The Social Media Information Lab at Rutgers University has brought local context to the world of Instagram with their new project, 'The Beat'. The premise is simple: pluck an Instagram picture off a user's map and overlay it on the corresponding Google StreetView location.
The Beat only lets you search by topic, but with the right hashtag you can explore your local area too. Check out this screen capture from 'the #chicago beat':
My personal favorite is 'the #ribeye beat'... yum!
By Tim Scheer · November 27 2012
Quick story. In my first week of college, having just recently moved to Chicago in the winter, I was still very green when it came to public transit. It was the first day of some class I don’t remember, and rightfully because I probably didn’t need to take it, and still “recovering” from the first week in my new dorm. I wasn't particularly accustomed to bus routes, and most definitely never relied on them for transportation, so I did my research the night before. I picked a window of time I thought would be ample, set my alarm, and didn’t think twice about it. The next morning my alarm goes off, and as most college kids do I thought to myself “I can spare another 10 minutes”, and hit the snooze. That happened two more times before I finally dragged myself out of bed.
Skip to the bliste...
By Jake LaDuke · November 27 2012
mobile website
Mike Blumenthal blogged last month on the topic of becoming a Top Reviewer (as a business page) in Google Plus Local. Notably, there appears to be an opportunity for a business, as a Google+ page, to achieve this distinction. But how exactly do you (as a business) become a Google+ Top Reviewer?
As you may have noticed, Google Plus ranks review content based on who is leaving the review and what other users think of the review (most useful -> least useful). More or less, it’s an effort to weed out spammy or fake reviews and establish a hierarchy for everything in between. There’s also anecdotal evidence to suggest that reviews from...
By Dave Cosper · November 16 2012
reviews, top reviewer, google local
A jury of nine is perhaps only hours away from reaching a verdict in what is a landmark case in intellectual property. It involves search giant Google and nascent challenger Vringo (VRNG) in a high-stakes battle over search technology at the core of AdWords and AdSense, the bread and butter advertising products accounting for an estimated 97% of Google’s revenue.
Recent media buzz has generated a wide group of onlookers, from owners of technology patents to students of law to industry watchers, all anxiously awaiting the outcome. How paid ads perform in search has been hugely important to Google’s revenue stream, so any challenge to this technology gets a lot of attention.
Vringo, a once little-known...
By Dave Cosper · November 05 2012
google, goog, vringo, vrng
Citations and links are still huge driving forces behind ranking in the major search engines. After focusing on getting listed on the major sites (Google, Bing, Yelp, etc) and exhausting the top local business listings sites, shift your focus to hyper local sites for that extra ranking boost. Almost every area has local business listing opportunities.
Let's assume that we are a new flower shop in Peoria, IL and walk through some real examples of where to get your business listed.
...
By Derek McKenzie · November 02 2012
citation sources, link building, local search marketing
What are the most relevant business directories (or places to list your business) in the United States?
These local directory sites, have the largest amount of traffic. As an additional measure of relevance, I’ve also ranked them by the approximate number of indexed pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Local Business Directories Ranked by US Traffic
td.hd p {
margin: 0;
width: 0;
overflow: hidden;
font-size: 0;
} .tblGenFixed td.hd {
padding: 0; width:0;
border-right: 0;
background-color: #C8C8C8;
} .tblGenFixed td {padding:0 3px;overflow:hidden;white-space:normal;letter-spacing:0;word-spacing:0;background-color:#fff;z-index:1;border-top:0px none;border-left:0px none;border-bottom:1px solid #CCC;border-right:1px solid #CCC;} .dn {display:none} .tblGenFixed td.s0 {background-color:white;font-family:arial,sans,sans-serif;font-size:100.0%;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-alig...
By Dave Cosper · October 29 2012
The shift to social (Google+) has been indicative of a more democratized local algorithm. Further evidence is Google Map Maker being increasingly relied on as the back-end for Google+ Local. Looking ahead, the Google Local Business Center used for edits/updates/reporting will likely be wholly integrated into Google+ Local with Map Maker serving as the back-end “mapper-driven” verification tool.
We've just put out a 2012/2013 Google+ Local SEO Guide which points out a few things SMB Marketers should be aware regarding some updates to Google+ Local, including some tips to improve visibility in local search.
By Dave Cosper · October 18 2012
local search ranking, google maps, google plus local, local seo
It’s official, we’re now offering video as part of our effort to boost small business visibility on the web. Everything we do, from Local Maps Optimization to Advertising on Google, benefits from including video. That’s why recently we partnered with Lightswitch to introduce web video into our product offerings -- it boosts customer engagement and search engines love it.
How much does Google, Bing and Yahoo love video? Sites with video are 53x more likely to appear on the first page of search results. It’s no wonder YouTube has become the second largest search engine in the US. So yeah, video is kind of a big deal.
Consumers look for video, and val...
By Dave Cosper · May 17 2012
video, youtube
