A few weeks ago, DTC was selected as a “Favorite Place” on Google. Based on information gathered from user behavior and local listings, this means that we have been selected among the Top 10% of businesses, calculated by the popularity of our local business listing.

Google informed us of our status with the following letter:

Dear Business Owner,

Congratulations! You’re a favorite Place on Google. Between July 1 and September 30. Google users found your Digital Third Coast Internet Marketing business listing xxxx times, and requested driving directions or other information about your business xxxx times. Read More

My fellow rich and famous, the wait is over! For years Google has kept us all down by only allowing public transportation options in Google Maps. Take a bus? You’ve got to be kidding me! Subway? Isn’t that a restaurant? What about the dozens of us hard working Americans that have access to a private helicopter? Aren’t we people, too?

In between sips of champagne from this diamond encrusted glass, Read More

There’s been a lot of chatter about Google’s latest augmentation of their local map results. Earlier this year, there were many additions of map results to local search queries (explicit or implied). Then Google announced new Local Listing Ads that would show above the natural map results – currently a regional trail only in San Francisco and San Diego. Most recently, we’ve seen a change to local map results in every region – a reduction in the number of local results from 10 to 7. In this reduction Google also made an addition – they took away 3 “natural” maps listings while adding 4 paid listings above.

There are a few interesting things happening here: Read More

Looking at some local search queries this morning, it appears as though Google is testing a new 7-pack of results as opposed to the 10-pack we have all gotten used to.

Here is a screenshot of the new layout:

The results are still in the same order as yesterday for the searches that I performed, just missing the last 3 on the list. For those businesses rounding out spots H, I and J this is definitely a big blow in larger markets, but a great reason to work that much harder to improve visibility!

Will this move from 10 to 7 listings create a more authoritative appeal to searchers?

For businesses that have taken the steps to sign up with Google’s Local Business Center, Google has a new offering available – Local Listing Ads. Unfortunately it is only currently available in San Diego and San Francisco as a trial! While they are not intended to compete with AdWords in any way, I can see there being some overlaps in the positions used to display ads, as well as by the businesses who choose one platform over the other. It all seems very easy to set up and a good value add to customers that are taking advantage of Google Local already (even more value add to those that aren’t!). Ads are displayed based on the following:

• Business location
• Search categories
• Where the user is performing their search


Here is a video explaining the program: Read More

Obtaining a listing that shows up in the prominent Google one-box or local 10-pack is becoming increasingly important for any business looking to compete in a local marketplace. Where the print Yellow Pages used to dominate the local advertising dollars, the big 3 search engines, local and national vertical directories and IYP’s are on the rise, full steam ahead.

When Google one-boxes first started popping up years ago, it was few and far between for most local based searches without a great set of tools to further improve the visibility and rankings short of adding keywords to your business name. Read More

Are you trying to get your site to come up or rank higher in the Google “one box”? The “one box” is the Google local listing that comes up with a map and 10 local listings on the right side of the map when you do a search that has a local intent such as “Chicago Locksmith”. One of the best things you can do to improve your Google Local ranking is increase the amount of websites mentioning your company name and address. Google indexes these mentions on other websites and sees these mentions as “citations”.  I know what you’re thinking…what exactly are “citations” and how do I get more of  them?

Read More

Earlier this week Google updated their Local Business Center. Now included is some analytics data including how many impressions (how often your listing was shown), actions (driving directions to your business, clicks to your website, etc.) and which search queries triggered your local business listing.

If you don’t already have a local business listing, you can add one here – www.google.com/local/add.

One of the most important things a local business can do is to create a locally visible presence. 20 years ago a billboard may have seemed like the best option. Perhaps a 30 second spot on local television, or maybe a newspaper ad. Not having a Yellow Pages was small business suicide as it was the only place that people would actively look for what your small business had to offer. Today more and more people are jumping online to actively find local businesses.

It’s said that as much as 40% of all online searches have a local intent, with a said whopping 80% of commercial searches having local intent. This makes sense. If I search for “pet store”, I almost assuredly am looking for one in Chicago, where I live, and not in Florida. It’s not the most refined search, but these generic searches certainly occur with regularity. Read More