Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Near Memo
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Tactics for EU Hotels, Google’s Updated Spam Guideline, When might Yelp v Google Go to Trial? | 28 Sep 2024 | 00:36:53 | |
How Individual Hotels Can Win in EU Search: We explore how Google’s algorithm and ad strategies favor aggregators like Booking, rather than individual hotel brands, who do however have an ad opportunity with the new(ish) carousel ad and the Google Business Profiles for visibility. While Booking.com often dominates ad spots, the landing pages sometimes confuse users by showing lists of hotels instead of the specific property clicked from within the Google Hotel Finder. How should businesses and agencies react when dealing with Google spam guidance? Google has a history of FUD. Both groups should be aware of the risks of pushing the limits of SEO. If you're focused on providing real value to users, the risk of penalties remains low, but it’s critical to stay aware of evolving rules. Yelp argues that Google’s local search and local ads operate as separate markets, using a unique algorithm and data set. However, like the Epic Games case against Google, it could take as long as three years for the case to actually go to trial and several more years to explore penalties and file appeals. That being this case could impact future legislation, especially in light of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and its approach to regulating tech giants like Google. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google tests Review Badge of Shame in UK; Google’s Antitrust Travails; SMB Marketing Disconnects | 20 Sep 2024 | 00:38:06 | |
Google Testing Review Badge of Shame & More in UK for Review Abuses: Google has rolled out a new review “badge of shame” and a new help document titled "Business Profile Restrictions for Policy Violations," introducing stricter actions for businesses engaging in deceptive review practices. Currently being tested in the UK, the policy includes a tiered system of penalties, such as preventing new reviews, unpublishing existing ones, and displaying a "badge of shame" for businesses caught with fraudulent reviews. This marks a shift in Google’s approach, as they historically removed fake reviews without directly accusing businesses of wrongdoing. The penalties, though designed to improve review integrity, raise concerns about fairness, particularly for businesses that may be falsely flagged. Google has implemented an appeals process, offering business owners a chance to contest these restrictions. However, with previous experiences showing delays in review processes, some wonder how effective the system will be. This effort aligns with broader global regulatory pressures, such as the UK's push against fake reviews and potential influences from European legislation like the Digital Services Act (DSA). Beyond legal outcomes, this case, coupled with Google’s aggressive internal strategies, is tarnishing the company’s public image. Wall Street has already priced in potential legal losses, showing expectations of a major financial impact from a loss. Additionally, these trials may open the door to more lawsuits, including cases like Yelp's, which could bring greater visibility into Google's local search dominance. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| How Local SEOs are using Gen AI & ChatGPT: Tips, tactics & strategies w/ Darren Shaw & Joy Hawkins | 20 Jul 2024 | 00:46:44 | |
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:
How Local SEO agencies use AI to improve client content:
How Local SEO agencies explain AI to their clients:
Local SEO Agencies & their AI future:
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| Google Quick Read- useful or Gen Z bone? Why are Google Posts rejected? Why Nextdoor needs local seo | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:23:03 | |
Google is testing a new label associated with content that is quick to read on both mobile and desktop. The label appears with either the text ‘Quick Read’ or ‘< 5 Min Read’, with several different combinations of each. Is this test, so close to the Helpful Content Update, a way to signal busy readers and garner their attention or is it a useful way to segment content so that searchers looking for in depth content can more easily find it? Why Google Posts are rejected - Another Google AI first fail - Google Business Profiles recently updated Posts guidelines to prohibit poor quality images and re-use of images. Simultaneously there has been a huge increase in the forums of reports of Posts being rejected, no reasons given. Turns out that there are three explanations for the many rejections; there is a new Posts image bug, some images are duplicates AND some images are deemed too “racy” by an AI system that seems more prudish than cautious. However in all of that businesses are left to fend for themselves when their posts are rejected. There is no indication of what caused the rejection and no path given for on. Once again a Google AI first solution seems to be shifting costs downstream and making for unhappy businesses. Nearby , Tiktok & Instagram need local seo now - Nearby, TikTok and Instagram have oodles of truly relevant local content and yet none of them has leveraged that valuable content into an SEO strategy that could attract new readers from Google local searches. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Shopify Influencer Play, Google’s Human Content Update; Why now? Google’s AI First Approach is wrong | 26 Aug 2022 | 00:28:53 | |
Shopify Cretes an Influencer Marketplace - Of all of the networks that have attempted to create a way for businesses to easily connect with influencers to help market their products, Shopify’s newest effort, Collabs, seems like the most logical fit and the easiest to use Google’s Human Content Update; Why now? Google’s language in announcing the Human Content Update, that is rolling out this week and next, largely reflected the language that the marketplace has been using to laud Tik-Tok and to criticize Google’s search efforts. We look at a number of questions surrounding this rollout and what it says about Google’s needs and their practices. Google’s AI First Approach is wrong - The recent case highlighted by the NY Times of a parent who sent photos of his child to their nurse being investigated by police AND having their lifelong Google accounts canceled point out the many problems of an AI first approach to societal issues. We see similar issues happening every day in the GBP forums around images, reviews and suspensions. We discuss ways that Google might be able to achieve scaled moderation AND live up to their obligations to society. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Yelp selling its business data, Google’s Review Spam algo nukes many legit reviews, Tik-Tok for brands | 20 Aug 2022 | 00:30:23 | |
