Last week in local 7/17
Join Local U for the latest public episode of Last Week in Local, a weekly conversation about the articles that attracted our attention during the past week ending July 17th, 2017. This week featuring Mary Bowling and Mike Blumenthal.
This year we will be publishing our Last Week in Local video directly to the Local U blog. It will be published every Monday and will include discussions about the events in the last week — strategic and tactical — that affect Local SEO & marketing.
If you have a special topic you would like us to discuss for our other weekly feature, the Deep Dive in Local, or if you would like to be on one or the other of our segments, reach outand send us the topic and your availability. If you are interested in sponsoring this weekly show also please let us know.
Let us know what you think. Welcome to Last Week in Local!
Our weekly discussions are also now available as a podcast as well.
Mary’s Links
Google Maps Adds ‘Spa And Salon Day’ Direct Reservations
David Kaplan at Geomarketing Blog talks about how wellness serves are being funneled through Google’s Reserve at Google partners. It’s important that agencies are aware of these partnership opportunities for their clients in different niches.
12 things to know to succeed with Google Posts
I ran across the concept of cloud kitchens. Order online and then get it delivered. No real restaurant exists. There’s already one in LA with plans to open in 3 more major cities, but this concept is developing in India. It provides shared commercial kitchen space, software to manage your orders, sales, deliveries and helps with marketing. Zomato – and in India, Swiggy – is getting into it.
A Complete Local SEO Checklist
Test Your Mobile Website Speed and Performance
How to Appear in YouTube ‘Suggested Clips’ on Google | Chris Philpot | RocketMill
How to Suggested Clips are being rolled out by Google. These are videos featured at the top of the results that are queued to start at exactly the part of the video that best answers the question.
Mike’s Links
Amazon hires gadget experts for door-to-door smart home installs, taking on Best Buy’s Geek Squad
Amazon is going after the smart phone with their own installation services.
Microsoft launches new email marketing and invoicing tools for small businesses
Includes Microsoft Listings, which allows you to manage your business listings on Facebook, Google, Bing and Yelp and monitor online views and reviews
Move over millennials, Gen-Z now the largest single population segment
Interesting differences in in-store behavior between Gen-Z and Millenials with Snapchat being high on the list of in store activities amongst Gen-Z
Secret Weapon of Effective Local SEO: Wordsmithing
Words, well written and well expressed can help in every aspect of Local SEO.
Google My Business Messaging FAQ & Google Messaging Rolling Out to More Dashboards
Messaging allows a consumer to communicate via an SMS link in the Knowledge Panel to communicate directly with the business. Now available in the US & Brazil with a rollout in India soon
Google My Business Updates Insights Download Reports
Even with major rollouts, its interesting that Google is still able to roll out some smaller updates
Google Updates GMB Insights Email
Google My Business Using Pop Up Ads to Pitch Adwords Express
Google Testing Increased Front Page GMB Editing & Call to Action
Google seems to have finally understood that they not only need reasons for a business to create a listing, they need reasons for that business to go back to the dashboard. And finally they seem to have finally unleashed their marketing efforts to actually get these small businesses back into the the dashboard on a regular basis. Why?
Google’s Product Bid for DIY Wallet Share
The why is answered in the article with David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal. Google is looking to make DIY easy and affordable at the low end of the Adwords world and all of these developments seem to point towards a funnel to see more and more Adwords Express.
