Local & Maps
rss feed

Topics related to local search and online mapping. For more background, see the Locals Only column or local search & mapping stories from our sister site, Search Engine Land. Below are topics submitted by Sphinn members:
Show Me: Last 25 | Just Today | Yesterday | Week | Month

Matt McGee writes, "In an effort to help make more connections and develop relationships within the local search industry, I thought it would be fun to put together a big list of people and companies with close ties to local search who are using Twi read more »
8 Comments     
Mike Blumenthal, Danny Sullivan, Matt McGee, Dana Lookadoo and myself are all sending the same message about Local to Google. Here's the question for you: Do you think of Google's Local applications as wikis? Probably not, but Google does. This arti read more »
7 Comments     
David Mihm talks with BOTW's Greg Hartnett about BOTW Local -- and Greg shares some good insights based on the first few months it's been open, and thoughts on where it's going next. read more »
Discuss     
Mike Blumenthal shows why it is important to claim your business. It important that this is being brought to the attention to Small Business Owners like Eric Stein said on SMX East on monday read more »
10 Comments     
Mike Blumenthal got up early to report about the newly posted Quality Guidelines for the Google Maps / Local Business Center and the option to apply for re-inclusion. read more »
Discuss     
Effective local business landing pages are imperative to getting good local search rankings. Dev Basu discusses 10 Best Practices for Local Biz Landing Page design that are tried and tested methods to gain great rankings. read more »
4 Comments     
Dr. Pete looks at some innovations and shifts in local and mobile search:

"As search marketers, it's hard not to be a little worried by these recent changes - as a group, these advancements are undeniably game-changers and represent a significant read more »
6 Comments     
Mike Blumenthal shares a new monetization technique spammers are using in conjunction with exploiting Google Maps' long suffering mass upload feature. read more »
Discuss     
Learn best practices for coding for local/mobile:
Doc type declaration, screen width, accessibility, device detection redirection, XML Sitemaps.

Nice job and great resource! read more »
Discuss     
David Mihm brings you everything you need to know from last week's SMX Local conference. He says: "I've just returned from SMX Local in San Francisco and my head is still spinning. Chris Sherman, Greg Sterling, and the rest of the Third Door Media t read more »
5 Comments     
Best of The Web adds a local component, making a great directory an even better resource on the consumer level. read more »
1 Comment     
As I watch search marketers often continue to obsess about things like PageRank, I wanted to do a personal post / wake-up call related to our SMX Local & Mobile Search Marketing show happening next month in San Francisco, July 24-25. Because for all read more »
2 Comments     
Some quick ideas on why you might want to optimize your site for phone number searches. read more »
5 Comments     
David Mihm's excellent analysis of the Google Local / Map Algorithm which argues in compelling fashion that citations (mentions of the business without a link) play an important role in ranking well in the Google's Local Listings. read more »
1 Comment     
A fully optimized Local Business Profile contains a well-crafted business description, containing a unique selling proposition based on market and keyword research, domain name and email cross branding (including generic domains), authentic testimon read more »
6 Comments     
David Wallace writes... The days of flipping through a big fat yellow book to find a local business are quickly coming to a close. After all, why settle for a simple phone number when an online search can also net you menus, pricing, hours and consu read more »
Discuss     
An thoughtful response by Ahmed of iBegin to the recent Yahoo Affiliate Mapspam reports asking:

•What is mapspam?
•What is a reasonable approach to to the varying forms of it?
•How do we respond to it?.
•What are the technical and human limits read more »
Discuss     
An excellent article, Mike, and excellent suggestions. It is an unfortunate byproduct of universal search and multiple algo's that the effort by Google to provide "better information" is at times providing "inferior and erroneous" information. read more »
9 Comments     
Tim Nash reveals in a local study that SEO firms which target local businesses are not in fact getting that many local clients. read more »
11 Comments     
For the first time many have witnessed, Google is now serving unverified local listings in its blended local result plus boxes. read more »
10 Comments     
Andrew's past position at InsiderPages makes him a fascinating Local SEO to chat with. Read what Andrew has to say about Maps, IYP, backsplashes and more! read more »
4 Comments     
How to get the businesses with multiple locations in the same city (e.g. two Starbucks on opposite corners) to rank for the same local search query, or something to that effect. read more »
5 Comments     
This post is important. Learn simple Local Business Center procedures to show up in the G-maps category of YOUR CHOICE. Mike Blumenthal discusses first research to reveal workings of Google's map categorization process. read more »
8 Comments     
"Monday afternoon I received a call from a Psychic Counselor inquiring as to how she might show up in the Local OneBox for Psychic in Santa Fe, NM. I was intrigued that a pyschic would turn to me from results she found in Google. I decided to take t read more »
5 Comments     
Categorized list of 41 different local search engines, yellow pages, meta crawlers, data providers and local social communities. Complete with descriptions and links sign up, list or learn more. read more »
9 Comments     


Search Marketing Expo

Save the date for:
SMX West - Feb. 10-12, 2009
SMX Munich - April 22-23, 2009
SMX Social Media Marketing - April 29-30
SMX Advanced - June 2-3, 2009

Search Marketing Now

Learn more about search marketing through free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site Search Marketing Now.

Upcoming Webcasts: