An update on the conferences I’ll be speaking at/attending this Spring: GetListed.org Local University, SMX West, SearchFest, Local Search Summit, DFWSEM, and SMX Advanced.

Back in 2008, when Pat Sexton and I were brainstorming the ideas that would eventually turn into GetListed.org, one of our very first long-term goals was to put together a low-cost seminar series that would introduce business owners to the world of online marketing. It pleases us greatly to announce a major step towards that goal: the very first GetListed.org Local University event in Spokane, WA on February 4th.

In a long-overdue and pretty long-winded piece, I take a look at the controversy that swirled around Yelp last Spring and some of the company’s moves to react to it. I also go through my concerns for the site’s continued growth, both among users and advertisers, and take one final look back at the Google acquisition that almost-was.

Greg Sterling relayed a TechCrunch story late last night on Search Engine Land saying that Google is in “advanced acquisition negotiations” to buy Yelp. From Google’s point of view, it’s an anti-competitive buy. From Yelp’s point of view, I think it’s smart to sell while the company is still on the rise.

Kelsey’s Interactive Local Media show was truly one of the best industry conferences I’ve attended.  The focus was very different from the typical SEO show, with only one or two tactical marketing panels but a lot of insight into how the major players approach the ideas of local search and marketing to small businesses. The [...]

I am at The Kelsey Group’s Interactive Local Media conference in Los Angeles this week, though–speaking on a panel with Andrew Shotland later today. For those not in attendance, the official hashtag to follow on twitter is #ILM09, and I’ll be posting tidbits from the conference sometime Friday afternoon or over the weekend.

As many readers probably know, Telmetrics president Bill Dinan responded to my original Search Engine Land column about call-tracking last week. Greg Sterling was kind enough to let me post a response to Bill’s response on his blog this week.

Please check it out & let me know your thoughts either in the comments area on Greg’s blog, or on this post.

Google Maps appears to have introduced another innovation to their interface recently: Zagat-like review snippets on Place Pages for individual businesses.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s SMX East recap, Google announced a new ad format–Local Listing Ads–on Monday afternoon.  Both Greg Sterling and Mike Blumenthal have written fairly in-depth summaries of what the ads entail but I’ll try to lay out the highlights below:

Only businesses with claimed LBC listings are eligible to participate.
The landing page MUST [...]

What this post lacks in coherence it will make up for in speed :)  Below are some of the items I found most interesting during my three days in New York this week:
Ranking Tactics for Local Search
It was truly an honor to be on a panel with Mike Blumenthal, Mary Bowling, Will Scott, and Andrew [...]