The Near Memo

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder how GBP twists the dial to approve an edit? Why they use video verification and what a trust score is? In Part 1 of this interview we learn the answers to those many questions and more.  00:15 Introduction to Brad Wetherall and His Journey 02:53 Transitioning from Google to Bitwise Consulting 05:34 Understanding Google Business Profile Support Structure 08:03d Support...

Send us Fan Mail Google Leaks & NavBoost: How Engagement & Brands Shape Local SEO Rankings in 2024:   Mike unpacked revelations from Google's algorithm leaks and their likely importance for Local SEO. We dove into "NavBoost," a technique where Google rewards high engagement and brand signals with better rankings. Think clicks, brand searches, and even driving directions cont...

Send us Fan Mail Stephanie Verilhac of Siinda discusses the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and its impact on search behavior. Siinda's research with Near Media showed Google's dominance persists despite compliance changes, with users favoring its ecosystem. Regional differences in search trends were highlighted, including Irish “near me” preferences, French brand loyalty, and German...

Send us Fan Mail AI and Maps: Current Limitations (many) and Future Prospects (good): We explore a recent piece by cartographer Kames Killick on how AI will be shaping the geospatial landscape & mapping, despite the mixed results today. Current tools struggle with complex queries, such as mapping open businesses along a route and broader queries that AI should be able to handle. Despite limita...

Send us Fan Mail Extended GBP Business Names - Spam or Legitimate Descriptors? We explore Google's growing tolerance for extended taglines & descriptors in business names via the Google Business Center and its impact on local SEO strategies. Examples include businesses embedding descriptors like “best plastic surgeon” or “sexual harassment lawyer” into their names that were escalated to G...

Send us Fan Mail Google Business Profile Suspension Woes (01:32–11:03) The discussion highlights rising frustrations with Google Business Profiles, focusing on increasing suspension rates and difficult reinstatement processes. Businesses face bottlenecks with video verification and unclear policies. Legitimate operations often fall victim, showcasing systemic flaws in Google's automated suppo...

Send us Fan Mail AI Overview and Google Search Trends:  In a discussion on AI search trends, Mark Traphagen from SEO Clarity shared insights on Google’s search generative experience (SGE) and its limited functionality in delivering localized results. His analysis highlighted that SGE results in the U.S. tend to be highly informational (91%) and less transactional, especially for keywords related t...

Send us Fan Mail Google's Antitrust Battle: Legal and Political Shifts:  As Google’s antitrust trial unfolds, recent shifts in U.S. leadership may change the tech giant’s outlook. With Trump’s election win, the likelihood of drastic regulatory action against Google, such as a breakup, appears to be reduced. The new administration’s stance on big tech could soften the Justice Department’s appr...

Send us Fan Mail AI in Local SEO: Challenges and Opportunities:  We dive into how AI is reshaping local search. Key insights from Andrew Shotland’s analysis reveal that Google’s AI overviews appear inconsistently in local searches, mainly showing up for broader queries, while lower funnel searches rely on the local pack. New platforms like Perplexity, with licensing from Yelp, seem to offer promis...

Send us Fan Mail Introduction and Background (00:01 - 10:30) The conversation opens with Greg Sterling introducing Raj Singh, the founder of Soloist.ai, an AI-powered website builder targeted at small businesses and freelancers. Raj shares his background as a serial entrepreneur, highlighting his previous ventures, such as Pulse, acquired by Mozilla, and his journey through the tech landscape from...

Send us Fan Mail Apple Expands Business Connect Beyond Brick-and-Mortar: It was announced that Apple Business Connect will now include a broader range of businesses, such as e-commerce, work-from-home, and service-area businesses. Businesses will still undergo the Apple verification process but will benefit from a consistent brand presence across apps like Mail, Apple Pay and ultimately Messages....

Send us Fan Mail Google Tests AI-organized Carousels in Local Search Results for Restaurants & Bars:  Recent test search results for local businesses on Google, particularly restaurants and bars, have been dominated by AI-organized carousels. Searches like “best cocktail bar” now return multiple carousels sequentially down the page, with categories such as rooftop bars, artisanal cocktail bars...

