The Near Memo
Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm
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Exploring the big stories for the week at the intersection of local business & marketing across the spectrum of search, social and commerce. With Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm.
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20 hours ago
High Impact Content Marketing in the Age of AI
* What Is Content?:
Purna Virji and I discuss what motivated her to write the book, how she defines “content” and why she took a very expansive approach to content strategy and marketing. She also discusses the foundation of great content and what digital marketers can learn from traditional marketing. *
*Creating ‘High Impact’ Content:
What exactly makes a “high impact” content? How do you differentiate your content, especially in a B2B context? Virji explains how to find the overlap between internal company needs and customer needs as the sweet spot and starting point for content marketing. Why you need to start with measurement and why marketers should always choose quality over quantity. Finally, how do you decide which channels and formats to pursue in a world of expanding content demands? *
*AI and the Future of Content:
AI will have a major impact on content marketing. Will it usher in a golden age or a tsunami of mediocrity? Will organizations downsize content departments but maintain the same output expectations? Can AI-generated content be differentiated? We also discuss SEO and why there’s a gap between “create content for people” rhetoric and the “facts on the ground.” Virji is ultimately upbeat and optimistic about the future and ends with a three-pronged framework for creating better content.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 129
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Sep 15, 2023
What and why of review fraud on Google how to deal with it
*The big picture of review fraud - who does it and why:
We explore the full range of review fraud from fake positive reviews, black hat negative reviews and review extortion with Curtis Boyd of the Transparency Company. How widespread is it, is it growing, which categories are most likely to participate in it and why. *
*How to deal with fake review attacks and competitors who use fake reviews:
If you are an honest business can you compete in a world rife with review fraud. We discuss how to deal with fake review attacks and how to get fake reviews that your competitors have gotten taken down.
The FTC and fake review guidelines and rules:
The FTC has been upping their enforcement game with new Guidelines which set a standard and upcoming Rules which will facilitate their ability to impose fines on buyers and sellers of reviews. The major platforms are largely exempt from any enforcement but their is language in the upcoming FTC rules that makes a business fully responsible for compliance. *
*The Future of Reviews: What will see over the next 24 months in review spam & possible enforcement:
New rules from the FTC and better filters from Google might turn the corner on fake reviews but the lack of FTC resources and the lack of Google’s focus may prevent that from happening
*The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 128
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Sep 8, 2023
Google Anit-trust case unlikely to change anything, GBP deduping form, Searchers go deep in the SERPS
*Upcoming Google Anit-trust case unlikely to change much of anything:
Google’s antitrust case is starting next week. Google filed for a summary judgment and some of the issues were decided in their favor. Only two remain; The payment to Apple as the default iPhone search engine and whether Google uses Search Ads 360 to thwart competitors. Even if the case is decided against Google, it is unlikely to change much in the world of search. *
*GBP support finally introduces a form to dedupe listings in Google Maps:
One of the long standing issues in managing large multi-location businesses in Google is the frequent occurrence of duplicate listings and historically, no easy way to get them merged. Now, likely in response to increased European regulations, Google has introduced a simple form to report and hopefully nuke listing duplicates. When combined with a product like Whitespark GPB duplicate notifications there is a real chance that large multi-location businesses, particularly hospitals and clinics, can actually get their duplicates under control.*
*When searching, consumers consider many results:
It has long been thought that the click through curve on the front page of Google was very, very steep with users primarily clicking the #1 result, fewer clicking on 2 and 3 with virtually none going beyond that. Our behavior research suggests that user behavior is much more complicated than that and that they will often examine 3, 4 or even 10 results if the local decision is important enough.
*The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 127
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Sep 1, 2023
Do searchers goto the Local Finder?, How many links does a local website need? Google's BS around creating great content
Local SEOs wonder whether searchers actually enter the Local Finder from the Pack results. We often think no but our research indicates that not only do searchers enter the Local Finder on a regular basis, they also scroll deep and often pick a business not in the top three.
Local link building is hard but NearMedia research indicates that even in competitive markets in competitive categories it only takes several great local links to compete.
Google has created a world where focusing on search optimizations has rewarded businesses who have invested in SEO. Yet they consistently lecture users about the need for user centric content. The reality is that there is a great deal of hypocrisy on the part of Google in these matters. How should they deal with this reality?
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Aug 25, 2023
SMBs search to find services, GBP supports bends to European regs, No copyright for AI
*
How SMBs buy services:
Despite what we may think, neither word of mouth nor social are how small and very small businesses buy payment solutions. Search was where it was at. This survey likely can be extrapolated to any SAAS product or service. While it takes longer and is harder to gain search traffic, search and SEO ultimately pays off if you are trying to reach the SMB audience. *
*DSA is kicking in and we are seeing its impact globally:
DSA and the related P2B regulations become effective at the end of this month. Both sets of regulations require more transparency and accountability for business to business services like GBP. We have seen a number of support form upgrades and processes that enhance the flow of Google support. In Europe businesses are additionally offered the benefit of mediation services. Whether support will actually improve or is this just transparency theater is yet to be determined.
*
* AI generated artwork is NOT covered by copyright:
We are at the beginning ogg generative AI for creative uses AND at the beginning of the process of establishing copyright around the creations generated. The Copyright Office first granted a copyright to a comic books whose images were created by Midjourney and then later reversed itself with respect to the images. They said that since these were created by AI, they're not copyrightable and that you cannot copyright something if there isn't sufficient human involvement. Ultimately these questions will be resolved in the Supreme Court. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 125
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Aug 17, 2023
GBP support using gig workers, SGE while browsing rolls out, AI Generated review summaries roll out
*Google Ambassadors (ie Gig Workers) now staffing GBP support poorly:
Google Business Profile support has added a new layer of first level support using what they call Google Ambassadors. These are “passionate brand advocates” working as gig workers. While it provides a comforting, warm body to the chat support experience, it is likely to just waste your time. So be prepared to take a winding path to your answer and expect to be passed along without a conclusive solution. *
*New Google feature: Search Generative Experience while browsing:
This new generative AI search feature, adds automatic article summaries to a web page to quickly find the web page’s key points and jump directly to the relevant section to learn more. It works reasonably well on the desktop but is problematic on mobile devices. Google is attempting to insert themselves into your website and to direct users to other searches. *
* Are AI Generated review summaries the future of platform reviews?
Newegg, Amazon and others have started to use AI to create summaries of the typical user review. It will expedite purchases because people will get the information they need from the review summary without having to read the underlying reviews. It is an idea that possibly will make shopping more efficient and sets a trend that Google will surely follow. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 124
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Aug 10, 2023
Google VS Chat GPT quality, Google proffers bad advice to CNET, Do consumers actually read reviews?
*Google VS Chat GPT Taste Test:
In blind testing, users appear to prefer ChatGPT search results over Google by almost 2:1. Those are the findings of the test's creator, ClickPop, which requires some caveats. Nonetheless, the outcome suggests the Google brand and familiar UI may be a bigger factor in Google's dominant search position than search quality*
*Google Ad Liaison provided bad pruning advice to CNET:
CNET was "busted" by Gizmodo this week for pruning a bunch of old content. The search liaison for Google came out and said: "Hey, you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't prune your content. The notion that Google doesn't like old content is just wrong". *
*The takeaway from the comment is intended to be "don't prune content", which is a piece of very bad SEO advice. It sounds like CNET is, has a really good SEO team that clearly understands what they are doing. They noted: "Removing content from our site is not a decision we take lightly. Our teams analyze many data points to determine whether there are pages on CNET that are not currently serving a meaningful audience. This is an industry wide best practice for large sites like ours", whatever Google might say.*
*
Consumers indicate that reviews are important but do they read them?
Our user research in YMYL local categories continues to show that reviews are incredibly important to reviewers; it is the single most mentioned criteria and probably influences even those searchers that don’t mention it. Yet very few people actually seem to read the reviews and primarily look at the rating stars and secondarily at the quantity. This should be a clarion call for the FTC to ban any review incentives rather than require that they be labeled. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 123
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Aug 7, 2023
New Local ad format, Updated GBP Guideline clarifies policies, Google SGE shows reference links
New Local ad format, Updated GBP Guideline clarifies policies, Google SGE shows reference links:
New Local Ad format is a local ad as local ads should be
Google seems to have rolled out a new ad unit that relies on local assets like GBP photos for the the creatives. The ads include a map, review ratings and an image are very eye-catching and appear to be extremely easy to create and use. This is the ad that Google should have made available to local advertisers from day one.
New GBP Guidelines clarify long “secret” policies:
Google rolled out a number of new policy statements regarding the rules guiding suspensions and content take downs affecting Google Business Profiles (GBP). These guidelines, long the working rules that affected listings and listing content, now make explicit how a user accounts and abuses affect whether a business continues to have access to any given listing or whether that listing will be removed from Google. While this increased clarity is welcome the devil is in the details.
Google SGE finally includes reference links:
Rather than just straight up plagiarism of the recent past, Google’s new AI based search test is now testing three different ways of including links in the “search generative experience (SGE). Some of these link tests make the links more obvious than others. However none of this pertains to local as there Google solely references their Local Knowledge Graph and GBP listings. In most of these cases, to get to the business website requires 2 clicks (go figure). While the SGE experience is improving it still has a ways to go to be better than the current search experience.
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
NearMedia Ep122
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Jul 28, 2023
Google loses product search share, Phone #s hijacked on Google, Yelp scolds business for soliciting
*
Google continues to lose product search market share:
A recent quarterly survey from Jungle Scout indicates that Google and to a lesser extent Amazon are both losing product search market share. Google has lost almost a 7% share on a year over year basis despite massive investments in Product search related tech. Social media, particularly TikTok seems to be the big winner with an almost 6% gain. Does this reflect a growing consumer dissatisfaction with Google (and Amazon) or does it just reflect users default way that they are spending their time?*
*Scammers hijack Airline phone numbers on Google:
Last week, amidst massive flight delays, scammers hijacked the service phone numbers for a number of airlines listed in the Google search results. The Google friendly press reacted as if this was a one off occurrence and Google provided their standard: “We do not tolerate this misleading activity, and are constantly monitoring and evolving our platforms to combat fraud …*
*our teams have already begun reverting the inaccuracies, suspending the malicious accounts involved, and applying additional protections to prevent further abuse.”*
*However given that this has **occurred** on an **almost** annual **basis** since 2008 and **continues** to **this day,** one has to ask if Google really cares or if this is just how they do business; collect data on the cheap and externalize the cost of their ML moderation to consumers and businesses?
*
* Yelp scolds businesses for soliciting reviews:
Recently a do-gooder Twitter user did some armchair activism and encouraged users worldwide to leave a review for her waitress at a local restaurant because the waitress would be “spiffed” $15 for each review. Yelp in typical fashion, slapped an Unusual Activity Warning Alert on the business and proceeded to lecture business owners about the evil of soliciting reviews. *
*The case is interesting because both reviewers AND Yelp seem to be out of touch with what makes sense in this somewhat nuanced situation.
*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 121
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Jul 14, 2023
Apple Maps KPIs, SEOs & Google quality guidelines, Google SGE usage decline
*Apple Maps & Local Opportunities:
Apple Maps is ACTUALLY used for local discovery and it appears to be sending more traffic than either Yelp or Bing. According to Apple insights at least 28% of clicks came from category searches. While Apple Maps generates ~5% of the web visits and perhaps 10% of the phone calls of GBP, that is enough to put Apple Maps in second place as a source of local leads.
Interestingly having access to both Apple and Google Maps driving direction clicks we can estimate Apple Maps market share at about 40% of all iPhone users *
*Learnings from going undercover as a quality rater for Google:
Cyrus Shepard signed up to be a Google Quality Rater and doing so allowed him to provide additional insights into what Google thinks is important. The details of content, user intent, and web page quality understanding clearly inform the algo and provide a basis for Google’s results particularly in “your money and your life” categories.
*
*Is Google’s AI based SGE a dead end or the future of search?
Initial excitement around Google’s AI response to bing chat raised hopes of a better user experience with search. The product, being slow and often not informative, has not really done that. And, at least according to this limited Twitter poll, users are using it less. Is it all just theater?
*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
near memo ep 120
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Jul 7, 2023
GA4 enshittification, Twitter alternatives, New FTC review guidance
*The enshittification of Google Analytics:
Google analytics, with their forcing of GA4 on an audience that doesn’t need, understand or want the complexity, has created an opportunity for the market to deliver simple, easy to implement and understandable analytics. Will this fall to a third party or will it surface organically within the CMSs and operational platforms that are currently available?*
*Twitter, where art thou replacement?
The enshittification of Twitter has moved along at a rapid pace and into that void we have seen numerous efforts to provide alternatives. With Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky (and a host of wannabes) vying for their attention it isn’t yet clear where anyone should focus and put their energies.
*
* The FTC releases new review Guidelines & Rules for Reviews:
This week the FTC went wild and crazy and published numerous and voluminous treatises providing Guidelines and proposed Rules for endorsements and reviews. Reviews have clearly been elevated in standing and the new guidance focuses on trying to maintain their honesty and integrity. But given that the real problems lie with Google and Amazon, and these effort largely excludes them, it is not clear what the impact will be.
