Google’s Pigeon Update, “Near Me”, Local Packs and Service Area Businesses

The recent Google update (nicknamed “Pigeon” by the search community) for local results has impacted many.. but service area businesses are thus far seemingly getting the brunt of the changes, dropping off of the local packs in search results.  The question (to be determined as of this writing) is if changing these results to standard organic…

Google Street View: Restaurants and Shops Need to Get Clickin’

Google has finally connected Google Local Business Center and Street View to help people identify businesses by location and photograph. This is just another step along the way to full augmented reality using digital compass, GPS and camera applications.   This, combined with the new Picassa photographs on Street View (cool as hell) and we’ll finally…

Fly-Through Local Ads Next?

Hotstop is a map site with subway and bus directions in New York, Boston and Washington DC, but it brings some innovation to the table that pushes forward the public transportation and local advertising paradigm a few notches. First, Hotstop gives you transfer information for public transit that you can put on your mobile phone,…