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...

The Google Review Fraud Landscape in Maps & LSA and How a Business  Should Respond:   Google Review Fraud Landscape (10:17): Estimates that 18% of reviews across various platforms are fake.Home service industries, such as locksmiths, moving companies, and HVAC, are heavily affected.Legal sector is also impacted, with fake reviews prevalent among personal injury, criminal defense, and DUI lawyers.LSA Review Fraud (21:38): Lead generation scammers are stealing business from ethical...

Will Google's Reactive Behavior to Search Quality & AI Solve Their Problems? Google is struggling to adapt to the changing market dynamics, including the rise of AI, TikTok, and criticism of declining search result quality.Google's efforts to retain younger users by modifying its search results to include more engaging content like social media, short videos, and images.Google's algorithmic updates are aimed at improving search result relevance and combating the issue of low-quality...

 Can Gemini Fix Search? Google’s current interface and attempts at query refinement are largely broken. Google’s new Gemini upgrade to SGE appears to offer advanced search query refinement capabilities and individualized user interfaces that could resolve both of those issues. The potential or customized and visually diverse search results when integrated into search could provide a much improved user experience. The Impact of Google’s Rating Bias: Google's more liberal grading scheme...

In this extended episode of the Near Memo, Greg Sterling , Joy Hawkins, Darren Shaw & Mike Blumenthal explore the role of generative AI and how it has evolved one year after CHat GPT was released.  We cover: Experiences and opinions on the use of AI tools like ChatGPT in SEO and content creation.The effectiveness of AI in different aspects of agency work, including creative tasks and data analysis.The influence of AI on the quality of content and the evolving nature of SEO...

Google’s Newest Search Features: “Whipped cream on S.H. I. .T”.? While Google's new features aim to enhance user interaction and personalize the search experience, they may not address broader user concerns about search result quality and privacy. And in fact may, as David points out, might just be whipped cream on a not very tasty substrate. The success of these features will depend on their implementation, user acceptance, and compliance with global privacy standards. Whitespark...

Google Maps from useful to bloat? Google Maps continues to add new features and functionality and as it has become a primary search engine for Google and its forward facing brand it has included so much functionality that it suffers from extreme bloat. The new immersive directions exemplifies the problem. but Maps is a deep moat and it is very difficult for others to challenge.   Citations and their value to Local Search:  In the past, citations from directories were crucial for local...

“Running a startup is like being in a knife fight,” BeanBox Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Berk unexpectedly says, as he describes the arduous but rewarding journey from the world of SaaS to making a real-world consumer product.  From Local Search to the Speciality Coffee Business: Matthew Berk’s personal and professional path took him from a humanities degree to co-found a local-search startup (OpenList) and eventually to a more traditional real-world manufacturing and logistics business...

GBP Call History’s History - What does it say about Google? Google Business Profile Call History has been problematic from the start because it made the business of calling a business more like roulette. When it disappeared after months of barely functioning every thought it had been nuked. But it's back. Its chaotic development, its checkered history, the lack of communication around it speaks to all of the things that Google does poorly and why any smart business would not put such a...

Bulk Dashboard Comeback?, GBP listing cleanup, Alternatives to Google search Segment 1 Title (100 chars):  Will GBP rescue the multi-location Business Profile Manager dashboard from the trash bin? Google recently added a new functionality to the Business Profile Manager dashboard: they upgraded the bulk Insights download to match the data points available in the API and the Google Maps editing interface. Is this an indication that Google is finally dusting off the dashboard and is going to...

 “Clicks Are Not a ranking signal” except that they are:  If we have learned anything over the years with Google it is that you need to take with a huge grain of salt. While they might not lie, they have such narrow definitions and unstated assumptions that you really don’t know what they mean. Recent evidence in the antitrust case reveals that to be more true than ever.   Google Comments on Review Fraud: “We are the victim here”:   In a shameless example of self interested BS Google...

 What Is Content?:   Purna Virji and I discuss what motivated her to write the book, how she defines “content” and why she took a very expansive approach to content strategy and marketing. She also discusses the foundation of great content and what digital marketers can learn from traditional marketing.  Creating ‘High Impact’ Content:  What exactly makes a “high impact” content? How do you differentiate your content, especially in a B2B context? Virji explains how to find the overlap...

The big picture of review fraud - who does it and why:   We explore the full range of review fraud from fake positive reviews, black hat negative reviews and review extortion with Curtis Boyd of the Transparency Company. How widespread is it, is it growing, which categories are most likely to participate in it and why.  How to deal with fake review attacks and competitors who use fake reviews:   If you are an honest business can you compete in a world rife with review fraud. We discuss how to...

