SearchInfluence

Earlier this month, Google started slowly rolling out the new Google Places For Business Dashboard which includes an updated interface, deeper integration with Plus, and a promise of faster updates. The dashboard is now available to all new users in the U.S. To help better understand the new features, we have compiled a great list of resources on this much-needed updated.

From Google:

• Improving the look and feel of Google Places for Business – Google – Qasar Younis

• More details about the improved look and feel of Google Places for Business – Google – Joel Headley

Around here we get new clients everyday.  Among these, there is always one who comes to us with a website built and hosted by a proprietary CMS (content management system) developer instead of being an independently owned and maintained website.

Now, proprietary systems can be great and have some very real benefits.  We absolutely see those benefits for the business owner.  And we also see some of the challenges that may be things the business owner’s thinks about.

Recently, Pinterest launched its Web Analytics, allowing for businesses with verified accounts to track how many users are pinning from their site, the number of impressions from each pin, and incoming site traffic that is being generated directly from Pinterest.

Outside of SEO and social media campaigns, many may argue that there is no way to successfully tracking branding and traditional advertising efforts.  Pinterest will argue this as this data now allows businesses to successfully track how users are interacting with their pins, products, and most importantly – how they are most likely to convert.

For those of you who don’t know, before Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf South, New Orleans was on a steady rate of decline. However, the city we love to call home here at Search Influence is in the middle of a major renaissance. News sources across the nation have reported New Orleans is the fastest growing city in America.

• Population in April 2010: 343,829
• Population in July of 2011: 360,740
• Change in population: 4.9 percent (national average 0.73%)
• Unemployment rate May 2012: 7.2%
• Unemployment rate December 2012: 6.8 % (national average 7.8%)

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Facebook announced a new look to their News Feed yesterday, which aims to streamline its appearance and cut down on irrelevant stories. In fact, the tagline on their announcement reads “Goodbye Clutter… Hello bright, beautiful stories.” The new version will focus on images, and they will appear much larger and richer than they had previously. To many reviewers, the updated feed looks like a cross between Google+ and the Facebook Mobile app. For the first time, the platform will look virtually the same across different devices. This leaves just one big question for both Facebook users and brands… Where will the ads go?

Photo sharing service Instagram announced the release of brand new web profiles for all users last week, some two years after the launch of its iOS app. Although this is big news for your average Instagrammer, the addition is also a major breakthrough for businesses who use the app for photo editing and social sharing. The new web profiles have already begun launching, and the majority of Instagram users can expect a new profile featuring their photos within the coming week.

Are we not men?

The new kid on the block has opened itself to businesses in two principal ways. Unlike Facebook, which focuses on admin-managed pages, and Twitter, which couldn’t care less if a person, place, or animal is represented in a feed, Google initially maintained its focus on people in its business-level implementation of its social network, not announcing any kind of branded pages. Then Monday’s announcement of Facebook-style business pages opened a new avenue for marketers, if only those in selected niches. Both new tools allow for the implementation of the “authority” metrics hinted at in numerous Google quality documents.

For a while now, Google has been showing “Related Places” AKA “The Competition in places view.

Google Related Places - AKA The Competition

While looking at the results for one of our clients who has recently opened a new office for his law practice in a New Orleans LA suburb I came across this.

Paginated Google Places Results

Clearly Google is trying to offer some alternative results for “Metairie Divorce” than our guy Will Beaumont at 3814 Veterans Memorial Blvd #302, Metairi ...

CityGrid Media, who recently invested significantly in Orange Soda (an SEO/PPC firm out of Utah) has chosen to use the favored tactic of Nigerian princes and Offshore Link-Exchangers to drum up business for their new partner Orange Soda.

CityGrid Media (Orange Soda) Form Spam Image

I’m very surprised to see this kind of thing from a company of this stature.

I’m glad to see that the address is in New York and not American Fork Utah as I’m fairly confident the folks I’ve known at Orange Soda wouldn’t condone this behavior.

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