*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
NearMemo Ep119
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Jun 29, 2023
TikTok IS about local, Google Perspectives perspective, New GBP "by owner" button
*Tiktok IS about Local but not the way you think*
*While the Wall Street Journal thinksTikTok holds companies hostage and a small business in Philadelphia thinks it is unfair to get so many fake reviews, there is no denying that Tiktok has scale. While it hasn't really provided any real local discovery options, any given video can get so much traction that it can be felt at the most local of levels. *
*Google Perspectives: innovation for the SERPs or bandaid to prevent social media flight?*
*Google has rolled out a new mobile CTA at the top of many serps called Perspectives which provides a dedicated area at the top of the search result for social media related commentary on the topic of your search. Depending on the query intent it might show first in the radio buttons or it might be last but it includes YouTube, Reddit, Quara and Twitter (amongst others) commentary on the topic. Many think that things have become less useful on Google; too many ads, too much spam, et cetera, and G…
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Jun 19, 2023
Overture Map Foundation goes open source to solve 3D mapping for the “rest of us”
Does the world need another mapping project and an open source one at that? Meta, Amazon web Services, Tom Tom & Microsoft think so and teamed up to create the Overture Maps Foundation, with Marc Prioleau at the helm.
The Overture Maps Foundation is a new organization within the open source Linux Foundation. It aims to improve mapping services by focusing on open map data that meets evolving market needs. By collaborating and sharing data, the foundation seeks to avoid duplication of efforts and allow businesses, governments, and organizations to concentrate on developing unique and value-added mapping applications. The foundation acknowledges the importance of proprietary data but emphasizes the benefits of open data for innovation and efficiency. While not currently seen as a major threat, the foundation's position aligns with the idea that proprietary mapping data should be distinct enough to provide value and not easily replaceable by freely available alternatives.
Introduction t…
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Jun 16, 2023
Google LSA reviews suck, Localized stories and visualizations, The future of search
*Google LSA reviews come, they go but LSA still sucks: *
*Last week we saw seismic activity in the disappearance of Google Local Service Ads (LSA) reviews and there was hope, however faint, that they were fixing their fake review problem. But like with so much around Google local efforts, that was not the case. Fake reviews in LSA are emblematic of Google’s lost opportunity with these ads. They offered up the promise of Google being able to track the whole consumer journey and being able to verify reviews as authentic.
We discuss the many reasons contributing to why Google’s LSA is has failed to live up to its promise of vetted businesses and verified reviews and to a large extent has just become another spam vector.
*
*Localized stories and visualizations are a path to SEO success for National Local Brands:
Buzzsumo did a broad linking study to understand which news sources linked to which and how to best leverage that knowledge to increase the likelihood of content placement t…
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Jun 9, 2023
When to ask for reviews, Is SGE a headfake? Is Apple Vision the next platform?
*When should you ask for reviews?
Common wisdom in the world of reputation management is that you ask for reviews immediately following a client transaction. Research from the University of Nevada seems to indicate otherwise. But like many things in marketing, it depends. It depends on your demographic, your product or service and likely on the relationship you have with your customer. Test it, is the best advice. *
*Is Google SGE a headfake?
With the rollout of Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) Google seems to have staunched the flow of the movement to Bing. But the product is flakey, shows sometimes and not others, provides mediocre results and is generally an unsatisfactory experience. Was this just a way to keep users and Wall Street on board until Bard is integrated with apps and they can better deliver on AI in search?*
*
Apple Vision Pro - Truly a vision - With the high price & the size it is easy to be skeptical of Apple’s Vision Pro. Reports from actual users pain…
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May 26, 2023
Yelp for sale? Google Merchant Center Next, Does Bard offer an alternative to search?
*Segment 1: Activist investor suggests Yelp sale*
Eric Semler of TCS Capital Management criticizes Yelp for not delivering enough value to its stockholders. He suggests that Yelp should sell itself to Angi, citing Yelp's strong services business and potential for synergy in a merger.
While Yelp has found some success in its services business and transitioned to a SaaS model, there are concerns about its long-term viability. Will Yelp survive as a stand alone company?
*Segment 2: Google Merchant Center Next - a cool product without market?*
Google's Merchant Center can be likened to an e-commerce content management system with a focus on generating AI-driven ads. It allows businesses to create products and easily gather information from their websites.
Clearly Google is investing heavily in SMB local inventory and this contrasts with the disaster that is GBP. But while Google's Merchant Center appears to be a commendable product, the challenge lies in identifying its precise target…
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May 19, 2023
GBP Image Not Allowed bug, ChatGPT adds plug-ins & web, Yelp integrates with Google Reserve & Toast
*GBP Image Not Approved, a bug or feature & how to tell:
Google Business Profile image upload has long exhibited a bug that prevents images from being published. The problem is that Google uses the exact same messaging for many conditions that lead to Google not publishing the image. How does a business know if they have broken often unstated rules or if they are experiencing a bug?
We discuss how to tell and what this really says about Google’s Business Profile efforts.*
* ChatGPT has added plug-ins & the web integration and it sucks:
ChatGPT generated excitement and discussions around its impact on search because it was such a great first release. The addition of web access and plug-ins though put a chill over the party as they are slow and cumbersome.
This calls into question whether ChatGPT can ever challenge Google? While still useful, this “upgrade” certainly doesn’t threaten Google’s position and seems more hype than improvement.
Yelp integration with Google Reserve…
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May 12, 2023
Google I/O from the mundane to the future of the local customer journey
*Google I/O - How to make the interesting seem mundane:
We discuss the highlights of Google I/O, focusing on search and local search. While the hardware announcements, such as the foldable phone and affordable Pixel, were interesting, the overall event lacked excitement and vitality. The emphasis on AI felt overplayed, and some announcements seemed more suitable for a Wallstreet audience. Despite this, there were notable features like the integration of the knowledge graph into Google's search tool, Bar.
While Google I/O seemed more geared towards impressing the market than delivering groundbreaking innovations it is clear that Google has put a stake in the AI ground and Search with AI and with that their war with Bing, ChatGPT and even Tik-Tok has been declared*
*Google search and AI = SGE:
Google introduced two new features in their search results: an AI snapshot and an expanded version of Bard. The AI snapshot provides a generative AI description of potential models, along with sh…
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May 10, 2023
UnBounce - Using AI to increase conversions - Special Edition
The integration of AI into the SAAS world has unleashed unprecedented innovation and transformation. Darby Sieben discusses how Unbounce started using AI to improve their core products and to build additional products to help businesses achieve higher conversions.
Companies that effectively harness AI capabilities can expect significant drivers of differentiation
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May 5, 2023
Google's local Knowledge Panel the-cms you never knew you had - conversations with Claire Carlille
*Understanding and managing the ever expanding Google Local Knowledge Panel: Google's Knowledge Panel and Business Profile are essential components of a local digital marketing strategy. The Knowledge Panel is a rich search result that appears in response to a user's query and provides relevant information about the queried entity. On the other hand, the Business Profile is a free listing provided by Google for businesses to manage their online presence, which feeds into Google's Knowledge Graph and its understanding of an entity.*
*The Knowledge Panel draws information from various sources, including Google's Knowledge Graph, Wikipedia, Google Scholar, Google News, and other third-party sites. It is dynamic and ever-changing, with the information displayed depending on the user's location, the entity in question, and the search query. However, businesses have little control over the information displayed on the Knowledge Panel.*
*Tracking your way to success:
Tracking user engagemen…
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Apr 27, 2023
AI reviews on Amazon, Peak GMB listings, Implications of failing news sites
*Will AI totally destroy the review economy? What will replace reviews?
The appearance of AI-generated reviews on Amazon has significant implications for the future of reviews and will aid in increasing the scale of an already serious problem. While Google has attempted to combat this somewhat with critic reviews, the decimation of local news will make it challenging to highlight authoritative reviewers for restaurants and other businesses. Reviews will remain relevant for low consideration purchases in categories where they can be trusted but will likely decline in overall importance in the local ecosystem*
* Does declining Google Business listing totals reflect “peak” GBP?
Google's annual economic impact report revealed that the number of businesses with claimed Google Business profiles dropped from 20.2 million in 2021 to 18.7 million in 2022, leading to a few theories including Google having reached “peak” SMB and Google's crackdown on spammy profiles and the erosion of co…
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Apr 21, 2023
CR Permission Slip eases privacy burden, TA Report Hides Declining Reviews, Google Rushes to AI
*Consumer Reports new app, Permission Slip eases privacy requests but is still a baby step:
Permission Slip from Consumer Reports simplifies the process of making data deletion or "don't sell my data" requests to third-party websites and retailers. It is an elegant first step solution for individuals to navigate privacy exposures in states with stricter criteria. It centralizes the process and simplifies the burden on the end user. But privacy is still too complicated and put much of the burden on the end user in this case to download an app, and figure out where they need to take action. Consumer Reports, as a respected organization, has not stepped up on the privacy front. There is the need for privacy controls to be simple and global and enforced. *
*Consumer Reports' app 'Permission Slip' centralizes and simplifies the process of making data deletion or 'do not sell my data' requests.* | *00:49*
*The app seems to be legitimate and points towards something much simpler and easier t…
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Apr 14, 2023
Google’s Online Local Ads, Bard & Local SEO, The Impact of Chat on Future of Local Search
*Unpacking OLAs: The Pros and Cons of Google's New Ad Type for Local Businesses:
OLAs, a new ad type that appear on the business profile for local businesses, have been formally released. These ads are independent of the business and can be placed by allowlisted companies. Google has a whitelist to get into this program, and the ads can be placed by companies such as Groupon, Michelin, or a hair product company. The ad targets specific products, such as hair treatments, tires, or events, and appear on the business profile of local businesses that carry these products.*
*From a business point of view, Olas can be problematic since businesses have virtually no control over them. There is no easy way to opt-out of the program, and businesses have to go back to the original vendor running the ad to get taken off the ad.*
*Bard's Local SEO: Implications for businesses:
David recently conducted an experiment with Bard's local search capabilities. He searched for specific categories of busi…
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Apr 6, 2023
Google merging Bard into Assistant, Wix integrates AI for SMB content, Can GM build a better CarOS?
*Will Google merging Bard into Assistant resurrect assistants from the ashes?
Google Assistant, offered up by Google as the future of search, has never fulfilled its promise. Will the integration of AI finally free these assistants from their constraints? And will this integration of AI & Assistant with search help or hurt Google as the dominant search engine.*
* Wix integrates AI for SMB content in a way that will helps the SMB:
Wix is one of the first web platforms that has integrated ChatGPT as a content creation tool for SMBS. The speed of getting to market is impressive and way that they integrated with prompts makes it much easier for the very small business owner to create content.*
* Can GM build a better CarOS & throw CarPlay away?
Starting in 2024 GM is integrating their own car os into their EV platforms. Is GM solving a consumer problem or a problem that GM has? Can GM succeed with subscriptions, ads and a new OS that excludes iPhones?*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversa…
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Mar 30, 2023
Local Search Ranking Factors Survey with Darren Shaw
*Local Search Ranking Factors - Big Takeaways and big changes from previous years: *
*In this segment we take a bird’s eye view of the survey, how it was crafted, its history and the big takeaways.
What has changed the most? What is new? What are the LSA ranking factors? What are the basic must do activities to get started in the ranking arena.*
* Local Search Ranking Factors - Difference makers & lesser known tactics: *
*The factors we explored in segment 1 are essentially table stakes. If you really want to compete in local search rankings it is important to implement the difference makers. These efforts are reflected in survey answers 11- 30. This applies to both the local pack and the organic results.
Beyond the difference makers in local search activity, we explore some of the dark horse tactics. These are factors that are buried and may only work in certain markets, verticals or a particular situation. But when they do work, they work very well. *
*Local Search Ranking Fact…
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Mar 23, 2023
FTC rules to rein in subscription abuse, Google Bard goes local, Bard is generative not searchy
*FTC proposes new rules to rein in subscription abuses: The FTC has been on a roll fighting the many “dark patterns” of the internet. Last week they added a $245m fine for Fortnite to pay for consumer restitution of inappropriate charges incurred after a single misleading click. This week they proposed a rule to eliminate abuses of the “Negative Option rule” which requires consumers to proactively seek out and navigate complicated scenarios to cancel subscriptions. The rule when approved will give the FTC to impose requirements across a large number of industries that will hopefully rein in subscription abuses. *
* The Bard goes local, sort of: Bard, despite hallucinations, was competent at making local recommendations and that use case could be expanded. Is a chat interface the best way to surface local data or is Maps really the best search metaphor? *
*The Bard use case is more generative and less searchy: Google is positioning Bard for more creative uses and unlike Bing i…
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Mar 17, 2023
New Google GPB Bug, TikTok rolling out search ads, Social mapping tool Gowalla returns
* New Google GPB Bug: Your Business is not visible to customers:
There is a new bug where thousands of business profiles are being told by Google that “Your Business is not visible to customers”. This message has meant many things: you have a new listing and we will show it when we trust it, your listing has recently been reinstated, your listing is suspended and now somewhat randomly, just because. *
*This bug reflects Google’s willingness to test new product features on real world businesses despite the pain it may inflict AND puts spotlight on their terrible support. *
*TikTok rolling out search ads, will they come to local?:
Greg has become addicted to TikTok just in time for the US to ban it. Now they have started to roll out search ads. Given that it is not what users or businesses expect, it will take a great deal of outreach for TikTok to succeed as a search engine. *
*TikTok is a great discovery capability that they have not leveraged. Even if they succeed as a search…
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Mar 9, 2023
Google LSA adds new categories, ChatGPT changing local SAAS, Everyone needs a “how we use AI” FAQ
*Google LSA expands to new categories & faces spam: Google has added new, high value categories to their Local SErvice Ads program. They continue to target ever more service type businesses. While the pricing for this simpler product has gone up due to the added auction capabilities, in many markets it is still a good value. It is also important for service type businesses to watch for first mover opportunities in their local markets. With this link: **Local Service Finder - Pro List** businesses can assess which categories in which geographies have more opportunities. *
*However in some urban, highly competitive markets like personal injury law & locksmiths, not only has pricing gone crazy, spam has as well. Google has added a new LSA spam review reporting form to cope with some of the fake review issues.
