update and two Panda refreshes in April, is a lot for webmasters to take in. If local search is an areas of focus for you, you should find the following entries to the list among the most interesting:

    • More local sites from organizations. [project codename “ImpOrgMap2”] This change makes it more likely you’ll find an organization website from your country (e.g. mexico.cnn.com for Mexico rather than cnn.com).
    • Improvements to local navigational searches. [launch codename “onebar-l”] For searches that include location terms, e.g. [dunston mint seattle] or [Vaso Azzurro Restaurant 94043], we are more likely to rank the local navigational homepages in the top position, even in cases where the navigational page does not mention the location.
    • More comprehensive predictions for local queries. [project codename “Autocomplete”] This change improves the comprehensiveness of autocomplete predictions by expanding coverage for long-tail U.S. local search queries such as addresses or small businesses.
    • Improvements to triggering of public data search feature. [launch codename “Plunge_Local”, project codename “DIVE”] This launch improves triggering for the public data search feature, broadening the range of queries that will return helpful population and unemployment data.

    The first on the above list is interesting. Subdomains for various locales may be better idea than ever now. However, the implementation and delivery of content will no doubt be incredibly important. Here’s a bit about duplicate content and internationalizing.

    We actually referenced the second one on the list in a different article about how Google treats keywords. It appears that key phrases may carry less weight, at least for some searches. The local examples Google gives here indicate that this is particularly the case when you’re talking local.

    With regards to the third item, it will be interesting to see just how local predictions behave. It’s certainly something local businesses will want to pay attention to and analyze as it pertains to them.

    I’m not sure the fourth one will have many implications for most businesses, but it’s interesting from the use perspective, as Google looks to provide more data directly in search results.

    For some more insight into local search, check out this study from a couple months back, which attempted to identify local ranking factors.

  • Google Local Ranking Factors Listed By New Bizible Study

    Bizible, a company created by former Bing/Microsoft adCenter staff, has put together an interesting analysis of local ranking factors in Google, after surveying 22 local business categories and 22 US cities, and searching Google for the given localized term (i.e. “Seattle photographer”).

    “We grabbed the first 30 results in Google Local and all the local results from the integrated web results (1/3/5/7 packs, universal results, etc.) We then inspected each Places page for all of the ranking factors we could extract (see below for the complete list),” Bizible explains. “In total, we analyzed 477 queries, 14,309 individual search results, and 457,888 data points. We removed the seven queries that did not generate integrated local results, like ‘Phoenix insurance.’ Note that our analysis was performed before the recent ‘Venice’ Google search update in late February. We will run a followup study to see what has changed since then.”

    Venice involved improvements to ranking for local results, according to Google, who said in a blog post in February, “This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal.”

    For the universal or “integrated” results, as Bizible calls them, the top five ranking factors, according to the study, are:

    1. Having the primary category match a broader category of the search category was associated with a 1.42 improvement in rank. For example, primary category is set to “restaurant” and the search category was “pizza.”

    2. Having the search category or a synonym in the business name was associated with a 0.64 improvement in rank.

    3. Having the search category or a synonym in “at a glance” was associated with a 0.36 improvement in rank.

    4. Having five or more Google reviews was associated with a 0.31 improvement in rank.

    5. Having photos (atleast 1) was associated with a 0.25 improvement in rank.

    The study lists a top 10 for pure local results:

    1. Having five or more Google reviews was associated with a 1.47 improvement in rank.

    2. Having the search city in “at a glance” was associated with a 1.42 improvement in rank.

    3. Having the search category or a synonym in in review content was associated with a 0.97 improvement in rank.

    4. Having the search category or a synonym in the business description was associated with a 0.85 improvement in rank.

    5. Having the search category or a synonym in “at a glance” was associated with a 0.85 improvement in rank.

    6. Having the primary category match the search category was associated with a 0.79 improvement in rank.

    7. Having the search category or a synonym in in the business name was associated with a 0.75 improvement in rank.

    8. Having a secondary business category that was a broader category than the search category was associated with a 0.68
    improvement in rank. i.e. secondary category is “restaurant” when searching for “Seattle pizza.”

    9. Having at least one photo was associated with a 0.66 improvement in rank.

    10. Owner verified was associated with a 0.52 improvement in rank.

    The study has a number of “surprsing takeaways” associated with the findings as well. I’d encourage you to read the report for additional insight.