Yelp has recently publicized their newest revenue stream; selling merchant data to marketers. It seems sleazy and is likely just a money grab by Yelp Day in and day out, small businesses are flocking into the Google Business Profile forum to complain about their legit reviews being nuked by Google’s effort to limit review spam. Tik-Tok is still not being heavily used by brands. Brands can create their own content or team up with Tik-tok creators, for which Tik-tok has created a marketplace. In travel, restaurants and beauty site visitors are using Tik-Tok for discovery. Many small businesses have done well there but brands have an opportunity to leverage this audience which is shunning search. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google whines about iMessage, Axios acquired by Cox, Facebook B2B segments | 13 Aug 2022 | 00:30:06 | |
After dozens of failed messaging starts, Google has been on a campaign to get Apple to integrate with their telco favored RCS messaging service. It's not clear why Apple would want to do that and the campaign by Google is almost laughable. Local growth highlighted in Axiosacquisition by Cox for $585 million. With the ascendance of Google and Facebook advertising, local newspapers have been on the ropes. Cox, originally a newspaper company, exited that world for digital properties and broadband services. It appears that they are making a jump back in with the Axios acquisition. Axios Local, highlighted in the press release for the acquisition, currently operates in 24 cities and plans to expand its coverage to 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2022. Eventually, it hopes to be in hundreds of cities. It will be interesting to watch if a nationally run local news organization can find a successful monetization strategy. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Shopify invests in email, End of location intelligence, E-commerce not eating retail, it is retail | 05 Aug 2022 | 00:27:27 | |
Segment 1: Shopify’s investment in Klaviyo improves Shopify’s enterprise cred & may signal acquisition In a move to protect and enhance their core product with enterprise, Shopify’s strategic investment in Klaviyo indicates a Segment 2: The golden era of hyper detailed location data intelligence is coming to an end The marketplace for highly granular location data, fed by smartphones, cars and cell companies, is coming under scrutiny by both Congress and regulators. Despite the value to society that this data might have, its abuse and invasive practices seems to have finally led to some constraints and oversight. If we are lucky, we may be given the ability to opt into surveillance instead of just having to accept it. Segment 3: At Covid start E-commerce was eating retail, turns out it is retail In early Covid, pundits talk up the idea that e-commerce had leaped 5 years ahead in its “battle” with retail only to talk up the idea that in store shopping has returned and the e-commerce lost all that it gained. But a closer examination of the data shows that e-commerce did make and sustains real growth but that retail has returned stronger as well. The problem seems to be with comparison between the two. In the end, e-commerce is not really a separate segment from retail but one in the same. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Instagram evolves (?), Google turns off reviews for women’s clinics , Google Commerce SERP Trends | 29 Jul 2022 | 00:28:41 | |
Google has stopped allowing reviews on Planned Parenthood as well as a limited number of businesses offering abortion & reproductive services. While the Planned Parenthood stoppage was probably a manual action, shutting of every business in the categories noted appears to be algorithmically implemented. Why? Google Commerce SERP Trends Four major trends in commerce serps on the desktop: increasingly visual, there are a greater variety of serp features to cope with ambiguity, there an increasing number of Local Packs and Ads dominate the space. Local Packs show for 77% of Google commerce query SERP results. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Amazon & Google pander to the FTC, American Privacy Act: Opt-In/Out Battle, Instagram goes local | 22 Jul 2022 | 00:26:07 | |
Amazon AND Google both try to demonstrate their anti fake review bonafides. Both fail to do their job and offer little in the way of substantive reform to prevent review abuses. The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (.pdf) looks like it will make it out of committee, a watershed moment and a step toward a floor vote. This moment is a byproduct of significant compromises and amendments. Instagram has introduced an upgraded, interactive and searchable map experience. Users can now search, browse and drag maps to find things nearby. Results can also be filtered by categories such as restaurants, hotels, cafes, sights. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Indie Bookstores Rebound, Privacy abuses both public & private, Ages 18-25 shun Google for Tik-Tok | 15 Jul 2022 | 00:35:06 | |
In the past year somewhere on the order of 300 independent bookstores have opened. The need for discovery, serendipity, community and increased opportunities are all likely factors in this resurgence Amazon is illegally sharing Ring data with police while ICE is accumulating dossiers on 3 out of 4 Americans with no oversight. Google’s disclosure that 40% of Gen Z’ers prefer Tik-Tok & Instagram to Google when searching for lunch restaurants, surprised many but puts their long term emphasis on images in the search results into meaningful relief. It also explains new search units that are primarily visual like “Find places through photo”. While the comment appeared to be off-hand it likely reflects an intentional effort to offset antitrust scrutiny as well. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| EU passes Digital Markets & Digital Services Acts to rein in big tech & prevent fraud & deception | 10 Jul 2022 | 00:32:33 | |