ChatGPT making rapid and differentiating inroads into SAAS tools for Local: The players in the local space have all become pretty similar to each other offering listings, review ma…
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Mar 2, 2023
Bing not a G killer, Yelp research masks market share decline, Dealing with review attacks on Google Business Profiles
*Bing isn’t a Google killer but it is important for a number of other reasons: Bing’s inclusion of ChatGPT has positioned Microsoft to take over the search conversation even if it doesn’t unseat Google. Bing has done a thoughtful job of integrating chat into search but it remains awkwards and still lacks significant value to the search experience. This is particularly true with local searches. *
*Yelps’ remote work report likely indicates declining Yelp market share: Yelp used the relative increase of rural searches to indicate that users had moved to rural areas. These low volume searches showing an increase is better explained by Yelp’s declining market share in the urban centers. *
* How to deal with fake review attacks at Google: Google recently announced that they would filter fewer Local guide reviews. This appears to have led to an increase in fake review attacks. We detail the many arcane steps to increase the likelihood of fake review attacks being taken down. *
T…
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Feb 23, 2023
GBP Services impact rank, Local title tag impacts on rank, Google eases review filter
*Google Business Profile services positively impact rank:
In a recent test by Joy Hawkins at Sterlingsky demonstrated that having services identified for your profile influences rank. How does Google generate these categories? How does this fit into the long term trend of Google adding ever more granular detail for businesses? Will custom services have an equal effect? Will this appear world wide? Businesses need to make sure that Google has applied the correct categories. *
*Which geo title tags have the most impact on local search rank?
A title tag needs to be as long as it needs to be but longer title tags don’t perform as well. Which location terms should you use? Near me in a title tag only drives a small increase in rankings. The biggest driver (2.5x improvement) is the use of the city name in the title name. *
* Impact of Google easing review filter to placate Local Guides:
Earlier this month, Google noted that there had been a lot of Local Guide complaints about review filt…
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Feb 17, 2023
Bing transformed by AI, Groceries drive Walmart upscale & Ecommerce invests in PPC & SEO
*Microsoft’s transformation of Bing with AI & some smart moves: There are now millions of people on the BingChat waitlist. And many have noted a positive reaction to the bot. But the compressed hype cycle around the release of ChatGPT and BingChat, a series of stories bemoaning the “nature” of the chatbot. *
*Will users start shifting their searches to Bing? Has Microsoft pulled off the search coup of the decade? *
*Walmart overcomes stigma of evil & appeals to upscale shoppers: Walmart, under the direction of CEO Doug McMillon, has overcome a terrible reputation and built out effective online-offline commerce capabilities. Using groceries as their ‘hook” they are attracting more upscale customers with easy online ordering and curbside pickup. To further engage this long elusive audience, Walmart is not building out stores with a more Target (or as my sister say Targeé) like feel. *
*100 Ecommerce execs are investing more in SEO & PPC: With fear of recession, paid search…
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Feb 8, 2023
How digital agencies can use AI with Joy Hawkins & Kevin Indig
*In this extended episode we explore the role AI in general and ChatGPT is having on the work within digital agencies. What are the opportunities and challenges that agencies face when using it?*
* *Are either of you currently using ChatGPT or AI tools in your daily work? If so, what and for what purposes? *
* *How have ChatGPT and related tools changed your work? *
* *What is the biggest opportunity you see with tools like ChatGPT and the many others that are quickly emerging? Name some concrete use cases. Anything you’ve seen that’s really impressive/effective? *
* *What about general SEO and local SEO use cases? (if we haven’t gotten into that yet.) What are the most immediate applications? *
* *Slightly farther out, how do you think people will be using these tools? What “manual” or tedious tasks will AI replace? Other use cases? *
* *Do you think AI tools make smaller agencies more competitive with larger ones? How do you think AI changes the economics of SE…
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Feb 3, 2023
Own your processes, SEOs need AI for automation, AI will increase fake reviews, now what?
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*ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools can write very credible reviews, very quickly and easily. The number of fake reviews could possibly explode in numbers.*
*While multi-location businesses care about reviews they don’t really put any energy into them. Is Google equally unconcerned about reviews?*
*How will this impact the review ecosystem and how will Google respond?*
*It can seem like Google controls the fate of small businesses with zero click search, erratic review policies and control of your business profile. Miriam Ellis points out at Moz that while Google’s behaviors create stress in the end almost all searchers in the local ecosystem end up on your turf. Whether that is a call, coming to your location or on your website the business controls the interaction. Google customer experience doesn’t require a latte with every haircut but it does require that your systems for client communications work and work reliably.*
*AI and Automation is now officially a thin…
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Jan 27, 2023
Mailchimp Campaign Manager, Copyright implications of generative AI, GBP forums provide bug insights
*Mailchimp launched Campaign Manager, a way for marketers to plan, execute, and track their marketing campaigns across multiple channels—like email, text messaging, social media ads, and direct mail—and view how their campaign is performing in one calendar view. *
*But Intuit’s ads are positioning this tool for the smaller business with one or two employees but in reality is for more sophisticated businesses with dedicated marketing staff. *
*Growing visibility of copyright implications of generative AI precedes solutions:
Generative AI is trained using other’s creations. This often leads to plagiarism and excessive image re-use. Current copyright law is not up to the snuff in terms of defining when this is fair use and when it is copyright violation. The suits have started and it remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will punt on this or create clarity. *
*Google’s GBP forums provide insights into bugs, practices and policy:
The Google Business Profile forum is whe…
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Jan 19, 2023
Business Connect flawed agency model, Large agencies: Local is a fad, Technical SEO roadblocks
* Failings in Apple Business Connect Agency Model:
While the Apple Business Connect Dashboard is well designed and the new API is significant, the product really fails smaller businesses that want their smaller agency to manage their listing for them. As the system is designed, a small business has to get an Apple ID, verify their own listing and then share the admin privileges with their small agency. Too many steps and too much work for most small businesses to engage with. *
*Big agencies define local as a fad in CallRail survey:
In a Callrail survey of 600 agency employees that work for larger agencies respondents thought that metaverse marketing and voice search are better long term investments while localization and AI were fads. Hello? *
*SEO’s don’t get respect:
SEO’s highlighted their greatest difficulties, In a recent Aira & Women in Tech SEO survey of smaller agencies and freelancers, were "getting my recommendations implemented" (33%) and "showing the value of my w…
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Jan 12, 2023
Apple Business Connect is important, Stack ranking of employees: effective or sadistic? AI’s next step: productization
*Why the new Apple Business Connect is so important:
Apple Business Connect is both a small business interface AND an API. The small business interface is very elegant and supports very hi res imagery as well as a Post-like product called Showcases. The bigger news is probably the roll-out of the API. This is the first time Apple has allowed third parties to directly interact with Maps. When you realize that Business Connect is positioned as a way to integrate your business Place Card with a whole suite of Apple products including iMessage, Apple Pay, Siri and more you have to wonder what role this will play in Apple’s coming augmented reality play. *
*The value of stack ranking as a way to prune employees:
The tech industry over-hired during the demand created by Covid. With a recession on the horizon and growth constrained, many tech companies including Google are looking to become more efficient and are using stack ranking as a way to identify low performing employees. Will this…
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Jan 6, 2023
AG sues surgeon for review fraud, Shopify targets enterprise retail, Bing to integrate ChatGPT
*Washington AG sues plastic surgeon for review fraud:
Allure, a chain of Seattle based plastic surgery centers, has been sued under the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act, HIPPA and state law for significant fraudulent activities in the review space. Requiring NDAs prohibiting negative reviews, bribes to take reviews down, photoshopped before and after consumer images and stealing consumer rebates, this practitioner apparently never got the memo. Penalties in the millions of dollars were discussed. Does it portend a jump in review fraud enforcement or just the once every couple of years enforcement chest thumping? *
*Shopify targets enterprise retail with modern, composable stack for enterprise:
Shopify is making a strong show to improve their stock price entering the new year. The most recent Commerce Components is targeted at making integration of the Shopfiy checkout with enterprise backend software. This seems like a smart strategy to help Shopify move into the enterprise space.…
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Dec 21, 2022
Barry Schwartz Talks All Things Google - UI, Algorithms and AI Spam
In this 44 minute interview, David, Mike and Greg interrogate Barry Schwartz about algorithm updates, the SERP and the future of Google in an era of AI-generated content. Here are the topics in roughly the order they appear:
* Google UI changes and Universal Search
* Why Google makes SERP design changes
* Major algorithm updates in 2021 and 2022
* Helpful content update, spam and product review updates
* Is Google really trying to make search better?
* How the SERP has become more competitive
* Future viability of content written to rank
* The problem with recipe blogs
* Keyword stuffing and gaming the algorithm
* YMYL content and ranking
* Google quality raters and E-E-A-T
* AI and the Local Review Update
* AI and image moderation
* ChatGPT and its impact on Google
* Is Google getting worse – or is it the web?
* Why search is better today
* Google negative PR and regulatory pressure
* Staying ahead of spam
* How will Google handle AI-driven con…
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Dec 16, 2022
Age cohorts & reviews, Apple’s Business Register, Google’s Visual Elements → Search complexity
*How different age groups think about reviews: In a recent, large scale survey of attitudes and behaviors around reviews, Miriam Ellis uncovered some interesting facts about the different behaviors in different age groups*
* Evolution of Apple’s Business Register - Why isn’t Apple targeting the Enterprise: A great listing management interface particularly compared to Google’s new (but flawed) experience. Apple hasn’t gone after enterprise brands and suggests that the register be limited to 20 locations. Apple Maps is fully indexed in the Google search results. Apple’s could provide a viable alternative to Google and Yelp but the lack of investment and marketing seems to be holding them back. *
*Google’s Visual Elements Gallery demonstrates just how complicated search has become: Google’s newly announced Visual Elements Gallery, while an attempt to help developers understand the many elements in search, demonstrates just how complicated search has become. Does this compl…
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Dec 9, 2022
ChatGPT’s impact on local, How Google’s new review filter works, Google nukes The Beam (boo!)
*How ChatGPT’s breakthrough ability to create content will significantly impact local: ChatGPT seems to provide a quantum leap in quality and speed AI generated content. How will this impact not just content, writers and thinkers in local but how it might actually, some day, provide a better local search experience.*
*A deep dive look at factors in Google Local’s new AI based review filter: After examining almost 300 cases of Google erroneously taking down local reviews, we can start to see some of the factors of their new AI first approach to moderation. We explore which business categories and profiles are most impacted. And we discuss the confusion caused by Google’s “false positives”.*
*Google nuke a joke location that promotes a lame basketball tame: The King’s, in creating the Beam, have created a common theme for its fans. Its presence on Google inspired a level of ironic worship that seemed to be fun for all. Google, however, didn’t see it that way, and despite…
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Dec 2, 2022
Survey:Buying links works, Why did Alexa fail? Moderation will be at center of Sec 230 debate
*74.3% of link builders pay for links and 89.1% of link builders say nofollow links have an impact on rankings. David reviewed a new survey of ~800 link builders by Authority Hacker. Regardless of what Google proclaims, buying links is a tried and tested way to gain site benefits in less than 6 months and it's here to stay. *
*Alexa pullback by Amazon points to difficulties with Voice.
It is estimated that the Alexa unit had a negative $10 billion impact on Amazon this year with no significant contribution to increasing sales. As a result many of Amazon’s layoffs occurred in this department. This calls into question Amazon’s strategy of attempting to create a new platform and highlights the problems that are yet to be solved with voice computer interactions. *
*Content Moderation will be at forefront of Sec 230 Fight in 2023
With new laws in Fl. & Texas demanding that platforms allow everyone to express their opinions heading for a Supreme Court day in court, advertisers fearful…
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Nov 17, 2022
Google Review Bug Saga, Impact of Local Business Reviews, Google’s Missguided Store Finder
*Google has finally admitted to the bug that caused local businesses to lose all of their reviews AND rank visibility. Google appears to have fixed many of those businesses reported over the weekend. But as is typical with Google it took public embarrassment to get them to acknowledge and fix this serious bug. It highlights both their PR strategy and their totally inadequate customer service. Included are tips on how to distinguish this bug from the many other reasons your location is currently losing reviews.*
*This Moz survey cataloging user motivations around reviews confirms what we know about user behaviors. What is the number 1 reason that users leave bad reviews? What does “Peak Reviews” mean in terms of user behaviors? Why is this and how will it impact reviews going forward.*
*Google promotes lame store finder to bulk GPB users, adding insult to the injury of NMX interface
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*Google introduced a Store Finder product in June and in a typically bad timing twist, just star…
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Nov 11, 2022
GPB Bug Nuking Reviews, Google Review Location Surfaced, AirBnB Branding VS SEM for conversions
*Google has been on a review tear of late and many reviews are being nuked that the new filter “thinks” violates the TOS. But not all review take downs by Google are legit. And a new bug seems to be affecting Google Business Profiles: when Google pushes a Suggested edit update, the profile changes CID numbers and loses their reviews. Businesses that lose reviews need to be prepared for this eventuality and put in place a plan to recover the reviews if lost. *
*Darren Shaw of Whitespark discovered a new test by Google that shows how many in market reviews a reviewer left. On the surface this would appear helpful to shoppers looking to validate the reviewer and the reviews more easily. But like all reviews it is probably a false hope as location can be spoofed. Regardless, it surfaces the fact that Google is closely tracking and using the physical relationship between the reviewer and the business. In the forums, it is apparent that Google has consistently nuked more reviews from se…
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Nov 4, 2022
Just How Prevalent Are Zero-Click Search Results? (featuring Marcus Tober of Semrush)
*Marcus Tober, SVP of Enterprise Solutions for Semrush, joins Greg and David for this episode of the Near Memo.
