Reporting live at Local University SMX East / getlisted.org!

[Chris Ratchford]

Hey folks!

Just checking to see who else is here in NYC at the getlisted.org conference?

Just started... Mihm is going through the basics and will start the official meeting at 9am EST.

---------- Post Merged at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:12 AM ----------

Forgot to mention that Google's representative is here. This will get interesting.

Any ideas for questions to ask???

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yea Chris, so glad you are there and reporting live! I'll be covering any interesting tweets or any other info I can find too.

Who's there from Google, Joel? Nevermind, just woke up and checked Twitter. Yep it's him and they are already doing his Q & A. AWESOME! Need to wake up then will start posting some of the news.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Yes. He just finished up a Q&A.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Reviewing my notes-

Someone asked a great question about how to change the "at a glance" data. They actually had a competitor's name mentioned in the at a glance data.

Joel's response was that this is purely algo and can't be changed.

---
That would suck to have your competitor's name listed in your G+L listing.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I saw that on Twitter and it surprised me that he said even G can't change it. It's an option in the Troubleshooter and I've seen support change those details in the past!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Wish I would have known what time Joel was up and set my alarm early. Just on my 2nd cup of Java here on West Coast and finally ready to get into the action.

Here are some of the most important tweets so far and I would really pay attention to anything coming from Joel. Most of these 1st ones are comments he made at the event.

Darren Shaw ‏@EdmontonSEO
Joel Headley from Google just said that the order of your categories in G+ Local doesn't matter.

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Joel Headley is talking about Google's clean up of the review space. They deleted any review that they found had a duplicate.

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Google does look at the reviewer account/history when determining if reviews will stick or are considered spam

davidmihm ‏@davidmihm
Joel Headley confirms google is looking at recent reviews as a signal of relevance

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Google doesn't have an official position on review kiosks but Joel said he would not do it

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Google said there is a tech problem where you lose your verification status. THey are working on it

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
For now it takes multiple weeks for new listings to have the "see your maps" link work correctly. They are working to speed it up.

Mary Bowling ‏@MaryBowling
no one-even people at Google-can remove at a glance terms

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Best way to fix the error with suite # displaying wrong when added through mapmaker is to report a problem and google can look at it

Mike Blumenthal ‏@mblumenthal
#localu @joelh_gmaps feature to view listing from the Places dashboard may be broken over the next several weeks.

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Google is figuring out a way to model businesses moving, practicioners moving, etc. Trying to match real world so reviews/cit follow

 

[Linda Buquet]

Flurry of great review tips just came in. Marking the 1st two in RED. DUPLICATE REVIEWS are getting pulled. Don't put G reviews on site as testimonial and I'm thinking may even be good idea to ask customers to please not leave the same review on multiple sites.

UPDATE 10/2 - JOEL HEADLEY ON DUPLICATE REVIEWS - Just found a comment on my G+ Stream clarifying comments made re duplicate reviews.

Joel Said: "And, for duplicate reviews, I was indicating duplication across other review sites, including dups within Google are bad, but not necessarily the testimonials on individual web pages."

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
if google finds content on the web that is the same as a google review it will be removed.
Dont add as a site testimonial

Mike Blumenthal ‏@mblumenthal
@joelh_gmaps google will pull down reviews that exact duplicates at Google or across the web

Mary Bowling ‏@MaryBowling
give your customers some options for leaving anonymous reviews-not just on Google where names are published

Mary Bowling ‏@MaryBowling
@mblumenthal tells us review diversity is more important than review quantity at

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
Google does look at the reviewer account/history when determining if reviews will stick or are considered spam

NOTE: On the duplicate reviews. I assumed this was part of filter AND know G hates duplicate content AND have always said not to put G reviews on your site.

However I have suggested and still recommend saving a copy of all your G reviews. Then IF G loses or deletes them, THEN add to your site as testimonials instead of having them just disappear into the ether.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Anyone else at Localu and SMX? Feel free to weigh in with any news!

OR if you are just reading Twitter or blogs and find any good tidbits (or scuttebutt) please share!

ALSO FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, ASK QUESTIONS or DISCUSS.
This is a community discussion, not just Chris and I reporting, so join in!