    Bizible says it looked at each ranking factor in isolation and accounted for variation in competitiveness across search terms. The firm says this study is only one in a series of five. The next ones will cover on-site optimization, citations, reviews, and in-bound links and off-site respectively.

    Hat tip to Andrew Shotland.

  • Google Mobile Search Gets New Recent Icon

    Google Mobile Search Gets New Recent Icon

    Google announced the launch of a new local search featurew for mobile devices. There’s a new “recent” icon that appears on Google.com on Android devices and iPhones, which will show info about places you have recently searched for.

    You can swipe right to see additional icons for other categories of places.

    Recent Google searches

    Google software engineer Junichi Uekawa writes on the Google Mobile Blog, “How often are you doing a Google search from your computer to find information about a place before going there? Now, next time you go to Google.com on your Android phone or iPhone, information about that place will be conveniently available under the new ‘Recent’ icon. Calling, getting directions or seeing details about the places you just searched for is now only one tap away.”

    “We provide this new convenience feature for users who have Web History enabled and are logged into Google when doing their search,” adds Uekawa. “Start by searching for a place on your PC or other devices, then login to Google.com’s mobile homepage and check the Recent icon. Information about previously searched places will be available under the Recent icon for about a day.”

    The feature should make finding things quicker and easier.

  • Beyond Google Zeitgeist: A Lot Of Local Searching

    Google released its annual Zeitgeist this week. We covered this here, but here’s a video reminder:

    Today, Google Director of Product Management Johanna Wright took to the official blog to point out how popular local searches have been. “Looking at these lists, I was surprised to see that, from city to city, almost all the terms across all the lists were related to local news, education, civic services or entertainment and activities,” she says. “I wanted to take a minute to take a deeper dive into these specific local trends that you won’t see published in Zeitgeist.”

    These local trends?

    “In nearly every single U.S. city we looked at, the top ten local terms showed that people were using Google to find local news stations and learn more about educational organizations,” she says. “Searches for school districts, universities and local libraries made the list in ten states, from the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, MN to the Chicago Public Library in Illinois.Pittsburgh, PA was the most media-hungry city in Zeitgeist this year, with all of their top 5 terms related to local news stations, while in New York City and Houston, TX, no news sources made the top ten lists.”

    Another key trend was regional differences within states. 40% of terms for Orlando, FL, for example, were related to education, but in Miami, no education-related terms whatsoever made the list.

    Other major trends seen in different cities included heavy searching for local civic services, local unemployment and job-related queries. Other local-related trends in heavy searching included lotteries, amusement parks, sports teams, etc.

    The point Wright is trying to make, as best as I can tell, is that Google is an important tool for people looking for local information. I think that was pretty obvious already, but seeing the trends laid out does kind of emphasize this point.

    Why do you think Google keeps making all of these local-related acquisitions? Recent examples would be Clever Sense and Zagat. This is another reason why a Google acquisition of Foursquare might not bee too far fetched.

  • Local Merchants Want to Advertise with Facebook & Google Offers [Infographic]

    MerchantCircle has released the following infographic looking at where local merchants are spending their marketing dollars:

    local marketing

    As you can see, this is more evidence of the rise of Facebook ads.

    A report came out this week indicating that Facebook is getting ready to get into mobile ads. It’s a little surprising they haven’t already done so, but the big IPO is expected to be just around the corner, so that should be another big money maker for the social networking giant.

    In terms of group deals, it’s worth noting that more businesses surveyed intend to use Google Offers than Groupon in the future. I’d say there are two main reasons why it is in last place for those people have used right now. For one, it’s still fairly new. For two, it’s not available in a whole lot of markets yet, though it is rapidly expanding.

    It’s a pretty good sign for Google Offers that it is so close to LivingSocial in the chart. It’s really interesting to see that nearly twice as many people are using “other” as Groupon, though it makes sense, with all of the local-based and vertical-based deals offerings out there.

  • Google Acquires Clever Sense (Groupon Doesn’t)

    Last week, there were reports that Groupon was in talks to acquire Clever Sense, makers of the Yelp-like app Alfred. Well, it turns out that the company that tried to acquire Groupon for $6 billion last year has acquired it instead.