Upcoming Google Anit-trust case unlikely to change much of anything:  Google’s antitrust case is starting next week. Google filed for a summary judgment and some of the issues were decided in their favor. Only two remain; The payment to Apple as the default iPhone search engine and whether Google uses Search Ads 360 to thwart competitors. Even if the case is decided against Google, it is unlikely to change much in the world of search.  GBP support finally introduces a form to dedupe listings...

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.  Local link building is hard but NearMedia research indicates that even in competitive markets in competitive categories it only takes several great local links to compete.  Google has created a world where focusing on...

How SMBs buy services:   Despite what we may think, neither word of mouth nor social are how small and very small businesses buy payment solutions. Search was where it was at. This survey likely can be extrapolated to any SAAS product or service. While it takes longer and is harder to gain search traffic, search and SEO ultimately pays off if you are trying to reach the SMB audience.  DSA is kicking in and we are seeing its impact globally:   DSA and the related P2B regulations become...

Google Ambassadors (ie Gig Workers) now staffing GBP support  poorly:   Google Business Profile support has added a new layer of first level support using what they call Google Ambassadors. These are “passionate brand advocates” working as gig workers. While it provides a comforting, warm body to the chat support experience, it is likely to just waste your time. So be prepared to take a winding path to your answer and expect to be passed along without a conclusive solution.  New Google...

Google VS Chat GPT Taste Test:   In blind testing, users appear to prefer ChatGPT search results over Google by almost 2:1. Those are the findings of the test's creator, ClickPop, which requires some caveats. Nonetheless, the outcome suggests the Google brand and familiar UI may be a bigger factor in Google's dominant search position than search quality Google Ad Liaison provided bad pruning advice to CNET:   CNET was "busted" by Gizmodo this week for pruning a bunch of old content. The...

New Local ad format,  Updated GBP Guideline clarifies policies, Google SGE shows reference links: New Local Ad format is a local ad as local ads should be Google seems to have rolled out a new ad unit that relies on local assets like GBP photos for the the creatives. The ads include a map, review ratings and an image are very eye-catching and appear to be extremely easy to create and use. This is the ad that Google should have made available to local advertisers from day one. New GBP...

Google continues to lose product search market share:   A recent quarterly survey from Jungle Scout indicates that Google and to a lesser extent Amazon are both losing product search market share. Google has lost almost a 7% share on a year over year basis despite massive investments in Product search related tech. Social media, particularly TikTok seems to be the big winner with an almost 6% gain. Does this reflect a growing consumer dissatisfaction with Google (and Amazon) or does it just...

Apple Maps & Local Opportunities:  Apple Maps is ACTUALLY used for local discovery and it appears to be sending more traffic than either Yelp or Bing. According to Apple insights at least 28% of clicks came from category searches. While  Apple Maps generates ~5% of the web visits and perhaps 10% of the phone calls of GBP, that is enough to put Apple Maps in second place as a source of local leads.  Interestingly having access to both Apple and Google Maps driving direction clicks we can...

The enshittification of Google Analytics:   Google analytics, with their forcing of GA4 on an audience that doesn’t need, understand or want the complexity, has created an opportunity for the market to deliver simple, easy to implement and understandable analytics. Will this fall to a third party or will it surface organically within the CMSs and operational platforms that are currently available? Twitter, where art thou replacement? The enshittification  of Twitter has moved along at a rapid...

Tiktok IS about Local but not the way you think While the Wall Street Journal thinksTikTok holds companies hostage and a small business in Philadelphia thinks it is unfair to get so many fake reviews, there is no denying that Tiktok has scale. While it hasn't really provided any real local discovery options, any given video can get so much traction that it can be felt at the most local of levels.  Google Perspectives: innovation for the SERPs or bandaid to prevent social media...

Does the world need another mapping project and an open source one at that? Meta, Amazon web Services, Tom Tom & Microsoft think so and teamed up to create the Overture Maps Foundation, with Marc Prioleau at the helm. The Overture Maps Foundation is a new organization within the open source Linux Foundation. It aims to improve mapping services by focusing on open map data that meets evolving market needs. By collaborating and sharing data, the foundation seeks to avoid duplication of...

Google LSA reviews come, they go but LSA still sucks:   Last week we saw seismic activity in the disappearance of Google Local Service Ads (LSA) reviews and there was hope, however faint, that they were fixing their fake review problem. But like with so much around Google local efforts, that was not the case. Fake reviews in LSA are emblematic of Google’s lost opportunity with these ads. They offered up the promise of Google being able to track the whole consumer journey and being able to...