Last week in local 11/13/2017
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 Nov. 13th. This week features Mary Bowling & Mike Blumenthal.
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 out and send us the topic and your availability. If you are interested in sponsoring this weekly show also please let us know.
Amazon Cash Comes to 7-Eleven Stores | PYMNTS.com
Amazon is going after the “bankless” crowd by providing a simple way for them to store and retrieve cash when needed.
Google adds wait times to local results in search and maps
Now, before you go to the “no reservation” restaurant you can have an idea exactly how long you will be standing around.
Facebook relaunches Events app as Facebook Local, adds bars and food
Facebook makes another step into the local space with an app that combines bars and restaurants to their events app providing a single place to go for entertainment and foods.
Google Local Service Ads: Ready for Primetime
Finally Local Service Ads (aka Home Service Ads, aka Advanced Verification) has finalized features and functionality and is getting rolled out much more widely at a rapid pace.
Mary’s Links
2017 Assembled: The Recap – Tidings
David Mihm ran an SMB event in Portland. The chart below shows what the attendees were most interested in getting help with. Strategy and SEO ranked 1 and 2 with social media 3. IMO the strategy is where SMBs become the most confused because, like many agencies, they have not embraced “optimizing” the entire business or merging offline and online tactics into a complete marketing plan.
Woman who reported rape on TripAdvisor says company lied about apology for deleting post
“As TripAdvisor scrambles to respond to complaints from users who say the company has forbidden them from posting negative reviews and comments detailing serious injuries and other terrifying experiences while traveling, dozens more have told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they, too, have had their posts blocked by TripAdvisor.”
IMO this makes the entire body of reviews on Trip Advisor suspect.
Local SEO Ranking Factors Study 2017 – Local SEO Guide
My takeaways:Reviews keep gaining in importance. Rank organically to get in the local packs. Website and citations are table stakes. I like the sentiment: “Websites-You own this asset, why is it under optimized?”
Yelp Consumer Alert for Fake Reviews
Yelp slaps everyone’s hands. Good luck with that.