The trio discusses Semrush’s recent **zero-click search study** in depth. Conceived as a slightly more nuanced follow-up to **Sparktoro/Rand Fishkin’s provocative original look** at this concept, Marcus takes us through some of the important high-level findings. There’s of course plenty of discussion around what this means for locally-oriented marketers, and how marketers should use the results of the study to inform their overall SEO strategy.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 88
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Oct 28, 2022
Shopify disappoints on retention, SEMRush Zero Click research & Apple Maps vs Google Maps in Europe
Description
Shopify study shows much higher churn than WooCommerce, why & what are the implications?
A recent study in the Mails & Globe explores retention over the past 3 years of the major e-commerce platforms. They concluded that Shopify's retention was one of the lowest particularly compared to Woo Commerce. Is this a failure on the part of Shopify or just a reflection of how easy it is to get started with the product? While interesting, does the study tell the whole story?
SEMRush zero click study makes the case that the web clicks are still king
SEMRush recently completed an in-depth study of zero click behavior on Google. While the study largely ignored local search, its findings were much more granular than previous work in this area. When you discount query refinement, and users that move to a different part of Google after the initial query, that Google is sending roughly 25% of users to its own answers while sending 43% on to other websites.
Apple Maps Vs Google Maps Fu…
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Oct 20, 2022
Google 3-Pack: New Branded Ads, GBP Neglect, and Container Retail Models (feat. Krystal Taing)
*Krystal Taing, Director of Pre-Sales Solutions for Uberall and Google Business Profile Platinum Product Expert, joins Greg and David for this episode of the Near Memo.
The trio discusses Google’s latest visually-significant ad update and implications for both paid and organic marketers. David then laments the rapid increase in GBP-related bugs and complaints over the course of the last several months and the team discusses GBP’s strategic place in Mountain View. Krystal closes the show by highlighting the acceleration of the store-within-a-store trend and how brands with outlets that fit this model should think about their local listings.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 86
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Oct 13, 2022
Whitespark’s Effort to Reach an Underserved Part of the SMB Market with Its SEO Services
*Allie Margeson**, Director of SEO Services for Whitespark, joins Greg and David for this episode of the Near Memo. She takes a deeper dive into the logic behind, and the mechanics of, Whitespark’s new **three-tiered service offering** which involves not just Google Business Profile optimization but website updates and linkbuilding.*
*Allie and Whitespark have a unique perspective on serving small businesses that most agencies and SaaS companies ignore, due to the difficulty of serving them profitably. She shares some behind-the-scenes information about Whitespark’s delivery model and go-to-market strategies that make this service effective for its clients and profitable for its bottom line.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 85
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Oct 6, 2022
Near Media X NearSt: Google’s Insatiable Appetite for Local Inventory Data
*“Mike’s Excellent European Adventure” continues this week, so Nick Brackenbury, CEO of **SaaS company NearSt** joins Greg and David for a fast-moving conversation about his company’s growth curve alongside the explosion of “near me” searches and Google’s appetite for local inventory in search results since 2015.*
*Nick takes listeners through how NearSt came to be, a major pivot in NearSt’s trajectory, its partnerships with Google and other major platforms, the current penetration of digital inventory solutions among brick-and-mortar stores, and the latest local commerce-related announcements from Google.*
*Editor’s note: Unfortunately we weren’t able to mitigate the choppy quality of David’s recording in post-production of this episode. Apologies to listeners in advance.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 84
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Oct 1, 2022
How Nerdy Nuts Co-Founder Blended Creativity, PR, Influencer Marketing, and Tiktok to Fuel Success
*This episode breaks from our typical Near Memo format in two big ways: 1) at 50 minutes, it’s roughly double the length of a typical episode, and 2) rather than a roundtable discussion, it’s a deep-dive interview with a single entrepreneur.*
*Craig Mount, Co-Founder and CEO of **peanut butter (and media) brand Nerdy Nuts** takes us through the trajectory of his company – from starting up selling a handful of jars at a farmer’s market to doing $80,000 in ecommerce sales in just two minutes.*
*Craig goes into great detail about key moments for his company, from a seminal conversation with a friend in PR about how to position his business, to the company’s first big break on Fox Business (and how they got it), to his wife’s intuition in the early days of Tiktok, and so much more.*
*It’s a terrific story of contemporary entrepreneurship with a number of practical takeaways for marketers and entrepreneurs.*
*Nerdy Nuts’ current tech stack:*
*Shopify*
*Klaviyo*
*Commu…
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Sep 15, 2022
Google goes Astroturf, iOS elevates search but fails, Search alternatives are blooming, why?
*Google doubles down on SMB deception to achieve political goals - Google recently sent out an email to its massive base of business clients asking them to **Tell us what policy issues matter to you and your business. **It directed businesses to a survey which told the real story of Google’s intent: Tell us which policy issues that are important to us are you willing to shill for us? Google has stooped to new lows and that is hard as they have already moved pretty far down.*
* iOS 16 elevates search but still fails at local and internet search - Apple has elevated a long hidden search feature to the main screen of their iPhone, making it more visible and likely more used by most users. While the feature offers good on device searching it is sorely lacking for internet, entity and local search. Apple plays the long game but we keeping asking, when will Apple search grow up? Is their financial relationship with Google holding them back?*
*From Andi to Apple there are suddenly new opt…
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Sep 9, 2022
The demise of local audiologists, Content bots for local news, Facebook shutters Neighborhoods
*On October 16th, hearing aids for folks with low to moderate hearing loss will now be sold over the counter, no longer requiring testing, visits to the audiologists or a prescription. The influx of major brands like Apple, Bose and probably Amazon (hey Alexa, what did they say?) on the low end portend a major shift in how many of these devices are purchased. Local audiologists, many of whom run local businesses predicated on the high margin hardware & training model, will likely shutter their doors. Will privacy compromises become an issue with this burgeoning market?*
*Local news journalism is disappearing with massive layoffs and cutbacks. Will automation and ai come to the rescue of local news? How pervasive will this be for a local news creation strategy? Is it just an excuse for the many PE owned news organizations to layoff staff? How will all of this interact with Google Human Content Update that prohibits ai generated news stories. *
*Neighborhoods, Facebook’s clone of Nex…
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Sep 1, 2022
Google Quick Read- useful or Gen Z bone? Why are Google Posts rejected? Why Nextdoor needs local seo
* Google is testing a new label associated with content that is quick to read on both mobile and desktop. The label appears with either the text ‘Quick Read’ or ‘< 5 Min Read’, with several different combinations of each. Is this test, so close to the Helpful Content Update, a way to signal busy readers and garner their attention or is it a useful way to segment content so that searchers looking for in depth content can more easily find it?*
*Why Google Posts are rejected - Another Google AI first fail - Google Business Profiles recently updated Posts guidelines to prohibit poor quality images and re-use of images. Simultaneously there has been a huge increase in the forums of reports of Posts being rejected, no reasons given. Turns out that there are three explanations for the many rejections; there is a new Posts image bug, some images are duplicates AND some images are deemed too “racy” by an AI system that seems more prudish than cautious. However in all of that busine…
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Aug 25, 2022
Shopify Influencer Play, Google’s Human Content Update; Why now? Google’s AI First Approach is wrong
* Shopify Cretes an Influencer Marketplace - Of all of the networks that have attempted to create a way for businesses to easily connect with influencers to help market their products, Shopify’s newest effort, Collabs, seems like the most logical fit and the easiest to use*
*Google’s Human Content Update; Why now? Google’s language in announcing the Human Content Update, that is rolling out this week and next, largely reflected the language that the marketplace has been using to laud Tik-Tok and to criticize Google’s search efforts. We look at a number of questions surrounding this rollout and what it says about Google’s needs and their practices. *
*Google’s AI First Approach is wrong - The recent case highlighted by the NY Times of a parent who sent photos of his child to their nurse being investigated by police AND having their lifelong Google accounts canceled point out the many problems of an AI first approach to societal issues. We see similar issues happening every…
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Aug 20, 2022
Yelp selling its business data, Google’s Review Spam algo nukes many legit reviews, Tik-Tok for brands
*Yelp has recently publicized their newest revenue stream; selling merchant data to marketers. It seems sleazy and is likely just a money grab by Yelp*
*Day in and day out, small businesses are flocking into the Google Business Profile forum to complain about their legit reviews being nuked by Google’s effort to limit review spam. *
*Tik-Tok is still not being heavily used by brands. Brands can create their own content or team up with Tik-tok creators, for which Tik-tok has created a marketplace. In travel, restaurants and beauty site visitors are using Tik-Tok for discovery. Many small businesses have done well there but brands have an opportunity to leverage this audience which is shunning search.
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 78
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Aug 12, 2022
Google whines about iMessage, Axios acquired by Cox, Facebook B2B segments
*After dozens of failed messaging starts, Google has been on a campaign to get Apple to integrate with their telco favored RCS messaging service. It's not clear why Apple would want to do that and the campaign by Google is almost laughable.*
*Local growth highlighted in Axiosacquisition by Cox for $585 million. *
*With the ascendance of Google and Facebook advertising, local newspapers have been on the ropes. Cox, originally a newspaper company, exited that world for digital properties and broadband services. It appears that they are making a jump back in with the Axios acquisition. Axios Local, highlighted in the press release for the acquisition, currently operates in 24 cities and plans to expand its coverage to 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2022. Eventually, it hopes to be in hundreds of cities. It will be interesting to watch if a nationally run local news organization can find a successful monetization strategy.
B2B targeting has always been complicated and expensive or both. F…
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Aug 5, 2022
Shopify invests in email, End of location intelligence, E-commerce not eating retail, it is retail
*Segment 1: Shopify’s investment in Klaviyo improves Shopify’s enterprise cred & may signal acquisition*
In a move to protect and enhance their core product with enterprise, Shopify’s strategic investment in Klaviyo indicates a
*Segment 2: The golden era of hyper detailed location data intelligence is coming to an end*
The marketplace for highly granular location data, fed by smartphones, cars and cell companies, is coming under scrutiny by both Congress and regulators. Despite the value to society that this data might have, its abuse and invasive practices seems to have finally led to some constraints and oversight. If we are lucky, we may be given the ability to opt into surveillance instead of just having to accept it.
*Segment 3: At Covid start E-commerce was eating retail, turns out it is retail*
In early Covid, pundits talk up the idea that e-commerce had leaped 5 years ahead in its “battle” with retail only to talk up the idea that in store shopping has returned a…
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Jul 29, 2022
Instagram evolves (?), Google turns off reviews for women’s clinics , Google Commerce SERP Trends
* Instagram evolves (?) to target Gen Z but leaves others behind*
Instagram and Facebook are attempting to cater to the consumption patterns of Gen Z but in doing so are alienating their traditional users. Might these apps be better served by bifurcating their products and developing more focused apps.
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Google prevents reviews on listings that offer reproductive services*
Google has stopped allowing reviews on Planned Parenthood as well as a limited number of businesses offering abortion & reproductive services. While the Planned Parenthood stoppage was probably a manual action, shutting of every business in the categories noted appears to be algorithmically implemented. Why?
*Google Commerce SERP Trends*
Four major trends in commerce serps on the desktop: increasingly visual, there are a greater variety of serp features to cope with ambiguity, there an increasing number of Local Packs and Ads dominate the space. Local Packs show for 77% of Google commerce query SERP results.
T…
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Jul 22, 2022
Amazon & Google pander to the FTC, American Privacy Act: Opt-In/Out Battle, Instagram goes local
*Amazon AND Google both try to demonstrate their anti fake review bonafides. Both fail to do their job and offer little in the way of substantive reform to prevent review abuses. *
*The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (.pdf) looks like it will make it out of committee, a watershed moment and a step toward a floor vote. This moment is a byproduct of significant compromises and amendments. *
*Instagram has introduced an upgraded, interactive and searchable map experience. Users can now search, browse and drag maps to find things nearby. Results can also be filtered by categories such as restaurants, hotels, cafes, sights.*
*The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 74*
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Jul 15, 2022
Indie Bookstores Rebound, Privacy abuses both public & private, Ages 18-25 shun Google for Tik-Tok
*In the past year somewhere on the order of 300 independent bookstores have opened. The need for discovery, serendipity, community and increased opportunities are all likely factors in this resurgence *
*Amazon is illegally sharing Ring data with police while ICE is accumulating dossiers on 3 out of 4 Americans with no oversight. *
* Google’s disclosure that 40% of Gen Z’ers prefer Tik-Tok & Instagram to Google when searching for lunch restaurants, surprised many but puts their long term emphasis on images in the search results into meaningful relief. It also explains new search units that are primarily visual like “Find places through photo”. While the comment appeared to be off-hand it likely reflects an intentional effort to offset antitrust scrutiny as well.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 73
Subscribe to our 3x per week…
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Jul 10, 2022
EU passes Digital Markets & Digital Services Acts to rein in big tech & prevent fraud & deception
The Digital Markets Act attempts to create a new framework for understanding and regulating digital monopolies to improve competitiveness and create opportunities for smaller online businesses. Amongst its targets: self preferencing, access to alternative payment systems and messaging services interoperability. The fines for non-compliance are a non-trivial 10% of annual sales.
