Is Google Shrinking the Local Pack?

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The reduction of local search real estate represents a huge challenge to marketers, who must work even harder to ensure their clients’ listings can compete in a shrinking field. It also suggests that a strategy combining organic and paid efforts is becoming ever more important.

#SFSW16 VIDEO: At the Intersection of Travel and Local

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The kinds of connections being made between travelers exploring a new city and local businesses are similar to those that people make when they are looking for goods and services at home. And Airbnb has made it clear over the past couple of years that the company wants to help travelers “live like a local.”

#SFSW16 VIDEO: Connecting the Dots on the Path to Purchase

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To many in the industry, the idea of making connections between marketing impressions and dollars spent seems like it could be the holy grail — giving proof positive to businesses that their marketing dollars are well-spent, and unlocking further budget.

Why Attributes and Identities Matter in Local Search

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Google continues to remind businesses that location data is the foundation of their brands. The question is whether your business is taking advantage of the opportunities Google is creating to use location data to build your brand.

Pingup Partners with Yahoo to Expand Online Booking for Local Services

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Pingup, which describes itself as a “transaction platform for local services,” announced a new partnership with Yahoo this morning. The move expands Pingup’s publisher network, allowing users searching for local services on Yahoo to book an appointment on-demand through the Pingup platform.

Moz CEO: Establishing Attribution Is About Building Businesses’ Trust

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A lot of local marketing companies are operating in the shadow of prior practices and companies that created a lot of distrust in the market, says Moz CEO Sarah Bird, who will be a speaker at Street Fight Summit West next week: “Part of the vision of online-to-offline attribution is to overcome that snake oil effect and build trust so you can point to data.”

Sussing Out Google’s Master Plan in the Post-App Era

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Google’s counter-attack to the world of apps can be seen in several places. In fact most Google moves are to drive mobile behavior through its front door. This principle underpinned nearly every announcement at Google I/O.

As Google Doubles Down on Mobile, How Can SMBs Keep Pace?

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Google has been refocusing its efforts to create a “better web” by not only increasing the importance of mobile-friendly websites and better mobile browsing experiences but by fundamentally redefining what the mobile web experience is altogether.

ClipCall Uses Mobile and Video to Help Consumers Connect With Home Service Providers

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Lots of companies have taken a whack at the local home services space — from Angie’s List to a raft of startups. ClipCall, which came out of beta in January and will present t Street Fight summit West on June 7th, relies on customers using the company’s app to record video of a job they need doing and then sends that video out to nearby experts.

As Local Search Behavior Evolves, Marketing Spending Will Follow

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Merchants and marketers have to be findable and present useful information regardless of the searcher’s context. And that’s where the mechanics of local search marketing get messy. It feels like a great opportunity for tools and managed services that help break down those silos, and measure effectiveness across or between them.

Vistaprint Launches Local Listings, Providing a Broader Service for SMBs

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Vistaprint, which provides print and digital marketing products for small business owners, announced today that it is launching a presence management tool which SMBs can use to update information about their business on over 100 local directories.

How Can Local Merchants Ensure That Digital Searchers Know They’re Open?

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Knowing your hours of operation is one of the first searches that customers undertake as they navigate their options when they look for things to do and places to go. Being available to potential customers means managing your store hours as a dynamic and scale-able data asset.

How Brick-and-Mortar Merchants Can Win at Local Search

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A battle is being waged online, as independent merchants struggle for top billing in local search results. We asked six experts in the local search industry for their best strategies for “winning” local search. Here’s what they said.

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part Two

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With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We ran the first installment yesterday — now here are the rest.

Why Location Management Matters in the Age of Mobile and Social

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If SEO is about websites and marketing is about brand awareness, location management is about brick-and-mortar businesses and removing friction along the customer journey from online search to offline purchase. Ignore it at your peril.

Why 2016 Will Be a Big Year for iOS 9

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Apple has established a new standard for conducting “nearby” searches, thanks to an enhancement to the Apple Spotlight search functionality. This moves the consumer down the path to purchase in a few significant ways, including proactive local search content and results that change by time of day.

Swiftype’s Riley: Site Search Can Make News More Compelling

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The importance of relevant searches extends beyond search engines. For publishers, custom site search that helps make better decisions about how to maximize the impact of their content, know and understand the likes of their users, and increase their level of engagement can make a material difference in their business. “The key to building a relevant search experience is blending complex signals together and ensuring your site search algorithm is always improving,” said Swiftype co-founder Matt Riley.

Do You Bing? If Not, It’s Time to Start

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Microsoft recently announced that Bing turned its first profit since being launched in 2009. The company continues to extend its reach, grow its share of the search market, and add features that make it a stronger commerce tool. The question businesses should be asking is not whether Bing will catch up to Google, but whether they view Bing as a critical publisher to improve the reach of their location data.

The Privatization of Local Search

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Local search takes place across services that are proprietary and dedicated, even if indirectly, toward earning revenue for the companies that run them. But that doesn’t preclude us from thinking of local search as a kind of public utility whose objective is to provide accurate and consistent information. That means treating local listings primarily as a public good, not a business.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp’s Revenue Up 40%, Amazon to Launch Shopping Channel

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Swings to Loss, But Revenue Jumps 40% (Wall Street Journal)… Amazon Brings Ecommerce to Fire TV and Prepares to Launch Its Own Shopping Channel (GeekWire)… New Mobile Search Startup Focuses on Apps (New York Times)…