Send us Fan Mail  Google's Place Sites: A Compliance Gesture or A True Shift in Search? Google is rolling out a new feature called "Place Sites" in North America, following its initial launch in Europe as part of compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The feature presents a carousel of aggregator search results, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, prominently placed in top positio...

Send us Fan Mail How Individual Hotels Can Win in EU Search:  Our research on hotel searches in Europe, revealed that Booking.com dominated user clicks, especially through ads, while Google's Hotel Finder and Business Profiles saw significantly fewer interactions. One surprising discovery was the prominent role of ads, with over 50% of mobile clicks going to ads, particularly Booking.com. We...

Send us Fan Mail 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 pena...

Send us Fan Mail Google and Booking: The Symbiotic Gatekeeper Relationship in European Hotel Search -  We dive into our recent  user behavior research findings about hotel searches in Europe. We recruited 100 users each  from Spain, France, and Germany, asking them to find hotels in Paris or Rome, and observed how they interacted with Google's search results. The European hotel market is quit...

Send us Fan Mail Google Review Fraud Landscape (10:04): Estimates that 18% of reviews across various platforms are fake. Home service industries, such as locksmiths, moving companies, and HVAC, are heavily affected. Legal sector is also impacted, with fake reviews prevalent among personal injury, criminal defense, and DUI lawyers. LSA Review Fraud (21:25): Lead generation scammers are stealing bus...

Send us Fan Mail LSA Increasingly relying on GBP Features:  We delve into Google's ongoing “fixes” of LSA features, where reviews and booking tools for LSAs are being integrated from GBP. This move is seen as an attempt to streamline operations and reduce costs, especially in light of Google's recent staffing cuts as well as improve LSA’s ineffective review moderation. While operational...

Send us Fan Mail Google's PR Smoke and Mirrors: Old GBP Phone Hacking Problems Persist Despite Promises: S pammers and scammers have been able to hijack business phone numbers on Google listings with alarming ease, despite Google's assurances that such problems were swiftly resolved. We  conducted an experiment, changing a listing's phone number through a fake business listing. The...

Send us Fan Mail The Role of Brand in Seo:  We speak with guest, Mordy Oberstein on the role of branding in SEO, particularly how it has re-emerged as a significant factor in conversions and SEO. We explore the interaction between brand and user experience, and the introduction of Google’s emphasis on brand in its algorithms. Brand Differentiation and Local SEO:  We delve into how brands different...

Send us Fan Mail Google's Local Business Service Woes: Persistent Bugs and AI-Driven Layoffs Spark Concern:  There have been ongoing support and technical issues with Google Business Profiles. Major bugs affecting local business profiles have persisted for months and in several cases years, including image misassignments and overzealous suspension algorithms that remove legitimate reviews. Go...

Send us Fan Mail Segment 1:  OpenAI & MindTrip bring AI to search, will it matter? Last Thursday, OpenAI made waves with an announcement about Search GPT, a prototype aimed at revamping the search experience for ChatGPT users. Promising a two-column format, it aims to ease the search process and challenge traditional search engines like Google. The prototype has the potential to streamline use...

Send us Fan Mail SEOs need to reframe how search ranking works - click thru data being the most important factor:   Click data is a cornerstone of Google’s ranking algorithm, as highlighted by recent DOJ findings. Google uses its heavy reliance on click data to grasp new trends swiftly as well as to “understand” page quality.  Traditional SEO elements like title tags, meta descriptions, scheme, gr...

Send us Fan Mail 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: Experiences and opinions on the use of AI tools like ChatGPT in SEO and content creation. The effectiveness of AI in different aspects of agency work, including creative...

Send us Fan Mail Seattle surgeon pays $5 mil fine for review fraud; What responsibility does Google have? Allure Esthetics and its owner Dr. Java Sagan, were convicted of violating the Consumer Review Fairness Act. They forced 21,000 clients to sign agreements preventing them from leaving honest reviews and engaged in additional deceptive practices like paying for the removal of negative reviews a...