    Google has acquired the company for an undisclosed sum. TechCrunch, which got the scoop (and was also the source on the Groupon talks), got this statement from Google:

    “The Clever Sense team is at the forefront of developing a recommendation engine that connects the online and offline worlds by delivering personal and sophisticated information to users at the right time, the right place and within the right context. By combining their technology and expertise with our team and products, we’ll be able to provide even more people with intelligent, personalized recommendations for places to eat, visit and discover.”

    Clever Sense co-founder and CEO Babak Pahlavan writes on the Clever Sense site:

    When we embarked on our mission to curate the world around us, we knew we were taking on a huge challenge. We worked hard to build the Clever Sense Platform to tackle the problem of information overload in the real world. Using that platform, we built Alfred to create a simple, enjoyable, and powerful way to discover new places and help make decisions on the go. It’s exciting to see that our passion turned into something people around the world use regularly to make everyday decisions that are just right for them.

    Today, we are excited to join Google and start a new chapter in curating the world around us! Together with the Google team, we will accelerate our efforts toward this shared vision. Google helps local businesses connect with potential customers, and its worldwide presence can bring the value of Clever Sense to a much larger audience.

    Discovering local information is extremely important to both users and businesses, and the acquisition of Clever Sense will benefit both.

    The journey has been nothing short of incredible. Our vision has only become bigger, and our commitment stronger. With Google and Clever Sense working together, our entire team looks forward to building more intelligent, serendipitous and magical services!

    We didn’t achieve this success alone. We sincerely want to thank our users, investors, our amazing board and superb advisors. We will be your loyal fans for life.

    Here’s a look at Clever Sense’s app Alfred:

    Yelp, which has already complained frequently about Google’s practices in its territory is probably not going to like this acquisition very much.

  • MapQuest Vibe Launched to Rank Local Businesses

    AOL announced the launch of MapQuest Vibe, which it says generates “real-time rankings of neighborhoods, local hotspots and points-of interests using sophisticated algorithms.”

    “MapQuest Vibe helps people cut through the ratings clutter by providing actual rankings based on key criteria within a richer neighborhood context,” said MapQuest VP of product, Vijay Bangaru.”Presenting neighborhood data in a structure that’s enhanced by geographic context is critical to accelerating exploration of what’s around you. We believe we have a unique platform to give people contextually relevant information that helps them make decisions.”

    The product will automatically populate the user’s current city or neighborhood (assuming that city/neighborhood is available, which mine isn’t, though it is still in beta), and let you search for other neighborhoods and give you the most popular and most frequented hotspots or clusters of businesses on streets, intersections, etc.

    The product determines the best-ranked businesses in the dining, shopping, activities, beauty/spas, local services, health/med, and lodging/accommodations categories.

    MapQuest Vibe

    It operates based on “vibe score,” which is generated by interactions on MapQuest.com, cartographic analysis and “user signals”.

    “When you think about it, neighborhoods are fuzzy by nature – constantly changing as businesses come in and out of service and people’s interests shift,” said Simon Hill, principal product manager, MapQuest. “MapQuest Vibe evolves in the same way, providing current information to help people feel like a local wherever they are and wherever they visit. Additionally, the voting mechanism helps create wider local community purpose that reflects the online, social and physical reality of urban communities.”

    “Our users have long been using MapQuest to discover what’s in and around their area, but with more than 18 million domestic points of interest, we felt there was a need to dive deeper into what we could deliver to our users,” said MapQuest SVP and General Manager Christian Dwyer. “MapQuest Vibe takes that enormous pool of information and helps people make better decisions on what appeals to them using the social heart and wisdom of the crowds.”

    AOL says MapQuest gets 39 million unique visitors per month.

  • Foursquare, Mayor Emanuel Promote Chicago Check-Ins with Windy City Badge

    In Chicago, 250,000 different users have checked-in to 80,000 different venues 10,000,000 times using Foursquare. With those stats, it’s one of the most Foursquare-loving cities in the world. That’s why Foursquare teamed up with the Mayor’s office to launch a new city-specific badge that users can unlock by checking-in locally.

    There are plenty of achievements on Foursquare, known as “badges,” that are city-specific. For instance, there’s one for checking-in above a certain street number in New York City and there are badges for specific events that taken place in certain cities like SXSW. The new Windy City Badge is the first badge that really promotes checking-in around an entire city.

