Newsletter #47

Discover How Data Flows in the U.S. Local Search Ecosystem With This Searchable Table

March 29, 2019

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderMarch 2019

 The U.S. Local Search Ecosystem - Flow Of Data in Table Format We've enhanced our Local Search Ecosystem resource by breaking down the interactive image into a table that shows you how business information is distributed online, and where the data source ends up being displayed. Easily filter the data by Source, Type, Display Platform, or Relationship.

From the Blog Introducing TextBack – The Industry’s First Inbound SMS Review ChannelPut the customer in control with our latest Reputation Builder feature – TextBack, an inbound SMS channel that gives your customers instant review access right from their phone. It’s simple, quick, and gives customers the chance to connect in-the-moment with your business, sharing their experience in real-time.

Around The Web

Google continues to expand crowd-sourced information for Maps listings, now giving users the ability to add events via the Contribute tab in the Google Maps app on Android. Previously, users could only answer questions, add images, and post reviews from this tab. We're waiting patiently to see it on iOS. This could perhaps be a great way to increase listing engagement signals.  

Cyrus Shepard shares his observation on invisible blog posts. If you want your successful posts to stay visible you’re going to need fresh content and links. This means adding/updating content, and re-marketing/promoting your material. Keep it fresh friends. 

With this guide, Joshua Hardwick of Ahref’s wants to help nofollow links work for you and not against you. It’s still up for debate as to whether nofollow links have a direct impact on your SEO, but they can have an indirect impact!

"Google’s travel search services now include flights, hotels, and vacation rentals. The ability to switch between comparing hotels and vacation rentals in the same interface means vacation rentals will compete head-on with hotels." And more ad revenue for Google... 

David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal comment on reviews, and specifically "the impact of reviews in terms of creating trust, establishing expectations and pre-disposing consumers to be ready for the purchase is significant." In today's world, brand stories are co-narrated by consumers.  

If you're looking to get more visitors to your business, perhaps making some adjustments to your GMB listing will give you the boost you're looking for. In this post, Miriam Ellis shares tweaks to help turn digital traffic into foot traffic.  

Google has started rolling out the Site Manager Role for Google My Business listings, which gives users access to make profile edits and updates, answer reviews, manage Q&A, and more. Learn more about this role, and how to opt-out from Joy Hawkins.

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