Facebook Challenges Google in Local Search

[djbaxter]

Facebook Challenges Google in Local Search
by Roger Montti, Search Engine Journal
August 10, 2018

A new Facebook update to their mobile app benefits small local businesses. The changes make it easier for potential customers to find and interact with local businesses in a move that poses an increasing challenge to Google Local....

The effect of these changes is to make Facebook a serious challenger to Google Local.

Redesigned Mobile Pages
Facebook redesigned their mobile pages to make it easier for local businesses to interact with potential customers. The new features allow the Facebook pages to function like an actual web page. Now users can book reservations and make appointments through the mobile Facebook page. Facebook has also made it easier to give users offers.

Facebook Actions
Facebook calls this functionality Actions.

Actions: People will now be able to tap on a simplified and prominently featured suite of action buttons to do things like book an appointment for a haircut, order a pizza, send a message or write a Recommendation, all on mobile.

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Recommendations Feature More Prominent
Facebook is making the recommendations feature more prominent. This will help local businesses cultivate recommendations between users. Getting people to “like” a store’s Facebook page has limited utility. Getting users to click the recommendation button will result in a Facebook post on that member’s timeline. The recommend button results in a post that is shared among a user’s friends and family.[/B]



The recommendation is also displayed on the businesses page.

Read more...

 

[Linda Buquet]

Very interesting David, thanks for sharing.

Kinda fun to watch the "one up" games as they roll out.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Call tracking is going to become even more important.

Hey, [MENTION=19]JoyHawkins[/MENTION], I was wondering about this. What if we use a call tracking number on Facebook but put it in Google My Business as an alternate number? The way Google seems to be using that feature these days, I wonder if it would work?