Recently a client brought to my attention a business in their area who rapidly accumulated dozens of 5 star reviews. Interestingly, they already had half a dozen negative reviews. A lot of people are afraid to leave businesses a negative review, so if this many people stepped
Read more →2018 is here and so is the ability to add video to Google My Business. The ability has been live for “Local Guides” for about 4 months now. That means that anyone can upload a video to your business listing. The move was expected, as Yelpers have
Read more →Business owners now receive a neat little recap at the end of the month from Google My Business (GMB). While most business owners are still very confused and have absolutely no idea what GMB is, most are even more confused by this highly inaccurate and misleading report.
Read more →I am a little late on this one, but now that recreational marijuana is legal in California as of 2018, I decided to revisit how Google My Business is handling the business category. For years, dispensaries providing medical marijuana to sick patients were stuck using random categories
Read more →I saw something new today underneath a business’s Google My Business listing in Google Local Results. There was a special section which read “Their Website Mentions”. Google specifically quotes content from the website in local results. Google Local looks at website content?! Yes, of course it does.
Read more →Black Friday was quite possibly the biggest missed digital marketing opportunity for Brands in 2017. Google Posts is completely free to use, yet almost no companies used it. Here is an example of Cabella’s using Google Posts which obviously showed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of
Read more →To customize and print a poster of your customer reviews, visit smallthanks.withgoogle.com, enter your business name, then select one of the posters or customize your own. You can change the poster template and select your customer review of choice using the Small Thanks with Google website. Small
Read more →Today Google rolled out a feature they’ve been testing for a couple of weeks now called “Questions and Answers”. The feature now shows up for anyone looking at a business on Google via mobile, and I’m sure it will be available on desktop in the very near
Read more →If your business allows potential customers to SMS message you via text messages or Google Allo there is a neat new feature you may want to take advantage of: messaging. Once configured, customers and potential clients who find your business listing on Google using a mobile device
Read more →A few hours ago on June 22, 2017, an email came in that made me do a double take. It read “Make [your business] stand out with timely updates on Google”. I clicked on it and was shocked to see that Google Posts is now rolling out
Read more →I spoke to Google My Business earlier today, inquiring about a business which was missing a few reviews. I am very familiar with Google My Business and the quirks it can have and have heard about reviews going missing for one reason or another but never experienced
Read more →We are currently investigating some businesses which are missing a handful of reviews from their Google My Business page. There are many reasons a Google My Business page, formerly called a Google Plus page, can be missing reviews. Most often, there is a glitch at Google, people
Read more →I spend a lot of time in Google and monitoring Google Local Search results. Anyways, today I fell down a rabbit hole looking at prison reviews on Google. The first thing I noticed was hilarious reviews of prisoners who compared their stay in prison to that of
Read more →It is not an April Fool’s joke. Some businesses and their reviews are completely missing in Google search. I first noticed this problem around 4PM eastern time on April 1, 2016. A local business I work with which displays very prominently in search results had their telephone
Read more →There is a lot of speculation online and many people will tell you that if you get Google reviews too quickly that they will be flagged and removed. However, on many occasions I have seen businesses receive reviews in rapid succession. If there is a certain number
Read more →Whether you’re giving your employees the Holidays off or forcing them to deal with psychopaths on Thanksgiving Day (or just going fishing) you can now specify your holiday hours in Google My Business (or more often referred to as Google Maps). Google announced the feature 11/6/2015. As
Read more →Have you ever bumped into a business that was not listed on Google Maps? This happens to me at least once each month. To add the business, follow these simple steps. 1. Open Google Maps on your mobile device, and click the menu icon: 2. From
Read more →I have heard this for ages now, and even more so in 2015, business owners think Google is calling them. 99.999% of the time (or more), this is a scam. Common complaints: Google places keeps calling me. Google called about my business listing. Google called to verify
Read more →As of February 2015, personal injury attorney law firms that rank well in Google Local results (aka Map Results) are correlated with the attorneys and firms who rank well in organic search. The people and firms in the local results get far more calls than the people
Read more →I have been asked several times and have often wondered if a Google Maps (Google My Business) Listing would lose it’s reviews and/or search ranking after being reclaimed or merged. Last week, I took the plunge and found out. If you follow this blog you may have
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