 

[Linda Buquet]

This via email to me from Chris Ratchford who is at LocalU SMX.

I'm in NYC at the getlisted.org meeting. I jumped right in this morning and asked the Google rep, Joel Headley, about how Google handles multi doctor listings.

According to Joel, he says that if the practice acts as a single entity, then there should only be 1 listing.

Totally different than what we've been told by Google in the past.

Chris and I have discussed this previously at length and he's shared lots of Google support emails with me where support says they will NO LONGER remove individual Dr listings.

I've blogged this extensively and in this post share some of the support emails Chris got where support says, NO you can't just have 1 listing. Dr. listings will stand & we no longer remove them.
Google Places DUPLICATES – Have Doctor, Dentist or Lawyer DUPES? You NEED to Read This

I'll try to get clarification about this from Google to see if something has changed or what.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I emailed Google for clarification about this issue:

Mike Ramsey ‏@niftymarketing
For now it takes multiple weeks for new listings to have the "see your maps" link work correctly. They are working to speed it up.

Mike Blumenthal ‏@mblumenthal
#localu @joelh_gmaps feature to view listing from the Places dashboard may be broken over the next several weeks.

I also escalated this thread at the Google forum and asked for more info and a sticky to send users too that are having problems. Jade is looking into it now.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Jade just changed the wording on the "Do Not Support" sticky at the G forum.

I guess there has been a delay for awhile with new listings and "See your listing on Google link" from dashboard. So the current normal is that link can show "do not support" for a couple/few weeks now, instead of one week as previously stated.

 

[Iain]

One way to use a Google review on your site would be to make a slideshow video using something like Animoto and include snippets of the review in the text slides they allow.

Not only would the review be arguably more powerful in video form, but now the business has a video on YouTube that may bring them some business and they can also add the video to their social media pages.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ohhh, Iain, that's a really nice tip!!! I know some that post a screenshot of the review, but the video idea is a really good one!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Wish I could have contributed more today, but it's like when you're watching a good movie- you get caught up in the moment!

But what I think the takeaway was w/ Google's stance on multi-practitioner locations is- it may be a case-by-case basis.

In other words, if the Google responds to your request for consolidation, it can depend on the representative.

One Googler may think the practice should have individual listings, whereas another may understand that the practice is a single entity.

Our responsibility is to explain the situation and help them understand why it should be a single listing.

JUST MY OPINION.

PS- It doesn't help that sites like healthgrades.com list individual doctors.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Aside from that Chris, are you SO glad you went?
Was it worth it??? Is your sponge full?

 

[Chris Ratchford]

On my phone, so ill be brief. But one tidbit-

Joel said NOT to copy your google reviews and place them on your website.

That counts as a duplicate.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Chris, I covered that on the 1st few points and Tweets in this post. Post #7 above.

BUT it bears repeating for sure! Thanks for taking time to post. Know it's a pain from your phone.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Thanks so much, Linda & Chris, for the reportage. The don't copy reviews tip is a major takeaway, and I agree that the video idea is brilliant!

 

[Linda Buquet]

More LocalU goodness. Catching up on Tweets from yesterday and new ones coming in today.

UPDATE FROM JOEL HEADLEY ON DUPLICATE REVIEWS - Just found a comment on my G+ Stream clarifying comments made re duplicate reviews.

Joel Said: "And, for duplicate reviews, I was indicating duplication across other review sites, including dups within Google are bad, but not necessarily the testimonials on individual web pages."

@mblumenthal: "NAP info sticks like poo on the bottom of your shoe" if you move / change numbers.

@mblumenthal the Google Local Pin results are the new Yellow Pages

@gsterling Progressive insurance: 3X to 5X sales leads coming from Google+ Local pages vs. local agent websites

@gsterling @AaronWeiche drop from position 1 to 4 in mobile = 90% CTR drop off

@davidmihm huge point from @aaronweiche: mobile title tags get truncated to 40-45 characters. keep in mind when constructing.

 

[Scott Dodge]

Thanks again for the coverage, Chris and Linda.

I was recently at the LocalU in Minneapolis - what a fantastic workshop. Although it looks like more gems are being unearthed at the advanced session!