Today Google Maps introduced quality guidelines for business listings on Google Maps. Google now also provides a reinclusion option for those listings that may have been removed. Both are available via the Google Maps Help Center. “The guidelines are a first real indication of Google’s standards for defining a real business listing from a spammy one,” Mike Blumenthal says.
Archive for September, 2008
-
Google Sets Guidelines for Business Listings
Jacob Ciha
16Sep
-
The Effectiveness of Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential Text Campaign
Sherri Albus
Early Saturday morning, August 23, 2008, the Barack Obama campaign team announced the vice presidential selection as Delaware senator Joe Biden via text message. What has been dubbed “the single largest mobile marketing event ever in the U.S.” by Nielsen has produced mixed reactions among consumers.
Nielsen estimates that 2.9 million mobile subscribers received the 26 word text message, which encouraged supporters to “spread the word.” Supporters signed up to receive this text message via Barack Obama’s official website to be among the first to receive the breaking news. Currently, Nielsen reports that 116 million mobile subscribers in the U.S. utilize text messaging (52% of total U.S. mobile subscribers), making this a new channel for mass marketing efforts.
12Sep
-
Google Looks at Page Priorities on a Site Level
Jason Barrett
There was a nice post today on Search Engine Roundtable that showed the results of some testing on Google sitemaps. According to the post, JohnMu of Google noted that Google looks at page priorities in XML sitemaps on a site level and not on an individual sitemap level. This is important because several websites employ multiple XML sitemaps. It is important for those folks to realize that Google takes one holistic view of all the files for the domain and prioritizes them together.
11Sep
-
Geo-Targeting Minimums
Jason Barrett
When geo-targeting search ads, Google and MSN allow you to specify a search radius. How far out should you expand that radius? Well according to a representative from Google, AdWordsPro.Steph, you should not go smaller that a 20 – 30 mile radius. This should be done so your radius is not so small that it results in inadvertant exclusion.
11Sep
-
Cuil Loses VP of Product
Jason Barrett
TechCrunch has posted an article noting that Cuil has lost its VP of Product. Louis Monier has apparently moved on and the speculation is that it stems from a disagreement with Cuil’s CEO on the product roadmap. Cuil continues to stumble out of the starting blocks and this most recent setback only continues the trend.
11Sep
-
Google Insights for Search
Michael Clark
Once again Google has observed a need from the advertising audience and listened to the requests of consumers. They have taken their Google Trends product and given it a boost for Advertisers called Google Insights for Search.
According to Google, Insights for Search is able to show patterns and trends of what the world is searching for, compare search volume patterns of multiple search terms across regions, categories, and time frames, and give Advertisers an outlet to view data in a more organized fashion.
08Sep
-
Managing Local Information is a Delicate Balance – Even at Yahoo!
tmpdm
The world of Local Search is cluttered with incorrect and duplicate data, especially the mapping areas we have become so familiar with. To sort out this type of information Google, Yahoo and others use a hierarchy of data providers and general information. In this article the Local Product folks at Yahoo, Frazier Miller and Shailesh Bhat talk about the process and their challenges with managing the robust amount of data. They point out that the best way to find authentic information is to use trusted vendors like InfoUSA, Acxiom, and Localeze or submit the information directly.
08Sep
