Here’s an interesting case of Google’s local organic algorithm failing to produce the right results, and it tells us a bunch about how they’re trying to produce those local results in the organic results outside of the 3-pack. I’m sitting here near Sunriver, Oregon, and I search for “restaurants near me”. The 3-pack looks pretty good…it’s got the pushpin very accurately located for me (within yards, in fact, despite the fact that I’m on a PC connected via my cable internet provider, not my cellphone with GPS). Continue reading Outside of the 3-Pack, How Does Google Find Local Results? →

I unfortunately have to report that my Google+ My Business Page Finder tool no longer shows the Google+ page for the business in its search results. Why not? Because the Google Places API, which used to show the Google+ page in its response, now returns a Google Maps page instead. I haven’t seen any announcement of this, but the docs on the Place Details Request have been changed. Continue reading Google Places API Quietly Divorces Google+ →

In trying to help a client of mine fix some nutty listing info on Citysearch, I was instructed by Citysearch support people to click the “Unlock listing” link on the page. OK, I can do that… But that takes you to Yext, who apparently is attempting to manage this process. I say “attempting”, because here’s what you get: Continue reading Yext Claim Listing Bug →

I’m not one of those who think Google is inherently evil, and that everything they do is a devious attempt to trick us into spending more on AdWords. OK, some of what they do is…but they’re a for-profit company, and need to do their best to make a buck for their shareholders…and that’s OK. The problem with having a virtual monopoly on any given space is that there’s no real incentive to be better than the competition. If you release a version of your software and it’s got problems, the customers won’t leave you in droves because–well, you’re really the only game in town. Continue reading The Problem with Google’s Monopoly →

I’ve been a huge fan of the MozLocal tools for submitting and managing location information for my clients. David and team have just launched a major update to the tools–one I had the privilege of beta testing (if only Google’s released tools had NEAR the quality of Moz’s beta products! #donerantingfornow). Continue reading MozLocal update →

Discovered today: when you’re looking at the maps results for a Google search, and click on one of the listings to expand it (here, I’m clicking on the result for J. Rollins Art of Framing): what ACTUALLY expands is the listing above it: Continue reading Google Local Search Puts the K in Kwality →

It USED to be that when you set your location via Search Tools in Google, it would control where Google thought you were searching from, affecting the organic/local universal results and the maps results (yeah, the AdWords results were ALWAYS messed up on this, and still are). Continue reading Setting your city in Google–only works for Maps now →