The Digital Markets Act attempts to create a new framework for understanding and regulating digital monopolies to improve competitiveness and create opportunities for smaller online businesses. Amongst its targets: self preferencing, access to alternative payment systems and messaging services interoperability. The fines for non-compliance are a non-trivial 10% of annual sales. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Entities not keywords, key to search, Google Offers shows playbook, Data privacy even more important | 01 Jul 2022 | 00:29:15 | |
Time to stop lamenting “zero click” search and to embrace the “messy middle” of Google’s entity search and barnacle SEO. Understanding how Google has remade all of search from inventory to brands into entity search as a way to help consumers make a decision is key to building out a successful search optimization strategy. Google is leveraging ever more granular product entities and product information to create a local product search experience that Amazon can’t compete with. Privacy should be a right not a convoluted opt out process. Most users, in choosing to not allow Apple’s app tracking show the way forward on privacy - opt in not opt out. While it is unlikely the federal government will go there states will. Hopefully sooner rather than later. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Seattle surgeon pays $5 mil review fraud fine; Local Search increasingly shows Google GBP results | 12 Jul 2024 | 00:30:16 | |
Seattle surgeon pays $5 mil fine for review fraud; What responsibility does Google have? Despite a $5 million fine, Allure Esthetics still shows high ratings on Google and Yelp. Google’s failure to address these fake reviews, raises questions about the platform’s responsibility under Section 230, which currently shields it from liability. This case highlights the need for changes to Section 230 to better protect consumers and maintain trust in online reviews. In Europe, current local search results showed significantly more Google self-referencing content, raising questions about regulatory compliance. The variations in local search displays across different European countries, suggests that Google's approach might be influenced by regional regulatory strategies. Despite the heavy Google-centric content, local businesses still benefited from visibility. However, the trend of zero-click searches, where users find all needed information without leaving Google, highlights the increasing prominence of Google's own services in local search outcomes. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google Search Quality Declining?, Google Local Test & Self-preferencing, Shifting search behaviors | 23 Jun 2022 | 00:32:21 | |
There's a growing perception that Google is in decline or dying. In an article in the Atlantic, Charlie Warzel interviews Marie Haynes, Dannie Sullivan and Rand Fishkin to try to understand his growing dissatisfaction with Google’s results. Is it too commercial, too corporate or too sanitized? He is not sure but he does know its not what it used to be. What would Google local search results look like if Google couldn't put the Local 3-Pack at the top of search results? A recently discovered test may give us a clue. New 'Local Cards' have appeared in organic results. They offer less information but still link to GBP pages, not local websites.Even if this test is abandoned, we need to be prepared for change in local SEO and local marketing if the anit-self-preferencing act passes Congress. . There is growing anecdotal evidence that users are switching to alternative methods to discover local goods and services. Is GenZ ready to abandon Google? Have they already moved on to TikTok and Instagram? Google has lost other search battle before but have managed, by hook or by crook, to stay relevant. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| The power of great CX, What % of searches are local? Antitrust laws & how marketing might change | 17 Jun 2022 | 00:33:29 | |
Chewy’s provides great CX and it goes viral: When a dog owner’s pet died and they asked Chewy to refund their unused food, the company went above and beyond. In doing so, they demonstrated the incredible viral value of great customer service. A simple customer service act provides bountiful returns. A look at the top 1000 Google queries on the desktop and what it says about local: Kevin Indig of Shopify looked at the top 1000 searches on Google Desktop. Interestingly at least ⅓ were local in intent and most of those were branded local searches. John Oliver & Rand Fishkin look at the two antitrust bills that might pass this summer: John Oliver, like many comedians these days, does a better job of explaining the antitrust bills in front of Congress than the news does. And he is more fun to listen to. Rand Fishkin looks at how the bills will dramatically change what we do as marketers. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Amazon doing Local Ads, Yep it, Apple BNPL & Search developments, Auto created Google Ads showing up | 09 Jun 2022 | 00:29:51 | |
Amazon has been posting new job positions for “rare opportunity to join a start-up business within Amazon Ads and play a strategic role in building the future of Local Ads”. It is hard to know exactly what it is they are building but talk of building relationships with agencies, clients, and service providers to scope solutions, partnerships, and business opportunities that result in the acceleration of Amazon's Advertising growth in New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago. Regardless, it is clear that they are looking to grow their ad business via local and looking to take Google (and perhaps Walmart) on directly in the space. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Apple search engine, GBP product kerfuffle, Walmart stores to be used for 3rd party local delivery | 04 Jun 2022 | 00:22:42 | |
