ionadas local LLC

ionadas local at PubCon South

Note: We also have a coupon for PubCon 2010 Las Vegas.

ionadas local will be attending and speaking at PubCon South 2010 in Dallas the second week of April. CEO Brian Combs will be speaking on the “Personalize Search – Universal Search – Life Goes On” panel with Michael Gray and Dr. Amanda Watlington.

Brian’s panel is at 1:30pm on Wednesday, April 14th, and he will be discussing developments within Google Maps and other local search engines as they pertain to universal and personalized search.

If you’d like 20% off your ticket to PubCon South 2010, use the code “rc-7200720″ when registering (coupon expires April 9th at 5pm central). We hope to see you there!

PubCon Interview

Vanessa Zamora of PubCon interviewed Brian Combs on optimization for Google Local last month in Las Vegas, NV.

WebProNews Interview

During PubCon in Las Vegas last month, Brian Combs was interviewed by WebProNews. They discussed the importance of one’s business being listed within Google Maps, and steps one needs to take to have that listing found by prospective customers.

Phone Numbers Missing from Google Local Listings

The blogosphere and twittersphere are abuzz this morning with discussion of missing phone numbers from the listings within Google Local.

Previously, there would have been phone numbers next to the Google Map listings.

There are many theories as to what has happened, including:

• They’re cleaning up the interface.
• It’s in anticipation of a new call-tracking offering from Google.
• Desire to push more traffic into clicks rather than calls.
• Bugs within the Google Local Business Center.
• Google has a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the phone numbers in their system.

A more nefarious idea comes to my mind. Take a look at a result from the paid local listings Google is testing in San Diego and San Francisco:

The paid listings have a phone number, and the free listings do not. Google wouldn’t be trying to bias the traffic to the paid listings, would they?

I think what bothers me the most is that I’ve already finished up my presentation for PubCon next week, and now I have to redo all the screenshots.

Update: Google has confirmed that it was a bug, and the phone numbers are back.

Brian Combs at PubCon Vegas 2009

Brian Combs, principal of ionadas local, will be speaking at PubCon Vegas again this year, with a pair of sessions on the first day, November 10, 2009:

Interactive Site Reviews: Focus on Organic
11:30am-12:45pm
Live critiques of attendee websites, with actionable advice on how to improve the sites’ search engine optimization.

How Do You Optimize For Universal and Personal Search?
2:55pm-4:10pm
Brian’s third time on a PubCon Universal and Personal Searc panel, he will be speaking on how the search engines blend local results with the traditional SERPs.