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 Cries ‘Wolf” When it Comes to DMA Compliance: Google's approach to DMA compliance seems to prioritize its interests, presenting a false dichotomy between new compliance changes and the previous state, which was more favorable to all parties. Google needs to innovate rather than blame DMA for negative outcomes, and to really increase opportunity within the search results there needs to be stringent regulation on self-preferencing, especially with first-party data, particularly entity data.  The Future of SGE:  Google’s SGE experiment is still just that; an experiment. There is speculation that it will be formally introduced during Google I/O in May. When it is, will it move behind a paywal, will it become just another universal result or will Google take some third path. Equally importantis whether Google generative AI will continue to receive legal protection under Sec 230. The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands. near memo ep 153 Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/