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...

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...

Send us a Text Message.Rand helps us explore the implications of the Google Web Search leak and how it impacts our understanding of how the search ranking aglo actually worksThis week we interviewed Rand Fishkin of SparkToro on the details and importance of the Google Search API leak. In discussing the “biggest leak of the last 25 years” we look at how it provides SEO practitioners with menu of possible experiments to explorethe role of Chrome as a source for click through data and what ...

Send us a Text Message.New SAB Local Ranking Factor: Service area businesses have long been a problem on Google Maps. Spam, privacy, suspension AND ranking issues have plagued them since the beginning. Now it appears that there may be hope on the ranking issue. Historically they were ranked around the location from which they were claimed regardless of the service area. Darren Shaw of Whitespark has uncovered some indications that this is starting to change and the ranking signals are m...

Send us a Text Message.ChatGPT 4o Makes an Impression: OpenAI, not so subtly, introduced improvements to ChatGPT 4.0 just before I/O Google's event. The presentation was crisp and focused highlighting OpenAI's ChatGPT 4o enhanced speech capabilities and creative functionalities, such as summarizing audio streams shows and organizing the resultant notes into coherent outlines. Despite some features demoed on Monday being API-exclusive, the potential for ChatGPT to rival Google's search, ...

Send us a Text Message. Is Google Finally fixing LSA reviews?In a significant update for advertisers and businesses in the UK, Google has announced changes to its Local Services Ads (LSA) review system. Effective July 7, the existing LSA customer review URLs will expire and be replaced with URLs from Google Business Profiles (GBP), centralizing review management under GBP. This shift mandates businesses to have an affiliated GBP to run LSAs, integrating reviews on both platforms. Wh...

Send us a Text Message.We're taking the week off, but here's an episode (#126) from the "vault" that we think you'll enjoy!Do Google searchers enter the Local Finder?Local SEOs wonder whether searchers actually enter the Local Finder from the Pack results. We often think no but our research indicates that not only do searchers enter the Local Finder on a regular basis, they also scroll deep and often pick a business not in the top three.The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Soc...

Send us a Text Message. Dana DiTomaso brings her practical insights to the often murky waters of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Dana, who wears multiple hats as the president and co-founder of KickPoint, shares candid thoughts on the challenges of demystifying GA4. She discusses the shortcomings of GA4, emphasizing its strong data collection capabilities but criticizing its reporting features. Dana emphasizes the necessity of understanding what GA4 and other analytics tools can and cannot do....

Send us a Text Message.  Ad market dominated by a few players:  The Internet Advertising Bureau released their annual report for 2024. Digital advertising reached a record-high of $225 billion, with the biggest share going to search ($88.8 billion) & display ($66.1 billion). The bulk of this income is distributed across the top 10 advertising platforms and with the end of cookies, their dominance is likely to be reinforced. While paid search's (ie Google’s) share of total revenue...

Send us a Text Message. Reviews are Like Death & Taxes & Should be Treated that Way:  Miriam Ellis wrote a great article at Moz providing small business owners tips on how to overcome their fear of reviews. But they really need to go further. Given that reviews, like death and taxes, are not going anywhere businesses need to not only remove their fear but create stringent business processes around getting AND contesting reviews that removes their emotions from the process. Google...

The need to move SMBs from Tactics to Strategy & how fractional CMO’s can do that:   John Jantsch is a seasoned consultant, speaker, and bestselling author, notably recognized for his Duct Tape Marketing brand. He shares his journey of owning an agency for 30 years, highlighting his affinity for small to midsize businesses and the challenges they face, especially regarding budget and focus. Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing was his solution to the market's need for effective and...

In this special edition, Mike and David discuss their visit to Brussels to attend Google’s report on their compliance with the European Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA, targeting large tech entities including Google, aims to regulate their status as gatekeepers to the internet. This session, specifically addressing Google's compliance, saw over 20 presenters from Google over an extensive eight-hour period, detailing their view of adherence to the DMA's regulations across various aspects of...

What on-page factors are associated with sites that see big gains or declines after Google updates?  Cyrus Shepard explains his recent research looking at correlations between a range of on page factors that might affect Google’s perception of your site and analyzes which factors were associated with increases or decreases in site visibility. Are stock photos a death knell? Are ads a deal breaker? Should contact information be on every page? What Cyrus learned from being a Google Quality...