Dark patterns that mislead consumers will be banned, ads that target children or on the basis of religion, gender, race and political opinions will also be banned. “Users will have new rights, including a right to complain to the platform, seek out-of-court settlements, complain to their national authority in their own language, or seek compensation for breaches of the rules.”
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
EP 72 Near Memo
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Jul 1, 2022
Entities not keywords, key to search, Google Offers shows playbook, Data privacy even more important
*Time to stop lamenting “zero click” search and to embrace the “messy middle” of Google’s entity search and barnacle SEO. Understanding how Google has remade all of search from inventory to brands into entity search as a way to help consumers make a decision is key to building out a successful search optimization strategy. *
*Google is leveraging ever more granular product entities and product information to create a local product search experience that Amazon can’t compete with. *
*Privacy should be a right not a convoluted opt out process. Most users, in choosing to not allow Apple’s app tracking show the way forward on privacy - opt in not opt out. While it is unlikely the federal government will go there states will. Hopefully sooner rather than later. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 71
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Jun 23, 2022
Google Search Quality Declining?, Google Local Test & Self-preferencing, Shifting search behaviors
*There's a growing perception that Google is in decline or dying. In an article in the Atlantic, Charlie Warzel interviews Marie Haynes, Dannie Sullivan and Rand Fishkin to try to understand his growing dissatisfaction with Google’s results. Is it too commercial, too corporate or too sanitized? He is not sure but he does know its not what it used to be.*
*What would Google local search results look like if Google couldn't put the Local 3-Pack at the top of search results? A recently discovered test may give us a clue. New 'Local Cards' have appeared in organic results. They offer less information but still link to GBP pages, not local websites.Even if this test is abandoned, we need to be prepared for change in local SEO and local marketing if the anit-self-preferencing act passes Congress. . *
*There is growing anecdotal evidence that users are switching to alternative methods to discover local goods and services. Is GenZ ready to abandon Google? Have they already moved on to TikT…
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Jun 17, 2022
The power of great CX, What % of searches are local? Antitrust laws & how marketing might change
* Chewy’s provides great CX and it goes viral: When a dog owner’s pet died and they asked Chewy to refund their unused food, the company went above and beyond. In doing so, they demonstrated the incredible viral value of great customer service. A simple customer service act provides bountiful returns. *
*A look at the top 1000 Google queries on the desktop and what it says about local: Kevin Indig of Shopify looked at the top 1000 searches on Google Desktop. Interestingly at least ⅓ were local in intent and most of those were branded local searches.*
*John Oliver & Rand Fishkin look at the two antitrust bills that might pass this summer: John Oliver, like many comedians these days, does a better job of explaining the antitrust bills in front of Congress than the news does. And he is more fun to listen to. Rand Fishkin looks at how the bills will dramatically change what we do as marketers.
*The Near Memo, with David Mihm, Greg Sterling & Mike Blumenthal, is a weekly conversati…
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Jun 9, 2022
Amazon doing Local Ads, Yep it, Apple BNPL & Search developments, Auto created Google Ads showing up
Amazon has been posting new job positions for “rare opportunity to join a start-up business within Amazon Ads and play a strategic role in building the future of Local Ads”. It is hard to know exactly what it is they are building but talk of building relationships with agencies, clients, and service providers to scope solutions, partnerships, and business opportunities that result in the acceleration of Amazon's Advertising growth in New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago. Regardless, it is clear that they are looking to grow their ad business via local and looking to take Google (and perhaps Walmart) on directly in the space.
Can Yep It get off the ground and sustain an income stream or is it just another “ankle biter”. There are many wannabes in the search space with many different models, Yep It is trying to partner with content creators first and foremost. Although the question remains how will they get consumer uptake to make it work?
There was a…
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Jun 4, 2022
Apple search engine, GBP product kerfuffle, Walmart stores to be used for 3rd party local delivery
*Rumors have surfaced that Apple will roll out a general purpose search engine at WWDC this week. Will it be browser based? Available on the desktop? Apple has historically favored “search as a feature” over the years as they have slowly built out Siri, Spotlight and Safari search. The UI/UX could use a refresh and it could become more obvious but will it be a Google replacement? Probably not. *
*The disappearance of the Product feature from the Google Business Profile caused lots of speculation.*
*Whether it was a bug or a very small test that was not meant to be seen, the removal of the Product feature from the Google Business Profile (and to be replaced by Merchant Center) last week lead many to soul search about the role of real time inventory in Google’s push for ever more granular data. Google has been taking a holistic commerce strategy (online and in-store inventory) to create a more complete consumer offering than Amazon. *
*Walmart announced that they will offer last…
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May 27, 2022
Walmart does drones, GML: AI, automation & images are future, Local inventory ad unit mimics 3-pack
*Walmart announced that they were rolling out drone delivery in 6 states this week, offering upto 100,000 picked in the local store. Meanwhile Gorrila (Europe’s largest food delivery company announced massive layoffs and UberEats continued to struggle to find a profitable path forward. Walmart’s many rural & suburban stores gives them a unique advantage in driving their own, same day delivery service. Interestingly Amazon’s drone work seems to have stalled. *
*Google is moving full steam ahead on a vision of search and advertising that includes an ever increasing amount of AI driven automation and an ever increasing amount of images and other visuals in the search results. They noted at the GML event that “we're transforming the SERPS into an endless stream of visual ideas”. Google sees automated retail ads and local as their path to compet with Amazon*
*Google testing new Local inventory ad unit that looks like the 3-pack*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation abou…
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May 21, 2022
Mourning Bill Slawski, Will people use My Ad Center? Baby formula shortage shows CTR impacts rank
*Bill was instrumental in helping me understand Local search. Over the years he shared his knowledge willingly and unsparingly and he will be missed.*
*My Ad Center - will people use it or is it just another data harvesting tool?*
* Shotland showed a radical increase in rankings for a particular page on a client's website that was talking about baby formula. Over the last X number of weeks, he said the page was on page two plus, and it's now skyrocketed up to the top. His theory? That top ranking national retailers were out of formula and when users left those sites and found the lower ranked ones that did have formula, they stuck around leading to a ranking increase. Shotland made some astute suggestions on how to quickly cope with shortages. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 65
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May 13, 2022
SMB more successful with content, Google I/O dreams big but puts in stake around Local, Multisearch & Lens + Near Me
* SMB more successful with content, typical looks at SMBS often undercounts total *
*Google spent much of their I/O talking about their grand vision for integrating software and hardware as well as Local developments. Most of the hardware is about a future where they hope to compete while Local is moving clearly to a focus on a visual approach to local search. Many of these announcements are likely to not be universally adopted. *
* Wil local visual search near me drive the future of local commerce? Or is visual search just a subset of what folks really need?*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 64
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May 7, 2022
Earth Day promos damage reputation, CX - more than a #, SMBs need an integrated digital approach
*In three consumer surveys it became clear that a significant minority (~25%) of the buying public thinks ill of companies that use Earth Day to sell things. But almost 33% noted that when Amazon engaged in Earth Day marketing to sell more products that they were less likely to do business with them. *
*Whether it’s a review rating or an NPS score, all too often businesses focus too intently on the number and not on what's behind the number. Businesses should listen to all feedback wherever it is from and then make the changes so that it improves going forward. And STOP asking for answers to 30 question surveys. *
*With In store shopping up & e-commerce down and ever increasing consumer expectations, for SMBs to survive they need an integrated digital approach. Between supply chain issues, inflations and on-line competition it has been a struggle for SMBs but those that have survived and those that will thrive have done so by doubling down on technology to drive point of sale, the…
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Apr 30, 2022
Ratings vs Review Text, Can G Ad automation replace agencies?, Will Musk torpedo Twitter ads?
*It is generally assumed that the ratings aspect of reviews is what drives conversions and thus they are typically emphasized. However it would appear that in many cases that the content of the “top 3” most visible reviews actually influence purchase decisions more than the star ratings. In a clever study design these researchers were able to disentangle the relative importance of ratings versus the text in the top 3 reviews. *
*Google announced upgrades to their Performance Max product and that it will provide a one-click upgrade (and replacement) path for both previous Smart Campaigns and Local Campaigns. Google Ads have long been moving towards an automated model to maximize effectiveness and away from the need for curated ad management. This is another step on that path and seems to make product ads almost as easy as their hands-off LSA ads. There is a need for rigorous A/B testing by enterprises to determine the value of each approach.*
*Even though Twitter is making user ga…
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Apr 22, 2022
Amazon’s Buy with Prime; AI content & the future of the internet, What content drives SMB research?
*Amazon’s bold play to push Prime benefits across all of e-commerce is not only a direct threat to Shopify but UPS and FedEx as well. While it will bring trust and convenience to small and local websites, which types of businesses will actually benefit from Buy Prime on their site?*
*Google’s has stated that AI generated content is against their guidelines. But their guidelines are not so clear as they seem to imply that human edited content will be ok. What is the future of on-line content? Will Google be able to moderate the coming tsunami of AI generated content?*
*Very small businesses want to do their own research when buying SAAS products but which sorts of content do they use to do that? There isn’t really a single content source that drives uptake. Perhaps AI driven content might be able to allow content to be more easily repurposed across content types. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the…
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Apr 15, 2022
Google: Ad Domination, Self-Updating Maps reflects failure to engage, Mobile SERP are Image Serps
*According to the 2021 **IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report,** online ad revenue grew at the fastest pace since 2006, 35% year over year. In real dollar terms that translated into a $50 billion revenue increase from last year. Mobile revenues comprised roughly 71% of the $189 billion total, while the desktop contributed 28%. Paid search was the largest digital ad revenue category (41%, $78.3 billion), followed by display (30%, $56.7 billion) and digital video (21%, $39.5 billion). *
* Google has been updating business data for year, not due to AI but because of their massive access to data. This trend is increasing which is both annoying and reflective of their failure to engage SMBs to keep the data updated themselves. *
*Over the past 5 years images have moved from virtually 0% oif the mobile search results to almost 40%. Google is using AI to understand the content of these images and changing them based on the user query. This points towards a new aspect of technical SEO, im…
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Apr 8, 2022
Live Inventory Improves 3-Pack Rank, LocalU-Spam, Review & Vicinity Update, GA4 Sucks-what’s next?
Google’s Local help files have been updated to note that providing real time inventory via Merchant Center will result in increased rank. Anecdotally, we are seeing the 3- Pack populated with more real time inventory over the past several weeks. Google, often accused of self-preferencing, did so again by highlighting their own Point POS product as the only solution.
At LocalU’s last virtual event, Joy Hawkins shared insights spam prevalence by vertical and whether agencies should continue to fight it, as a service. Curtis Boyd described the results of a 1000 review case study of takedown and what worked and what didn’t. And there was a discussion of a new update to the Vicinity update which allowed many businesses to gain more visibility.
GApocalypse will soon be upon us and Google Universal Analytics will soon be sunset and replaced with GA4. Since GA4 is so bad and agencies seem to have developed reporting chops with Google Data Studio, is it time to look at other base analyt…
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Apr 3, 2022
Antitrust Laws Closer, Google partners with CVS on appts, Consumer review trust down but usage is up
Last week the European Parliament completed work on its Digital Markets Act. The legislation targets major US tech "gatekeepers" and prohibits app bundling, app store monopolies and so-called "self-preferencing," among other things. In the US, the American Competition and Innovation Act (ACIA) is similar and also seeks to prevent self-preferencing – think: Google Shopping or Maps at the top of search results. Google et all have ramped up the astroturf.
Google has announced the ability to schedule an appointment to book with a doctor directly from a Google business profile. Initially as a pilot with CVS Minute Clinics, it is likely to expand. Google has once again picked winners and losers as opposed to making the feature generally available although due to the complexities of the medical arena, this project may face tough sledding.
Trust in reviews has been declining since 2017, but consumers still rely on them to make decisions. Businesses must adapt review strategies and embrace…
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Mar 25, 2022
Featured Snippets & Ranking, Consumer Expectations: Chat vs SMS, Google Product Images in Local Packs
*Most featured snippets come from what would have been organic results 1 through 3. However 20% of featured snippets come from results 6-10 and while featured snippets do not offer the click through rate of a #1 organic result, if you can answer a question query well and jump from a position down the page, it can be a huge SEO win and a quick way to the top of the rankings. *
*Consumers had much higher expectations of chat response than SMS. With live chat, users expect responses within minutes and with SMS there is a much greater latitude. What does this mean for business responses to customers when the number of messages coming from different sources? By switching to asynchronous messaging businesses can gain an advantage in responding to customers that customers might prefer. *
*A hallmark of Google’s competition with Amazon strategy is their integration of local product search with local business search. This development, of showing products and product availability in the 3 pa…
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Mar 18, 2022
Google goes local w/ product search; FTC: HomeAdvisor cheated SMBs; SMBs dislike direct sales model
*Google, in competing with Amazon product search, has taken a local approach with their Shopping tool. While the approach makes sense strategically it isn’t clear whether it is enough to gain the traction in real time local inventory that Google needs to compete with Amazon. *
*In a 3 count complaint, the FTC has accused HomeAdvisor of charging more than promised, delivering crappy leads and making it difficult to get refunds. HomeAdvisor says that they “will fight it vigorously” but the FTC is looking to make an example *
*A recent Breeden survey was asking how businesses prefer to deal with sales people or whether they preferred to do research on their own. Over 70% prefer to start the exploration for software on their own. This attitude is leading to a product led sales model. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 56
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Mar 11, 2022
Google Sued Over GBP Order CTA, Publishers Sue Ad Providers, Yelp’s 2021 Traffic Declines
* Restaurants sue Google for adding Order buttons through 3rd parties to their Business Profile.