The disappearance of the Product feature from the Google Business Profile caused lots of speculation. Whether it was a bug or a very small test that was not meant to be seen, the removal of the Product feature from the Google Business Profile (and to be replaced by Merchant Center) last week lead many to soul search about the role of real time inventory in Google’s push for ever more granular data. Google has been taking a holistic commerce strategy (online and in-store inventory) to create a more complete consumer offering than Amazon. Walmart announced that they will offer last mile same day delivery to 3rd parties from their stores Walmart continues to push the boundaries of on-line/offline commerce and publicly shared that they will be using their many locations as a warehouse and point of delivery for 3rd party resellers. Can their retail stores efficiently function in this capacity? Can they compete with both Google AND Amazon with this strategy? 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Walmart does drones, GML: AI, automation & images are future, Local inventory ad unit mimics 3-pack | 27 May 2022 | 00:25:07 | |
Walmart announced that they were rolling out drone delivery in 6 states this week, offering upto 100,000 picked in the local store. Meanwhile Gorrila (Europe’s largest food delivery company announced massive layoffs and UberEats continued to struggle to find a profitable path forward. Walmart’s many rural & suburban stores gives them a unique advantage in driving their own, same day delivery service. Interestingly Amazon’s drone work seems to have stalled. Google is moving full steam ahead on a vision of search and advertising that includes an ever increasing amount of AI driven automation and an ever increasing amount of images and other visuals in the search results. They noted at the GML event that “we're transforming the SERPS into an endless stream of visual ideas”. Google sees automated retail ads and local as their path to compet with Amazon Google testing new Local inventory ad unit that looks like the 3-pack 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Mourning Bill Slawski, Will people use My Ad Center? Baby formula shortage shows CTR impacts rank | 21 May 2022 | 00:25:12 | |
Bill was instrumental in helping me understand Local search. Over the years he shared his knowledge willingly and unsparingly and he will be missed. My Ad Center - will people use it or is it just another data harvesting tool? Shotland showed a radical increase in rankings for a particular page on a client's website that was talking about baby formula. Over the last X number of weeks, he said the page was on page two plus, and it's now skyrocketed up to the top. His theory? That top ranking national retailers were out of formula and when users left those sites and found the lower ranked ones that did have formula, they stuck around leading to a ranking increase. Shotland made some astute suggestions on how to quickly cope with shortages. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| SMB more successful with content, Google I/O dreams big but puts in stake around Local, Multisearch & Lens + Near Me | 13 May 2022 | 00:29:49 | |
SMB more successful with content, typical looks at SMBS often undercounts total Google spent much of their I/O talking about their grand vision for integrating software and hardware as well as Local developments. Most of the hardware is about a future where they hope to compete while Local is moving clearly to a focus on a visual approach to local search. Many of these announcements are likely to not be universally adopted. Wil local visual search near me drive the future of local commerce? Or is visual search just a subset of what folks really need? 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Earth Day promos damage reputation, CX - more than a #, SMBs need an integrated digital approach | 07 May 2022 | 00:31:07 | |
In three consumer surveys it became clear that a significant minority (~25%) of the buying public thinks ill of companies that use Earth Day to sell things. But almost 33% noted that when Amazon engaged in Earth Day marketing to sell more products that they were less likely to do business with them. Whether it’s a review rating or an NPS score, all too often businesses focus too intently on the number and not on what's behind the number. Businesses should listen to all feedback wherever it is from and then make the changes so that it improves going forward. And STOP asking for answers to 30 question surveys. With In store shopping up & e-commerce down and ever increasing consumer expectations, for SMBs to survive they need an integrated digital approach. Between supply chain issues, inflations and on-line competition it has been a struggle for SMBs but those that have survived and those that will thrive have done so by doubling down on technology to drive point of sale, the web and their marketing. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Ratings vs Review Text, Can G Ad automation replace agencies?, Will Musk torpedo Twitter ads? | 30 Apr 2022 | 00:26:32 | |
It is generally assumed that the ratings aspect of reviews is what drives conversions and thus they are typically emphasized. However it would appear that in many cases that the content of the “top 3” most visible reviews actually influence purchase decisions more than the star ratings. In a clever study design these researchers were able to disentangle the relative importance of ratings versus the text in the top 3 reviews. Google announced upgrades to their Performance Max product and that it will provide a one-click upgrade (and replacement) path for both previous Smart Campaigns and Local Campaigns. Google Ads have long been moving towards an automated model to maximize effectiveness and away from the need for curated ad management. This is another step on that path and seems to make product ads almost as easy as their hands-off LSA ads. There is a need for rigorous A/B testing by enterprises to determine the value of each approach. Even though Twitter is making user gains, it is likely that advertising on Twitter will be negatively affected by the types of changes that Elon Musk is suggesting. Obviously depending on specific product changes that Musk might make, it is an open question whether data licensing or advertising will be the primary path to profits. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Amazon’s Buy with Prime; AI content & the future of the internet, What content drives SMB research? | 23 Apr 2022 | 00:25:16 | |
