The Near Memo
Exploring the big stories for the week at the intersection of local business & marketing across the spectrum of search, social and commerce. With Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 227
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
FTC rules to rein in subscription abuse, Google Bard goes local, Bard is generative not searchy
FTC proposes new rules to rein in subscription abuses: The FTC has been on a roll fighting the many “dark patterns” of the internet. Last week they added a $245m fine for Fortnite to…
New Google GPB Bug, TikTok rolling out search ads, Social mapping tool Gowalla returns
New Google GPB Bug: Your Business is not visible to customers:
There is a new bug where thousands of business profiles are being told by Google that “Your Business is not visible to cus…
Google LSA adds new categories, ChatGPT changing local SAAS, Everyone needs a “how we use AI” FAQ
Google LSA expands to new categories & faces spam: Google has added new, high value categories to their Local SErvice Ads program. They continue to target ever more service type busine…
Bing not a G killer, Yelp research masks market share decline, Dealing with review attacks on Google Business Profiles
Bing isn’t a Google killer but it is important for a number of other reasons: Bing’s inclusion of ChatGPT has positioned Microsoft to take over the search conversation even if it doesn…
GBP Services impact rank, Local title tag impacts on rank, Google eases review filter
Google Business Profile services positively impact rank:
In a recent test by Joy Hawkins at Sterlingsky demonstrated that having services identified for your profile influences rank. How…
Bing transformed by AI, Groceries drive Walmart upscale & Ecommerce invests in PPC & SEO
Microsoft’s transformation of Bing with AI & some smart moves: There are now millions of people on the BingChat waitlist. And many have noted a positive reaction to the bot. But the co…
How digital agencies can use AI with Joy Hawkins & Kevin Indig
In this extended episode we explore the role AI in general and ChatGPT is having on the work within digital agencies. What are the opportunities and challenges that agencies face when u…
Own your processes, SEOs need AI for automation, AI will increase fake reviews, now what?
ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools can write very credible reviews, very quickly and easily. The number of fake reviews could possibly explode in numbers.
While multi-location busin…
Mailchimp Campaign Manager, Copyright implications of generative AI, GBP forums provide bug insights
Mailchimp launched Campaign Manager, a way for marketers to plan, execute, and track their marketing campaigns across multiple channels—like email, text messaging, social media ads, and…
Business Connect flawed agency model, Large agencies: Local is a fad, Technical SEO roadblocks
Failings in Apple Business Connect Agency Model:
While the Apple Business Connect Dashboard is well designed and the new API is significant, the product really fails smaller businesses …
Apple Business Connect is important, Stack ranking of employees: effective or sadistic? AI’s next step: productization
Why the new Apple Business Connect is so important:
Apple Business Connect is both a small business interface AND an API. The small business interface is very elegant and supports very …
AG sues surgeon for review fraud, Shopify targets enterprise retail, Bing to integrate ChatGPT
Washington AG sues plastic surgeon for review fraud:
Allure, a chain of Seattle based plastic surgery centers, has been sued under the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act, HIPPA and sta…
Barry Schwartz Talks All Things Google - UI, Algorithms and AI Spam
In this 44 minute interview, David, Mike and Greg interrogate Barry Schwartz about algorithm updates, the SERP and the future of Google in an era of AI-generated content. Here are the t…
Age cohorts & reviews, Apple’s Business Register, Google’s Visual Elements → Search complexity
How different age groups think about reviews: In a recent, large scale survey of attitudes and behaviors around reviews, Miriam Ellis uncovered some interesting facts about the differe…
ChatGPT’s impact on local, How Google’s new review filter works, Google nukes The Beam (boo!)
How ChatGPT’s breakthrough ability to create content will significantly impact local: ChatGPT seems to provide a quantum leap in quality and speed AI generated content. How will this …
Survey:Buying links works, Why did Alexa fail? Moderation will be at center of Sec 230 debate
74.3% of link builders pay for links and 89.1% of link builders say nofollow links have an impact on rankings. David reviewed a new survey of ~800 link builders by Authority Hacker. Re…
Google Review Bug Saga, Impact of Local Business Reviews, Google’s Missguided Store Finder
Google has finally admitted to the bug that caused local businesses to lose all of their reviews AND rank visibility. Google appears to have fixed many of those businesses reported over…
GPB Bug Nuking Reviews, Google Review Location Surfaced, AirBnB Branding VS SEM for conversions
Google has been on a review tear of late and many reviews are being nuked that the new filter “thinks” violates the TOS. But not all review take downs by Google are legit. And a new bug…
Just How Prevalent Are Zero-Click Search Results? (featuring Marcus Tober of Semrush)
Marcus Tober, SVP of Enterprise Solutions for Semrush, joins Greg and David for this episode of the Near Memo.
The trio discusses Semrush’s recent zero-click search study in depth. Conc…
Shopify disappoints on retention, SEMRush Zero Click research & Apple Maps vs Google Maps in Europe
Description
Shopify study shows much higher churn than WooCommerce, why & what are the implications?
A recent study in the Mails & Globe explores retention over the past 3 years of the ma…