Newsletter #50

Acxiom is retiring, find out who is taking their place as a primary data aggregator.

June 27, 2019

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderJune 2019

 The Primary Data Aggregators Are Changing: Here’s What You Need to KnowAcxiom is retiring December 2019 and we believe there's already a new primary data aggregator in the market to take its place in the U.S. local search ecosystem: Foursquare.Learn all about why we believe Foursquare is set to take Acxiom's place, how Acxiom leaving impacts the distribution of data, and what's happening to our Citation Audit and Cleanup packages as a result of these changes.  

From The Blog

Google released a bunch of features and new additions to GMB this month and we've added all the updates and what you need to know to our guide. Here are the major updates you need to be aware of:

  • Short Names - Create a short name for your business to send customers directly to your Business Profile. You get up to 32 characters with spaces and you can use your short name link to direct customers to your reviews. Short Names will be searchable in the Google Maps app in the near future as well. 

  • Logo on right-hand side of business profile, if you have a fully filled out information section in your profile, you can unlock this feature. 

  • Photos added by business owners will publish instantly, and captions will be added soon.

  • Welcome Offer - This is a special new Post type that is available exclusively in the Google My Business App to "convert followers to customers." You can share a special discount, coupon or promotion to any new follower. The Welcome Offer is valid for 2 weeks for the follower. (If you want to learn more about all the Post types available in GMB - check out our extensive article).

 Small Thanks With Google relaunched as Marketing Kit With Google, and they are offering new promotional materials for businesses to advertise their Business Profile including stickers, posters, table tents and social media posts/printable stickers that feature "Book With Us on Google", "Review Us on Google", and "Follow Us on Google".   In the works - there are quite a few more features that are in the works to be released over the summer, including highlighting businesses in the top 5% in certain categories with a "Local Favorite" designation, and new digital and physical badges of honor.Visit the guide for more details on these updates. 

Listen Up

If you're not using GMB Posts or you want to learn more about them, listen to the latest episode of Found Bytes with David Mihm, Dana DiTomaso (KickPoint) and Jessie Low (Whitespark). They discuss how Posts fit into a larger digital marketing strategy, if Google Posts impact overall SERP rankings and how Google Posts and social posts differ. They also talk about the basics from the four types of posts, to image recommendations and the importance of tracking your Google Post URLs.

Around The Web

Adam Doppelt from Fresh Chalk is sharing an ongoing analysis of 150,000 small business websites across the United States, and as a result of his research uncovered some astounding findings. This is fantastic research that provides valuable insight to both business owners and local search marketing professionals. This is a must read! 

Spotted at the beginning of June is a new style of local pack results that scrolls horizontally, from left to right. Since it was first seen in results, it appears to have extended to Retail, Restaurant, and Professional Services and can include up to 5 businesses in the results. Mike Blumenthal's post shares some great examples. We have yet to see these pack types in Canada, but we're keeping our eyes peeled. 

GMB has changed their policies for the removal of practitioner listings when the individual is no longer with a company. Joy Hawkins fills you in on which listings can be removed for both multi and solo practitioner based businesses.  

"Machine learning will match restaurants’ most popular offerings with corresponding reviews." The importance of reviews on your GMB profile is continually growing. George Nguyen explains why this feature will have a big impact on the food and beverage industry. 

"It is important for businesses to understand that their reputation from online reviews across the internet is now on prominent display even when someone just wants simple information about that business like phone number, hours or street address." Learn more about how your reputation is one of the most visible data points about your business on the GatherUp blog.

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