Last week, Google announced Local Listing Ads, a paid alternative to the free business listings within Google Maps. The ads sit above the free maps listings, but are smaller than traditional AdWords, and are below the top AdWords listing, at least in many cases.
On Thursday, October 8th, something new started showing up on Google’s local blended SERPs:
What previously showed ten local listings now shows seven! Reports are that the 7-pack is showing for local queries in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Read the rest of this entry...The last few days have been exciting for business listed in Google Maps. And, by “exciting”, I mean irritating has hell as I’ve watched some longtime 10-pack rankings for clients drop away.
A visit to Google Maps Help shows that my clients are not alone. The wailing and gnashing of teeth was constant. Clearly there were (are?) problems across the US and Canada.
And so the conspiracy theories began. Many thought it was connected to edits made in the…
Read the rest of this entry...Two months ago, we discussed the abundance of spam listings in Google Maps for “locksmith” keywords. Indications at that time where that Google was attempting to crack down on these spammers, so I decided to take a look and see how they were coming along.
I looked at the listings for the six largest cities in Texas: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth. All have populations north of half a million people.
Read the rest of this entry...Come see Brian Combs of ionadas local speak at Interactive Strategies 2009 in Houston on September 9, 2009. Brian will be speaking on SEO vs. PPC in the 3:10pm session.
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