Amazon’s bold play to push Prime benefits across all of e-commerce is not only a direct threat to Shopify but UPS and FedEx as well. While it will bring trust and convenience to small and local websites, which types of businesses will actually benefit from Buy Prime on their site? Google’s has stated that AI generated content is against their guidelines. But their guidelines are not so clear as they seem to imply that human edited content will be ok. What is the future of on-line content? Will Google be able to moderate the coming tsunami of AI generated content? Very small businesses want to do their own research when buying SAAS products but which sorts of content do they use to do that? There isn’t really a single content source that drives uptake. Perhaps AI driven content might be able to allow content to be more easily repurposed across content types. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| From the vault: What and why of review fraud on Google how to deal with it | 04 Jul 2024 | 00:37:09 | |
The big picture of review fraud - who does it and why: How to deal with fake review attacks and competitors who use fake reviews: The Future of Reviews: What will see over the next 24 months in review spam & possible enforcement: ep 164 from the vault ep 128 Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google: Ad Domination, Self-Updating Maps reflects failure to engage, Mobile SERP are Image Serps | 16 Apr 2022 | 00:28:21 | |
According to the 2021 IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, online ad revenue grew at the fastest pace since 2006, 35% year over year. In real dollar terms that translated into a $50 billion revenue increase from last year. Mobile revenues comprised roughly 71% of the $189 billion total, while the desktop contributed 28%. Paid search was the largest digital ad revenue category (41%, $78.3 billion), followed by display (30%, $56.7 billion) and digital video (21%, $39.5 billion). Google has been updating business data for year, not due to AI but because of their massive access to data. This trend is increasing which is both annoying and reflective of their failure to engage SMBs to keep the data updated themselves. Over the past 5 years images have moved from virtually 0% oif the mobile search results to almost 40%. Google is using AI to understand the content of these images and changing them based on the user query. This points towards a new aspect of technical SEO, image optimization, to improve rank, visibility and conversions for local businesses. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Live Inventory Improves 3-Pack Rank, LocalU-Spam, Review & Vicinity Update, GA4 Sucks-what’s next? | 08 Apr 2022 | 00:27:20 | |
Google’s Local help files have been updated to note that providing real time inventory via Merchant Center will result in increased rank. Anecdotally, we are seeing the 3- Pack populated with more real time inventory over the past several weeks. Google, often accused of self-preferencing, did so again by highlighting their own Point POS product as the only solution. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Antitrust Laws Closer, Google partners with CVS on appts, Consumer review trust down but usage is up | 03 Apr 2022 | 00:28:40 | |
Last week the European Parliament completed work on its Digital Markets Act. The legislation targets major US tech "gatekeepers" and prohibits app bundling, app store monopolies and so-called "self-preferencing," among other things. In the US, the American Competition and Innovation Act (ACIA) is similar and also seeks to prevent self-preferencing – think: Google Shopping or Maps at the top of search results. Google et all have ramped up the astroturf. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Featured Snippets & Ranking, Consumer Expectations: Chat vs SMS, Google Product Images in Local Packs | 25 Mar 2022 | 00:26:07 | |
Most featured snippets come from what would have been organic results 1 through 3. However 20% of featured snippets come from results 6-10 and while featured snippets do not offer the click through rate of a #1 organic result, if you can answer a question query well and jump from a position down the page, it can be a huge SEO win and a quick way to the top of the rankings. Consumers had much higher expectations of chat response than SMS. With live chat, users expect responses within minutes and with SMS there is a much greater latitude. What does this mean for business responses to customers when the number of messages coming from different sources? By switching to asynchronous messaging businesses can gain an advantage in responding to customers that customers might prefer. A hallmark of Google’s competition with Amazon strategy is their integration of local product search with local business search. This development, of showing products and product availability in the 3 pack, is a tell of both Google’s product search ambitions and of the direction of their local search results. The ability to integrate real time product availability directly into local search results indicates Google's aggressive move into a local search result that is both more visual AND more transactional. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google goes local w/ product search; FTC: HomeAdvisor cheated SMBs; SMBs dislike direct sales model | 19 Mar 2022 | 00:20:38 | |
Google, in competing with Amazon product search, has taken a local approach with their Shopping tool. While the approach makes sense strategically it isn’t clear whether it is enough to gain the traction in real time local inventory that Google needs to compete with Amazon. In a 3 count complaint, the FTC has accused HomeAdvisor of charging more than promised, delivering crappy leads and making it difficult to get refunds. HomeAdvisor says that they “will fight it vigorously” but the FTC is looking to make an example A recent Breeden survey was asking how businesses prefer to deal with sales people or whether they preferred to do research on their own. Over 70% prefer to start the exploration for software on their own. This attitude is leading to a product led sales model. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google Sued Over GBP Order CTA, Publishers Sue Ad Providers, Yelp’s 2021 Traffic Declines | 12 Mar 2022 | 00:21:56 | |
