When the COVID lockdowns began in March, Google local business profiles saw a massive drop-off in directions requests and a corresponding spike in local calls and website clicks (61% increase in calls). Since that time, call volumes fluctuated but, according to CallRail, have now stabilized at levels that are 27% higher than the pre-pandemic peak.…
Google Ads has rolled out a new look for Report Editor (located under Reports in the UI). I started seeing this new layout for setting up Custom reports in some accounts a few weeks ago when I was looking into the changes to Location reporting. With this update, Report Editor is set up more like…
COVID-19 has taken a disproportionately large toll on Tripadvisor’s two primary customer audiences, hotels and restaurants, which have seen double-digit revenue declines compared with 2019. The company has been trying to help these groups with a number of new products and services that meet perceived needs and generate new subscription revenue. Listings and menu syndication.…
It’s been 12 months since Google announced a new update called BERT in production search and there should be no surprise the recent Search On event, falling almost on the eve of production BERT’s first birthday, included so much talk of huge progress and breakthroughs using AI and BERT during the past year. A recap…
Microsoft Clarity, a free product to help site owners better understand visitor behavior so that they can improve their user experiences, is out of beta and now generally available, the company announced Wednesday. First launched as a closed beta in 2018, Microsoft Clarity provides site owners with visual heatmaps that illustrate user engagement, individual session…
Taken in totality, Google’s recent announcements on its expanding use of natural language understanding algorithms represent a major evolution in how it determines what content gets surfaced in the search results. In turn, these algorithms will impact how we approach content and optimization. Ranking passages in the search results. Google is rolling out passage-based indexing,…
In part one of my recent interview with Mike Blumenthal, local SEO expert and co-founder of customer experience management platform GatherUp, we spoke about the lack of resources Google allocates to addressing spam on Google Maps. Here, in part two, we talked about the importance of review attribution for local businesses on Google Maps. Reviews are…
Foursquare began life as a gamified social “check-in” app, which offered helpful tips for others as they competed to become “the mayor” of local venues. It evolved into a local search purveyor but after adoption plateaued and investors grew restless, the company pivoted to location intelligence. And although the Foursquare app continues to exist it’s…
Google ads is now 20 years old. At its 15 year milestone, we chronicled AdWords’ evolution into a $60 billion business. We were still talking about Yahoo as a player in search, enhanced campaigns ushered in mobile as a marketing must-do just two years prior and ads-only Google Shopping was three years old. Fast-forward five…
Along with updates for merchants’ holiday Shopping campaign efforts, on Thursday, Google announced consumer-facing updates in Shopping that retail marketers should pay attention to — particularly as it relates to the importance of pricing and promotions. Retail advertisers will also have access to more reporting and performance insights for Shopping campaigns and new customer targeting…