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Tag: google maps

In The Game Of Maps, You Either Get There, Or You’re Using Apple Maps
When you think of Apple Maps, you probably think of the disaster that was the iOS 6 Apple Maps update.

Apple Maps is infamous for directional errors like having turn-by-turn directions that instruct users to drive across an airport runway to get to an airport. We’ve also experienced client business issues with Apple Maps.

For example, Apple Maps users were being taken to a location 50 miles away from our client’s actual listed business location when using turn-by-turn navigation in the app. We had to then figure out how to edit business information in Apple Maps, as there is no desktop way to access Apple Maps, and you can only access it through the mobile app.

The data in Apple Maps is mostly powered by data from Yelp, TomTom, Factual, Localeze, and Acxiom as you can see in Moz’s local search ecosystem. By making sure your business information is as accurate as possible on these sources, you could help avoid errors on the sites that they feed to. Often, however, when it comes to issues with Apple Maps, it’s best to figure out how to fix them at the source.

So here I’m going to walk you through how to edit information in Apple Maps via your mobile device.

Step 1:

Search for the business that you’re looking to update.

Step 2:

If you’re looking to add a business that is not appearing in search or to update directions that aren’t appearing properly, click on the ‘i’ (for information) icon in the bottom righthand corner. If you’re trying to edit particular business information like name or address, skip to Step 5.

Step 3:

From this popup dialog you will choose “Report a Problem”.

Step 4:

This “Report a Problem” page will allow you to choose to report that
- Search results are incorrect
- Street or other label is incorrect
- Location is missing
- Problem with directions
- My problem isn’t listed
Select your issue (in our client’s case, we chose “Problem with directions” to indicate that the map was taking people somewhere it shouldn’t in turn-by-turn directions) and submit your problem!

Step 5:

To make more specific Apple Maps updates about a particular business, click on the business name in the search results.

Step 6:

Then scroll down “Report a Problem” on the “Location” dialog box, and CLICK IT!

Step 7:

Choose from the list of issues (most likely you’ll want to report that “Information is incorrect”) and click “Next” in the top right corner.

Step 8:

Edit whatever details you need (obviously this page will differ depending on what problem you’re reporting) and click “Send” to send the report.

Apple maps has been gaining momentum in user numbers as it is the default app on all iPhones. Apple crushes all. It is known.

With this in mind, one can only hope that Apple Maps’ future will have a formal business portal for claiming and managing your business information, but until then, we’ll have to live with this limited access process.
May 21, 2014
5 For Friday – Backlinks, Knowledge Graph, And Privacy!

1. Matt Cutts: Google Won’t Devalue Links Anytime Soon

-Search Engine Watch

Well, you’d certainly hope this is the case with the way Google is initiating hundreds of thousands of manual actions every month…But in Matt Cutt’s recent video, he explains the value of those quality links while Google continues to better understand and define what determines quality content. As it stands, Cutts sees the value of quality links to be a relevant ranking factor for the time being. So fear not, if you are working to improve the quality of your content along with improving and diversifying that backlink profile with authoritative links, you’re certainly protecting yourself from future menacing Penguin updates.

2. Google’s Knowledge Graph Expands into Google Maps

-Search Engine Land

Google’s knowledge graph is expanding from organic search results into their map results. Much like the results from regular search queries on google.com, the knowledge graph will now pull information cards with quick facts about certain places searched in Google maps results. But hey, don’t just take Search Engine Land’s and my word for it, run a maps.google.com search for New Orleans’ own St. Louis Cathedral and check it out for yourself!

3. European Court Requires Google to Delete Personal Info

-Search Engine Roundtable

Hey SEOs! Reputation management just got easier! If you live in Europe that is. In a recent ruling, a bill so cleverly titled “the right to be forgotten” requires that search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing must remove links from search results for a person’s name if that person requests to have that result removed.