Restaurants sue Google for adding Order buttons through 3rd parties to their Business Profile. Publishers argue ad providers are scraping too much content to deliver contextual ads Yelp’s 2021 showed solid financials but user declines and review acquisition headwinds. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Review reliance up but trust is down; Amazon kills bookstores for Grocery Business, Nextdoor #s | 05 Mar 2022 | 00:24:56 | |
Despite surprise, Amazon’s closure of non-grocery businesses indicates they are getting serious. Is Amazon groceries really just an expensive hobby? Or is it the still developing the unique value (logistics & tech) add that Amazon needs to make a dent in the grocery world. Nextdoor has never developed into the alternative local social network & their numbers show it. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Yelp Elite reviews for sale; Core Web Vitals: No impact on Local ranking, Google offering SEO training, What will Google be in 10 years? | 26 Feb 2022 | 00:26:53 | |
Yelp Elite reviews for sale According to a local NBC affiliate investigation, brokers are paying a subset of Yelp elites to post fake reviews: "one former Yelp Elite told us he was part of an invitation-only online chat that included a few thousand Yelp Elite members who are paid $25 to $50 per fake review." It would appear that despite Yelp’s claim of better reviews, their is mischief afoot and that Yelp review averages reflect low cost filtering rather than a better review corpus Core Web Vitals: No impact on Local ranking, Google offering SEO training, An interesting and large scale study from Tomas Acuna of whitespark looked at 4500 local listings across 15 verticals and 15 meteor areas to determine that, in fact, Google’s web core vitals have virtually no impact in the local search algo. Is this due to local sites not being well done or does it just reflect the fact that the local algo is so biased towards location and relevance that it just doesn’t have much impact? Where will Google search be in 10 years? A Reddit thread about increasingly poor search results, led an informal Near Media twitter survey about the future of search. While it is difficult to predict there are current efforts to fundamentally change how and where we search. Regardless of changing search paradigms, Google is likely to remain a domineering tech company 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Will Google’s AI make SEO superfluous? Is Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox Real or Performative? What do Wix’s #’s say about how big the SMB market is? | 19 Feb 2022 | 00:25:33 | |
Segment 1: Will Google’s Increasingly good ability to summarize with AI make SEO superfluous? Segment 2: Google’s recent Android Privacy Sandbox announcement: Something real or is it just more Google PR? Google’s plan is to create a plan and rollout out a beta for Android privacy in 2 years. They promise to be much more sensitive to social networks’ need to snoop than Apple was. How much of this is really about privacy and how much is about convincing the public and the governments of the world that they “care” about privacy? Segment 3: Wix reported their Q4 & 2021 earnings. What to make of their 123 million small business websites in the US? Wix, while not yet profitable, reported sales of just under $1.3 billion. What is most interesting is their report of having over 220 million small business websites with over 50% of those in the US. It raises the question of exactly how big is the addressable SMB market in the US. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google spams Congress w/ SMB emails, Amazon hits $31B in Ad sales, Apple Tap to Pay available soon | 11 Feb 2022 | 00:26:21 | |
Obviously feeling nervous, Google is intensifying its anti-antitrust campaign, lobbying SMBs to "take action" and automating their emails to their representatives in the House and the Senate. Amazon disclosed the value of its ad business for the first time. The company made $9.7 billion in ad revenue in Q4 and $31.2 billion in 2021. As GeekWire points out, "Amazon’s advertising arm is eight times as large as Snapchat’s entire business, and nearly seven times as large as Twitter." Apple, leveraging a purchase that they made in 2020, will be rolling out the ability of more recent iPhones to process credit card payments without any additional hardware. Stripe will integrate the tool for businesses first, including Shopify's Point of Sale app this Spring, and other payment platforms will adopt it later this year 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| New Research: SMB web lead generation failures & how to fix | 27 Jun 2024 | 00:46:50 | |
Leadferno: a better tools to capture website leads - Leadferno offers various tools, including an embeddable contact form that initiates SMS conversations, request call-back options, and links to other lead forms and scheduling tools. It attempts to make businesses easier to work with by enhancing their ability to convert website visitors into valuable leads through better communication options. While it looks like Google will potentially integrate with WhatsApp or SMS, which could partially mitigate the blow for some businesses. However, for many, the sudden shift means lost opportunities and the need to reallocate development efforts. The most affected were businesses with significant Google Business Profile visibility and multi-location operations, which benefited from centralized messaging and automated replies. These features allowed for quicker customer interactions, a critical factor in Google's ranking algorithms. Google’s decision, like so many similar ones it has made in the past, leaves smaller, innovative companies grappling with the fallout, forcing them to navigate the challenging landscape of constantly shifting tech ecosystems. Leadferno's Aaron Weiche and his team "mystery shopped" these businesses, submitting highly detailed and strong buying inquiries via their contact forms. The findings are staggering: almost 5% of forms were broken, failing to deliver customer messages entirely. More shockingly, only 15.6% of forms sent an auto-reply, a basic feature that acknowledges receipt and sets customer expectations. The average response time to these contact form submissions was a lethargic 17 hours and 49 minutes, with professional services responding slightly faster than average, and healthcare lagging behind at over 19 hours. Yet, the most alarming statistic was that 42% of these forms received no response at all. While small businesses consistently rank new customer acquisition as their top challenge, they are neglecting warm, ready-to-buy leads that land directly in their inboxes. This neglect is even more baffling given the simplicity of the solution: prompt and efficient responses to online inquiries. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Meta Takes a Dive, Yelp, Google take review high ground & FTC warns review Platforms | 05 Feb 2022 | 00:41:52 | |
