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PODCAST

The Near Memo

Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm

Exploring the big stories for the week at the intersection of local business & marketing across the spectrum of search, social and commerce. With Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm.

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All Episodes

26:44

Apple Expands Business Connect, Which Directories...

The Near Memo ·

2024/10/18

Send us a textApple Expands Business Connect Beyond Brick-and-Mortar: It was announced that Apple Business Connect will now include a broader range of businesses, such as e-commerce, work-from-home, and service-area businesses. Businesses will still undergo the Apple verification process but will benefit from a consistent brand presence across apps like Mail, Apple Pay and ultimately Messages. While non-brick-and-mortar businesses won't appear on Apple Maps, their verified logos will be visib...

en-us

34:38

Google Tests AI-Organized Carousels in Local,...

The Near Memo ·

2024/10/13

Send us a textGoogle Tests AI-organized Carousels in Local Search Results for Restaurants & Bars: Recent test search results for local businesses on Google, particularly restaurants and bars, have been dominated by AI-organized carousels. Searches like “best cocktail bar” now return multiple carousels sequentially down the page, with categories such as rooftop bars, artisanal cocktail bars, and budget-friendly options. These results feature large visuals, ratings, and addresses, all...

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38:39

Places Sites in US? Allure’s Ongoing Google Review...

The Near Memo ·

2024/10/05

Send us a text Google's Place Sites: A Compliance Gesture or A True Shift in Search?Google is rolling out a new feature called "Place Sites" in North America, following its initial launch in Europe as part of compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The feature presents a carousel of aggregator search results, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, prominently placed in top positions for local queries like restaurants. The idea is to redirect traffic to competitors to address accusations of...

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36:53

Search Tactics for EU Hotels, Google’s Updated Spam...

The Near Memo ·

2024/09/28

Send us a textHow Individual Hotels Can Win in EU Search: Our research on hotel searches in Europe, revealed that Booking.com dominated user clicks, especially through ads, while Google's Hotel Finder and Business Profiles saw significantly fewer interactions. One surprising discovery was the prominent role of ads, with over 50% of mobile clicks going to ads, particularly Booking.com.We explore how Google’s algorithm and ad strategies favor aggregators like Booking, rather than individua...

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38:06

Google tests Review Badge of Shame in UK; Google’s...

The Near Memo ·

2024/09/20

Send us a textGoogle Testing Review Badge of Shame & More in UK for Review Abuses:Google has rolled out a new review “badge of shame” and a new help document titled "Business Profile Restrictions for Policy Violations," introducing stricter actions for businesses engaging in deceptive review practices. Currently being tested in the UK, the policy includes a tiered system of penalties, such as preventing new reviews, unpublishing existing ones, and displaying a "badge of shame" for b...

en-us

36:35

EU Consumer Research in Hotel market, The impact of...

The Near Memo ·

2024/09/14

Send us a textGoogle and Booking: The Symbiotic Gatekeeper Relationship in European Hotel Search - We dive into our recent user behavior research findings about hotel searches in Europe. We recruited 100 users each from Spain, France, and Germany, asking them to find hotels in Paris or Rome, and observed how they interacted with Google's search results.The European hotel market is quite distinct, with behavior in hotel searches differing drastically from other verticals, as w...

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45:02

The Google Review Fraud Landscape in Maps & LSA and...

The Near Memo ·

2024/09/09

Send us a textGoogle Review Fraud Landscape (10:04):Estimates that 18% of reviews across various platforms are fake.Home service industries, such as locksmiths, moving companies, and HVAC, are heavily affected.Legal sector is also impacted, with fake reviews prevalent among personal injury, criminal defense, and DUI lawyers.LSA Review Fraud (21:25):Lead generation scammers are stealing business from ethical businesses using fake LSA reviews.They overcharge consumers and use higher ad revenue ...

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43:18

LSA Gets More GBP Features, Google Maps Gets Cleanup,...

The Near Memo ·

2024/08/30

Send us a textLSA Increasingly relying on GBP Features: We delve into Google's ongoing “fixes” of LSA features, where reviews and booking tools for LSAs are being integrated from GBP. This move is seen as an attempt to streamline operations and reduce costs, especially in light of Google's recent staffing cuts as well as improve LSA’s ineffective review moderation. While operational efficiency might improve, Google’s tolerance of abuses in GBP means that the risk of review fraud in LSAs ...

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40:37

GBP Phone Hacking Problems Persist, New FTC Fake...

The Near Memo ·

2024/08/23

Send us a Text Message.Google's PR Smoke and Mirrors: Old GBP Phone Hacking Problems Persist Despite Promises:Spammers and scammers have been able to hijack business phone numbers on Google listings with alarming ease, despite Google's assurances that such problems were swiftly resolved. We conducted an experiment, changing a listing's phone number through a fake business listing. The results were shocking—within minutes, the suggested phone number change was accepted, largely due to th...

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47:01

The Increasing Role of Brand in SEO

The Near Memo ·

2024/08/16

Send us a Text Message.The Role of Brand in Seo: We speak with guest, Mordy Oberstein on the role of branding in SEO, particularly how it has re-emerged as a significant factor in conversions and SEO. We explore the interaction between brand and user experience, and the introduction of Google’s emphasis on brand in its algorithms.Brand Differentiation and Local SEO: We delve into how brands differentiate themselves in the marketplace, particularly in local SEO contexts. What are t...

en-us

35:24

GBP Bugs & AI-Driven Layoff Concern, Sale of CNET &...