4. How to Dramatically Improve Your Google Authorship

-KISS Metrics

This article provides some great tips for improving your Google authorship. As with any authorship improvement tip article, though, do keep in mind that excessive guest blogging is a definite no no. Keep the list of sites you contribute to condensed and featuring only those important and authoritative sites you write for. Guest blogging, if done incorrectly, can be seen as a spammy link-building tactic. A definite highlight of the tips provided in this article was “feature your most flattering picture…you don’t have to be good looking. You just have to…’put your best face forward.’” So no worries—you don’t have to be Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, or Jon Hamm. You just want to ensure your thumbnail image is clear.

5. 5 New and Improved Twitter Features Marketers Should Use

-Search Engine Watch

This article is a fantastic overview of those new Twitter features and how they translate into tactics marketers can utilize. A particularly interesting, stand out feature is that Twitter now allows for engaging tweets to appear larger than others. Now “all” you have to do is make sure your tweets are always relevant, engaging, and interesting to your audience.

May 16, 2014
Overview of Three Types of Google+ Pages

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar on Google+ to some of our partners. I shared information on the importance of Google+ for SEO, the work that we do on Google+ for our clients, and some common challenges we work through.The following is a breakdown I presented of the three types of Google+ pages that we work with for our clients.

1) Google+ Local Page

This is the type of page that many of our client come to us with. It’s a page that hasn’t been verified yet (through phone or postcard verification). It includes information such as location, hours, phone number, reviews, and categories.

How do you know it’s a Local page, you ask? The easiest identifier is that the cover photo of the listing is a map. When a client comes to us with this type of page, we will convert it to the next type of page: a Local/Social page!

An unverified local page looks like this:

Cafe Du Monde, we love you, but you need to verify your Google+ page!

2) Google+ Local/Social Page

This page has all the same information as the Local page, and more! When you complete the phone or postcard verification process, Google converts your Local page to a Local/Social page. It carries over all the great information you had on the Local page including your existing reviews and location information. You can tell it’s been converted because the cover photo is no longer a map. The default cover photo is an image with a rainbow of colors, but you can customize the cover photo, just like Search Influence has done with our page!

This page also has tabs for Posts, YouTube, and Reviews. You can link your Youtube account to this page for a tab to show up on your page as well. This is how we want all of our clients’ Google+ pages to look like.

3) Google+ Brand Page

For our clients that have more than one location, we create a Google+ Brand page. We have a Local/Social page for each location and create an overall Brand page. This page is the one we use for Google Publisher. On this page, we only list information that applies to the whole brand such as a 1-800 number, link to their Facebook page, website link, and company Youtube channel. This page represents the overall brand, as opposed to a particular location.

Do you have questions about what type of Google+ page to create for your business? Feel free to comment below!

March 13, 2014
Google Places For Business Email Update

We’re still not panicking about all of Google’s updates! As many of you already know, Google has been sending out a Google Places for Business email that reads as follows:

The Message

Hello,

We’d like to inform you that Google Places no longer accommodates more than one authorized owner per business location. Your account contains one or more listings that have been identified as duplicates of other listings and as a result, some of the information you provide will not be shown to Google users anymore.

To get more information or request access to the other listings, please log into your Google Places account.

Sincerely,
The Google Places Team

As this message is kind of vague/ confusing, I called a Google rep to get clarification on exactly what’s going on here. Bear with me as I explain what this means exactly and how it’s affecting business listings.

The Meaning

Google is finally pulling all listings into the new Places for Business dashboard. In the old dashboard there could be multiple owners of a listing, but in the new dashboard there can only be one.

As Google performs these batch listing upgrades, the first owner whose account is upgraded gets grandfathered in, so to speak, and they will be the sole owner of the listing through the new dashboard. If someone has already claimed and verified a listing in the new dashboard, however, then no one will experience the “grandfather” situation in the batch upgrades as it is already verified in the new dashboard and has its one owner.

The good news is that many of us have been force pulling businesses into the new dashboard by claiming them through the Places section of plus.google.com. So the latter situation will have already occurred for most, and we will be the current, sole owner of verified listings in the new dashboard. (If you lose ownership of your listing in the batch update by Google, you can still request it back, it will just take time through a two week request period and contact with Google.)