We discuss the reasons behind Meta’s terrible 4th quarter and stock fall. Was it really Apple’s fault? Will people in the universe buy into their universe? Yelp and Google both try to establish their review narrative with virtue signaling while the FTC sends letter to 10 companies that skirt the review guidelines 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| GMB PWND by spammer, Google moves toward contextual advertising & The FTC updates review guidelines | 28 Jan 2022 | 00:32:04 | |
After a brief discussion of Google My Business losing control of their previous FB page, we cover how Google, in formally abandoning their FLOC replacement for cookies. is attempting to implement a new API, Topics, that provides websites with 3 weeks of user interests for targeting advertising. Clearly the world is moving toward contextual advertising and away from behavioral targeting but whether Google can get this effort off the ground is another matter In a high profile case, the FTC fined Fashion Nova for hiding hundreds of thousands of Studies show that gating actually impedes review volume speaking to the benefit of review transparency and doesn’t prevent negative reviews. The new guidelines will not change small business behavior but the review platforms will have to comply with the guidance. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Bill to end surveillance ads, SMB use of SAAS tools low & growing, Niantic’s path to the metaverse | 21 Jan 2022 | 00:27:41 | |
This bill, largely in response to the growing sentiment that large digital companies are spying on every day Americans for profit, is unlikely to pass but is indicative of growing discontent with the impact of current ad tech. It foreshadows the likely move away from personal targeting towards contextual advertising. 96% of respondents had implemented new tools in the past year. But the number of tools that businesses were using was small. 60% said they were only using one to three different tools to run their business. Email was preferred communication channel by businesses three to one over texting Niantic is building out a development platform to make AR experiences more widely available while providing a successful sponsorship model within Pokemon Go. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Vendasta buys MatchCraft, Business required vax shows path, TLDR bill requires TOS simplification | 14 Jan 2022 | 00:24:48 | |
Vendasta, which provides an app store for agencies, has acquired PPC pioneer MatchCraft. The acquisition will fill out Vendasta core marketing offerings with paid ad campaigns and allow more traditional media companies to transition more easily from an ad model to a full service digital marketing model. Despite Supreme Court refusal to require businesses to vaccinate their employees, those companies that are requiring vaccination are seeing success despite Omichron. Case in point is United Airlines which has 3000 of their 47,000 employees out with Covid has seen no hospitalizations or deaths since requiring the vaccine. Previously one employee a week was dying from Covid. Airlines though are the perfect business to require vaccinations and doing so will increase those willing to fly. The TLDR Act, which stands for "Terms-of-service Labeling, Design, and Readability Act," would require any website/app – SMBs are explicitly exempted – to offer an easy to understand summary of key terms. And it would have to appear at the top of TOS pages. While a step forward it is unlikely to change user behaviors as the companies will still hold the power. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| NFTs as a funding model? Can Google compete in product search? Distrust of tech companies is high. | 08 Jan 2022 | 00:28:01 | |
Using a traditional golf course model with an NFT twist, over $10 million was raised in 48 hours. The project got lots of media coverage even though no golf course has yet been purchased or even identified. However this type of activity might point the way towards crowdfunding other start up ventures. Google, by degrading the user experience and being unwilling to get into the nitty gritty of real world retail has lost the battle for high value intent driven product searches. Can they regain this market? What would it take? In this recent Washington Post poll only Amazon garnered trust amongst more than 50% of US consumers. The rest all were trusted by less than half of the population and some significantly less. Yet the numbers indicate that despite this mistrust we continue to use these services and products. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google rolls out new Local Packs; Yelp Survey: text reviews are best; Local Guides dominate Google reviews | 18 Dec 2021 | 00:21:19 | |
New Yelp consumer survey indicates that over 90% prefer written reviews over just ratings. This survey is ostensibly aimed at Google and their lower review and rating standards but in some ways might also be targeted to their partner Apple that might be considering dropping Yelp. Interestingly the reviews that Yelp says consumers prefer are not the reviews that they typically highlight. Go figure New research from SOCI that looked at 1.1 million business locations across the US and analyzed 169 million reviews associated with them. The research found that over 60% of all reviews are written by Local Guides and that those reviews tend to be shorter than reviews written by regular users. Is this due to gamification of the fact that non Local Guide reviewers are the more emotional reviewers? 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| A deep dive into the Local Search Ranking Factors with Darren Shaw | 11 Dec 2021 | 00:38:13 | |
In this interview with Darren Shaw we take a deep dive into the Local Search Ranking Factors. We look at the key take aways, the strengths and weaknesses of the survey and areas that Local SEO’s should focus on.