    Users can unlock the badge by visiting 5 of the 21 places on the list. The places on the list are all local attractions or small businesses that are historically significant or popular around Chicago. The list includes “Dat Old Fashioned Donut” Donut Shop, The Oriental Institute Museum, The Garfield Park Conservatory and the 63rd Street Beach.

    Of course, the badge serves as a motivation to get people to visit local establishments. It aims to help people explore the city and find some of its best local venues.

    As part of this launch, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Foursquare as “Chicago’s Mayor.” He currently has over 1,000 followers on the service, and says that he will be checking-in to locations all over Chicago to help promote the new Windy City Badge.

    @foursquare
    foursquare    Now you can follow @ChicagosMayor on foursquare (http://t.co/bDYHIzRw) and earn the Windy City badge! (http://t.co/UofYAfEr) #newbadge 2 days ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    @ChicagosMayor
    ChicagoMayorsOffice    Co-Founder @Naveen helps explain the new #WindyCityBadge on @Foursquare http://t.co/0ZwWNN04 2 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Cities everywhere could benefit from this kind of specialization in the future. Like the Windy City Badge, other badges can be based off the new Foursquare Lists feature. This could promote local businesses and attractions by harnessing the power of the achievement. Everyone loves to win something – and badges like this can serve as an incentive to visit locales in the same way holding down a Mayorship does.

    Would you like to see special Foursquare badges for your city? Let us know in the comments.

  • Why Zagat Might Be a Smarter Purchase for Google Than Yelp

    By now you’ve heard the news that Google has purchased Zagat Reviews. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Zagat, it has a worldwide set of reviews that travelers have relied on for decades to choose the right restaurant.  Google famously flamed out in its bid to buy Yelp in 2009, and has finally added the restaurant reviews it has craved. Not everyone thinks that Zagat was a worthy relacement for Yelp. One wag was quoted in TechCrunch as saying, “If you were losing to Wikipedia would your next move be to buy Encyclopedia Britannica?“

    As big a fan as I am of the snarky comment, however, this one doesn’t ring true for me.  I totally understand how Yelp reviews are very important and I see why Google went after them first, but I am left wondering whether Google ended up far better off than people think, perhaps even better off than if they had bought Yelp.

    First, regardless of whether they bought Yelp or Zagat, Google has desperately wanted to have its own reviews to add to its local offerings and now they have them. What’s more, I believe that Zagat reviews have a better brand image than Yelp’s. Whatever advantage Yelp might have had in cachet over Zagat was that Zagat might have seemed old school, but now that Google owns them, you can bet they can overcome any dowdy image that might have dogged them. How long before you see a Zagat app on Android that allows you not only to search for restaurants but to be one of the raters yourself?

    Then, there is the question of the price. That same TechCrunch article linked above pegs the price at somewhere below $66 million, because there is no government review needed for acquisitions under that price. Contrast that to the half-billion dollars reportedly rejected by Yelp. Even if you print money the way Google does, having an extra $400+ million to spend on other things can’t hurt. They could buy six more content companies the size of Zagat, for example and still have some change left over.

    But people who criticize this deal are missing something else. Zagat is not like Encyclopedia Britannica, because Zagat reviews are not written by one person based on one opinion. Zagat’s has a system that uses hundreds of thousands of surveys to combine for their restaurant ratings. Their system is full of fact checkers and other checks and balances to make sure that the reviews are accurate.

    Now, think about that. Suppose you take that systematic process that Zagat has painstakingly worked out over the years and you hand it to Google. Google could very easily start with Zagat reviews and then add a social media ratings and review component that allows Zagat’s to scale their reviews way higher than they do now. And fact checking of reviews is woefully missing from ratings systems today and sorely needed. Even simple things like, “Is the restaurant still open?” or “Is that phone number still accurate?” would be a major improvement to Google’s local offerings, because Google just doesn’t keep data up to date today.

    So, stay with me here. On top of what Google bought that everyone knows they bought–Zagat’s restaurant ratings–is it possible that Zagat’s system of collecting and curating ratings could be applied to other businesses, too? All of these rating systems have developed the Yelp way, aggregating many ratings of unknown quality. Google, for all of its love of technology, was the first one to implement a search ranking system based on links, allowing the human element to affect search quality–permanently for the better. It wouldn’t shock me if Google wanted to use humans in a scalable process that improved ratings quality.

    But even if this deal is about nothing more than buying a set of restaurant ratings, it is still a very good deal for Google. Expect to see these ratings incorporated into Google forthwith, which is a major improvement for all restaurant searches.