In 2019, Google automatically added DoorDash/GrubHub order buttons to the Google Business Profile for thousands of US based restaurants. Now the company is **being sued** over "order online" in federal court, in a potential class action. The plaintiff, Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, accuses Google of creating an "illicit storefront," unauthorized use of restaurant names and IP and deceiving consumers.*
* Publishers argue ad providers are scraping too much content to deliver contextual ads
Newspapers are suing the companies that are providing them with contextual advertising, claiming that these very same companies are scraping more content than authorized and selling ads to national clients that the newspapers want. *
*Yelp’s 2021 showed solid financials but user declines and review acquisition headwinds.
Yelp, after layoffs, changing sales models and rolling out new products, Yelp had a ban…
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Mar 4, 2022
Review reliance up but trust is down; Amazon kills bookstores for Grocery Business, Nextdoor #s
*The consumer review paradox.
More than three-fourths (77%) of consumers now "always" or "regularly" read local business reviews, according to a recent BrightLocal survey. That's up from 60% in 2020. At the same time, more of them (62%) believe they've encountered fake reviews. Where will this lead?*
*Despite surprise, Amazon’s closure of non-grocery businesses indicates they are getting serious. Is Amazon groceries really just an expensive hobby? Or is it the still developing the unique value (logistics & tech) add that Amazon needs to make a dent in the grocery world. *
*Nextdoor has never developed into the alternative local social network & their numbers show it.
After 12 years, there is still only $59m in quarterly revenue. While that represents a significant 47.9% increase, losses are up 100%. Their 36m weekly active users doesn’t bode well for their success as a social alternative or ad platform either. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and C…
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Feb 25, 2022
Yelp Elite reviews for sale; Core Web Vitals: No impact on Local ranking, Google offering SEO training, What will Google be in 10 years?
*Yelp Elite reviews for sale*
*According to a local NBC affiliate **investigation**, brokers are paying a subset of Yelp elites to post fake reviews: "one former Yelp Elite told us he was part of an invitation-only online chat that included a few thousand Yelp Elite members who are paid $25 to $50 per fake review." It would appear that despite Yelp’s claim of better reviews, their is mischief afoot and that Yelp review averages reflect low cost filtering rather than a better review corpus*
*Core Web Vitals: No impact on Local ranking, Google offering SEO training,*
*An interesting and large scale study from Tomas Acuna of whitespark looked at 4500 local listings across 15 verticals and 15 meteor areas to determine that, in fact, Google’s web core vitals have virtually no impact in the local search algo. Is this due to local sites not being well done or does it just reflect the fact that the local algo is so biased towards location and relevance that it just doesn’t have much i…
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Feb 19, 2022
Will Google’s AI make SEO superfluous? Is Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox Real or Performative? What do Wix’s #’s say about how big the SMB market is?
*Segment 1: Will Google’s Increasingly good ability to summarize with AI make SEO superfluous?
Marie Haynes highlighted a new Google Docs feature that summarizes your document using Google’s AI/ML. This ability may provide SEO's with insight into how Google "understands" your page and helps content writes create better copy.
Google’s capabilities in this arena and their ability to “understand” the web May portend a time when SEO will offer less value. *
*Segment 2: Google’s recent Android Privacy Sandbox announcement: Something real or is it just more Google PR?*
*Google’s plan is to create a plan and rollout out a beta for Android privacy in 2 years. They promise to be much more sensitive to social networks’ need to snoop than Apple was. How much of this is really about privacy and how much is about convincing the public and the governments of the world that they “care” about privacy?*
*Segment 3: Wix reported their Q4 & 2021 earnings. What to make of their 12…
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Feb 10, 2022
Google spams Congress w/ SMB emails, Amazon hits $31B in Ad sales, Apple Tap to Pay available soon
*Obviously feeling nervous, Google is intensifying its anti-antitrust campaign, lobbying SMBs to "take action" and automating their emails to their representatives in the House and the Senate. *
*Amazon disclosed the value of its ad business for the first time. The company made $9.7 billion in ad revenue in Q4 and $31.2 billion in 2021. As GeekWire **points out**, "Amazon’s advertising arm is eight times as large as Snapchat’s entire business, and nearly seven times as large as Twitter."*
*Apple, leveraging a purchase that they made in 2020, will be rolling out the ability of more recent iPhones to process credit card payments without any additional hardware. Stripe will integrate the tool for businesses first, including Shopify's Point of Sale app this Spring, and other payment platforms will adopt it later this year*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national b…
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Feb 4, 2022
Meta Takes a Dive, Yelp, Google take review high ground & FTC warns review Platforms
*We discuss the reasons behind Meta’s terrible 4th quarter and stock fall. Was it really Apple’s fault? Will people in the universe buy into their universe?*
*Yelp and Google both try to establish their review narrative with virtue signaling while the FTC sends letter to 10 companies that skirt the review guidelines*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 50
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Jan 28, 2022
GMB PWND by spammer, Google moves toward contextual advertising & The FTC updates review guidelines
*After a brief discussion of Google My Business losing control of their previous FB page, we cover how Google, in formally abandoning their FLOC replacement for cookies. is attempting to implement a new API, Topics, that provides websites with 3 weeks of user interests for targeting advertising. Clearly the world is moving toward contextual advertising and away from behavioral targeting but whether Google can get this effort off the ground is another matter *
*In a high profile case, the FTC fined Fashion Nova for hiding hundreds of thousands of *
*Studies show that gating actually impedes review volume speaking to the benefit of review transparency and doesn’t prevent negative reviews. The new guidelines will not change small business behavior but the review platforms will have to comply with the guidance. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near…
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Jan 21, 2022
Bill to end surveillance ads, SMB use of SAAS tools low & growing, Niantic’s path to the metaverse
*This bill, largely in response to the growing sentiment that large digital companies are spying on every day Americans for profit, is unlikely to pass but is indicative of growing discontent with the impact of current ad tech. It foreshadows the likely move away from personal targeting towards contextual advertising.*
*96% of respondents had implemented new tools in the past year. But the number of tools that businesses were using was small. 60% said they were only using one to three different tools to run their business. Email was preferred communication channel by businesses three to one over texting*
*Niantic is building out a development platform to make AR experiences more widely available while providing a successful sponsorship model within Pokemon Go. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 48
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Jan 14, 2022
Vendasta buys MatchCraft, Business required vax shows path, TLDR bill requires TOS simplification
*Vendasta, which provides an app store for agencies, has acquired PPC pioneer MatchCraft. The acquisition will fill out Vendasta core marketing offerings with paid ad campaigns and allow more traditional media companies to transition more easily from an ad model to a full service digital marketing model. *
D*espite Supreme Court refusal to require businesses to vaccinate their employees, those companies that are requiring vaccination are seeing success despite Omichron. Case in point is United Airlines which has 3000 of their 47,000 employees out with Covid has seen no hospitalizations or deaths since requiring the vaccine. Previously one employee a week was dying from Covid. Airlines though are the perfect business to require vaccinations and doing so will increase those willing to fly. *
*The TLDR Act, which stands for "Terms-of-service Labeling, Design, and Readability Act," would require any website/app – SMBs are explicitly exempted – to offer an easy to understand summary o…
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Jan 7, 2022
NFTs as a funding model? Can Google compete in product search? Distrust of tech companies is high.
*Using a traditional golf course model with an NFT twist, over $10 million was raised in 48 hours. The project got lots of media coverage even though no golf course has yet been purchased or even identified. However this type of activity might point the way towards crowdfunding other start up ventures. *
*Google, by degrading the user experience and being unwilling to get into the nitty gritty of real world retail has lost the battle for high value intent driven product searches. Can they regain this market? What would it take?*
*In this recent Washington Post poll only Amazon garnered trust amongst more than 50% of US consumers. The rest all were trusted by less than half of the population and some significantly less. Yet the numbers indicate that despite this mistrust we continue to use these services and products. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brand…
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Dec 17, 2021
Google rolls out new Local Packs; Yelp Survey: text reviews are best; Local Guides dominate Google reviews
*Last week, Google released a new, more horizontal Local Map Pack with more white space, a bigger, squarer map and bigger images. How will this impact ads and ranking?*
*New Yelp consumer survey indicates that over 90% prefer written reviews over just ratings. This survey is ostensibly aimed at Google and their lower review and rating standards but in some ways might also be targeted to their partner Apple that might be considering dropping Yelp. Interestingly the reviews that Yelp says consumers prefer are not the reviews that they typically highlight. Go figure*
*New research from SOCI that looked at 1.1 million business locations across the US and analyzed 169 million reviews associated with them. The research found that over 60% of all reviews are written by Local Guides and that those reviews tend to be shorter than reviews written by regular users. Is this due to gamification of the fact that non Local Guide reviewers are the more emotional reviewers?*
The Near Memo is a weekl…
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Dec 11, 2021
A deep dive into the Local Search Ranking Factors with Darren Shaw
In this interview with Darren Shaw we take a deep dive into the Local Search Ranking Factors. We look at the key take aways, the strengths and weaknesses of the survey and areas that Local SEO’s should focus on.
*In this interview with Darren Shaw we take a deep dive look at the results of the recently released Local Search Ranking Factor survey and explore the key takeaways to good ranking and conversions. We discuss: *
* *what a citation means in 2021 *
* *the growing impact of images on local search*
* *the top myths of local search and *
* *the things that Darren (and most of us) think are a waste of time.*
*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Ep 44 Near Memo*
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Dec 3, 2021
Apple Maps goes from goat to great, Twitter needs new model, Fired Xooglers sue over Don’t be evil
*After the release of iOS 15 it has become clear that Apple is not just a wannabe in the mapping space. As they move towards AR, Maps has become a discovery platform and a fully functional travel tool. Mike, attempting to eat his own dog food, takes it on his cross country journey as his sole mapping and discovery tool. *
*Twitter, despite its outsized role in our news focused culture, has long underperformed financially. Whether Dorsey left willingly or was forced out, there is an opportunity to redefine how it can survive and thrive. Is that a subscription or is a better API model?*
*Greg Sterling highlights how the maturation of Google has led to inevitable ethical conflicts. Is this unique to Google or part and parcel of a larger pattern? Is it an inevitable outcome as the fair haired offspring of *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep…
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Nov 19, 2021
Uberall consumer survey: 50% of search is local, Apple Maps pushes business discovery & AR forward
*In this recent Uberal study conducted by Greg Sterling consumers confirm the importance of local search with over 50% of their searches being local and that they trust local businesses more than they do internet only brands. *
*Apple, with their consistent and regular builds for Apple Maps has increasingly included new features on Maps to both aid business discovery and to provide a transaction layer that is fast and easy for the consumer. Apple Maps has increasingly become an important source for new customers and these developments are likely to continue as Maps takes its place in the real world. *
*Apple’s long term development of Apple Maps when viewed together with the many other cross product developments point to an Apple AR future which looks quite different than Facebook’s metaverse. In that future it is likely that local businesses will have increasing opportunities for consumer discovery as Maps will likely play a critical role in *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversa…
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Nov 13, 2021
Vista rebrand elegance, Opportunities for new search engines, Google expands SMB propaganda campaign
VistaPrint in creating its new brand, Vista showed how to elegantly rebrand a legacy company that has become digital. It created a new umbrella brand for its many acquisitions and space for future brand building. Vista is another company that demonstrates the possibilities in the very small business market.
With some notable funding You.com released its new search engine. Can any of these new search engines make progress against Google? Why are so many coming to the fore now? What exactly is the future of search? Is privacy enough of a differentiator?
Google has pulled out all the stops in its propaganda crusade to convince small business owners that SMB interests in fighting possible Google ant-trust regulation align with Google’s… in doing so Google has expanded their campaign from Google My Business to now include Adwords clients and domain registrants. Is Google running scared?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it m…
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Nov 6, 2021
Google My Business Rebrand - Is it a chance to fix GMB or an opportunity to nuke part of the stack?
*This week we discuss but one topic, the rebranding of the Google My Business tools to the Business Profile. With enhanced in-search and in Maps editing, Google is trying (once again) to lure small businesses to edit their listings via new features. The GMB API will become the Business Profile API and they claim that the GMB dashboard will become the Business Profile Dashboard in 2022. But they also announced the sunsetting of their GMB app. Join us this week as David and Mike bet on the outcome. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 40
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Oct 30, 2021
Amazon local BOPIS, Impact of images in Google Local search, Google Local driving the most leads
*Largely uncovered in the news, Amazon has announced a new program, Local Selling, that allows local merchants selling on Amazon to apply for the ability to take an order on Amazon and deliver curbside from their location or to deliver via their own delivery process. Clearly this is a response to Google’s successful push of Product Merchant center into local and might lead to additional local relationships for Amazon. *
*Google is understanding more and more about the content of images using their Cloud Vision AI and this understanding of entities, labels, logos, sentiment and text is being leveraged to use images to answer searcher intent in ads, local and the mobile web results. This is part of a long arc where Google will now start using images to not just answer queries but to ask them as well using their new MUM AI/ML and is likely part of their AR future. *
* Google Local has been “stealing” local conversions for years. Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky recently reported that G…
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Oct 22, 2021
FTC: mobile ISPs abuse privacy, Snap blames Apple for shortfall, Performance ads an analytics scam?