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| Apple Maps goes from goat to great, Twitter needs new model, Fired Xooglers sue over Don’t be evil | 04 Dec 2021 | 00:27:03 | |
Twitter, despite its outsized role in our news focused culture, has long underperformed financially. Whether Dorsey left willingly or was forced out, there is an opportunity to redefine how it can survive and thrive. Is that a subscription or is a better API model? Greg Sterling highlights how the maturation of Google has led to inevitable ethical conflicts. Is this unique to Google or part and parcel of a larger pattern? Is it an inevitable outcome as the fair haired offspring of
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| Uberall consumer survey: 50% of search is local, Apple Maps pushes business discovery & AR forward | 20 Nov 2021 | 00:20:55 | |
In this recent Uberal study conducted by Greg Sterling consumers confirm the importance of local search with over 50% of their searches being local and that they trust local businesses more than they do internet only brands. Apple, with their consistent and regular builds for Apple Maps has increasingly included new features on Maps to both aid business discovery and to provide a transaction layer that is fast and easy for the consumer. Apple Maps has increasingly become an important source for new customers and these developments are likely to continue as Maps takes its place in the real world. Apple’s long term development of Apple Maps when viewed together with the many other cross product developments point to an Apple AR future which looks quite different than Facebook’s metaverse. In that future it is likely that local businesses will have increasing opportunities for consumer discovery as Maps will likely play a critical role in 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Vista rebrand elegance, Opportunities for new search engines, Google expands SMB propaganda campaign | 13 Nov 2021 | 00:26:25 | |
VistaPrint in creating its new brand, Vista showed how to elegantly rebrand a legacy company that has become digital. It created a new umbrella brand for its many acquisitions and space for future brand building. Vista is another company that demonstrates the possibilities in the very small business market. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Expanding Local Results in SERPS, Cluttered SERP Reduce Organic Traffic, AI Overviews Worsen Search | 20 Jun 2024 | 00:34:43 | |
Google Expanding Local Results in the SERPS to the Exclusion of Organic: In a world where Google's shift towards a more modular, AI-driven organization of search results leads to a disjointed user experience, prompting multiple searches to find relevant information, businesses need to adopt a multimodal approach, optimizing their digital assets across various SERP features. This includes using high-quality images with descriptive alt text, leveraging Google Merchant Center feeds for PLAs, and considering broader online channels to build brand visibility. Jess Peck's article, "How and Why Google Made Its Own Product Worse," critiques Google's implementation of AI, highlighted inherent flaws in large language models (LLMs) and their unsuitability for delivering factual search results. Google's rushed deployment of AI overviews, driven by competitive pressure rather than product improvement, has led to a compromised search experience. Google should either refine the use of AI in a controlled manner or reconsider its placement within search results to mitigate the negative impact on its brand and user trust. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Google My Business Rebrand - Is it a chance to fix GMB or an opportunity to nuke part of the stack? | 06 Nov 2021 | 00:26:39 | |
This week we discuss but one topic, the rebranding of the Google My Business tools to the Business Profile. With enhanced in-search and in Maps editing, Google is trying (once again) to lure small businesses to edit their listings via new features. The GMB API will become the Business Profile API and they claim that the GMB dashboard will become the Business Profile Dashboard in 2022. But they also announced the sunsetting of their GMB app. Join us this week as David and Mike bet on the outcome. 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| Amazon local BOPIS, Impact of images in Google Local search, Google Local driving the most leads | 30 Oct 2021 | 00:19:59 | |
Largely uncovered in the news, Amazon has announced a new program, Local Selling, that allows local merchants selling on Amazon to apply for the ability to take an order on Amazon and deliver curbside from their location or to deliver via their own delivery process. Clearly this is a response to Google’s successful push of Product Merchant center into local and might lead to additional local relationships for Amazon. Google is understanding more and more about the content of images using their Cloud Vision AI and this understanding of entities, labels, logos, sentiment and text is being leveraged to use images to answer searcher intent in ads, local and the mobile web results. This is part of a long arc where Google will now start using images to not just answer queries but to ask them as well using their new MUM AI/ML and is likely part of their AR future. Google Local has been “stealing” local conversions for years. Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky recently reported that Google local leads are both the dominant source for leads as well as the fastest growing source for leads for most of the verticals that she works in. What does this mean for local businesses? 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. Subscribe to our newsletters and other content at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/ | |||
| FTC: mobile ISPs abuse privacy, Snap blames Apple for shortfall, Performance ads an analytics scam? | 22 Oct 2021 | 00:22:15 | |
The consolidation of internet, cable, voice, content, distribution, smart devices, advertising, and analytics exemplified by these large vertically-integrated ISPs—which represent approximately 98.8% of the mobile internet market—has increased the volume of information they are capable of collecting about consumers, improved their insight into consumers’ behaviors, and strengthened the persistence of identifiers capable of tracking users across platforms and assets. Snap blamed Apple for their shorfall this quarter but the real question is whether that is reality or just part of the “privacy theater”? In 2020, AirBnB cut $542 million of performance advertising spend and saw no measurable falloff in attributable sales. They continued this ad-slashing practice in 2021, with similarly eye-popping numbers. Could it be that all those ads did nothing?
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