Archive for October, 2010

As you may have seen reported in *a few* outlets around the blogosphere over the last 36 hours, Google decided to roll out its new user interface (first reported by Mike Blumenthal on July 5th) for local search results yesterday. It is a tectonic shift, both algorithmically and visually, that has left a number of publishers, and certainly spammy lead generators, catatonic today.

The following is a direct transcript of a call I received earlier this morning: Hi David, my name is Christopher Smith — I’m calling from Google and I’m calling regarding your existing business listings with us, and some important changes and features to the account that I need to speak to you about.  We just [...]

Google is now segmenting out its own reviews from those of its data sources.  They’ve also added a Favicon for the ones they’re pulling feeds from. I can see two reasons for doing this: #1) It’s the beginning of segmenting out hReview testimonials from businesses themselves. #2) Those favicons are a nice little incentive for [...]

Google (actually Maps Guide Deanna) recently authored a post on its small business blog outlining best practices for business titles.  In the first paragraph they state that “We want to help you make the most of your business listing,” and they go on to state clear examples of spam for a business called “Fly Fishing [...]

Hey everyone, low signal post here, but I’ve gotten a few emails and Tweets recently asking if I am attending PubCon (no), why wasn’t I at SMX East (too many other commitments this fall–see below) and I figured I’d try to head off some others here.