We have seen cases, however, where after the batch update by Google there appears to be two listings in the dashboard of accounts who have already pulled their listing into the new dash on their own. Generally one appears as verified(the one we forced pulled into the new dash) and the other as unverified(the one Google pulled over), but they both lead to the same G+ page when you click through the “view this listing” link in each. This is just a weird hiccup, and if you wish to clean up the dashboard by deleting the unverified one, it will not affect your listing. As long as you have a verified listing in the new dashboard, you are the sole owner of said listing.

Now What?

Basically, anyone who has ever had a listing in the old dashboard is receiving this generic email, and it is not necessarily an indication as to whether or not the listing is owned/verified in the new dash in your account. So, as long as we’re keeping on top of our business listings’ dashboards, there is no cause for alarm! There’s also the note about duplicate listings in the email. Duplicate listing issues are not something that occur in every account which receives this email. More to come on addressing duplicates in the new dashboard next week! If you’d like to see what others are saying about the email, check out Search Engine Land’s post from earlier this morning or these forums where people have been discussing particular, individual issues encountered (Google Product Forums and Local Search Forum).

Here’s a screenshot of the actual email for those of you who would like to see it:

If you have any questions or comments about this situation, feel free to comment below! Stay tuned for how to handle duplicate listings!

March 6, 2014
What’s New About the New Google Maps

This week, Google rolled out a new and improved Google Maps! With this update, many are wondering what exactly is different about Maps besides the obvious physical changes.

The new design is focused on providing smarter search results immediately and making the user experience much more effortless. In this day and age, consumer satisfaction is highly driven by ease of use, so an update like this is essential to staying on top of the trends in usability.

Probably the most noticeable change is the way you search. With the new interactive features, you can hover over search results and the map will change to show you those results. This reduces the time spent by users re-searching for what they were looking for because they chose the wrong result.

So far, I’ve found that the new interactive search results change local search opportunities for businesses to a certain degree. When I search the keyword “internet marketing service” maps displayed only three businesses in the search results but also showed a countless number of business results on the local map. On the map itself, the results were shown with two different kinds of red dots. It looks like the bigger dots are results that Google found more relevant to your search.

A new goal of Google Maps is to “get better with use,” so as you search the map, star places, and leave reviews, the map adapts and shows you more relevant results. “…the more you use the new Google Maps, the more helpful it becomes.”

Once you click on the desired result, the map reacts, showing you business information including the hours, location, and the option to go into Street View. They’ve made the new Maps more tailored for getting directions, taking some styles from how the Google Maps Android and Apple apps work. In the past, Street View was something you could access through buttons in the corner of the map or with Pegman, but Street View is now a readily available in your search results.

While we’re on the topic of Pegman, let’s talk about the new features involved with everyone’s favorite little Street View helper. Besides making him a revamped and fun—sort of—Google Maps’ mascot (Today he’s donning a Santa hat!),
they’ve moved the Pegman location to the bottom corner of the map. Also, when you use Pegman, you’ll see new color coded dots and lines indicating where you can enter Street View, “See Inside” some locations, and enter a “Photo Sphere”.

Finally, the new Google Maps is allowing users to submit their own content for Street View, allowing people to share the experience of their favorite and sometimes remote locations. Users have been allowed to share their Photo Spheres since last year, but now these Photo Spheres that once stood alone will be stitched together to create a Street View experience.

Overall, the new Google Maps has created a more pleasing and a much easier experience for Maps users while also making Maps more engaging and fun to use.

Video source of gif and first screenshot here.

December 13, 2013
Google Slider Replacing the Maps Seven Pack?

Many people have seen the slider on the top of Google search results when searching for “things to do various city,” but have you seen it when searching other local terms lately? When I searched the term, “Pizza New Orleans,” I noticed the slider appearing instead of the seven pack for the first time today! I search this term often–not because of my love for pizza, but because of my client’s pizza chain. Never in the history of everdom have I seen the slider show up for this particular term.

