As local media lose budgets, Field Day offers ‘last mile activation’ for brands
The company says it offers local human outreach at scale.
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.
Even as more people shop online, searches for ‘available near me’ up over 100% vs. last year
Google's Reena Nadkarni explains what retailers can do to drive local sales.
New EU regulations compel more transparency for search rankings
Guidelines seek disclosure of major ranking factors by Google, Amazon.
YouTube remains dominant source of video in top Google ranking positions
Study found 83% of videos in search results carousel come from YouTube.
Apple’s data-collection ‘nutrition labels’ for apps will begin appearing next week
Developers are now required to self-report to Apple on the data they collect from users. Very few will escape the new rules.
Google adds more discovery to Google Maps with ‘community feed’
The new feed offers more opportunities for local business exposure.
Google Guaranteed badge starting to appear on Google Maps listings
Google seems to be testing how consumers react to Google Guaranteed badges in places other than in Local Services Ads.
Google’s new Small Business Advisors program aims to help SMBs grow
Don't think of it as an enhanced version of Google Support.
Hijacked Google My Business listings appear to be a growing problem
GMB listings phishing is on the increase. Google says it's aware of the problem but business owners must be vigilant.
Concrete steps marketers should take now to get ready for CA’s CPRA in 2023
The California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act won't take effect for two more years, but don't wait to prepare.
Amazon uses its data to undermine third party sellers, EU antitrust action says
The company could face penalties of up to 10% of its total revenue, which was more than $280B in 2019.
Presidential pollsters got it wrong, what are the implications for consumer research?
If political polls were so off, might consumer research be equally flawed?
COVID helped drive record ad revenue for big tech in Q3
Facebook, Google and Amazon all reported significant revenue growth during, and partly because of, the pandemic.
California’s ‘CCPA 2.0’ passed: Here’s what changes
CPRA takes aim at data 'sharing' and not just sales.
CallRail’s Lead Center is a virtual phone system and contact center for SMBs
The platform builds on the company's call tracking and analytics capabilities.
Tripadvisor launches new listings, reputation and data products to help hotels and restaurants gain insights, boost visibility
Restaurants and hotels have been hit especially hard during COVID-19.
Does the Google antitrust case make an Apple search engine more likely?
The DOJ may cause Apple to accelerate plans for its own engine.
Online holiday sales could reach $200 billion according to Adobe
Smartphones will drive the majority of online retail traffic and 42% of sales.
Holiday 2020 is do or die for many SMBs
Small businesses need to focus their marketing on key consumer sites, especially Google, for survival into 2021.
Google moves one step closer to ads that can deliver personalization and privacy
Individualized targeting is replaced by group targeting using an algorithm to assign people to interest-based cohorts.
DOJ antitrust suit: Google uses contracts, market power to neutralize rivals
Google thinks it will win but the DOJ used these arguments successfully before.
Google Search gets deeper into the ‘real-world’ with Busyness, Duplex and AR in Maps
Building the data bridge between online and offline.
Global Privacy Control group aims to succeed where ‘do not track’ failed
Initiative faces the challenge of gaining publisher and consumer adoption.
Yelp introduces new ‘business accused of racist behavior’ consumer alert
Well-intentioned initiative might be problematic in some cases.
Google testing new ‘call history’ feature for Google My Business
The missed call log will remain available to businesses for 45 days.
Congressional report blasts Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook as monopolistic ‘gatekeepers’ of the digital economy
Breaking up these companies will apparently be on the table.
Google My Business and reviews gain in 2020 Local Ranking Factors survey
But rankings and conversions aren't always the same thing.
Google gives publishers new content ‘Showcase’ on News, Search, Discover
There are no ad or ranking implications, but Showcase News features will be coming to Search and the Discover feed.
Google takes Local Services Ads to Europe
Searches for local services grew more than 25% YoY across European countries.
Yelp brings Ads Dashboard into Yelp for Business, debuts new ads features
Advertisers can now optimize for goals such as phone calls, website visits or messages, add negative keyword targeting and more.
Google brings bidding to Local Services Ads
Only selected advertisers will get access to the auction during the beta period.
Google local ads gain Smart Bidding for store sales, ‘pick up later,’ service attributes
The company is investing heavily to address the dominant online to offline use cases, including buy online, pickup in-store.
Google rolling out video appointments, online classes to local business profiles
The booking can occur through GMB but the class or consultation won't happen on the business profile.
Facebook Business Suite is a new cross-app management tool for SMBs
Seeks to bring simplicity and centralized control to content management on Facebook and Instagram.
Google boosting visibility of ‘nearby’ product inventory with new Shopping features
Responding to changing consumer behavior, Google starts emphasizing BOPIS
Apple IDFA consent: Roughly 60% of consumers open to allowing tracking
With the right incentives, iOS users might be willing to share data.
Local businesses can highlight COVID-19 ‘health & safety’ measures with Google My Business
The attributes should start appearing in Search and Maps soon. They are intended to give consumers confidence and manage their expectations.
InMarket buys NinthDecimal to compete with Foursquare more effectively
The company is positioning itself as an "omnichannel" rather than "location" marketing platform.
A Corona Xmas: Why physical stores will power online shopping this holiday season
Most shoppers are more likely to make an e-commerce purchase if they can return the item in a local store