The Near Memo ·

2024/08/08

Send us a Text Message.Google's Local Business Service Woes: Persistent Bugs and AI-Driven Layoffs Spark Concern: There have been ongoing support and technical issues with Google Business Profiles. Major bugs affecting local business profiles have persisted for months and in several cases years, including image misassignments and overzealous suspension algorithms that remove legitimate reviews. Google's support and engineering teams have struggled to resolve these issues, partly due to ...

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27:45

MindTrip brings AI travel search, Search Shenanigans,...

The Near Memo ·

2024/08/02

Send us a Text Message.Segment 1: OpenAI & MindTrip bring AI to search, will it matter?Last Thursday, OpenAI made waves with an announcement about Search GPT, a prototype aimed at revamping the search experience for ChatGPT users. Promising a two-column format, it aims to ease the search process and challenge traditional search engines like Google. The prototype has the potential to streamline user experience while emphasizing publisher control and cooperation.In related news, a new...

en-us

44:39

Reframing how search ranking works, Google Doubles...

The Near Memo ·

2024/07/27

Send us a Text Message.SEOs need to reframe how search ranking works - click thru data being the most important factor: Click data is a cornerstone of Google’s ranking algorithm, as highlighted by recent DOJ findings. Google uses its heavy reliance on click data to grasp new trends swiftly as well as to “understand” page quality. Traditional SEO elements like title tags, meta descriptions, scheme, great photos and content provide enduring value but with a new twist. These elements ...

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46:44

How Local SEOs are using Gen AI & ChatGPT: Tips,...

The Near Memo ·

2024/07/20

Send us a Text Message.In this extended episode of the Near Memo, Greg Sterling , Joy Hawkins, Darren Shaw & Mike Blumenthal explore the role of generative AI and how it has evolved one year after CHat GPT was released. We cover:Experiences and opinions on the use of AI tools like ChatGPT in SEO and content creation.The effectiveness of AI in different aspects of agency work, including creative tasks and data analysis.The influence of AI on the quality of content and the evolving na...

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30:16

Seattle surgeon pays $5 mil review fraud fine; Local...

The Near Memo ·

2024/07/12

Send us a Text Message.Seattle surgeon pays $5 mil fine for review fraud; What responsibility does Google have?Allure Esthetics and its owner Dr. Java Sagan, were convicted of violating the Consumer Review Fairness Act. They forced 21,000 clients to sign agreements preventing them from leaving honest reviews and engaged in additional deceptive practices like paying for the removal of negative reviews and posting fake ones.Despite a $5 million fine, Allure Esthetics still shows high ratings on...

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37:09

What and why of review fraud on Google how to deal...

The Near Memo ·

2024/07/04

Send us a Text Message.The big picture of review fraud - who does it and why: We explore the full range of review fraud from fake positive reviews, black hat negative reviews and review extortion with Curtis Boyd of the Transparency Company. How widespread is it, is it growing, which categories are most likely to participate in it and why. How to deal with fake review attacks and competitors who use fake reviews: If you are an honest business can you compete in a world rife w...

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46:50

New Research: SMB web lead generation failures & how...

The Near Memo ·

2024/06/27

Send us a Text Message.Leadferno: a better tools to capture website leads - Leadferno is a conversion platform designed to transform website visitors into leads through seamless communication tools. Unlike traditional chatbots, Leadferno leverages SMS to facilitate human conversations, which studies show is the preferred communication channel for most people. It’s floating CTAs (Call-to-Actions) on websites encourage visitors to start conversations via text messaging. This approach helps...

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34:43

Google Expanding Local Results in the SERPS to the...

The Near Memo ·

2024/06/20

Send us a Text Message.Google Expanding Local Results in the SERPS to the Exclusion of Organic: While many SEOs have been focused on AI answers and how they are disrupting search, the story in Local search is different. AI Answers have yet to have any impact in Local but Google, over the past several years has dramatically increased their control & domination of the Local SERPS with Local Entity data and in doing so seem to be in the process of banishing organic results…. this is pa...

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46:58

Rand Fishkin Interview #2: Zero Click, Regulating...

The Near Memo ·

2024/06/14

Send us a Text Message.In this week’s podcast we discussed the evolution of zero-click search and Rand’s upcoming study with Spark Toro's clickstream data provider, Datos, to explore the impact of AI overviews and changes in zero-click searches across different regions. Rand argued for more stringent antitrust measures, drawing parallels between Google's practices and historical monopolies that unfairly leveraged their market power to move into new markets. His call for breaking up Googl...

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38:11

GBP Chat is Dead, Consumers Frustrated with Search...

The Near Memo ·

2024/06/09

Send us a Text Message.GBP Chat is Dead, Long Live WhatsApp: Google nuked both Google Business Profile Chat AND Google Business Messaging last week in a typical show of disregard for the product and the businesses supporting it. This decision comes amid concerns over increasing spam within the GBP chat service, which initially launched in 2017 with high hopes. Despite a significant initial investment, Google's inconsistent product strategy led to its downfall.Interestingly, Google is no...

en-us

244 results

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