What if Google is leaning more towards this instead of the seven pack? This can be a good and bad for local businesses. Good because your business will not be pushed all the way to the bottom of page one, way under the seven pack. Potentially bad, because many people may be driven to click the pretty images on top of the screen vs. clicking on the plain jane search results.

What does this mean for me, you ask? How can I be a part of this beautiful slider? As our fearless leader says, “Barnacle SEO is the answer!” A well optimized Google Place listing and page are the first steps. Your best possible scenario is to be the Theo’s Pizza of the page! Theo’s is the first Google Place listing in the slider AND the third organic listing on the page. As per usual, the more real estate the better.

It’s going to be very interesting to see where Google takes this and how far it will go. Will it eventually replace the seven pack? Only God–I mean Google knows!

P.S. This doesn’t show up for everyone. A few of my co-workers have seen this in the wild and a few have not. Have you noticed this type of result for other queries besides “pizza” or “things to do?” Tell us in the comments below!

June 19, 2013
5 for Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

The Next Frontier For Google Maps Is Personalization — TechCrunch
Google has already personalized most of its search results and Maps personalized with user interests will be next up. There’s a lot to look forward to with Google, so stay tuned over the next few months for updates.

This GIF Search Engine Is Everything You’ve Ever Wanted — Mashable
Any .GIF you’ve ever dreamed of is now easily accessible with Giphy. Find the perfect .GIF for any occasion.

SEO Smackdown Round 2: Old Vs. New Search Engine Optimization — Search Engine Land
Has SEO really changed? Here are some tips about keywords, site design, links, and search behaviors to help you find out what big picture items you should keep in mind.

4 SEO Tasks Small Business Must Do Every Month — Search Engine Watch
Four simple ways to increase traffic to your small business website:
1. Identify Demand
2. Create Great Content
3. Tune Content
4. Track & Promote

How 4 Consumer Brands Are Using Visual Content To Tell Stories & Engage Customers — TopRank
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. The same goes for your content and how you present it. Look at how Kraft, General Electric, Sherwin-Williams, and Coach have used visual content to tell their story.

February 1, 2013
5 for Friday – Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

Brands That Understand Marketing on Instagram – Mashable

Much like Pinterest, businesses are slowly but surely beginning to utilize Instagram as a marketing tool. By encouraging your customers or your fan base to be actively — and creatively — involved with your brand, you can engage them in a unique and effective way. Whether you have a clothing brand or a restaurant, this is a great example of how Instagram can boost your social media campaign with user-generated content.

Pinterest Makes Top 50 Website List – Search Engine Journal

Speaking of Pinterest, the social media site has secured a spot on comScore’s top 50 most-visited websites list. In addition to its phenomenal growth over the past year, the fact that registration is now open to anyone (no invite needed!) has certainly helped with Pinterest’s latest visitor boom. And with the holidays right around the corner, it’s likely that we’ll see even more traffic from shoppers in the coming months.

5 Reasons Why Visual Content Needs to Be Included In Your Marketing – Social Media Today

In case the two previous stories didn’t convince you, visual content should absolutely be a part of your marketing strategy. Images affect people differently than words. They are easily shareable on social networks, and they can quickly capture the interest of your audience. Carefully chosen visual content can engage your customers and connect with them in a simple, effective way. Are you incorporating images in your marketing efforts?

Apple Drops an iPad Mini on Rivals – The Wall Street Journal

The iPad Mini was announced this week, and Apple will begin taking orders for the device today. Lightweight and super thin, it measures 7.9 inches diagonally, but has a lower screen resolution than the iPad. At a pricey $329, it’s significantly more expensive than other 7-inch tablets on the market, but hardcore Apple fans could be happy to pay up. Will you be adding it to your wish list?

Google Takes Street View Tech Into the Grand Canyon – Wired

Google Maps has captured images of locations using cars, snowmobiles, and even tricycles, but their latest effort to map terrain that is unreachable by traditional methods is really ambitious. The Trekker, a backpack version of the equipment used on Google’s Street View cars, is now being used to map inaccessible sites. This week, the backpacks journeyed into the Grand Canyon. What will Google’s Street View engineers think of next?

