Google Adds New LOCAL Carousel View On iPad

[Linda Buquet]

Yep this is very cool and yep I agree with Frank's article below. We don't need more bells and whistles, we need the underlying "Train Wreck" cleaned up 1st.

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Google Adds New View to Local Searches On iPad

Users will now be able to see what Google is calling a ‘horizontal carousel’ so a user can see several results and review data and then see more by swiping. Here is a picture of the new offering followed by what happens when you click on a results box...

While this all reads nice it is simply covering up the mess that is Google Local. Quite simply, it appears at times that Google doesn’t have a plan and just keeps doing things that baffle business owners and online marketers alike.

There is no guidance that comes from the company that anyone seems willing to hang their hat on yet Google claims local is so important. You can’t swing a dead cat without seeing mention of SoLoMo (social, local, mobile) and Google is not so great at social, getting exponentially worse at local and is only dominant in mobile because of their search prominence.

Hey Google, when are you going to wake up and do something intelligent (or intelligible) about what many feel is the future?

Official Google announcement here.

What do YOU think???

 

[JoeSweeps]

Ha! Laughing so hard I nearly fell off my chair! Why on earth would I spend money on a platform that has no predictability, reliability or consistency? I have about a dozen offers for $100 credits for AdWords, etc. All to drive consumers to my G+Local page? I don't think so. For all I know they'll end up on my competitor's page. Which page should I hope they go to? The Local page with a half dozen stale reviews, or the business page with some good material, but not very Local-like?

Thanks for letting me rant and rave. Will Google get it? What will it take for them to put some seasoned business owners and managers on the Local/Community management team who can give them some real direction and help set policy and procedure that reflects living in the real world?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Agreed!

I've told them several times that at the very least they need to start a focus group of local Mom and Pop business owners. Bring them into a lab. Watch them struggle with trying update a listing or test new features prior to launch. Have them proof help docs to be sure they make sense to a real person that understands none of this.

 

[JoeSweeps]

Cool! Imagine if Jade set up a Hangout with Justin or Nate or Rosy from tech support and 6 or 7 local merchants like me in the service area business, a small and a larger retailer, etc. Send some personal invites to a Hangout, share some screens, watch each other work, ask questions, see what the live results are. I'd be buying AdWords all over. There was a stream last week about how G+ is so much better than Facebook because people like Vic Gundotra reach out personally to users. Come on Vic, how about a Hangout with a marketing asset like me so I stop feeling like fish bait the way your Local team treats me???? Jade has my email address, this could happen. If Godgle wants, it could happen.

 

[Linda Buquet]

DUH... I should have had a V8 AND so should Godgle.

I didn't even think about a hangout with screen sharing. That's the perfect solution! They could get to the bottom of so many things that confuse business owners and make things run so much smoother with that kind of feedback.

Come to think of it... related but different. I DID see a request a couple weeks ago for SMBs to test a new solution or give feedback about something and Google was even paying for their time. In fact if I remember right it was for SERVICE area businesses! Would have been perfect for you!

The BAD thing is it was buried somewhere. I think it was just on one support person's G+ stream and not even someone anyone really knows. It was a fluke that I even found it. They should have let Mike and I know so we could help spread the word to guys like you! But alas it was buried.