 Google’s March Core Update & FUD:   David Mihm sheds light on Google's March core update, marking it as an unusually impactful monthly adjustment from the tech giant. The update has sparked extensive conversation among SEO experts. He highlighted three key focus areas of the update: scaled content, largely driven by AI technologies; site reputation abuse; and what is known colloquially as "parasite SEO." The latter involves strategies to boost article visibility and rankings through...

Consumer Research Highlights Limited Impact of DMA Mandated Google's SERP Changes:   Near Media unveiled findings from their latest research on the restaurant vertical in Ireland, investigating the effects of Google's Search Engine Results Page (SERP) changes in light of the Digital Markets Act. The study aimed to ascertain whether Google's adjustments to its Irish SERP features influence user click behavior or choices, particularly in selecting restaurants. The UI changes implemented by...

Long tail searcher behaviors: 10% of Discovery searches involve a brand search on Google:  In our most recent multi-location consumer Google search behavior research analyzing restaurant searches we saw roughly 10% of all searchers use the scrolling map for location precision and we saw an equal number of searchers do a local brand search as part of their discovery process. These brand searches seem to be either to better understand a location or to confirm their choice. Oftentimes it was a...

 Google adds Reddit to product searches and spammers follow:   We discuss a new study by Glenn Alsop that examines the prevalence of discussion and forum search features This module is a tacit admission on Google's part that its algorithm can no longer actually surface good organic content. LikeThe study, which analyzed 10,000 product review search queries, revealed significant insights into user behavior and Google's response to search result satisfaction. According to the findings, the...

 Will AI Improve SMB Websites? Consumers overwhelmingly prefer AI-generated content over human-created content across various formats, signaling a potential shift in online content creation. Businesses and agencies are adopting AI for content creation, citing effectiveness and cost reduction. However, concerns about the loss of human touch and authenticity persist, especially in personal brand building and influencer marketing. While AI can streamline information delivery, the rise of...

What 10 years of changes to the SERPS mean for marketers today:   We discuss Andy Crestodina’s most recent article where he looks at 10+ years of changes to google search results and what they mean. He highlights the evolving dynamics of search engine optimization (SEO) and the importance of diversifying marketing strategies beyond just SEO and Google. It underscores the observation that while rankings can be stable over time with continued investment in SEO, changes in Google's algorithms...

 Will Fired Google Raters Be Replaced with AI? Last week Google terminated their relationship with one of the companies responsible for rating the quality of websites. Certainly Google has been on a cost cutting rampage of late with layoffs and product cancellations. But is the ending of one of their relationships with one of the companies responsible for quality rating just a cost cutting measure or a foreshadowing of Google using AI to perform this important task? SEO Tools are just tools...

SGE has huge impacts but is still just a testing ground:   Some industries, like healthcare, are impacted by Google’s SGE (search generative experience) than others with 76% of queries analyzed being impacted by SGE. While other industries show lesser impact, it is still significant. But SGE is still just a test and one that impacts those likely to enroll in these sorts of experiments, like SEO pros. While many SEOs fear that SGE IS the future of search, it is more likely a testing ground as...

How the Google Guarantee Scam Impacts Honest Businesses? The Google Guarantee Scam is frequently perpetrated by groups of foreign nationals working in relative anonymity and looking for a quick profit. While some blame goes to these actors, the ultimate fault and responsibility lies with Google. Honest businesses have been negatively impacted by the Google Guarantee LSA scam: Loss of business: Some businesses have reported losing up to 70% of their business due to the scam. This is because...

Join us in this eye-opening discussion with Zachary Dotson, an experienced marketer in the home services industry, as he sheds light on a rampant scam in Google Local Service Ads. Learn how fake companies are exploiting the system with stolen licenses and profiles, bait-and-switch pricing tactics, and the impact on legitimate businesses and consumers. Discover the challenges faced in tackling these scams and the response from authorities and Google. This conversation with Mike Blumenthal from...

 What Should Businesses Do About Google SGE? Google has not yet announced any concrete plans for the future of Search Generative Experience (SGE), and it is unclear how it will evolve in the coming years. SGE is still in its early, very crude stages and it is not yet known how it will impact search traffic. Many SEOS reacted with fear and loathing but in the end the impact of SGE may in fact be minimal. However, businesses can start to experiment with SGE by: Triggering SGE to appear by...