October 26, 2012
Apple Maps + Local Search Kicks Google Maps to the Curb in iOS 6

Along with 200+ other new features on the new iOS6, the long awaited improvement to driving directions on your iPhone and iPad is here. No, it’s not a new and improved Google Maps app, but a homebrewed maps solution by Apple, including a local search database. As if I didn’t love Apple enough already, they’ve come up with something that can trump even Google Maps.

Apple’s press release today states “Local search includes information for over 100 million businesses with info cards that offer Yelp ratings, reviews, available deals and photos.”

Thanks to Greg Sterling’s Search Engine Land post, we know that Localeze is powering the local search listings database. You may recall that Localeze also the sole provider of Facebook Places data when it was first released.

How does this affect you as a business owner?

Well, if Google Maps have given you trouble in the past, you’re in luck. If you are one of the many businesses whose customers relied on GMaps to get them to you, you may have less customers driving to the wrong location now, provided your Localeze information is up-to-date and correct.

To ensure your business information is correct through Localeze, you can always submit to Localeze.com. There is a premium fee in order to get listed directly with their team; you should be sure to ask them about what’s already listed in their database that may already have your name, address, or phone number on it. Updating of your Localeze information comes with any organic or local SEO service with Search Influence, so if you’re working with us or plan to, you can rest easy that this is covered. (Of course, there are always some issues that might be stickier to solve, so just let us know if you think Localeze has got you wrong!)

We feel a bit better about directions being powered by this database, as we’ve found it much easier to “clean up” your presence if there are issues. The Google Maps system pulls from many different data sources, but since Localeze is just one, clean-up will be much easier to take on. It doesn’t hurt that this update brings a fresh face lift to the app, as well as turn-by-turn directions.

In addition to checking up on Localeze, you’ll also want to check up on your Yelp listing(s), including the sentiment of your ratings and reviews. These will also be integrated, just as they already are with Siri.

There will definitely still be lots to learn once we get our hands on iOS 6 and get to test out our customers’ listings in the new database, so until then, stay tuned!

June 11, 2012
Why You Want to Claim Your Business on Google Maps: An Object Lesson

Recently, I decided that life would be simpler if I got a Mohawk — but a nice Mohawk, one carefully mown and primped into shape by a professional. I looked up my options with Google maps. This way, I could see where the salon my friend recommended me was located, how far it was out of my daily route, and what other closer options were. Google Maps gave me a pincushion map of the New Orleans area, and I started browsing each salon along my route from work to home.

Some listings had scant information and required me to turn to a Yelp page for the pertinent information. It’s not a huge inconvenience, but really, there aren’t many reasons you shouldn’t claim your business on Google Maps and fix up the listing with all the basic information. Most people turn to this tool for directions from point A to point B, and many take it for granted that whatever they need to find in the world will somehow be notated accurately on there already.

For example, Osama Bin Laden’s Hideout got its own little thumbtack on Google Maps’ canvas almost instantly its location was revealed to the public (yes, Google finds everything). Its corresponding Places page, though not a business, has acted as the Internet’s gathering point to gaze upon the building in question and post roughly 1600 snarky reviews about its interior and past owner.

However, if Osama’s hideout had been a business of inviting snipers to give their best go at him, he would have had a tough time getting any visitors to his locale. Here is a side-by-side comparison of what his location tag looks like compared to a bonafide business listing.

Three things to note. First, Osama’s hideout does not have his street address listed. This would make (and did) him very hard to find. Second, he has no contact information. How would potential customers ever know his business hours or rates? They can’t even visit his website, since that is the third thing he does not have listed.

If Osama had felt like optimizing his search results, he would have probably endeavored to go through the admittedly involved process of claiming his business on Google Maps. The effort is worth it, since most people looking for a business will inevitably want to know your location and get driving directions. Might as well make it convenient for your potential clients before they even set foot through the door.

February 9, 2012