The consolidation of internet, cable, voice, content, distribution, smart devices, advertising, and analytics exemplified by these large vertically-integrated ISPs—which represent approximately 98.8% of the mobile internet market—has increased the volume of information they are capable of collecting about consumers, improved their insight into consumers’ behaviors, and strengthened the persistence of identifiers capable of tracking users across platforms and assets.
Snap blamed Apple for their shorfall this quarter but the real question is whether that is reality or just part of the “privacy theater”?
In 2020, AirBnB cut $542 million of performance advertising spend and saw no measurable falloff in attributable sales. They continued this ad-slashing practice in 2021, with similarly eye-popping numbers. Could it be that all those ads did nothing?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications f…
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Oct 15, 2021
FTC lays groundwork for review fines; Amazon creates a stealth offline catalog; Google Lens surfacing Local Packs with product shots
*The FTC sent out a letter to many of America’s largest businesses (Apple, Alphabet, Comcast, Yelp among others) detailing unlawful practices relating to the use of endorsements and testimonials. At first glance it might seem like these companies are doing something wrong, and possibly, some are. But for the most part the FTC, still smarting from their failure to extract fines in the Sunday Riley case, is making sure that they will in fact be able to extract fines if any of these companies violate the testimonial guidelines.*
*Several of us received a folksy looking toy catalog in the mail the other day. Upon closer inspection it was from Amazon. This heavily curated catalog was appealing to the eye but a surprise that it was so lightly branded. Catalogs are expensive to produce, print and mail but it also provides consumers with a handy guide to the best Christmas toys without having to navigate through Amazon’s search engine. Each page contained a QR code that took the buyer dir…
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Oct 8, 2021
Squarespace’s “Everything to Sell Anything,” Google vs. Lowe, and Has the Local Pack Outlived Its Usefulness?
Squarespace’s “Everything to Sell Anything,” Google vs. Lowe, and Has the Local Pack Outlived Its Usefulness?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 36
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Oct 1, 2021
Google Enhances Lens for Image Based Commerce, Yelp Goes Front of House SAAS for Restaurants, Amazon and Facebook stymied by new consumer attitudes toward privacy
*Google Lens was first introduced at Google I/O in 2017 and it has become a showcase for Google’s image recognition. Now when paired with MUM, Google’s new language processing, Lens is being enhanced with commerce capability to provide more than just a simple “this is that” answer to uploaded images. One more benchmark as search becomes ever more visual. *
*Yelp is making a strategic pivot from an ad seller to a SAAS company. This is a pivot that is critical for them but will they be trusted in a crowded SMB marketplace?*
*Consumers and the presse, while not wanting to give up the comforts offered by Amazon or Facebook, seem to be increasingly skeptical of new hardware from either firm. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 35
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Sep 24, 2021
Can new retail formats save traditional stores? How many real customers does Wix have? Will we see opt-in privacy options and what does it mean for marketers?
*wix claims to have 210 million users. Since there are only 125 million businesses worldwide and about 30 million in the US, this number is suspect. But when you explore their paying users and their $1.1 B income, it works out to the $175 per user per year. A very reasonable amount given their SMB focus and with lots of opportunities for upselling. *
*The recent past has been unkind to mall based department stores. Bloomies has moved to the street AND gone much smaller, higher tech and customer focused with a test store that heavily curates style trends and provides “stylists” that can actually help you find the right clothing. All in all an interesting retail experience and experiment. *
*What are the implications if something like this were to pass? It could be a cluster-f*** or it could actually provide user agency depending on how it's implemented. We don’t really need more “click seventeen times and still not be sure what you just agreed to websites”. *
The Near Memo…
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Sep 17, 2021
Shopify benchmarks SMB CAC; Reviews tell the story of Walmarts inventory woes; Twitter & WhatsApp now offering local business pages
*With ever increasing ad costs SMBs need to understand customer acquisition costs and lifetime values whether you are a SAAS company or not. This survey of small e-commerce and small business firms shows they spent approximately $9K on average on marketing annually. Average CAC was just under $60. *
*Reviews can provide an independent look at management issues and consumer trends at large multi-location chains. This 'proof of concept' approach explores Walmart's inventory woes through the lens of local store reviews.*
*Twitter via their Professional Profiles is offering location based businesses a GMB like page. And it turns out, so is WhatsApp. WhatsApp is likely to add commerce and transactional capabilities and our read is that, particularly internationally, is likely to succeed. Twitter, with a long history of failed features beyond the basics, on the other hand is likely not to. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it m…
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Sep 10, 2021
B2B sales have changed forever with self serve playing an ever larger role. Why is leading digital wallet Apple Pay uptake still so low? Will Facebook’s SmartGlasses make it out of the gate?
*32% of B2B buyers were willing to spend between $50,000 and up to $500,000 without actually talking to a salesperson. 35% of businesses prefer self service as opposed to talking to either a remote sales person or a field sales person.
6% of iPhone users have opted into apple pay and use it regularly. And this compares to 5% in 2015. Apple’s digital wallet use grew only 20% growth over the past six years. And that is in a year when it should have grown significantly. Although that 6% of Apple users spent $90 billion.*
*Facebook has partnered with Ray Ban to create an always on smart glass that can stream video to all of the major social networks. Is this foray into wearable technology just a Snap me too product or can it help the untrusted Facebook gain a foothold in this new hardware category?*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 32
Su…
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Sep 4, 2021
MailChimp priced at $10b for Intuit proves value of SMB SAAS, 1-800-Contacts sues Warby Parker over trade name use in Adwords, Will Yahoo have a new life after Verizon sale?
-* Rumors of Intuit buying MailChimp for $10 Billion validate SMB / Agency strategy*
*With an EBITDA of $300,000 million, MailChimp is apparently going to be sold for an eye popping $10 Billion. With a product forward approach they have built a great product for small business audiences and agencies. While it is a great compliment to Intuit’s other small business products, can Intuit leverage this successful brand or will they fail as they have in other acquisitions?*
- *Will 1-800-Contacts suing Warby Parker over trade name use in Adwords upend the rules?*
*1-800 Contacts takes a very aggressive stance claiming that Warby Parker Adwords ads infringed on its trademarks and deceived customers.They allege that Warby Parker bought advertisements tied to Google and other searches of the 1-800 Contacts brand, ads which route consumers to a page on Warby Parker's website that, according to the plaintiff, "mimics key elements of the 1-800 Contacts website." *
*Will the rules around adve…
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Sep 3, 2021
Biden encourages all departments to go all in on increasing competition, Will Craiglist decline create opportunity for NextDoor?, Will public notification of facial recognition deter shoppers?
An unusually assertive Biden who noted that this 40-year “experiment” has failed. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism,” he proclaimed at the signing of the executive order. “It’s exploitation.” It remains to be seen if real changes will occur but this is the first time in recent memory that a President has made it clear that the whole of the executive branch is responsible for increasing competitiveness.
Craigslist has seen a decline of almost 50% over the past 3 years with much of that loss going to Facebook Marketplaces. Can Nextdoor take advantage of this?
NYC has recently passed a law requiring that businesses post notice of any biometric tracking taking place and prevent them from selling that data. Will this increased awareness of the increasing use of Facial recognition technology change consumer behaviors or will it require additional intervention to allow them to prevent this>
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Comm…
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Aug 27, 2021
Walmart to make deliveries for SMBs, The SMB social media disconnect, Thinking about Apple reviews
*Walmart is doing something that would have been unthinkable in a pre-Amazon world: offering its delivery infrastructure to other retailers. Announced earlier this week, the last-mile delivery service is called **GoLocal**. It's being provided on a white-labeled basis to any retailer regardless of size. *
*The SMB social media disconnect: what SMBs THINK consumers want is not what they want*
*New **data from Constant Contact** suggests social is less efficient than SMBs think. The report says, "almost half of small businesses feel social media is the most effective channel for driving business results." Yet consumers are more likely to buy something after receiving an email or text from a business.*
*With recent roll out of Apple Map reviews, how should a business or agency be thinking about them?*
*Apple iPhones represent a well heeled clientele and send a lot of traffic to SMBS. Just how much of that represents users discovering your business is hard to determine but Apple is cle…
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Aug 21, 2021
FTC takes big swing at FB, Survey: What SMBs really need, Can a Local food delivery co-op compete?
* Agency’s amended complaint details how the monopolist survived existential threats by illegally acquiring innovative competitors and burying successful app developers. But will the agency be able to 1)prove that Facebook is in fact a monopoly and 2) can they overcome the fact that the FTC previously approved the buyouts?*
*CallRail surveyed 600 US-based businesses across various industries and the news is good for agencies although tell a tale of marketing difficulties for SMBs with only 49% having a dedicated website *
*In this exclusive Near Media interview, Miriam Ellis details how the co-op model can help build sustainable restaurant delivery that's better for restaurants and local communities.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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Aug 13, 2021
Google devastates local food delivery, The boom in pet adoption leaves Vets overwhelmed, Amazon sellers paying to delete negative reviews
Google, when testing new features in the chase to improve user’s experience, often pick large partners for the test period. Effectively they pick a “winner”, that, if the test succeeds, has an early mover advantage in local. often this is to the disadvantage of existing, smaller local players. That is what happened with delivery services being included in the Local Business Profile.
In their local newsletter local vet created a great piece of content and sympathy from vet owners. They told the story of how as Covid left many people working from home the rate of pet adoptions accelerated but the increase in pets led to a vet shortage and significant vet burnout.
The pressures to rak higher at Amazon has led merchants to follow up with customers directly with an offer to pay for a negative review take down. When that fails they move on to harassment.
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for…
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Aug 6, 2021
Yelp’s Positive Q2 Reports, When do SMBs Hire Key Roles & How to Create Content When AI Writes Well
*Yelp, in a turnaround from a disastrous 2020, even managed to surpass 2019 number by about 15% by targeting enterprise customers and seeing more self-serve success and success outside of the restaurant vertical. *
*Bredin surveyed over 800 SMBs on how they learn about product and services for their businesses,The biggest takeaway: Roles one would expect to be common – such as a head of sales, marketing or HR – are not that prevalent; and those SMBs that do fill these positions fill them later in their development than one might expect.
AI writing tools mean that the marginal cost of a blog post is nosediving from multiple skilled person-hours to minutes spent in a freemium SaaS product. Any company with a modest budget and a functioning internet connection will be able to pump out truly mind-numbing volumes of content. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and nation…
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Jul 30, 2021
FB profits on way to metaverse, Apple & SnapChat up their SMB Maps play & Privacy seems less likely
*Due largely to ad price increases, Facebook’s profits soared as the economy picked up. But wait, Mark Zuckerberg notes that in 5 years they will be known as the metaverse company rather than a social network. *
*Apple, slowly, very slowly, is attempting to build out their own SMB database to improve their Map experience. *
*Consumers say that they trust Facebook and Google less but their actions indicate otherwise. And nowhere are we seeing companies making privacy choices as clear and as easy as they need to be. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 26
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Jul 23, 2021
Google makes reviewing easy by adding attributes to restaurant reviews, Fake reviews are costly to SMBS but Google seems incapable of squashing them, Square’s new bank is a threat to traditional SMB banking relationships
*Google makes reviewing easy by adding attributes to restaurant reviews, Fake reviews are costly to SMBS but Google seems incapable of squashing them, Square’s new bank is a threat to traditional SMB banking relationships*
*Google makes reviewing easy by adding attributes to restaurant reviews.
Google, unlike Yelp, is making reviewing easier and quicker for users by adding quick standardized choices to restaurant reviews. Google, already having rolled out similar review attributes in the service industries, says additional industries and categories to come soon. *
*Fake reviews are costly to SMBS but Google seems incapable of fixing it.
In the world of B2B sales, a great deal of money changes hands and the role of reputation is critical. All too often businesses rely on Google’s review summary to spend thousands of dollars. In this case the results were disastrous and it makes it clear that Google has not really worked hard enough in this area*
*Square’s new bank is a threat t…
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Jul 16, 2021
Biden encourages all departments to go all in on increasing competition, Will Craiglist decline create opportunity for NextDoor?, Will public notification of facial recognition deter shoppers?
*An unusually assertive Biden who noted that this 40-year “experiment” has failed. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism,” he proclaimed at the signing of the executive order. “It’s exploitation.” It remains to be seen if real changes will occur but this is the first time in recent memory that a President has made it clear that the whole of the executive branch is responsible for increasing competitiveness. *
*Craigslist has seen a decline of almost 50% over the past 3 years with much of that loss going to Facebook Marketplaces. Can Nextdoor take advantage of this?*
* NYC has recently passed a law requiring that businesses post notice of any biometric tracking taking place and prevent them from selling that data. Will this increased awareness of the increasing use of Facial recognition technology change consumer behaviors or will it require additional intervention to allow them to prevent this.
