Local Search Updates 10/15/2012

Google just updated many of the Google Guidelines. Since the blended algo is primarily about organic, Local search consultants need to keep up with the changes and comply, just as you do with the Google Places Guidelines. See RED highlights for IMPORTANT Guideline changes for LOCAL I want to alert you to and discuss…

Google started rolling out its biggest update to Street View ever, updating 250,000 miles of roads.
It’s even available on iOs 6. In addition to updating hundreds of thousands of miles of roads, Google has doubled its special collections.

As I’ve written on Search Engine Land, Foursquare is launching a new PC homepage later today that prominently features a search box. The message is: “We’re a local search engine.” The target competitor is Yelp (and Google to some degree).
Foursquare also recently introduced numerical scores for businesses…

A huge number of small business listings have been deleted by Google for violating the Hide your Address Rule. Months later Google has been unable to bring many of the listings back EVEN ONES THAT WERE MISTAKENLY DELETED AND WERE IN COMPLIANCE. I pushed Google for an update and requested an official statement…

Two surveys this week indicated that most iOS 6 users and potential iPhone buyers have not been affected or deterred by the flap over Apple Maps. A September survey of 4,270 US adults by ChangeWave Research discovered that demand for the iPhone 5 was greater than for the iPhone 4S.

The same survey revealed that existing iOS 6 users are having relatively few or no problems with Apple Maps…