Google Places Best Ever Ratings: Do They Matter?
Have you heard of the “Best Ever” medal for businesses on Google Places? Surely you must have, since it was introduced almost 8 months ago. It’s a great concept, really. In case you didn’t know, you have 10 “Best Ever” medals to award to your most beloved places, from your [...]
Google+ Pages are Here for Businesses!
After waiting and one major false start, I’m pleased to announce that Google+ Pages are here. It was announced earlier today on the Google Blog (h/t Pat Strader) and they’ve been rolling out permissions apparently throughout the day. So if you’re trying to sign up and you’re not able to [...]
Who’s Using Google’s Personalized Search?
Have you ever wondered why your Google search results look different on other computers to your own? Have you ever wondered why you get different results when searching from within a different browser that isn’t signed into Gmail? It’s personalized results, yknow. Just have a look at the following video [...]
Is Google the Simon Cowell of Search Engines?
There’s only one thing worse than you thinking your kid is super special, and that’s somebody else vicariously thinking the same and you liking it on facebook. As much as Simon Cowell must be stopped in his pursuit of destroying music, his ability to destroy a parent/child axis of delusion [...]
Google Places Goes It Alone (with Reviews) – UPDATED
If you weren’t paying attention last week you missed that Google Places has dropped 3rd party review ratings and stars from its pages. That meant for many companies going from a dozen reviews to 0-1 or from hundreds to a handful. Which makes this a big deal. But what exactly [...]
Google’s +1 for AdWords Ads Misses the Point
We’ve had clients asking us about our thoughts regarding Google’s recent roll-out of its +1 button, so I thought I’d share my thoughts here. This post will focus mostly on +1 for AdWords; you can bug Paul if you’d like to get his thoughts on Google +1 for SEO. Update: [...]
Interview with Cars.com on Dealer Ratings: Part 2
On Wednesday, we posted the first half of an interview with Nick Hummer of Cars.com about how their new dealer ratings & review system is coming along. Here for your reading pleasure is the second half of our discussion. JS: One of the things I thought was interesting is that [...]
Bing Giving More Prominence to Local Review Site Ratings
I really wasn’t looking to do a second post today, but saw something on a bing search that caught my eye: they’re now putting logos for various review sites along with a more prominent rating grade on the sides. Take a look here (click to enlarge): And it’s not just [...]
Ding Dong, Google Tags are Dead
Yes, in case you missed us warning you earlier on facebook, Google Tags died on April 29th. Or, to use Google Places’ terminology, “retired.” That sounds much nicer, doesn’t it? Unless, it’s a nightmare retirement home like Toy Story 3′s Sunnyside Day Care! A silver lining – local and small [...]
Social Media Week, Upcoming Appearances & Facebook Deals
I have a few more gigs coming up in the next couple weeks, so I wanted to pass along some details. As a thank you for reading through this mostly self-promotional post, I’m adding info about facebook Deals at the end, which you will want to read if your organization [...]
How to Protect Your Online Reputation – Ohio State University
As mentioned previously, on Saturday I presented “How to Protect Your Online Reputation” at THE Ohio State University’s Digital Media in a Social World. They’re sending over the raw footage that we’ll be chopping up. In the meantime, if you have 45 minutes or just want to skip through to [...]
Free SEMPO SEO Site Audit Webinar at Noon Eastern Today
Just a quick reminder that our very own Paul Woodhouse will be presenting “How to Perform an SEO Site Audit” today at noon Eastern for the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO). We’re pleased to have had Paul selected by SEMPO to deliver this presentation. This Webinar isn’t for everyone, [...]
How SEOs Can Protect Themselves Legally
Last week, a pretty interesting legal case with ramifications for search engine optimization came to light. Here are a few snippets from the press release announcing the verdict (emphasis added): Based on the jury’s verdict, Judge Margaret B. Seymour of the United States District Court for South Carolina, entered judgment [...]
Free Google AdWords Audit
