By now most of us have heard the story of late Apple founder Steve Jobs declaring “thermonuclear war” on Google’s Android operating system. That war, it seems, is in full effect on multiple fronts. Of course, there is Apple’s recent patent infringement victory over Samsung in court (a decision that could have multi-billion dollar implications), …Read full entry

When the Internet emerged as a new media outlet, one of the elements that no doubt set it apart from traditional media was its reporting capabilities.  While popular media like radio, TV, and newspapers could  merely estimate usage by consumers, none of them could provide concrete statistics on how many people actually interacted with an …Read full entry

As with any major change, the shift from Google Places to Google+ Local has raised  many questions about what is happening and what the implications will be. Below is a distillation of answers to the common questions that have come up so far about the new interface, how to interact with it and what is …Read full entry

Today Google unleashed another resounding shot across the bow of players in the social and local space: Google+ Local.  This move will effectively make Google Place Pages a memory, replacing those pages with a new local section of their Google+ social network. This  falls in line with Google’s overall product consolidation strategy, and like Search …Read full entry

Do you get 80% of your leads from your top four markets? Is your franchise aligned to service only certain zip codes? Do you know what directories (if any) your customers are using?  Successful local search campaigns are built through targeting specific local market areas and ensuring that your message reaches consumers in that area. …Read full entry

Last week I attended a Local Search convention in Ellicottville, NY. Please see my earlier post for part 1 of my recap. In addition to what I learned at Mary Bowing’s session, I gained huge insight from Matt McGee who presented some interesting information on the current use of Social Media and the impact to …Read full entry

This week I attended Local University WNY in Ellicottville, NY.  Throughout the week I will be recapping that event through a series of blogs. The event takes place throughout the country, hosted by SEO and Local SEO presenters.  Presenters at the session that I attended included: Mike Blumenthal, Mary Bowling, Matt McGee, David Mihm, Ed …Read full entry

Today Google rolled out some ‘enhanced content’ updates for Google Places. This upgrade is visible with the Grey Pinpoint. Below is a quick before and after shot. The ‘after’ shot shows content that is traditionally hidden on the actual place page. This update puts those important details right on the SERP, making it easier for …Read full entry

A follow up from yesterday’s post: With several thousand listings in management, DAC Group has more than a few e-mail notifications from Google’s new notification system. This new system was launched after Google caught some bad press in the New York Times regarding, “This Place is Closed.  Not True?”.  Google Places started taking crowd sourced …Read full entry

Recently, I stumbled upon a change in Google Places, when looking for an ATM within the mall. Below is a screenshot of the Places page The strange piece of content here is the snippet from Wikipedia. “All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License – Wikipedia.” Alone this info would …Read full entry