    Check out Biznology for more articles by Mike Moran

  • Google Gives Local Users More Power in Map Editing

    Google Gives Local Users More Power in Map Editing

    Google announced today that it has launched the Regional Expert Reviewer program fro Google Map Maker.

    If you’re unfamiliar with Google Map Maker, it’s an offering from the company, with which users can add their own knowledge areas to improve Google Maps.

    With the new program, mappers Google deems “distinguished” get increased reviewing capabilities within their state, country or region of expertise.

    “Our Regional Expert Reviewers earned their appointed positions by making an impressive number of high quality contributions to Google’s base map, and by actively participating with Google and other mappers on our Map Your World discussion forums,” explains Google Map Maker software engineer Robin Anil. “Much as Google reviewers are differentiated by a ‘G’ icon next to their username in Google Map Maker, you can recognize a Regional Expert Reviewer by an ‘R’ icon next to his or her username when they review your edits. These moderators are located all around the world, and the Map Maker team is thrilled to be working alongside such expert mappers to ensure our quality of reviews remain high in our ongoing effort to build better maps.”

    “Map Maker is rooted in the belief that local knowledge is essential to creating accurate maps, this is the very reason we put mapping in users’ hands,” says Anil. “They can be reassured that their edits may be reviewed by other locals who are familiar with their area and are invested in the quality of mapping around their community. Additionally, all Map Maker contributors can, at any time, review and comment on the edits in their communities. After all, contributors know their neighborhood better than anyone else. Now, their reviewers can, too.”

    More information about how to use Map Maker can be found here.

  • Zagat Acquired by Google

    Google just announced that it has acquired Zagat. This should be pretty huge for Place Pages.

    Zagat is of course a big name consumer review service.

    On the Official Google Blog, Marissa Mayer writes:

    Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.

    With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry. Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat more than 32 years ago, Zagat has established a trusted and well-loved brand the world over, operating in 13 categories and more than 100 cities. The Zagats have demonstrated their ability to innovate and to do so with tremendous insight. Their surveys may be one of the earliest forms of UGC (user-generated content)—gathering restaurant recommendations from friends, computing and distributing ratings before the Internet as we know it today even existed. Their iconic pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and “snippeting” sentiment were “mobile” before “mobile” involved electronics. Today, Zagat provides people with a democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings.

    @marissamayer
    marissamayer    Acquisition announcement haiku: Delightful deal done; Zagat and Google now one; foodies have more fun! http://t.co/T2gZ4yC #gogooglelocal 20 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @Zagat
    Zagat Buzz    We’ve just been acquired by Google! http://t.co/kaZH9G6 17 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    What other Googlers are saying (on Google+):

    Vic Gundotra: “+1 to this news!”

    Kavi Harshawat: “Super excited about this! I love Zagat and use them every time I visit a new city.”

    Hunter Walk: “Love Zagat as part of GOOG family. Wrote in 07/08 about their missed opportunity on the web.” He also said, “Pro tip: Zagat (just acq by Google) pronounced like ‘the cat’ not ‘zay-gat’ or ‘zah-gat’”.

    Here’s what others are saying:

    @demandrichard
    Richard Rosenblatt    googles acquisition of zagat is very smart IMO; great quality local content to supplement their local ambitions. SMART. 32 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @WSJ
    Wall Street Journal    OpenTable is down more than 10% after Google announced its acquisition of Zagat http://t.co/lZYl81d 8 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @garyvee
    Gary Vaynerchuk    HUGE! http://t.co/3i1v0M9 Zagat pulled off a huge win here! google is shopping 16 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @stevenjayl
    Steven Levy    Can’t wait to see the Zagat ratings for Google cafes. http://t.co/WcraIKC 29 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @Scobleizer
    Robert Scoble    Wow, Google just bought Zagat. http://t.co/baaJpBB This is HUGE for Google reviews. 34 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @shelholtz
    Shel Holtz    Google wants to be a publisher. They’ve just acquired ZAGAT to feed content into local offerings. http://t.co/l97Iotb (via @IreneKoehler) 7 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @carlyafisher
    Real Carly Fisher    Google-Zagat merger indicates two things: Google has a lot of expendable funds; most people still don’t know what Zagat is. 9 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Terms have not been disclosed.