*The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social,…
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Jul 9, 2021
Google Play store antitrust suit futile?, Good Local content makes the difference, Yext
*Given the powerful standing of the leading apps, it is unlikely that, even if the app stores are more regulated, whether there will be a more competitive environment. And any anti-trust efforts focusing on competitive harms will go up against 40 years of jurisprudence that has only looked at consumer harms. *
*The Google updates favors better content for Local too! Sterling Sky did an interesting case study in the legal space of a client that seems to have dramatically benefited from the recent algo updates. Why? Because they had spent time pruning bad content and improving the good. *
* Yext Search Data Hub provides interesting GMB Insights Data across 600,000 listings
Yext has created a visual interface to 3 years of GMB Insights data that can be searched by country or vertical. With this tool you can track our nascent recovery via the recent rise in driving direction as well as see which industries are still getting more website visits or phone calls. *
The Near Memo is a weekly…
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Jul 2, 2021
FB Bulletin = newsletter + social, Shopify creates Ad Network, Supreme Court Ruling re-opens scraping question
*Facebook’s new Bulletin product integrates tightly into Facebook groups, their newsfeed and comments. It is well a designed and a thoughtful newsletter implementation that could bring significant social benefits to newsletter publishers and new advertisers and news content to Facebook. *
*From Localogy: “Shopify is planning to roll out an ad product called Shopify Audiences. The program will evidently position the company’s sizable corpus of shopping data to better inform and target advertisers’ campaigns on Facebook and Google.”*
*In June, the Supreme court defined terms in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As a result, they vacated a previous 9th Court Decision allowing scraping of publicly available information. This gives Microsoft‘s LinkedIn another chance to stop HiQ’s scraping of the public data on their site. A possible outcome? Upending of the whole of the Martech world. *
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happene…
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Jun 25, 2021
FLoC is flailing, Privacy Success of DuckDuckGo, Businesses need employee vaccination policies
*Why has Google, so shortly after announcing FLoC, already pulling back?Google’s delay of FLoC is signaling both the confusion and fear in the market and lack of acceptance amongst the leading platforms.
The successes of DuckDuckGo as the Avis of search engines indicates the customer demand for privacy
DuckDuckGo has become the number two mobile search engine in the world and is increasingly profitable. This is no small feat given the competition, what is going on?
As economy opens up, businesses need clearly communicated vaccination policy to not lose customers
With states starting to open up, how do businesses navigate the new masked, not masked reality vis a vis their employees and customers without losing customers?*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Near Memo Ep 21
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Jun 18, 2021
The local arc from inventory to ordering to monopoly and consolidation
*The local arc from inventory to ordering to monopoly and consolidation*
* Google makes it easier to upload products & services and give Pointy away for free...Google Local announced this week the ability of merchants to more easily add products, services and appointments to the Local graph. As part of this effort, they are giving away Pointy, POS hardware that automatically creates on-line inventory. It’s part of Google’s ever increasingly more granule knowledge graph
Google Local Food Order is so easy it's magical & shows exactly where Google & Local search is going.....Google’s web based restaurant order entry system knows so much about you, your location, credit card details, the restaurants nearby and exactly what their menu items are, that they can create an incredibly fluid ordering experience. They so while avoiding the need for an app, for an explicit delivery company relationship or a payment processor making the whole process totally painless.
Anti-trust and local c…
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Jun 11, 2021
Apple killed email? Google’s crazy Local business names; In person conferences are wonderful & weird
*Whenever Apple announces a new consumer focused privacy update, the pundits become Chicken Little. E-mail has long provided the best ROI of any marketing channel and while metrics might be harder to garner, that won’t stop a great email from succeeding. *
*Google seems to have stopped enforcing naming abuse by businesses in Google Maps. And they have now increased the field length to 300 characters. What happens when greedy businesses meet an obtuse Google? Mayhem.*
*People seemed genuinely glad to be there and see one another. The content seemed entirely secondary to the networking and social events, which people enjoyed with gusto. Masks were **mostly **worn** **inside but not at all outside and not at the social events -- where people were close talking, fueled by abundant wine. It all felt disorienting and normal at the same time.*
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesse…
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Jun 4, 2021
Fake Review Solutions, Google’s Grand Vision for Search, How a Local Bookstore Fought Amazon & Won
*The Washington Post details the travails of a couple seeking treatment and the problems that befell them after they picked a provider based on what turned out to be fake reviews. The article looks at the lack of incentives to do reviews right and the lack of disincentives to not cheat. The article discussed how Section 230 creates an environment where review companies can “look the other way”.
Google’s recent announcements about advanced in AI, for understanding the written word, creating new original text and their increasing ability to understand the content of images puts line under their recent paper **Rethinking Search: Making Experts out of Dilettantes ** where Google details new architectures to over come the limits of index driven search and the inability of the Knowledge Graph to do no more than extract small snippets. Essentially they are proposing a new model based system that could write the equivalent of a Wikipedia article in response to a query.
Guest author Mir…
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May 29, 2021
Confession of a Local Guide, Google’s push for privacy, SMB Platforms for marketing & ops automation
Mike discusses his journey down the gamified rabbithole of the wildly successful Google Local Guides program, how the program promotes quantity over quality and why every business needs to not let their brand be controlled by the likes of the Local Guides.
SMBS have traditionally relied on best of breed SAAS point solutions to solve their pre-sale, in house and post-sale needs. Now the major SMB platforms are now converging on high quality capabilities across all three areas PLUS integrating with the likes of Google. This allows the SMB to use one piece of software and achieve the gains of automation across the whole of their search, operations and customer experience needs.
Google held its annual Google Marketing Live event this week. There were many ads related announcements involving automation, simplification and reach. Google's "open" commerce strategy is aimed squarely at Amazon, utilizing Google's various properties for product visibility. Throughout Google was constantly (an…
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May 21, 2021
Are Yelp’s problems self-inflicted?; Google I/O AI & Local Shopping; Google going into Retail, really?
Hospitality Case Study of Reviews: What Happened to Yelp?
Looking at 20 years of reviews for a popular Santa Fe resort, we examine how Yelp faired against the likes of TripAdvisor, Facebook, Google and OpenTable. The analysis shows, that at least in this segment, Yelp’s problems were largely self-inflicted not caused by a Google abuse of their monopoly.
Google I/O: they flex their AI muscles and move further into local products with the Shopping Graph
Google used I/O to position themselves as the AI powerhouse, using AI for everything from engaging in human like conversations to identifying the specific model of sneaker in your photo of the band on stage. Once they have identified the sneaker, they will parse it via their newly anointed Shopping Graph and not only offer to let you buy them but tell you where they are locally available for curbside pickup. They have found their play against Amazon and its impressive.
Google to try out retail at their NYC HQ. Can they succeed IRL?…
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May 14, 2021
Shopify makes the case for local ecommerce, Why do consumers desire to buy local but still buy at Amazon?; How did Google win the review wars vs Yelp?
Part 1 Shopify makes the case for local ecommerce
A report with a soup-to-nuts discussion of shopping and commerce trends, including online vs. offline, social commerce, retail experiences, payments and banking services. One interesting finding: retailers with local pickup/delivery options saw 13% - 19% higher online conversions. Apparently the Japanese are the least likely to support shopping locally
Why do consumers desire to buy local but still buy at Amazon?
Most consumers say and often feel that they want to support local businesses. Yet their actions often belie that feeling as many continue, whether due to convenience or inertia, continue to spend with national chains and e-commerce
How did Google win the review wars vs Yelp?
Rand Fishkin notes that he things it is due to Google's abuse of their monopoly status. We argue that it is much more complicated than that with various market forces, consumer desires and legal standards playing a roll in addition to whatever Google m…
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May 7, 2021
Apple Tracking Opt-in Only 4%, Shopify focuses on helping SMB be better, Facebooks Neighborhood, a NextDoor clone, is likely to be like Nextdoor but worse
Apple Tracking Opt-in at 4% in US, lower than anticipated, Shopify focuses on helping SMB be better and retain customer relationships, Facebooks Neighborhood, a NextDoor clone, is likely to be like Nextdoor but worse because of poor moeration
As the Apple 3rd party opt in rolls out, opt in numbers are lower than anticipated. THis points ot the consumers desire for more privacy and why government should up their privacy game
Unlike Facebook and Google who aggregate consumers to gain levarge over businesses, Shopify focuses soley on the SMB and helps them not just to build a better ecommerce experience but also with things like capital. They have become the second biggest e-commerce site behind Amaaon.
Facebook once again knocks off another marketplace product that might just might create a referral opportunity for SMBS IF they can keep the communities from going down the rabbitt whole of unmoderated mayhem.
Episode 14
With David Mihm, Greg Sterling & Mike Blumenthal
Subscribe to ou…
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Apr 30, 2021
Is Apple being paternalistic to not allow advertisers to provide ATT incentives? Can Yelp make their way with transactions? Amazon, amazing profits, amazing (& ruthless) efficiencies
Is Apple being paternalistic or ethical in not allowing advertisiers to provide incentives for Apple users to opt into advertising tracking? Should privacy be commoditized?
Can Yelp make their way back by moving to transactional approach to local? After alienating most SMBS in the country and seeing ever increasing declines in readership David doesn't think that Yelp moving to a transactional model will save them.
Amazaon, amazing profits, amazing (& ruthless) efficienies. In Amazon's efficiencies and ruthlessness we see all of the contradictions of American commerce. Includes a cartoon that sums it all up.
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
NM#13
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Apr 23, 2021
Zagat reviews, but shorter & more visual, rise from the Google ashes; The FTC ability to levy fines as a deterrent is knee capped by SCOTUS; Apple privacy changes AND review capability coming this week.
Episode 12:
Zagat reviews, but shorter and graphic appealing, rise from the Google ashes; The FTC ability to levy fines as a deterrent is knee capped by SCOTUS; Apple privacy changes AND review capability coming this week.
Zagat, bought by Google in 2011 for their 30 point system, then discarded by Google is re-entering the food reviews market with more image heavy, briefer review and a 10 pt scale. Can they succeed again?
The FTC, after looking like they were going to get tough on fake reviews, has had their main enforcement hammer, $ fines, taken away by the Supreme Court in a 9 - 0 decision. They are already before congress requesting reinstatement of the ability to fine offenders.
Will Apple's reviews have a market impact? Will their preference for curation allow them to keep their reviews trustworthy? Will Google EVER get their local review moderation act together?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the…
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Apr 16, 2021
Episode 11: FB Survey: increased SMB e-commerce & struggles, What will consumers do when the economy opens? SubStack creates program to develop local news
FB SMB Survey showed 22% of SMBS adopted e-commerce over the past year, women led businesses were more agile in the adoption of digital technology, but impact of the pandemic hurt minority and women the most.
Near Media survey detailed the list of activities that American's had planned once they felt safe & economy opened. The top two (by a large margin) were travel and eating out.
SubStack offers a competitive award to incent creators of local news. Applications will be vetted by a panel, winners will get cash & access to mentors, design and health insurance. Will it work?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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Apr 9, 2021
Episode 10: SWYFT Opens New Avenues for SMBs to compete with Prime, Is the FTC getting serious about review enforcement, So long Yahoo Answers, will anyone get this product category right?
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
With Swyft providing last mile same day delivery will we see small businesses being able to offer their Prime like subscriptions? - David
The new FTC rule-making changes are signaling that the FTC will use their authority to deter and punish for fake reviews and testimonials. - Mike
Why did Yahoo Answers fail and what will it take to have a great answer system? Do Google's Local Guides show a path? - Greg
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Apr 2, 2021
Episode 9: Website Builder SquareSpace acquires restaurant backend restaurant system Tock; Google My Business shoots themselves in the Messaging foot; GroundTruth stays true to the SMB and acquires display advertising platform, Addy
Website Builder SquareSpace acquires restaurant backend system Tock; will other website builders need to acquire more backend functionality? Will Web 3.0 be about business services? - Mike blumenthal
Google My Business, historically tone deaf when it comes to small business, shoots themselves in the Messaging foot by showing competitors when a consumer attempts to message a specific business. Will small business adopt this critical messaging product if it highlights their competitors? - David Mihm
GroundTruth is betting heavily on the SMB market. Yesterday it announced the acquisition of Addy, which simplifies display advertising across media channels. But is it too complicated for the SMB? - Greg Sterling
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Mar 27, 2021
Episode 8: Google fights with Rand Fishkin over “zero-click” searches. Can a rating only review ever be defamatory? Will Yahoo’s brand rise from the ashes as a Verizon subscription service? Written by Near Media Filed under Conversations
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Episode 8: Google fights with Rand Fishkin over “zero-click” searches. Can a rating only review ever be defamatory? Will Yahoo’s brand rise from the ashes as a Verizon subscription service?
Written by Near Media
Filed under Conversations
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Mar 19, 2021
Episode 7:The impact of a year of covid ⁃Surveys indicate the vast majority of consumers favor rigorous mask enforcement by businesses ⁃Online commerce is becoming table stakes for small local businesses ⁃The trends in advertising and privacy fa
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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Mar 12, 2021
Episode 6: How the advertising duopoly has created alternative income models, Tock, the restaurant friendly delivery model, Deconstructing Google’s recent post about Local Guides and Photo Updates
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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Mar 4, 2021
Episode 5: Google’s privacy first stance benefits ...Google, What is the reality of the public’s trust in Google, How Volvo going direct portends radical shifts for car dealers
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Feb 26, 2021
Episode 4: Facebook Hides Behind SMBs, Hey's New Newsletter Product, and Wal-mart Innovates with Video
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Feb 19, 2021
Episode 3: Australia vs. Facebook, Ghost Kitchens, and Microtargeted Ads
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Feb 12, 2021
Episode 2: GMB Messaging, Local Commerce at Google, Privacy
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about search, social, and commerce: what happened, why it matters and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Discussed this week:
-Google’s integration of Business profile messaging into the Google My Business for the desktop and the implications for SMBs and enterprise brands
-Google’s test for displaying local e-commerce sites and what it says about Google’s ambitions in their competition with Amazon
-Apple’s privacy initiative, how it will affectect consumer behaviors and how consumers often say they want privacy but have done to little to gain it.
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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Feb 6, 2021
Episode 1: Amazon's PR Stunt, Newsletters, and Clubhouse
The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about search, social and commerce: what happened, why it matters and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/
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